Valee is one of the most original rappers out today. The 30-year-old recording artist from Chicago is very likely your favorite rapper's favorite rapper and it's all bubbled up to that point so quickly. He wants to create music that just sounds different, working hard in the studio to stand out from the norm. With so many artists striving to fit in these days, Valee has taken it upon himself to be the anti-norm, crafting unique flows, spitting one-of-a-kind bars and just generally being a solid alternative to the mainstream trap approach. When he signed onto G.O.O.D. Music, Valee was still relatively unknown and now, he's very clearly on the rise.
Continuing the new season of On The Come Up, we invited Valee to stop by the office to chat about how he got to this stage. Growing up in a few different areas on the South Side of Chicago, the young man was carefree as a child. He tells us about how he was only interested in exploring the neighborhood, riding his bike around and seeing new sights. Music only hit him later on. In high school, he started getting into some of the hottest beats on the market, tuning into Cash Money, Project Pat and whoever was rapping over some crazy instrumentals. That's always been important for him. His obsession with Cash Money turned into a fascination with Mannie Fresh, as he described to us. "When I was into music, when I was playing loud music in my room, Cash Money was pretty much everything," he said. "When I got into music, I was happy every time they dropped new music because I couldn't wait to hear what it sounded like. And like I said, they pick nice beats. I like Mannie Fresh - he was producing most of the stuff."
Considering his close working relationship with ChaseTheMoney, it's no surprise that Valee has always been interested in production. He knows how vital it is for a song to have a dope beat and he's making sure that he finds the best creators in the game to collaborate with. Speaking on how he signed to G.O.O.D. Music, Valee notes that Young Chop had played Kanye West some of his songs before the ink was dry. "It's hard to explain but they had been hearing about me," said the rapper about the label. It really shouldn't come as much of a surprise that Ye managed to swoop in to find the strongest rising talent in Chicago for his own group.
While some critics love to bash on G.O.O.D. Music for seemingly forgetting about the vast talent on their roster, Valee actually loves the chances he's been afforded through Kanye West & Co. "The dopest thing about being on G.O.O.D. Music probably is the freedom that I feel I have," says the recording artist. "I can just work and put something out as long as it just sounds great to me."
With G.O.O.D. Music having an outstanding campaign in 2018, Valee is hoping to continue the blessings this year. He's got a couple of projects lined up before the end of 2019 and his goal is to make them sound different from anything you've ever heard before. Stay tuned for more music from Valee this year because he's definitely somebody to look out for. Watch his new interview with us above and be sure to peep our official On The Come Up playlist below.
