Rise & Grind: Young Rog Breaks Down Why He Signed With Shelley FKA DRAM & LVRN

Rise & Grind is a new editorial series, meant to introduce and dissect new, buzzing, or underground artists.

LVRN Records have quickly positioned themselves as the record-label-to-watch, at least when it comes to rising voices in the r'n'b and alt-hip-hop space. While they have a pointedly cool selection of both rappers and singers on the imprint, their stranglehold on new-age r'n'b is perhaps what sets them apart the most: from Summer Walker, their flagship artist, to 6lack, to the latest singing-voice on the highly-curated roster: Young Rog. Lest we forget, LVRN also has a management arm where they have a few notable singing-names too: Shelley FKA DRAM and dvsn among them.

Now, speaking of Shelley: it seems to somehow makes sense then, that Young Rog is actually jointly-signed to both Shelley's imprint, WAVER, as well as LVRN Records. The artist shares a homestate of Virginia with Shelley, whom he signed to first, before Shelley connected the dots with LVRN and then, Interscope for the budding Rog. 

After a smattering of records, including the lead single "Bullshit" with labelmate Summer Walker, Young Rog finally debuted his first project-- although not his debut album-- titled Boy Next Door on Friday. With the album now in rotation, and making an appearance on our R&B SEASON playlist, we hopped online to catch up with Young Rog. 

Stay tuned for a new installment of Rise & Grind every Monday.

"My stomping grounds is Newport News, Virginia. I lived in Hampton for a little bit, Norfolk, and a little bit in Williamsburg but I mostly grew up in Newport News."

My zodiac sign is Aries.

Just being alive everyday and being able to continue my journey, I already feel like I obtained my dreams

Weirdest studio habit is not caring who is in the room and just going all out and not caring what I say either. I don't care if I sound stupid on the track, chances are I already go harder than you so it doesn't matter.

[As far as] essentials: the beat has to be right, and autotune has to be right. I need my area to be focused and everyone needs to know the importance of what's going down. 

On "The Boy Next Door," I produced the “Bullshit” record and a few others on the project. I'm going to produce more of my records soon as I'm learning more instruments like the bass guitar, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, and keys right now.

I already had the song done and the team thought it would be a good idea to have Summer Walker on the track. We put her on the second verse and it was a very cohesive collaboration.

Summer Walker is very cool. She's dope and can sing her ass off. Meeting her in real life was cool and is definitely an amazing woman.

“I'm On My New Sh*t,” “Stole Your B*tch,” and “You See Touring In That Foreign Whips”… I don't know what the f*** I was talking about. Those were a few of my first songs and I actually produced the beat.

My first performance was at a show in Virginia Beach and I got to perform one of my favorite songs at the time which was “Think I’m Flexin.” I also produced the beat for that as well. 

I like to smoke weed. During my off-time, I just smoke a lot of weed.

Next goal is to make as many connections as possible. I’m really thankful for this opportunity because it shows me that people care whether it's for good reasons or not -- thank you for picking my brain.

You are signed to Shelley FKA DRAM’S Waver imprint as well as LVRN correct - how does that work for you, what does that mean for you structurally - business-wise - and creatively? 

Well, all together, they’ve helped me become the person that I want to be, which is a successful music artist, and with the management and backing of LVRN, Waver Records, and Interscope. It’s just the structure they have in place to do anything possible.

Which deal or opportunity came first? 

Well, the opportunity to sign with Waver Records and Shelley FKA DRAM was what came first, and then Shelley took me to LVRN and then we solidified it with Interscope.

Why do you think both Shelley and LVRN make sense for you as an artist?

Shelly is from Virginia and LVRN is a Black culture label so being an R&B artist, it fits because we're number one in Black culture as far as music goes. Waver Records is Shelley’s label and he’s from Virginia so I killed two birds with one stone to solidify a team. 

What’s your relationship like with Shelley?

That’s the bro. He always checks up on me. He gives me advice and creative ideas for me to grow as a person, so he’s like my big bro.

What’s the vibe like with LVRN? 

LVRN is crazy! They do so much of everything...I like to pay attention to greatness and they say that your five closest friends show the trajectory of where you're going so to watch them and learn at the same time and to know that they’re working to help me get to where I want to be is eye opening.

I’m actually not familiar with the apparent viral billboard moment you had last year - for the new fans and those unfamiliar with the billboard, can you walk us through what this was all about, how you set it up, and the aftermath/response to it? Was there an actual impact on your career, in a sense?(numbers-boosted or otherwise?)

The billboard was just to promote my music that was coming and my project The Boy Next Door. I was able to tap in with my fans first hand. It also boosted my career because people are feeling like they can get in contact with me. I just want to be able to reach out and touch the people in any way I can and with the billboard that was like a big gesture.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CQMSzRAMKFS

You seem to run with this comparison of yourself to Roger from “Sister Sister” - can you speak on this a little bit?

My name is Roger and they had a show called Sister Sister and they had a guy named Roger and that show was very big. The character was like a hopeless romantic and basically, he's a spitting image of me... Not necessarily ugly, but also can't get the cute girl he wants… Roger was like me, I don't get any girls.

Why do you relate to him? 

I relate to Roger because he definitely knows what it’s like to be a “Roger” in this society. Roger is like the ‘boy next door.’ The similarity between Roger and I is that I can't stop until I find the one that I love and there's nothing in between me finding it.

When did this comparison start?

It started when I was a young kid and everyone used to say “Go home Roger” and that was at the time Sister Sister was out.

Did you Summer Walker get any other records done together, or have any ideas in the works?

Not necessarily -- whatever happens, happens. I don't really know too much about the future so I don't like to speak on what it’ll possibly hold but one day we can work on new music. 

With Freddie Gibbs being the only proper rapper featured on the project - it begs the question - why him? How did you connect?

My homie Domo, my manager, had the connection for Freddie to get on one of my records and made it happen. His verse on "Organized Chaos" was tough.

What’s your personal favorite song off Boy Next Door and why?

One of my favorite songs off The Boy Next Door is "Calling Calling" because that song was a lot of inspiration from my Virginia background. My homegirl Cora the artist was the inspiration behind it.

Stream Young Rog's Boy Next Door here.