Blending golden-era hip-hop lyricism with futuristic video game synths, Deepwise is a visionary conscious hip-hop artist spreading imaginative positivity through his music. Currently based in Las Vegas, he grew up in Salt Lake City to a musical family. Deepwise mixes jazz and funk undertones with electronic psychedelia to create a fresh, genre-fluid hip-hop sound.
With “Slow Down” out now, we took some time to hear from Deepwise. Read below to learn more about Deepwise, the story behind “Slow Down,” and what’s to come.
Hi Deepwise! Let’s start with how did you get your artist name?
Hello and thank you for having me! I decided on my name a long time ago. It was supposed to be a double meaning of being both deep and wise, but also to reflect the topics I wanted to cover: lengthwise, widthwise, and depthwise (ie. “Deepwise”), music about an entire spectrum of topics both big and small. I enjoy learning about stuff and I want my lyrics to be about my philosophies on anything, not just a few cliché topics.
What city are you from, and where are you based now?
I’m originally from Salt Lake City, Utah, but I’m currently based in Las Vegas, Nevada. I moved to Las Vegas a couple years ago because it’s nearby.
At what point in your life did you decide to pursue a career in music? How did you get started?
My dad is a jazz pianist from New Orleans named Frederick James McCray and my mom, Wanda McCray, has a degree in music education and taught me and my older brother how to play piano when I was around 7 years old. So, I kind of grew up in a musical family. I played classical and jazz trumpet in school for about 7 years and then bought an electric bass. My mom had a guitar, so I would play with that every now and then. But at 12 years old, I started writing lyrics, and at 13, I started writing songs and messing with my dad’s Cubase software, mostly inspired by video game soundtrack. As I kept making my own songs, I started to upload them online. Since then, I’ve felt like making music was always in the cards for me.
How has your upbringing played a role in shaping who you are and defining your sound?
Being born mixed-race in Utah had an effect on me personally, and I feel it has shaped how I view the world and how express that in my lyrics, but I also think growing up in a musical family definitely shaped how I view the whole music making process in general as well as the style I make. I grew up listening to a lot of jazz music and going to jazz events with family, but I started to expand my taste in music once I started watching MTV. I mostly watched it for Beavis & Butthead cartoons, but then the music came on and I would hear a lot of hip-hop, specifically Busta Rhymes. Despite growing up in the Midwest United States and hearing a lot more West-Coast hip-hop on the radio, I really started to fall in love with hip-hop from the South. Then, my first album I ever bought was a hip-hop one: Only God Can Judge Me by Master P.
When I got into my teens and started making my own music, it sounded like the video game music I was listening to at the time. I uploaded my first song online to VGmusic.com, and it was a MIDI cover song of the Visitor Center soundtrack from the Jurassic Park SNES game. Maybe as a result, I gravitated to more electronic. I produced mostly songs with a melodic trance and psytrance sound until around college but I still wrote rap lyrics on the side. I just didn’t feel like making the type of rap I was listening to. But now, after making all that EDM and video-game-sounding music I’ve been told by people they can hear that influence on my hip-hop beats.
How would you describe your sound to readers who may not be familiar with you?
Before I focused on rap, I was told that the EDM I made had a psytrance sound with video game synths, so you can hear an influence in them on my hip-hop, but this new song, “Slow Down,” specifically, is more jazz rap with acoustic sounds. I’ve also been told my lyrics sound like Eminem, but I have felt heavily influenced by rappers like Busta Rhymes, Ludacris, Redman, Aesop Rock, and MF DOOM. I also like to write songs with some underlying meaning to them but delivered in a way that can isn’t so “lyrical miracle.” I would call my lyrics “conscious rap,” which is under the umbrella of political hip-hop, but political hip-hop can sometimes sound a little whiny or preachy, so I tend to lean less political and a bit more nerdcore.
Do you have any hobbies outside of music? What do you do to stay creative?
I enjoy meditation, yoga, working out, and playing video games in my free time. I also sometimes draw pictures and have some pictures I’ve drawn in pastels, colored pencils, and watercolors. Growing up in Utah has given me an appreciation for the outdoors as well, and I used to do more hiking and camping, but I don’t do it as much anymore because Las Vegas is such a hot place. Aside from that, learning more about the world is always fun too, and I enjoy learning more about things like philosophy, science, and DIY from time to time even if I’m not always that good at it.
Who are some of your main musical influences?
Well, my dad is always one that comes to mind. I also feel heavily influenced by Busta Rhymes, Redman, MF DOOM, Aesop Rock, The Roots, and grew up watching Grind Time rap battles with rappers like The Saurus and Illmaculate. On the video game music side of things, I really like music from games like Chrono Trigger. Other musicians that have influenced my sound are funk and rare groove acts like Jamiroquoi, Frankie Beverly and Maze, Patrice Rushen, Stevie Wonder, and Roy Ayers. Although I listened to a lot of psytrance, some outside of that genre include Aphex Twin, LTJ Bukem, and Bjork.
What’s one of the proudest moments of your music career so far?
I’ve had a lot of moments I would say I’m proud of, but releasing my first music video, “Simple Moment,” and winning Best Artist in the Future Scholars of Africa competition are among my proudest moments. I was also honored to be chosen as one of the judges the following year. Making the soundtrack for the game, Battle Knights, is also pretty cool.
What would you say are the greatest lessons that you’ve learned so far?
