An Interview with CronusTheRapper and Dayze
Dami: What inspired y’all to start making music?
Cronus: I started with music when I was in youth choir in 3rd grade. Then around my 11th birthday, I got a guitar and that sparked a passion to learn how to play it so I taught myself how to play. I ended up making connections with a local community group called Magic Bus Spokane, and we played covers raising money and items for charity. That and growing up listening to music that helped me through hard times has led to this passion that I wanna make impactful music, that I can then help out my community and other communities via charity or even just making sure my music helps that person not pull the trigger and hurt themselves. As a teen, I suffered a lot with depression and suicidal thoughts and music helped me out of it.
Dayze: I was always a big fan of singing along with music growing up listening to bands like Journey, The Eagles, and Bon Jovi. And then more recently, I started singing and creating my own music because of modern hip-hop like Juice WRLD, XXXTENTACION, and Trippie Redd. In high school, I started by making hip-hop beats then, about a year into it, I started with vocals. I feel like my style is a blend of those mixed in with 2000's pop making an ethereal type blend of genres I find entertaining.
Dami: How did y’all meet and what led to y’all making music in the first place?
Cronus: Shit that’s a good question. If I remember correctly, we met on TikTok I believe; either I commented on one of his videos or he commented on one of mine, and we got to chatting, became friends, and started working on music. I think this friendship grew out of the love for the art that we both share and I couldn’t have a better homie to work with. At the start of the year, we worked on over 100 projects before the first 2 months were over. I feel we bring that hardworking effort out of each other like rivals but rivals that are friends if that make sense. We try to push each other to make better and better work on some Goku and Vegeta type shit. And as far as making music in the first place, we bonded over the same passion and he invited me to rap on a project of his named Alone Until the End and from there, we have collaborated on multiple projects.
Dayze: Just like Cronus said, we met through TikTok and after that, we just connected through the art. I’d say without Cronus, most of the music I’ve made and connections I have wouldn’t be there, so I have to give big props to him.
Dami: How much would y’all say y’all have grown artistically since your first release?
Cronus: I have grown significantly since my first release was a rock album that only 2 songs ever got released. My style over the years has molded into more immaculate double entendres, better storytelling, and way better sound but I am nowhere to where I want to be. There is still more growth to be made but I can say I’m finally creating my sound and style.
Dayze: Since my first main platform release, I'd say my main growth has been through me experimenting with my voice and how I can combine different genres with this ethereal, pop-infused rap that I have. This caused significant growth, giving me the confidence to now produce over 90% of my instrumentals.
Dami: How would y’all describe your sounds now?
Cronus: These years of production and practicing and perfecting my craft has now helped me create all of my beats and instrumentals. I rap and sing on and it has also given me the confidence to play multiple shows including a festival this summer. I would describe my current sound as a mixture of boom bap, lyrical fast rap and melodic harmonies. My sound changes a little on every album. At The Homefront was a mixture of house EDM and rap where we blended them together in a way that we could tell a heartfelt emotional story while still making your head bop. My lyrical flow and cadence has led me to be able to create many double and triple entendres and the ability to have different flows all in the same verse.
Dayze: My current sound is a blend of subtleties from as many genres as I can take from, creating an ethereal sound mixed with rap, singing, and rock inspired vocals, all with lyrical content comparable to hip-hop entendres. My next solo album is going to try to introduce another genre into the mix, that being inspired by a certain popular artist in the 1940s and 50s.
Dami: Who are your biggest inspirations?
Cronus: Eminem, Black Rob, Royce Da 5'9, Method Man, Nas, 2PAC, Biggie, ODB, Ludacris, Tech N9NE, King Iso (My Fav Rapper), Krizz Kalico, Lil Wayne, XXXTENTACION, Ski Mask, 50 Cent, and many more but those are the main ones.
Dayze: Juice WRLD, Trippie Redd, XXXTENTACION, Journey, The Eagles, Bon Jovi, and more recently YNG Martyr, ThatMexicanOT, and GAWNE. There are tons more.
Dami: Y’all dropped a joint project titled “At the Homefront”. Can you tell us more about it?
