John Reuben

Luckily for us, music is John Reuben’s primary obsession. At the same time, that also means that when things like NBA2K enter the picture, we go through spurts where we don’t hear from the creative force of Reuben’s hip-hop/pop approach.

We caught up with John recently to discuss his lack of updates and we found him in a period of writer’s block. That still didn’t keep him from letting us into his world through the hilarious and vulnerable and, as always, it’s just good to hear from the man himself.

SA: How many of these interviews are the same one right after the other?

John Reuben: I think early on every interview was the same because people just saw me as one guy. But over the years, you make enough music and people will ask about different things as far as what is behind the music. So I get very different types of interviews. I’m not sure if it’s that way for everybody or for whatever reason, for me…

SA: I was hoping you could speak to your own place in the music scene – a solo white guy making Christian hip-hop while writing intelligent, challenging lyrics on subjects many avoid. That’s quite a niche. Are these purposeful directions?

Reuben: There’s been a bit of both. There have been times I’ve been very intentional and there have been times where it’s been whatever I feel like doing. I don’t regret the intentional because it was a nice compromise for me so I can feel a little more informative … you know, you have a few things you do here and there that shape your music that allow you to have an avenue to pursue what you want to do later.

SA: Leverage?

Reuben: Absolutely! I’ve always been proud of the things I’ve done… for the most part. There are some things I can do without. There’s stuff I have written that is pretty ridiculous. But at this point, especially more than ever, I don’t have the energy to do anything that I don’t want to do. I don’t have the headspace to do anything else. Maybe in the past when you’re building something, you have that spark to study things and see cultural changes and do whatever. But at this point, it’s too taxing.

Now I just want to write the best songs I can write and stuff I feel really proud of. There’s still a little of that element of ‘maybe if I tweak this here and there, I can make it a little more accessible’ but for the most part… Wait, am I talking about accessibility? Was that the question? I’ll leave it on that note. [Laughs]

SA: Well, to go back to it for a second, some artists have a very clear route for their music. Their exact space on radio and store shelves is very obvious. Then there is your music…

Reuben: I’ve always been like that. I’ve always taken it as it comes. For better or worse, there’s probably some good and some bad in that. I’ve just never been able to map out the next five years of my life or this strategic plan. This is more instinct-based. You just kinda go with what you know.

SA: Are they hard waters to navigate? Because I would think that for a marketing team, just as an example, it would be hard to know how to properly handle a John Reuben CD. If a rock album comes along, it’s ‘we definitely have planned avenues for this and we plug in the band into this system and here we go.’ But for you, it’s different, at least I would think.

Reuben: Well, and as much as I love hip-hop, I wouldn’t say that’s what I am. I would say that I’m pop music. Pop music doesn’t always mean it’s accessible. I just think there are structures and verses and big hooks and I like big, catchy melodies. I’ve always liked that. So yeah, it’s weird because there is no home for me in that regard. I’m about a niche of a niche of a niche of a niche as you get to a certain degree. White rapper kind of, Christian…

SA: Midwestern.

Reuben: [Laughs] Midwestern! Yeah! I’ve got a lot of things that if you put it on a title, you would say, ‘This doesn’t sound very good at all. What in the world is this dude?’ But I think when people listen to the music, they get it. If you give it a chance, it makes sense. It’s really hard to explain. It really is. And I don’t want to be one of those guys that’s like, ‘it’s like nothing else out there.’ I would just say pop music. But because of the negative attachment to that, I have no idea how to classify it. [Laughs]

SA: It seems a like two-edged sword because it would be fun to be out there and being adventurous yet there’s no home like you said.

Reuben: It’s definitely like you said, but sometimes it’s also that you’re not Christian enough for Christian music but I feel I talk about everything I see the Lord doing in my own life and I feel they are all concepts for believers as much as non-believers. But you’re not Christian enough for this but not positive enough for that. It’s hard for the music I do because I think people lump it in with music for kids. I think some of the themes I talk about and explore are very much what’s going on for me as a 29-year-old, but I do love kids and I love the joy I get when I see 12-year-olds having the time of their life.

