Rob Cave: On Everything I Love
by Molaundo Jones
Check out Rob performing "Shallow Pockets” from his album "On Everything I Love"
I first met Rob in London in 2010 at a bar in Shoreditch. I was a painter fresh out of graduate school and had always wanted to experience what it felt like to live and work in Europe as an artist. I never left home without my pocket videocamera and documented much of my experience in London’s creative communities. While I was loving the newness of everything, I did struggle a bit with the small cultural differences that proved to be a much bigger deal than anticipated. After a couple of months I really missed my friends and what was home at the time- the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bedford Stuyvesant (where Clever began). I think it was Okayplayer where I first heard the song and saw the video for “Bed-Stuy,” Rob’s single under the moniker Spec Boogie.
The vibe of the song and the video’s visuals transported me home every time I listened to it. Rob gained an instant fan. Fast-forward just a few weeks after my first listen and I cross paths with him through mutual friends in London. We hung out that whole evening and again when his Lessondary Crew collaborators Tanya Morgan came to town to perform at the now-closed Favela Chic. I got them all to get busy in a freestyle cypher on video after the performance and it was one of my fondest memories from my stint as a Londoner.
A decade later Rob takes the trip from Bed-Stuy to reconnect in Jersey City, New Jersey, at Clever’s new studio. We played catch up and he blessed the mic with a couple classics. Rob also sat down with us to talk about his new album “On Everything I Love, how he feels about the “new Brooklyn,” and his passion for giving young people guidance.
What was it like for you to live and work in Europe?
Oh, that was great for me actually. What you were going through when you heard “Bed-Stuy" was kind of the result of what I went through because, after the song was released, it really opened the world up to who I was. It was the first time I had fans in Europe who wanted to see me. So I created the demand for me to go out there. And it was just sort of talking about my hometown, you know. So that was dope.
What about being an artist in Europe was different from being an artist in the States?
The relationship between the artist and the fan feels different out there. I really liked that. I guess they appreciate the artist as a musician first and here you’re seen as a personality first. At least my crowds.
What was the inspiration for your new project?
Last year I returned to making music. After I'd lived abroad for a while, I came back and I wasn't really doing music. I was just kind of working privately doing advertising and Tanya Morgan, who are great friends of mine, were on a label called HipNott records. Really the only rapping I was doing was if they would call me and say, “Hey, can you give me a verse?” So I’d give them verses for whatever they were working on. And after a couple of times of doing that, the people heading HipNott contacted me to ask if I would like to work with them doing music again.
I didn’t know what would come out of it but they started sending me beats. The Other Guys who run the label (it's a production duo called The Other Guys) sent me beats. I would write to them and send them back like the same day, right away. We came out with an album or EP at the beginning of last year called “Word” and then at the end of last year I put out “On Everything I Love,” which is the second EP with my my bro Che Grand. He produced that whole thing. So it was like a yin and yang kind of thing with two EPs that showcases different parts of who I am. One was more cerebral and the other one was more emotional and visceral.
“Word” was like the straight bars. It was a lot of New York rap. On “Everything I Love,” it's more melodies and more jazzy melodic stuff and it showcased both without muddling up my project. I felt like I was introducing myself to people all over again, especially with the new name- I used to go by Spec Boogie and now it’s Rob Cave. So I wanted to showcase that it was more than just a new name. It was a whole new vibe. Because as Spec Boogie, my shit was more straight Boom Bap rap; you weren't going to get anything personal. I'm nice on the mic and that's it. You know what I mean? Now it's more just like a 360 degree view of life.
“I miss a lot about the old Brooklyn, but I try not to get too caught up in it because a lot of what I miss are romantic feelings about the past.”
What was the inspiration for the title “On Everything I Love”?
That's just some Brooklyn slang. I guess I wanted to keep it Brooklyn, but say something that really made the album make sense. If you weren't from Brooklyn and heard it, you might think, ‘Okay, that guy only cares about what he's talking about.’ But if you actually know the phrase then it means a whole different thing. A lot of things that we say in Brooklyn really depends on tone. If he says “You're good” in Brooklyn, it can mean 10 different things. You know what I mean? So it's kinda like that with “On Everything I Love” — it means something different if you know what I'm talking about. But if it doesn't, you still kind of get it. You still get something from it.
