The Journey of Engineer and Rapper Rex Novi

 Join us as we sit down with producer and rapper Rex Novi to explore his journey as an artist. From his creative process to the experiences that have shaped his career, Rex shares the passion, challenges, and dedication behind his music. Tune in for an engaging conversation about artistry, perseverance, and the road to pursuing a career in music. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hello, hello, hello. Welcome in everyone. I am so happy to interview Rex Novi and to get to know you and just dive into your journey. So the way we like to start every podcast is we start by reading the Yogi T message that's on the um the end. So what does it yours say?

SPEAKER_00 0:24

Mine says, use your head to live with heart.

SPEAKER_01 0:28

Wow. I had never received that one or heard that one before. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 0:32

First time.

SPEAKER_01 0:33

Do you have any thoughts on that?

SPEAKER_00 0:35

Um that's kind of how I already live, I think. I like to um think a lot about stuff, think deeply about stuff, but also like trust my gut, go with that instinct.

SPEAKER_01 0:49

So doesn't our gut have neurons in it?

SPEAKER_00 0:54

Does your gut have neurons in it?

SPEAKER_01 0:56

Yeah, I know our stomach does, right? Our heart. Our heart has neurons. Yeah, our heart has neurons in it. So actually you could think, like you can think with your heart. And then yeah, so that's interesting too. Yeah. So what set you along on your artistic journey? What set you along on your creative journey? Because um, you are also you are a you are a singer, and you know you're a rapper, and you also um are an engineer. So can you tell us a little bit about how you got started along your journey?

SPEAKER_00 1:31

Um initially um came from a pretty musical family. They weren't musicians themselves, but just big music lovers. Um, there's a lot of cookouts and dances and soul train lines, and um, I'm from Memphis, which is also a very musical city. And my grandma was a blues guitarist. So there was always music around me. Um as I got older, I joined band, started playing drums, and at that same time, a lot of people around me were also musicians.

SPEAKER_02 2:05

Right.

SPEAKER_00 2:06

And I kind of just absorbed it. Uh, one of my good friends was like our local school rapper, and I wanted to hang out with him and just figure out how it all worked. He had a studio in his room and he was touring and doing a lot for like 14, 15. So I was really impressionable at that age. He was like on blogs, like this is like prime mixtape era hip-hop. And he was making waves, kind of satellited my way in there.

SPEAKER_01 2:34

That's cool. That's inspirational. Yeah, music uh coming having a background where you have family that appreciates music, so you're surrounded by it and like immersed in it, and then having an experience like that and to just continue to grow is awesome. So, recently, right now, you have a an EP out that you just released called Prologue. Can you tell us about that and the making of that and the inspiration behind it?

SPEAKER_00 3:02

Sure. So I started to work on a project like seven or eight years ago. I thought it would be out by now. It is like 90% done. It's been 90% done for a while. And the beginning of this year, 2025, I was like, I want to get out more, I want to do open mics, I want to meet people. And as I was doing that, everybody was asking me, like, what can I find your music? Like, do you have anything online? Do you have Spotify? And I had nothing. The project was nowhere closer to being done at that point. So I was like, let me make a new project just to kind of get the ball rolling, give people some to listen to. And I treated Prologue more like a sampler, so it's kind of just like a showcase of what I sound like and how my music sounds and my process. And so it was a good introduction, I think.

SPEAKER_01 3:58

So yes, so yes, it is it is a very good introduction. And um to say that you didn't you weren't searchable, because I Googled you and you came right up and it was like very organized. Um, it had your it has your bio, it has your music, it has like all everything. So is it from the website?

SPEAKER_00 4:20

It's or just Google like the search.

SPEAKER_01 4:22

I just Google search here.

SPEAKER_00 4:23

Oh wow, okay. So I've I've been around the Atlanta scene for like 10 plus years.

SPEAKER_01 4:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:29

But mostly as an engineer, kind of playing the background role. And just hanging out in the studio, I would hop on songs with my friends or do a verse here, do a verse there. So I am on Spotify a couple of songs here and there, but I had never had like an official release of my own before prologue.

