Loud Magazine: How did you get started in music?
Ray Rogerss: I would have to say that the love of hip-hop from my parents is what got me started, it's all they would play and growing up I was always around it also watching music videos. It just naturally became a daily part of my life.
Loud Magazine: What inspired you to become a musician?
Ray Rogerss: I got a drum machine for Christmas one year because at first I wanted to make beats, but it wasn't as easy as I thought it would be, and I wasn't that good at it. Just being in the studio every day in High School with my cousins and friends is when I first got on the microphone after them telling me, "hey you're in here every day with us and all you gonna do is watch" and that's when I fell in love with the art of rapping.
Loud Magazine: Can you tell us a bit about your background and upbringing?
Ray Rogerss: I was born and raised in La Puente, CA. For those that don't know, it's 20 minutes east of downtown Los Angeles. I also lived in New York for a few years. I have a really big family full of talented hip-hop artists and R&B singers. We even made a mixtape entitled: "How The West Won - Vol.1" released in 2020, right before the pandemic hit. It was truly a family affair, 18 songs, just me and my cousins. https://open.spotify.com/album/2QJl0EcH9oldno1QSrMokh?si=GAVbBfd2T-uOZBBkf9cFLQ
Loud Magazine: What's your favorite memory related to music?
Ray Rogerss: My favorite memory related to music would be waiting in line for CDs to come out. The whole experience was next level, being a fan of an artist and supporting their album was a thing. I couldn't wait to get home and listen to it, also knowing there were features from other artists on it as well. It's basically the element of surprise.
Loud Magazine: What's your biggest passion outside of music?
Ray Rogerss: Right now, my only passion is music; it's all I do every day. It consumes my life if I'm not recording, I'm performing, or planning for future releases. I'm also deep into the business of music as I record under my own label, "All Money Good Money, LLC aka "AMGM". Just knowing how things operate, the different revenue streams, the legal parts of the business, and as one of the owners of AMGM, it's my responsibility to know these things and be armed with the knowledge to execute, as I am not the only artist on the label. But I do like going out to eat and trying new foods.
Loud Magazine: How do you stay motivated and inspired?
Ray Rogerss: What keeps me motivated and inspired is knowing I have people who listen to what I have to say and they like it, and the fact that the masses will like it once presented to them. It's just time as I take my rightful place in the world and culture of Hip-Hop, and my story is told.
Ray Rogerss: I would have to say that the love of hip-hop from my parents is what got me started, it's all they would play and growing up I was always around it also watching music videos. It just naturally became a daily part of my life.
Loud Magazine: What inspired you to become a musician?
Ray Rogerss: I got a drum machine for Christmas one year because at first I wanted to make beats, but it wasn't as easy as I thought it would be, and I wasn't that good at it. Just being in the studio every day in High School with my cousins and friends is when I first got on the microphone after them telling me, "hey you're in here every day with us and all you gonna do is watch" and that's when I fell in love with the art of rapping.
Loud Magazine: Can you tell us a bit about your background and upbringing?
Ray Rogerss: I was born and raised in La Puente, CA. For those that don't know, it's 20 minutes east of downtown Los Angeles. I also lived in New York for a few years. I have a really big family full of talented hip-hop artists and R&B singers. We even made a mixtape entitled: "How The West Won - Vol.1" released in 2020, right before the pandemic hit. It was truly a family affair, 18 songs, just me and my cousins. https://open.spotify.com/album/2QJl0EcH9oldno1QSrMokh?si=GAVbBfd2T-uOZBBkf9cFLQ
Loud Magazine: What's your favorite memory related to music?
Ray Rogerss: My favorite memory related to music would be waiting in line for CDs to come out. The whole experience was next level, being a fan of an artist and supporting their album was a thing. I couldn't wait to get home and listen to it, also knowing there were features from other artists on it as well. It's basically the element of surprise.
Loud Magazine: What's your biggest passion outside of music?
Ray Rogerss: Right now, my only passion is music; it's all I do every day. It consumes my life if I'm not recording, I'm performing, or planning for future releases. I'm also deep into the business of music as I record under my own label, "All Money Good Money, LLC aka "AMGM". Just knowing how things operate, the different revenue streams, the legal parts of the business, and as one of the owners of AMGM, it's my responsibility to know these things and be armed with the knowledge to execute, as I am not the only artist on the label. But I do like going out to eat and trying new foods.
Loud Magazine: How do you stay motivated and inspired?
Ray Rogerss: What keeps me motivated and inspired is knowing I have people who listen to what I have to say and they like it, and the fact that the masses will like it once presented to them. It's just time as I take my rightful place in the world and culture of Hip-Hop, and my story is told.
Loud Magazine: What's your favorite song to play live?
Ray Rogerss: My favorite song to perform at this moment is "Come and See", it's the great feedback I get from the song after the performance, whether it's old fans or new fans, they tell me they like that song a lot.
Loud Magazine: What's your creative process like when writing songs?
Ray Rogerss: My creative process when writing songs is I like to watch sports highlights while going through beats, then if I'm feeling the track, I just start writing. Sometimes I may only get one verse and have to come back to it a couple of weeks later, and sometimes the whole song gets done. It's basically my mood and what's going on around the time I am writing new songs that dictate what they're about, but I don't follow trends; I stay true to who I am.
Loud Magazine: Do you have a favorite album or artist that influences your work?
Ray Rogerss: "Pilot Talk" by Curren$y, it was the start of the "Pilot Talk Trilogy". The production and flows on those albums were really dope, and it allowed me to study song structure from them, as there is a method to the madness of writing songs; you can't just freestyle everything.
Loud Magazine: What's the most challenging part of being a musician?
Ray Rogerss: The most challenging part of being a musician is breaking through all the noise, there are so many scammers out there looking to rip aspiring artists of every genre off. What I mean by that is paying for services and not having the service that you're paying for rendered. It's what I hate most about this business, and it will definitely happen at some point in an artist's career. Having a formula and sticking to it when things are not going as planned also plays a big role, which can cause self-doubt. But make no mistakes, Ray Rogerss and AMGM are here to stay!!