Who did you work with on this album?
My bro Che Grand did all the beats and Jack Davey from J*Davy has a hook on one of my favorite songs that I've ever done. It's called “Shallow Pockets.” She has a verse on it in and a bridge.
As a native Brooklynite, what do you like about the new Brooklyn and what do you miss about the old Brooklyn?
I miss a lot about the old Brooklyn, but I try not to get too caught up in it because like a lot of what I miss is just like romantic feelings about the past. I feel like it's a situation of like the baby got thrown out with the bath water. You know, there was lots of stuff that needed to change and needed to be improved. But then a lot of the flavor, a lot of the essence of what made Brooklyn what it is, it's just gone. It's generic. It’s so generic now, you know. But that's not to speak down on the young artists and young creatives who are still there, who are currently doing work. Maybe I'm a little out of touch, but the flavor is definitely not what it used to be.
Rob & Molaundo
I don't know if I'm out of touch or not, but I don't think like the next giant culture moving in is going to come from New York. It's going to come from wherever the people are, young and poor. You know what I mean? People come here cause shit is cool and then they sucked out all the cool. So even if cool shit comes from here, they're not going to look for it from here.
Brooklyn wasn't gentrified until the police made it safe for people to come. ‘Okay, let's make a stop and frisk and all that shit.’ You know what I mean? It wasn't just like, ‘I can't afford this place. I'm going to go to Bed-Stuy.’ They came around the same time with gentrification. It wasn't an accident. You know what I mean?
I was just talking to my boy the other day who just opened a new barber shop. So I went there to get cut and he used to cut hair in the barber shop that I grew up going to. It was called Head Hunters. They got priced out and shut down like five years ago and the place is still sitting there empty. You know, still got the barber shop sign on it! He's like, he tried to get the place, but they wouldn't let him get the place— they’re just still waiting for the highest bidder after five years. This place has just been sitting there. You know what the barber shop means for the community? That's the community center. That's where you go, not even to get a cut, just to see people in laugh and chill. You know, it was the most fun place. Yeah. It sucks. It's crazy.
Who are some of the newer artists that you’re listening to right now that people should know about?
I listen to a lot of music. Pink Siifu is one who I'm listening to a lot and he's really dope. I think he just moved to LA, but he was out here for a little bit. Real dope. And a young dude, Vasco, who I've known since last year. I'm going to work with him this year. He's really dope. He's from Uptown, New York. He's crazy. He's from Japan- an African-American kid who grew up in Japan. So he spits in both English and Japanese. He plays piano and is super talented.
“I feel like if I needed hip-hop to make a living, I would have a lot less love for it.”
Are there any advocacy-related issues that you’re passionate about?
I go to speak to kids at schools. As an adult working artist, I talk to kids about working in the arts. So that's like the biggest thing for me. The last 10 years I've been doing advertising and graphic design because I didn’t like the stuff in front of the camera. But you know, the only reason I really do the in-front-of-the-camera stuff is because, I guess, when I was young, hip hop was how I learned to express myself. So it’s still what I do. But as far as making a living, I feel like if I needed hip-hop to make a living, I would have a lot less love for it. I think art and commerce clashes but they are both necessary to live.
So my thing right now is just learn how to protect the shit you love. And if that means that you're not going to get accolades for it, that's fine. Because you know the stuff that's important is not the stuff that people see. I have these lessons. Some of the artists I named before, my phone is open to them. They call me, I call them, we talk because they're young. They’re still in that age where they're like, ‘I gotta get put on’ and you know, ‘I got to impress this person and that person’. I'm just like, ‘Nah, man.’ That wasn't true when I was that age. And it's especially not true now. You know what I mean? Because, through the internet, there are so many opportunities that you can just start something like right now without learning code.