SPEAKER_01 4:45

Okay. That's really well, that's you have I will well let me say this to you is that since you just started and I can Google search you like that, and your names are just keep going, like you know, just keep releasing. I just actually would listen to an interview by Russ, and he gave the advice of releasing if you're an artist and you are serious, the minimum is releasing one thing one piece, one visual with one uh um musical piece a month.

SPEAKER_00 5:17

That should be your that should be your tall order for me, but yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:20

Yes, but you are an engineer, you you are you engineer your own music, so you kind of have that leg up over someone who does not know how to engineer, true, does not know how to mix, you know, and that's costly, so you have that up. So just like based off of the advice of Russ is just use what you have and put it out there, yeah. So yeah, because I I I like that, and you have really good sound too, so yeah, yeah, you're welcome.

SPEAKER_00 5:51

I think my main problem is I um get distracted easily and I kinda wait for inspiration to strike. I'm not pretty I'm not all that disciplined when it comes to making music.

SPEAKER_01 6:01

Yep. So I feel you, and it's it's easier said it's easier said than done. Very much. You know, so like um one of the disciplines that uh we're trying to implement, infant and I, is really just being um intentional and like punctual, like like not like if we have we want to work on a project, you know, just like finishing finishing it, like getting getting it through, you know. So those last 10% is the hardest.

SPEAKER_00 6:34

Yeah, yeah, it's so close, but yeah. You almost don't want to finish it because then you don't have anything to work on.

SPEAKER_01 6:41

Right, right. So but the just the making of it is is fun.

SPEAKER_00 6:45

Yes, the journey is fun, which is important.

SPEAKER_01 6:48

So you said you're from Memphis, so what what was the when did you move here to um Georgia?

SPEAKER_00 6:55

So I moved in 2004.

SPEAKER_01 6:57

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 6:58

I was in it was the summer before seventh grade.

SPEAKER_01 7:01

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 7:02

My mom had just got a job and she was like, you know, it's hard trying to find work in Memphis. Um prices were growing up, city was changing and kind of becoming dangerous. So she wanted to get me out of there before I became a teenager and got myself into trouble.

SPEAKER_01 7:20

Oh, good for your mom then. Yeah, so was it transition? Was it um was it a lot? Because I know Memphis is a different type of city, so was it like a big um like was it a culture shock or not, or just like completely different? I have only gone to Memphis probably like never. I went to Tennessee. I've been to Tennessee, but not yeah, so like so I don't really know the like the difference because I know coming from I know how it felt to come from the um Narristown and then in Pennsylvania, okay, okay, which is 30 minutes from Philly, and then moving down here. I know how that felt, but I don't know how it felt. But you're also younger too, so you kind of you kind of are both Tennessee and Georgia.

SPEAKER_00 8:05

I've been in Georgia officially longer now, but um Memphis was just a it was a tough city, and um I liked being there when I was growing up. Um I kind of saw like how it used to be before it changed. I kind of saw it decline a little bit, but I got to experience it before I left, which was cool.

SPEAKER_02 8:26

Nice.

SPEAKER_00 8:27

Um the transition was a little tough, but at 12 years old, after a month, I made some friends and played outside, I was fine. Initially I didn't want to do it, I put up a little bit of a fight, but it I got over it pretty quick. Yeah, I think this was a good choice. Yeah, I love Atlanta. Um, I don't really see myself leaving. I've talked about it, but I don't can't really think of anywhere else I would rather be.

SPEAKER_01 8:50

So yeah, it's a really good um, it's a really nice city.

SPEAKER_00 8:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:54

So can you tell us about Fresh and Local and how did that come about?