I think I’ve learned a lot during my time as an artist, many of them cliches you’ve heard before, but first is authenticity. Although it’s hard at first, it pays in the end to be true to yourself and avoid following the crowd just to fit in. Trying to be something you aren’t from an artistic perspective is tiresome and wears you down. I found more energy and passion in doing what I love because I love it, not because I’m trying to fit some mold, even when others are trying to convince otherwise. I also value patience and not wearing yourself out doing the same thing over and over again to get a different result. Making music is a marathon, not a sprint, and you need to be able to maintain your energy for the long-run (no pun intended).
Lastly, I learned that I don’t like DJing, haha! As an electronic producer, I found it was difficult learning to perform my own songs live and eventually I realized that being a vocalist and saying my lyrics on stage felt like a more authentic way of expressing myself as an artist. I wouldn’t mind adding some of my instrumentals to a live show and DJing them while I perform other songs with lyrics—and I have before—but when I was getting my foot in the door, I felt like I needed to DJ and take requests. It worked for a while and got me some gigs, but it was a little soul-sucking and ultimately, I decided on rapping and singing because DJing was not the path.
Now onto your release, “Slow Down.” What inspired this song? What is “Slow Down” about?
“Slow Down” is the first song that I’ve released in a while, and I started writing it during the pandemic. It was a time in my life when I was about to do my first show out-of-state, fresh off the release of my album, Conscious Core, but I was forced to stay indoors as I and the rest of the world literally slowed down. I was going through some personal issues and health issues too, which forced me to slow myself down, slow my life down, and slow my mind down to take stock of where I was in life and what was really happening around me. It was discouraging to freeze everything in my ambitions due to the pandemic, but it gave me an opportunity to find myself and learn more about myself. I started to take more care of myself, spend time with the people I care about, and relax amidst being around people who were rushing around in panic and anger. Slowing down my mind during meditation helped me slow down my racing thoughts and realize there were some things in my life that weren’t working the way I hoped nor expected, so now I can move forward in life with more energy and passion. This kind of ties back into the previous question about learning not to burn myself out doing things that aren’t aligned with me. You could say it’s one reason why the song is chilled and laid back, but still has some energy behind it because that is a reflection of the time around when it was written.
What was the inspiration behind the cover artwork for “Slow Down?”
The cover art is meant to be an image of a Dodge-Charger-like car parked outside a coffee shop around sunset, ready to take off. I was aiming for something that is both relaxing, but has potential energy. The car is parked, but still has an engine – the coffee shop is quiet, but coffee gives you energy, and the whole scene signifies finding a moment at the end of a busy day to relax and recharge your energy. The colors were inspired by my usual psychedelic-cyberpunk aesthetic, but I found a way to apply it with a laid-back vibe. The plant in the foreground is also meant to give it a peaceful vibe to balance the energy of the city and bring you back to nature.
What was the creative process like when making “Slow Down?”
It was interesting. I’ve been listening to a lot of chill/cloud phonk music for the past few years like Ryan Celsius, Soudier, DJ Yung Vamp, and DJ Smokey. I wanted to make something that had a similar vibe to it, but it came out sounding more like jazz rap. I also used to have a recording booth in my home studio that made it easier to record lyrics, and I would have other artists come by and record too. I don’t currently have one, so I had to rely on recording vocals in a different studio in the beginning of recording more than I had previously during Conscious Core. But, everything turned out okay in the end. I wish I had spent a little more time tweaking it, but “finished is better than perfect,” so I decided to release it. You’ll always feel like there could be more you can do to a track, but you also don’t want to overwork it. So, if you get to that point, remember to “slow down.”
How long did it take to complete “Slow Down?”
I started writing the lyrics at the end of 2021. Also, the original file for the song was lost during a hard drive failure and not being backed up (remember to backup your hard drives, people!) However, because I really liked the sound of it, I decided to bring it back from the dead and finish it. I have a lot of projects between 2019 and 2023 that disappeared from that hard drive, but luckily I bounced some of those instrumentals to an mp3 and saved them. I figured that although it’s sad they’re gone, the ones that survived were the good ones. As for the recording, the mixing and mastering, that took about a year or so.
What is your favorite lyric in “Slow Down” and why?
“Like a butterfly that stings
Feeling higher than a king
But keep it low like I’m a russet
Only roll with those that’s trusted”
I like it because of the opposites of high and low, up and down. I also like potatoes. I think a lot of people like potatoes.
What message or messages do you hope fans take away from “Slow Down” and your music in general?
In this day and age where we are all surrounded by so much noise, I hope this song inspires people to be able to block out that noise and find focus and calm. I encourage people to slow down and reclaim their frequency out of that noise, because it can be so easy to get caught up in the momentum of everything going on in life and lose yourself in it without realizing it.
Are you working on any upcoming projects, or do you have any upcoming shows that we should be on the lookout for?
I’m planning to release a few more songs by the end of 2026, either as singles or EPs. Depending on how things go, I’ll release a new music video to go along with one of them because I really enjoyed making my last music video. I also would like to get into the live music scene more in Las Vegas as a local, and throw a concert that I can stream online for all the fans.
If you could do anything with your music next, what would it be?
I think it would be really rewarding to go on tour and see all my fans in person. That would be a dream come true and hopefully it happens in the near future, not just for me, but to help humanity bring people together, so they can make new friends with shared interests in this lonely world. I also think it would be cool to create a video game one day. If I could release a video game as an artist like 50 Cent did with Bulletproof and Blood on the Sand, I think it would be pretty fun. Of course, it would be an entirely different type of game.
Where can we follow you on social media?
All the links are on www.deepwisemusic.com, but some of them include:
Instagram: www.instagram.com/deepwisemusic
TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@therealdeepwise
YouTube: www.youtube.com/@DeepwiseNet
Clapper: www.clapperapp.com/Deepwise
Thank you for the great interview; wish you much continued success!
