LARRENWONG’s Next Play: "4th & Long" EP, NFL Roots, And Reviving Old School R&B

Reinvention is never easy, but for LARRENWONG, who transitioned from professional football to pursue a career in R&B, it was inevitable. The Bay Area native, known by his teammates as Warren Long on the field, has traded touchdowns for music, crafting a sound fusing genres that have influenced him since he was a child. Moreover, as a self-taught musician who plays several instruments, LARRENWONG isn’t keen on being pigeonholed into one niche. Instead, he wants to bridge the nostalgia that we loved in R&B of yesteryear with the modern applications the genre has evolved into.

With his EP, 4th & Long, out today (March 7), LARRENWONG leans into his dual identity—an athlete whose competitive spirit fuels his artistry and a musician navigating the complexities of love, stability, and self-reflection. “I hope the listeners see this project as just another step in my trajectory as an artist,” the singer told HNHH. “Just another page of the story, and, yeah, an extension—just a step forward for me in telling my story. From the theme of the project, it's my first time really including anything football or sports related into my music.”

“I think there's something beautiful to the more classic elements of R&B. And just everybody's saying—you ain’t gotta to listen to me—we're getting further and further away from that in R&B. It's becoming something, as you said, it's evolving into something completely different. But, I feel like I just want to keep it in touch with its roots.”
-LARRENWONG

After turning heads as an opener on DaniLeigh’s 4 Velour Tour, he has sharpened his vision, enlisting industry heavyweight Victor Burnett (co-founder of Evgle) to help elevate his craft. In our interview with the rising star, LARRENWONG has clearly applied the discipline he learned in his NFL career to the studio. He told us he wants to honor the foundation of R&B and “to make people have old school values.” He stated, “I think that's what informs everything, is just the values. The values are changing, just the way it sounds and everything. It's because people don't value certain things. So, I just want to make it cool to value the old sh*t.”

With 4th & Long, LARRENWONG proves that his transition from athlete to artist is more than just a career shift—it’s a natural evolution into the musician he was always meant to be. Read through our interview with him as he discusses his latest project, musical roots, Bay Area influences, being seen more than simply an R&B artist, and even through the self doubt, maintaining "good self talk."

HotNewHipHop: Moving from the NFL to R&B isn’t something you hear of every day. What was the motivation or the moment you knew music was the path you wanted to take? You said in another interview that you started making music in the sixth grade. When did you know you wanted to pursue those talents professionally?

LARRENWONG: Around that time in my early life, I was exposed to a lot of music from my grandpa, who was a jazz musician, and my dad, who was a DJ and producer, himself. So, I always knew I wanted to be involved with music, but the extent to which I would be involved in it wasn't really decided upon until I would say, like 2019. Fairly recently.

HNHH: Okay, that’s still quite a long time. I know that in both music, as with sports, there's a need for work ethic and discipline. How did you utilize some of those lessons you learned as an athlete and apply them to your pursuit of the music industry?

LARRENWONG: Well, just like music, sports, laying bricks, if that's what you do, it's a craft, just like any other. So, when you do something intensely for an extended period of time, you start to realize certain things, and it brings certain things out of you. It's like, the most transferable qualities that I've gained from sports that I bring to music is, number one, it's my ability to work within a team. You know, in football, nothing happens without 10 other guys on the field with you. Just knowing how to manage personalities, yeah, just be a team. Being a team player is one of the biggest things.

Number two, is discipline. It’s another big thing. I've brought that discipline to music and having a team. I got a lot of athletes on my team (in music) as well, so they hold me accountable—accountability, knowing how to take criticism, knowing how to take the good with the bad. Yeah, there's so much more. But, out of the many things, those are the clearest things that I could think of.

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HNHH: That completely makes sense. I'm sure that applies to being a self taught musician, as well. In the industry these days, there are a lot of new artists that come out that don’t even know how to write or play music. For our audience, what are all of the instruments you play? How long have you played each of them? Coming from a musical background, I can only imagine, having a household of artists just within your own family...

LARRENWONG: Right? Funny enough, I didn't really realize I was from a musical family until recently. I still really had to think about it, but it's because I was raised by my mom and there wasn't much music in the house besides me. But, you know, my dad, yeah, over there, there would be a lot of music. I've been playing the guitar since 2006, I've been playing the bass guitar for just about the same time. Ukulele, same, same amount of time. All string instruments, pretty much. The piano for the same amount of time as well. 

