In the following interview, Zane speaks with Phonte and Nicolay about their new Foreign Exchange album, called Leave It All Behind.

I want to talk about Leave it All Behind, but first I’d like to set the stage in how the first Foreign Exchange came together. That project was literally a foreign exchange in that you two were writing and recording together from a distance. Can you talk about how that worked, and how you went about that?

Nicolay: We came across each other on the Okayplayer message boards, and we just used whatever internet means that were available to us to communicate. And at first I remember that Tay didn’t even have a computer. So we would just communicate through messages on Okayplayer and eventually email and instant messages. Just whatever we needed to get each other files back and forth. And we essentially still work the same way to this day.

Nic you’re in NC now right?

Nicolay: Yep

Did you two get to work together in the same studio on Leave It All Behind?

Phonte: Nah we still did it the same way. Even though we are living in the same state – we’re only about two hours away from each other – we still just did it the same way. Just doing it through file trading because that was still the easiest way for us to work so, you know, we didn’t feel a need to change it.

I’m curious about the dynamic – how you guys work together because when I hear Leave it All Behind, something that strikes me is the songwriting and composition. Can you take me through the songwriting process for this album?

Phonte: Pretty much for me, writing the songs for the record was just me taking the tracks to the studio, sitting down with them, just seeing what I felt. A lot of times my ideas come to me while I’m driving, so I’ll just be driving around, and just listening to the music. I’m a big believer in the saying that motion creates emotion. So a lot of times, driving in my car, that’s where my ideas come from. Or if I’m stuck on a track in the studio I just turn the music up real loud and get up and dance around to it or just bob my head to it. A lot of times that’ll jumpstart the creative process. So for writing songs for the record it was just going from ideas, getting ideas either while I’m driving or at the crib listening to it on my computer or whatever, and then I just go to the studio and sit down with it, and just go in the booth, and just kind of lay it down as it comes to me piece by piece.

So when you two are working together does the music come first and then the lyricism?

Phonte: Yeah the music generally comes first. Nic just sends me ideas and I just go and record to them and I send him my vocals back. And then generally after I send my vocals he’ll get another idea as far as more stuff to add to the music as far as more background parts or some more strings or something to fill out the track even more. Sometimes those are based on vocal ideas that I do. And that’s pretty much how it works, but it always starts with the music first.

The emotion of the record is so powerful and it strikes me that you guys are able to build that emotion even from a distance. Nicolay can you tell me what your process is for writing the music?

Nicolay: As far as ideas go, when we were working on the record I was in a transitional stage, if you will, because I had kind of started to sample a lot less and kind of solved the absence of that with more instrumentation and more arranging and writing. For me it can be anything… like I’ll play a lot on the keys and I sometimes just play for a long time and just record something and listen back to see if there’s something in there. It can be something on the guitar or bass or whatever, something with the drums. I always go from an idea and when it’s something that I think has a potential to really be a great track that’s when I’ll do a little bit more to it. Or I’ll send it to Phonte and at that moment it’s on him and for him to decide if it’s something that a) he likes and b) he hears potential vocals to it.

Building on that Nic, when I listen to this album and past albums, I feel like there’s more musicality in each record. And with you Phonte I hear more singing in this record, and then the record you just did with Zo. Nic, are you moving towards more live instrumentation in your music? And Phonte are we going to hear more singing from you?

Phonte: There’s definitely going to be more singing down the line. I’m not done with rap…. a lot of people seem to ask me that…. I’m definitely not done with rhyming, just because I still enjoy rhyming. There’s just an immediate energy that you get out of rhyming that you can’t really get anywhere else. So I’m definitely not done with rhyming but as of right now, where I’m at in my career, I’m just kind of more interested in doing more vocals, more singing. It’s just a real rush to me so that’s where I’m at right now. But you know in another year or two I could be somewhere else.

Nic are you moving towards more instrumentation in your production?