I also get a lot of joy playing campuses. So I’m all over the board and I’m finally learning how to bring it all together and have it make sense as what I do or that it is my sound. I think in the past you have these albums with one song over here where I’m doing hand motions that nobody can see… [Laughs] I guess I’m processing all this in this conversation.

SA: Being all over the place, what wells do you draw from for inspiration?

Reuben: Musically, I become obsessive and I will get on one artist and listen to it for four years. I’m not one of those guys chasing new music all the time. Once I love something, I love it and almost wear it out. Then people will play me different things and I will think, ‘Oh, this is it.’ So I will get stuck on a certain album.

SA: So what was that influence for Word of Mouth and what about now?

Reuben: There’s a soundtrack and I always forget the composer’s name but my wife likes him so we have more of his stuff, but it’s the Amelie soundtrack. We listen to that a lot. I was listening to old hip-hop albums like Tribe Called Quest and stuff like that…

SA: De La Soul?

Reuben: Yeah, De La Soul also. Something youthful that reminded me of another age. Also, I know it’s popular but I really, really, really enjoyed the Sufjan Stevens’ stuff. There’s so much there in one album that you can listen over and over and over to one seven minute song – there’s all these catchy hooks even if you don’t know what he’s talking about. And then I’ll also listen to the radio, too. I like some bad hip-hop. [Laughs]

SA: So where are you right now? It was hard to find any recent update for you this year…

Reuben: Hmmm… what have I been doing lately? Nothing, really. I’ve been writing. Been playing some camps. [Laughs] I go sit in Starbucks for four or five hours a day and write and read. I’ve been playing a ton of NBA2K. I’m obsessive, like I said. I get into it so much where I don’t even enjoy it anymore. I get to this point where I’m like, ‘I have to make another trade.’

SA: Do you get that way in the studio?

Reuben: Yeah, I used to. Now I get to the point where if I obsess too much, I know it won’t be good. So I just transfer the energy… [Laughs] On my second record, Todd Collins pointed out that on one song, I did 49 or 56 or some crazy number of one take of one verse. And we ended up using the second take. But I just kept saying, ‘I can do it again. I can do it again.’ I get these crazy fixations and it’s hard… I wash my hands too much. It’s just that kind of thing.

SA: Has it always been that way?

Reuben: Yeah, it used to be a lot worse. I’ve done a lot of praying about it.

SA: When you were a kid?

Reuben: Yeah.

SA: So no timeline right now?

Reuben: No timeline. I had a bit of writer’s block, so there’s no timeline now. But we have some really good songs that are almost finished. But hopefully I’ll get it done soon enough. Gotee is in a new place where they’re re-establishing themselves.

SA: Yeah they just declared their independence of sorts. How does that affect you as an artist?

Reuben: It’s pretty good. Obviously, it’s a good distribution to be with. But there’s a really neat attitude. It’s smaller. It’s really hard because a handful of friends ended up leaving the label – they had to trim things a bit. But it’s a neat renewal with their attitude and goals and motives. They’re committed to putting out stuff that they believe in.

SA: Did they warn you as an artist that it was going down?

Reuben: Yeah, they did. Again, I can’t tell you how cool the guys at the top are. Any frustrations you hear about certain things not being in stores or when certain albums get lost in the shuffle or in transition from others, I’ve never had that. I’ve never had weird pressure to write in a certain way. If anything, I add that pressure at times. I remember Toby Mac telling me a long time ago, ‘One thing I never want to hear come out of my artists’ mouth is that the label made me do something.’

SA: That’s an amazing freedom.

Reuben: It’s huge. It’s huge, you know? It’s very solid. I’m grateful for my circumstances.

• www.johnreuben.com
• www.myspace.com/johnreuben

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#1 MattConner.net » Blog Archive » S-A Interview: John Reuben on August 7th, 2008 at 1:22 pm

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