And in 2018, I picked up the bassoon very randomly. I mean, it wasn't by choice, though. My grandpa passed away, and he was a big Jazz guy. His instruments started to get obscure towards the end of his life. So, he was just trying stuff.

HNHH: That's interesting! Are there any other instruments that you want to learn?

LARRENWONG: Yeah. My first, before I picked up the guitar or anything, my first instrument for school band class was the trumpet. So, I was looking at trumpets today, I'm going to get back into it.

HNHH: Should definitely bring a Jazz element into your music, for sure, because there’s certainly a fusion on 4th & Long. There's an, in general in your catalog, an old school R&B sound that you can't get away from. So, for 4th & Long, as you lead into working on a longer LP, what do you hope that listeners get from this one?

LARRENWONG: I hope the listeners see this project as just another step in my trajectory as an artist. Just another page of the story, and, yeah, an extension of. Not just a step forward for me, telling my story. From the theme of the project, it's my first time really including anything football or sports related into my music. 

My dad, I told you my dad was a DJ, but more specifically, he's a House DJ. House and Electronic music. So, I've been very familiar and just around House music my entire life. I put a House record on 4th & Long, and that's kind of the first time I've showed that part of myself, as well. Like, there's a bunch of things to me, and I feel like my whole time in music, I've just been waiting for the right moment to tell those parts of my story the right way. So, I hope the audience sees this project as just a better story. Telling my story more for sure, just letting them know more of what I am and everything that I'm about.

HNHH: I saw in another one of your interviews, you described your own sound as R&B-Soul. However, you also said that you didn't necessarily want to categorize it, because there are so many different elements going into who you are, what your background is, and what your musical style is. So, if you could define your artistry in just three words, what would those be?

LARRENWONG: It would be natural, nostalgic, and stylish.

HNHH: Stylish, huh? Well, R&B has gone through a lot of changes over the years. It's in a state of constant evolution. Where do you see yourself in the evolution of R&B, Soul, House? Where is Larren in there? Or where do you want to be?

LARRENWONG: I want to be the conduit between the past and the future. I want to be an artist  that's—I mean, at this point, we're all old. We're all from the ‘90s. We all, you can't unhear stuff, you know? I mean, we all grew up listening to a certain sound, but we grew up. I want to be the artist who, at least for now, sonically and stylistic with my music, I want to be the artist who maintains the classicness of R&B. Whatever that means to you. Whether it be thematically, whether it be through the aesthetic, whether it be the way it sounds, what they're talking about, all of that. I just really am—I'm a fan. 

"I want to be the artist who, at least for now, sonically and stylistic with my music, I want to be the artist who maintains the classicness of R&B. Whatever that means to you."

I think there's something beautiful to the more classic elements of R&B. And just everybody's saying—you ain’t gotta to listen to me—we're getting further and further away from that in R&B. It's becoming something, as you said, it's evolving into something completely different. But, I feel like I just want to keep it in touch with its roots. Yet, also, I don't want to be a type of act locked in a certain time. I make music, I like to push the sound. I like to be experimental and stuff like that. I'm just putting out the old R&B, but I make all types of music.

So, yeah, I just want to—that as well as, like, find a way to make it current and find a way to make it cool. To make people have old school values. I think that's what informs everything is just the values. The values are changing, just the way it sounds and everything. It's because people don't value certain things. So, I just want to make it cool to value the old sh*t.

HNHH: I understand what you're saying. I've had this argument over and over again, I don't know for how many years. Because you're so well versed in a lot of different types of music—you play different instruments, you listen to a variety across the board when it comes to genres. If you can collaborate with any artist, past or present of any genre, who would it be? 

LARRENWONG: Oh, there's three. For me, there's three…there's four. It would be Jimi Hendrix, Miles Davis, Prince, and George Clinton.

HNHH: Nice! That’s a good collection. And being from the Bay—Cali all day—about being from the Bay Area—

LARRENWONG: Where are you from?

HNHH: L.A. Well, really I was raised in Long Beach. You know folks from L.A. make a distinct difference between the two *laughs*.

LARRENWONG: Aaah, Long Beach, okay, okay.

HNHH: But, being from the Bay, it's such a place rich in musical history. How has that influenced the direction you wanted to go with your sound?

LARRENWONG: Oh, man, that's the reason—me being from the Bay, it's a blessing and a curse. You know, you're exposed to a lot of culture and a lot of sound and a lot of ways of doing things. But, I guess the more understated side of that same coin is…how am I going to say this? You can limit yourself. You know, you can limit yourself. That's a whole other tangent though.

