Raury walks into the rolling out office and greets everyone he encounters.
As his name appears in press releases and pops up in the media, the general consensus remained the same.
“Oh, Raury?”
The former teenage music prodigy was one of the biggest rising names in hip-hop five years ago.
Raury received early comparisons to André 3000 because of his quick flow, gentle tone, meaningful lyrics and ability to play guitar. He established a following so strong he tweeted out requests for his fans to regularly meet him in local Atlanta parks at 1 a.m., with only an hour’s notice. Approximately 100 young creatives showed up to every impromptu meet-up, even Kid Cudi made an appearance.
Raury’s been featured in every major media outlet and came to prominence from performing outside of his favorite artists’ shows on an “Anti-Tour.” He’s performed with A$AP Rocky, opened for OutKast, inspired Ye West, and is a member of the coveted 2015 XXL Freshman List.
When he appeared to have all the momentum in the world, it felt like he vanished.
His former management team, LVRN, signed acts like 6lack and Summer Walker, as Raury occasionally popped up for features on Jaden Smith projects, and went on a tour in the woods.
Now, as his new song “Channel Zero” is out with a fresh project in the works, he’s re-entering the spotlight to tell his story and clarify all the misconceptions about him. In an exclusive interview with rolling out, Raury explained how he never left the music industry, he only left his management team and it took time to figure out how to build a new group to promote the music he wants to make the right way.
Where have you been the past couple of years?
The past couple of years, I’ve been really training and growing as an engineer and as a community builder. … From 2017 to now, I’ve just been on a journey of just like being a man. … I was sharpening and have been building the woods, which was the organization in the true vision of my artistry and what I want to do with music.
When you look at music, I feel like, just like everything else today has been industrialized and hyper capitalized to the point where it’s not. It’s very far removed from its true purpose of origin.
It seems like you were ahead of the Great Resignation.
I do a lot of traveling with my mind and spirit and think about 10 years from now what’s going on.
What do you think is coming next? You’ve mentioned farming, for the people who are from a city, what farming tips you can give them?
Look up @thecosmicone on Instagram, he’s a Black farmer — or you could look up @growwhereyouare. That’s another farmer by the name of Eugene, he makes urban farms all over Atlanta.