SPEAKER_00 9:01

Mm-hmm. So me and my friends, um, all my friends are musicians or creatives of some sort, and we had got together and we were just talking about like the Soul Quarians, which were a group in the late 90s, early 2000s, stuff like Quest Love, Erica Badu, D'Angelo, right, right, right, right. All those guys, and they all kind of like hung out together, slash lived together, slash recorded in the studio. They were just always around. And like we love the idea of having collective or being a collective. Um, you look at like Soul Quarians or Dungeon Family or Odd Future or uh Native Tongues with Q-tip and all those guys, and we wanted that for ourselves. So it started out with like four of us, it eventually kind of expanded to more people as more people came along. And we were doing like podcasts, we were talking about hip hop and trends and music and all that stuff, and we were doing like events. Um, we had a few live shows, we had people perform, you know, the associates of Fresh and Local. And then we would also do a picnic every year. So we were inspired by like our parents and like the older generation of having cookouts and barbecue and music. So we'd have free food, we've had live music and just like a family-oriented place for us all to come together. So while we were out pursuing music and the hustle and bustle, we'd have that picnic every year to bring us all together.

SPEAKER_01 10:30

That sounds so nice.

SPEAKER_00 10:31

And we did that for years. Um, it's kind of taking a back seat. Um, a lot of us are starting families and getting married and having kids.

SPEAKER_01 10:40

But uh the spirit is still there that gets in the way too.

SPEAKER_00 10:44

The fresh and local spirit is still there.

SPEAKER_01 10:46

So oh, that's good. Yes. So um, so what is your what is your writing process? Like what is your process as a writer?

SPEAKER_00 11:02

Um I know a lot of people in hip hop at least are against writing, which is an interesting flip, because it used to be like you had to fill up notebooks, like when I was a teenager, that was the thing to do. And then around, I don't know, mid-2000s, late 2000s, 08, 09, I think Jay-Z was like, I don't write anything down, I just go in the studio in freestyle. And it's been that way for the past 20 years or so. But I still enjoy writing. Um I think the way that my music comes out is because I'm typing, but because I'm going line by line and trying to make things reference the earlier lines and do callbacks and all that kind of stuff. Um when I sit down to write, back to the discipline thing, I'm not very disciplined when it comes to writing. I usually wait for inspiration to strike. I try like writing every day, and the more I do it, the worse it gets. So I typically wait, it'd be weeks to months before I come up with something. Yeah. Um, but when I do, it all kind of comes out at once. At once. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:08

How interesting how that how that happens.

SPEAKER_00 12:11

And then I always start with like the course. I'm very thematic. I have a hard time just like writing about whatever. But if I pick a topic, then I can kind of just exhaust all my ideas on that topic.

SPEAKER_01 12:24

So that may help with your inspiration too, because you said you write when inspir when you're you need more discipline. So having like a a writing prop prompt.

SPEAKER_00 12:33

Prompts, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:34

That may help you. And then like, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:37

I tried it once, I'm gonna have to try it again.

SPEAKER_01 12:40

I mean, you could probably look up some and um Google search some too, that'll help with your um true.

SPEAKER_00 12:45

Yeah, true. I think I have a book somewhere too, somewhere buried.

SPEAKER_01 12:51

You oh you say you have a book of like writing prompts?

SPEAKER_00 12:54

Yeah, I have tons of books on music and writing.

SPEAKER_01 12:58

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_00 12:58

I think I read and research more about music than I actually make music.

SPEAKER_01 13:03

Oh, okay. That's cool. So um, so your name, so you go by Rex Novi. So where'd you where did where did that name come about?

SPEAKER_00 13:13

So Rex Navi came about.

SPEAKER_01 13:14

Rex Navi, you didn't not correct me.

SPEAKER_00 13:17

Nobody, nobody gets it, and it's fine.

SPEAKER_01 13:19

No, just correct me.

SPEAKER_00 13:21

Um, it's actually Latin and nobody speaks Latin.

SPEAKER_01 13:24

So it's that's true.

SPEAKER_00 13:26

Um, I was in tenth grade by the time I started making music and just looking for cool sounding words in Latin. Yeah, those two words kind of meant nothing at the time. Uh it's Rex, Navi, King Novice. Um doesn't make sense when you translate it. And I thought about changing it for a long time. In the past 20 years I've had it. But the past couple of years, I kind of came to a realization that I do like it and it does fit me. And the interpretation that I gave it later on is um just a reminder to remain humble. So I always say, like, just because you're a master at this thing doesn't mean you're not a novice at something else.

SPEAKER_03 14:08

Right.