How did the Bay help shape my sound? You know, I grew up listening to a bunch of indie music, a lot of independent music. I didn't really start getting hip to like, major releases and keeping up with it until later in my life. So, just that gritty feel, that DIY approach to music, and just every aspect of it, I've really taken that to heed. I grew up listening to a lot of Mac Dre a lot of Mobb music. A lot of just, regional music. If you listen, I put little Easter eggs in my music, little hints. If you listen to it deep enough, you might be able to hear it. 

"I grew up listening to a bunch of indie music, a lot of independent music. I didn't really start getting hip to like, major releases and keeping up with it until later in my life. So, just that gritty feel, that DIY approach to music, and just every aspect of it, I've really taken that to heed."

And I try to have a global appeal. You know, with my music, I want anybody to be able to listen to it. However, I do think it's important to pay on my homage and show respect to where you from sonically.

HNHH: I hear it sometimes—this is probably on your tangent. But, people get really wrapped up into having a Bay sound or an L.A. sound or a West Coast sound. Then, they just can't get out of that trap.

LARRENWONG: Bay sound, Bay business model, Bay everything. It's like…it's very, it's almost DIY to a fault. Yeah.

HNHH: And everybody gets in the exact same loop. It's interesting, it's an interesting observation. I did want to know what's a piece of advice that you received from someone in music that you've held onto and applied. Something kept close to the vest, and you just think about. Who did it come from? If anything, if not, that’s okay.

LARRENWONG: Oh, there's a great, there is a great piece of advice. I don't know how real I want to get *laughs*. I think one of the best pieces of advice is that I learned—I mean, you always hear this, but I actually learned. This, I learned it from somebody who, I respect their opinion on these type of things. So this artist, she had taught me how to surf like a few years back. We're there, and there's this dude, like this paparazzi looking dude pop up. He appears with a big old camera. And that's her friend. She was dapping them up and telling them where to be and everything.

It just got me hip to the fact that, like, everything that we see is crafted. Or like—yeah, pretty much crafted. Like, the chances that something is just happening spontaneously, given all the resources at stake, is highly unlikely. So, keeping that in mind and just thinking, just understanding perception. That's really, that's the crux of it all, just like perception is reality.

HNHH: Oh, that kind of leads into my last question. I ask it to everybody. But as we were just talking about, everything really in entertainment is an illusion, right? And especially with you being a professional athlete to music, there are people see you and have an expectation of who they think you are based on the status or celebrity or fame or visibility that you have. They might meet you and based on what they see online, they think they know who you are. What is something about you as a human being and as a person, that when that veil of celebrity illusion is removed, those expectations and what people think they know about you, when all of that is removed, what is something about yourself that not many people get to see?

LARRENWONG: Man, that not many people get to see? I guess, I'm just a regular person. I don't know if I want to say that. But, I'm a human and I have self doubts. I struggle with the same stuff everybody struggles with.

HNHH: Yeah, most people say, I’m just like everyone else.

LARRENWONG: Yeah, literally, I'm just like everybody else. You know, I just have good self talk. I believe in myself. 

HNHH: Oooh, that's good. 

LARRENWONG: I mean, I think that alone makes me not like everybody else. I feel like a lot of people don't—most people don't believe in themselves. Well, I don’t know how true that is.

HNHH: They believe in themselves but don’t have good self talk.

LARRENWONG: You feel me? But no, I'm trying to think of a good answer. Like, what could I say that? I'm trying to relate. I'm trying to relate *laughs*.

HNHH: *Laughs* It’s okay! 

LARRENWONG: I'm here thinking about my life and sh*t, *laughs*. Football, going on tour…I’m like, you're kind of unrelatable.

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HNHH: Well, it's just, I ask everyone, because I can come in here and I can talk to you. It's going to be another thing where people will read it and they'll partner it with what they see on your Instagram. What you do on your Tiktok or on whatever else is going on. It'll just be another piece of a puzzle of the illusion. What is it about who you are that people don’t often get to see because of the fact that they are stumbling through the smoke and mirrors? And if that’s just being a regular person—

LARRENWONG: Aaah, okay, I got you. Um, I mean, that's tough, because I feel like it has been crafted, but it's been pretty authentic up until this point. But, yeah, I'm just a regular person. I have self doubts. I struggle with all that just like anyone else.

Make sure you stream LARRENWONG’s 4th & Long EP, out today, March 7. Also, keep up with him on socials: @larrenwong.