In case you missed it: Rapper Spose performs lives tonight at In the Venue! With Utah being his first stop on his tour, Spose is ready to kick off his brand new set list. University of Utah’s own Tommy B will open at 7; to buy tickets check out https://www.saltlakecityconcerts.net/eventx/spose/ and don’t forget to take a look at Her Campus Utah’s exclusive interview with the rapper!
Her Campus Utah: Utah is the first stop on your tour! You obviously will have a different energy and excitement level here than anywhere else!
Spose: I love being in Salt Lake City and I love playing in Salt Lake City. These shows are our homerun shows; we always do great in Salt Lake City, in Denver, in Chicago and in Cleveland. So why not go his a bunch of homeruns? Salt Lake is a natural, great place to start. I have a lot of friends who have moved out there and it’s almost like home away from home, it’s almost like playing for your hometown crowd again!
Her Campus Utah: That’s fun and it makes it more comfortable when you’re playing!
Spose: For me, it’s like playing a show in Maine but I get to see cool different stuff after!
Her Campus Utah: When you’re on tour and you’re playing shows away from home, how do you stay focused? Is it easier to write because you are so focused?
Spose: Even if I’m going away for just a night or two to play a show, I bring my recording equipment with me. It’s pretty portable in 2016 so I always bring it with me everywhere, so definitely when I head out on tour. It always ends up being so much, it’s kinda relentless like the driving and setting up and playing a show, and I’m super hands-on with my fans so it takes forever to get out of the venue after the night and at the end of the night all you want to do is have a beer and sleep instead of setting up the equipment and recording. So what I find is, I always bring my recording equipment but I don’t usually ever end up recording, but when I get home I’m just so inspired from seeing the country and maybe it’s just the change of scenery or seeing the fans or just traveling in general, but it gets me so stoked and whenever I get home I’m always mega-inspired and end up recording like 22 songs in 3 weeks. I just feel like it makes it so much easier to create when you’re in such an awesome frame of mind. It makes for great art.
Her Campus Utah: Do you feel like you write differently depending on where you’re at on tour?
Spose: There will be lyrics or like a mood, or maybe just something inspired by a place. We’ll get to Salt Lake City and for the rest of the tour, I’m hanging out with the same dudes for the rest of the tour so we’ll end up joking and trying to make each other laugh as we drive the long distances and some of those jokes turn into songs or into t-shirts eventually. I wouldn’t say I write differently but I’m inspired in different ways in different cities.
Her Campus Utah: What part about tour makes you so excited to get on the road?
Spose: For me, I had a kid when I was 23 so right when I was [the age] of graduating college so I never got to do like a post-college road trip type of thing, so for me, going on tour like is that in a way. I worked until I had that opportunity for myself and I love seeing different cities and different landscapes. Our country is just fascinating with all of the different climates and animals and structures and land-formations are all in this one country, it’s just so cool to me. I even like driving. It’s my peace.
Her Campus Utah: What is your favorite song to perform when you’re on tour? You haven’t started this tour, but what are you looking forward to most?
Spose: The easy answer is I close every tour with the song Knocking on Wood so it’s a song about preaching what you have; and I’ve closed every show with that for 3 or 4 years and that’s the note that I want to leave on.
Her Campus Utah: You’ve loved music since you were a little kid, when did you think ‘this is exactly what I want to do’ and ‘this is what I want to dedicate my life to?’
Spose: Oh man, when I was like 7, all I wanted was to be in a band. I would make up fake band names and draw fake album covers and would write out track list, so it was always something I wanted to do but I don’t think it was ever like a realty or a possibility really, I always pursued it and there was never a week of my life I didn’t do something to try to do something, I knew other kids way more talented but I wanted it more than everybody else. It wasn’t until I put out my first album and I printed 200 copies and I thought ‘oh my god, 200, how am I ever going to sell that?’ but I sold them all and then I thought ‘damn, maybe I am good at this.’ I was like 22 then.
Her Campus Utah: How are you balancing everything out especially with new music and tour with having your kid and still trying to be you?
Spose: I don’t know; I’m balancing it well, I do it better than a lot of people do. My brand is just being me, so it’s like if I have kids and have a rapper—that’s me, that’s my brand! Whatever is happening to me, that’s my brand; I don’t have to lie about it and pretend I’m like banging 40 chicks, that part is easy professionally. But at home, it’s a little harder—like I’m going on tour specifically this week because it is school vacation week and my wife is a teacher and it’s her week off so it’s way easier for me to be on tour when she doesn’t have to be up at 6am and get the kids ready and go to work. I plan my schedule around her schedule to make it easier for her. I know I won’t enjoy tour if I know it’s miserable on her.
Don’t forget to check out Spose LIVE tonight at In the Venue!