Seasoned player and lyricist, YORKO hails from LIAB (Lightning In A Bottle). The breadth and depth of his experience stem from his raw and fresh beginnings off Soundcloud where he developed a following on his own. This led to his signing under LIAB. Excelsior is his first full-length release and also serves as a warm embrace by contemporary hip-hop purveyors just like him — WYP, Calix, and SHNTI to bring a few.
Yorko shared a few words with us on how things have been for him now that he’s gotten a larger stake on the claim to fame than the few years ago when all of it was still in the making. From the creation process, to the notes of inspiration, cohorts and associates, he offers snippets into his world of music-making.
What’s a consistent source of inspiration for your songs?
The people I’ve met, the places I’ve been, the experiences I face, and the situations that I get into. You know, just living — living and feeling.
How would you describe your blend of music?
Right now, I’m in the middle of trying out new things so I still don’t know what to call it. Lately I’ve been singing and adding melodies to my shit, while keeping the writing process as intricate as I always do.
I’ve long dropped that ‘90s emcee from Brooklyn facade that I was known for during my time with Kartell’em, and currently trying to birth this ‘lovechild’ of a style, with hip-hop as the daddy, and the baby mama’s every other genre that made me feel something at a point in time. It’s something I can’t describe as of now, but if I’m going to put it in to words, it’s something you wouldn’t expect out of a guy like me.
What got you to be signed under LIAB studios? What makes them so special?
Well, for one, I’ve known the people behind LIAB for the longest time and we’ve been with each other for a lot of phases in life. We’ve been through thick and thin and we continue pushing and carrying each other in our endeavors and aspirations—that and the fact that everyone on the team is very amazing on what we do whenever something calls for our skills. There’s a deep sense of trust, brotherhood, and love in our relationship, all the while maintaining professionalism. All I know is I feel I’m bound for something great when I work with my people.
What’s your goal with every track?
It’s for my songs to make people feel whatever it is they want to feel. I treat my songs as if they are paintings—open to personal interpretation from anybody. I also want my work to get people to think, and from that I want them to acknowledge the intimacy between the music and the listener and form a connection with it.
In a way, it’s like a warm welcome to my world. It’s one thing to make people dance or mosh around you when you perform live, and it’s another to make them feel my very presence when they’re listening to my songs—alone in their room, earphones on, window open during the rain or clear skies.
What’s the best way to find the right hook for a track? Best way to spruce new ideas?
‘Best’ is subjective. It’s different for everyone, really. It isn’t the same blueprint for every artist. Everyone must find their own thing to make their work stand out. The easy, but not best way for an artist to do so, is to ride these trends that everyone is going with, but for me, that only makes your music timely—which is good, but it’s only ‘good’ as far as the word goes. If one wants to do ‘great,’ they should pave their own way onto making something timeless.
Take into account everything you do on the daily. Whether you stay at home and be on your phone all day, or you go out and experience life, to me, there isn’t really much of a difference. Now, I’m not trying to justify laziness, but at some point, it comes down to what you feel like doing, and go along with that. From minuscule movements to seize-the-day shit, all of it is ink to the pen and a hum to a melody. Just don’t forget to write that shit down and be sure to record it. Music is about everything and anything.
Any projects we should be on the lookout for?
There’s gonna be a Yorko & Ruiijikun project in the near future and it’s going be something. Also, we LIAB artists have been cooking up something at the studio on the regular, so y’all better watch out for that.
Sound Fiesta is in collaboration with Playhouse Studio for video production and Kindred Productions for audio management. This video was shot in The Astbury, Aspace, Makati City.
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