Dayze: At the Homefront started as an experiment to see if we could create a single track that was house and EDM-inspired while also being dark and gritty rap, telling very dark stories while also sounding upbeat. It also plays on the home aspect being as home is most peoples safe space, whereas it’s not like that for everyone. We took that single track and expanded on it to create the album, helping both of us in the process and hopefully helping listeners.
Cronus: At the Homefront is a passion project where we talk about domestic violence in the home so we took that deeper and made it house EDM and named it At the Homefront because domestic violence, abuse, drugs being around you as a kid can feel like a warzone. This project was something that helped me a lot with past trauma and issues and being able to make this album helped me heal.
Dami: Can you explain more on this?
Cronus: Growing up, my mother was severely hooked on drugs and alcohol and didn’t exactly make sure the wrong people weren’t around and because of that negligence, I was sexually assaulted when I was 5 from someone she was using drugs with. I also dealt with abuse and violence from her boyfriends such as being hit, having my head smashed into things like walls and counters. During my teenage years, I still didn’t know how to deal with that stuff and I attempted a couple times but right when I was about to fully commit, I’d hear a song that would bring me back like breathe life back into me. Music to me was my only escape from all of that and if I can help even one person going through that, I would feel complete.
Dami: What was the creative process like for the album?
Cronus: Dayze and I started with the title track The Homefront and all the passion and emotion we put into that song; we were like let’s try and make a whole album. Me and him got on video call and talked about an idea for the song; whether it would be upbeat or sad and we would try to craft to that idea. After the beat would be made, we would start writing almost immediately before moving onto the next song. In one night, we managed to finish 5 songs on the album. The whole album took us less than a month to complete.
Dayze: The album itself came together very quickly because we both understood and lived the topics of the album. The mixing and mastering, on the other hand, took around 5x as long as the recording process just because we wanted to get the sounds we knew we could get with this album, and personally I am extremely proud of how it has turned out.
Dami: What’s next for y’all after this album?
Cronus: Next for me is a show in August where we are opening for Dizzy Wright and Mac Lethal. After that, I’m releasing a solo album where I’m going to be even more lyrical, and I’m going to be touching on more of my life. And I got some singles releasing this year too.
Dayze: After the album, we have a show planned to play 5 of the songs for Rappin the Rivers music festival in Cardwell, Montana in August. After our show, I plan on diving more into releasing my back catalogue of singles while the next solo album is in production.
Dami: When making music, where do y’all grab inspiration from?
Cronus: My personal life and experience or stuff I witness other people going through. I also get inspired by other musicians and friends of mine like Dayze; we work really well together and we bounce ideas off each other really well. Another thing that inspires me is the thought that my music can touch and help people who are going through it and help them see the light. Whether it be through shared trauma or connecting with people who feel alone because I don’t want anyone to feel alone.
Dayze: My biggest source of inspiration is through hearing people’s stories, relating them to my situation and life, and finding how to bridge that gap in lyrical format. I'd say this is why I tend to like doing features quite a bit because I love having concepts to work from.
Dami: Any more collab work from y’all in the near future?
Cronus: We have a lot of collabs in the future and another huge project aimed for 2025 and he’s gonna be featured on my next album too. We together run a management company named Rock and the Hound
Dayze: I know for a fact that we have many more collabs we've worked on in the background, so I have a feeling they will make their way out either as singles or on other solo albums from me or Cronus in the near future. As far as collab albums, we are still in concept stage so I can't say too much.
Dami: Where do y’all see yourselves 5 years from now?
Cronus: Touring and doing what I love- making music and helping people. In 5-10 years, I wanna do some charity drives and help out the community and I wanna be able to tour the country and the world being able to touch the hearts and minds of more people.
Dayze: In five years, I see us strictly focused on our artistic expressions whether that be music, touring, books, and other artistic passions we find ourselves in. Just creating art for others to find a form of their own self-expression in.
Dami: What do y’all hope to achieve this year?
Cronus: I hope I can play more shows this year and next year, and grow my fan base more. I also wanna get more connections with other artists and musicians, and just grow this collective of like-minded artists. I want to set the end of this year up so that next year goes smooth.
Dayze: I would say this year I want to be more active with my listeners and be able to relate more with how I hold myself and the music I create.
Check out their new project here