Nicolay: Yeah I’ve honestly always had that element in it. Even on Connected there was a lot that I added that way, but I think that for me right now the challenge is really in just coming up with a great song: the arrangement, the writing, the composing of it. I’ve just taken it a lot more seriously than ever and I think the same can be said for Phonte in terms of his writing. For me, it’s been a combination of learning things and, you know, getting better at what you do. At this point, the Foreign Exchange specifically is 75% live instrumentation like that, or I’ll be programming. I think only two tracks really have a clear and distinct sampling.

When I listen to the album, I think “this is Hip Hop, and yet it’s kind of a step beyond, almost like a future soul record.” It’s almost like Foreign Exchange – Connected meets 4Hero. There’s a transcendence to it – is that something you set out to do?

Phonte: Once it became clear around two or three songs deep into the record it was pretty much clear that it wasn’t going to be a typical Hip Hop record. So at that point, that’s when we were like, we can try to compete with the 4Heros and the Jazzanovas of the world. And not necessarily compete with them, but just kind of fit in that same vein. I’ve collaborated with both of those artists in the past, and those are two camps that I have an incredible amount of respect and admiration for. So it’s not anything malicious about it or anything, but they’re just huge inspirations for both of us. With this record we felt that Leave It All Behind would be more at home in a 4Hero/Jazzanova playlist than it would be in a Little Brother/Mos Def/Talib Kweli playlist. So while it wasn’t the plan in the beginning, that was the plan that made the most sense once we got going.

The album has a beautiful melancholy to it – some have said it has a feeling of escapism. Even the album name, Leave It All Behind, has that kind of feel to it… what’s the story behind the name?

Phonte: I think the name of the album can be interpreted in a lot of different ways. I prefer to let everyone come up with their own interpretation for what it means to them. For me personally, I just think it has to do with kind of leaving behind all your fears and just moving forward toward something greater, whatever that may be. I just think in the times that we’re living in now with the economic stuff that’s going on, and where we’re at as a society and as a global economy, I think people are really looking for something to believe in. They’re losing hope in themselves. And so I think a record like this is needed to remind them that there’s always a way to survive; there’s always a way to move on. As hard as it may be, just move past your fears and always know that something greater lies ahead. So that would be my personal take on it, but there’s a million different answers I guess.

I love how “Something to Behold” just lifts your spirits back up, and then the title track brings it all back together with a sentimental and yet genuine emotion to it. Who are you speaking to in that song?

Phonte: “Leave It All Behind,” the title track – I wrote that one for my sons, for my little boys. I wanted to write them a lullaby that was inspiring, and something just to let them know that they do have a chance. And that stuff is bad in this world, but there is a way to survive. That was what inspired it.

I love that. The album is so great because there’s such a depth and complexity to it.

Can each of you tell me what kind of projects you have coming up? What can we look forward to from both of you?

Nicolay: I’m 100% focused on this record because we worked really hard on it. We just want to try and get this one as far as it can go. So a lot of my time is going to be spent doing that. Outside of that I’m just kind of seeing how it goes really. I’m doing a City Lights sequel, which is an instrumental album. Well I’m not quite sure even if it’s going to be that or if it’s going to be just more of me exploring music and how far will it all go. Outside of that I don’t have any concrete plans

Phonte: For me it’s just more recording. I haven’t really mapped out a plan of attack for ‘09 just yet. I’m just going in and recording more songs and if it culminates into a project then I’ll put out a project. But we’ll just see. Me and Nic, we have about five or six new songs on deck that I have to record once we get home. So I’ll be doing that but that’s pretty much it. I’m just recording songs.

And you guys are hitting the road for this record?

Nicolay: Yeah we’ve got some stuff planned – I think the first one is November 15 in New York City. We’ve got dates lined up throughout November. And like I said, we’re just trying to get the record as far and wide as we can. So we’re trying to visit a couple of cities and basically let them hear what it’s all about.

I hope I get to see one of those shows because I’ve really enjoyed listening to this record, I appreciate you guys talking to me too.

Nicolay: Thanks a lot man. We appreciate it as much as you do.

Related:
Buy The Foreign Exchange – Leave It All Behind here.
The Foreign Exchange – “Daykeeper”
The Foreign Exchange – Leave It All Behind – Episode One
The Foreign Exchange – Leave It All Behind – Episode Two
The Foreign Exchange – Leave It All Behind – Episode Three