SPEAKER_00 14:08

So you can never really know it all. And sometimes you have to accept that fact and let people who do know more in this subject kind of take the lead and you can learn from them, and just a reminder to be a lifelong student.

SPEAKER_01 14:20

So that's beautiful. That's great wisdom as well. So what is your biggest motivator when it comes to being a creator?

SPEAKER_00 14:33

Excuse me. Um I just want to top myself. I'm not in competition with anybody but myself. I try to do better each time I do something. Uh when I first started, I used to think this thing that I made was the best thing ever. And I get discouraged. Like, if I don't get this 100% right, then I'm never gonna be able to come up with something else that's good and made me a perfectionist and kind of trying to do too much, I guess. But now I'm at the stage where I'll just move on. Like, if something isn't working, instead of like trying it and getting frustrated, I'll delete it. Like if a rhyme isn't working or a line isn't working, I don't care how good it is, if it doesn't work, it it goes.

SPEAKER_02 15:19

Right.

SPEAKER_00 15:19

And um, I think that has helped me like progress actually to just kind of stop caring so much and just move on to the next thing.

SPEAKER_01 15:27

That's good, that's good. Because um getting caught up, getting caught up on a fixator and one thing can that can uh hinder you slows everything down. Yes, yes, absolutely. So you um I read um in your bio and it mentioned um that you uh foster uh communities. I guess you kind of talked touched upon that too with um with fresh and local. Because my my other question to you was how do you foster communities for independent artists?

SPEAKER_00 16:01

And that's that was that was fresh and local, and like I said, it's kind of taking a back seat, but I do have ideas going forward if I want to do something like that.

SPEAKER_04 16:09

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 16:09

And one of those things is through Freeside ATL, where we met at the music meetup. I had this idea, and I was gonna bring it up at the next meeting to do like some kind of musical project with everybody that comes through, or like uh everybody can contribute to it, and we do like a collage or like a compilation album of some sort, and just yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:32

That's good.

SPEAKER_00 16:34

Bring us all together outside of that space into different spaces.

SPEAKER_01 16:38

So that's great. So with all that being said, uh, what are you what are you most um proud of with everything that you've achieved so far as as an artist?

SPEAKER_00 16:54

Um my first time performing by myself was January this year, and I was so nervous.

SPEAKER_04 17:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:01

Um the venue that I was at wasn't super responsive to what I was doing, so I was still unsure about it. But ten months later and after releasing the project, I think the reception has been pretty warm. Right. It's been inspiring to see how people like react to the music. Um sorry, your question one more time. I got distracted.

SPEAKER_01 17:28

No, I was saying what are you uh most proud of this most proud of. Yeah, uh of all your creations. You say you said you just started, um, so which is great. Like, you know, I think I think you're doing great. Thank you. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:41

I think most proud is I picked up drums again. I took like a long break from playing drums, and I think I'm better now than I ever was. And I think drumming and rapping, I think my abilities are about equal, and I can see them progressing at the same time. So I'm pretty proud of that.

SPEAKER_01 17:58

It's just I feel like your creativity, your music and your uh your your rap artistry and your drum um playing is a reflection of your growth as an individual because it seems based off of what you're saying that you're you seem to evolve with your creation. Yes. You know, so and it's also allowing you to be um reflective in a sense of knowing what to keep and what not to keep, what to you get rid of when when when you need to, which is a great skill to have not only within your music but within your everyday life. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:38

I think one part of creation that people don't always think about is the editing. Yeah. Like you're making a movie, you shoot all the stuff, but somebody has to edit it down. So I try to make as much as I can and then trim out the fat.

SPEAKER_01 18:51

So that's great. Yeah, Prince did something like that too. Prince made like a song. Yes. He made it like a s like a whole vault. Yeah, like a day, like not like he made like so much music. Him and Michael Jackson, yeah, they were just they were just like popping out all this type, all this music, music we don't even hear today, music we never even will ever experience. So, you know, and then they kept what worked, you know, and then it narrowed down, slimmed it down to what we have. And I think that's that's part of it. Like, I feel like art is similar in that sense of like sculpting. Like, even though you're not using you're not actually sculpting with like um clay, but you're you're molding something, something beautiful and magnificent that's bigger than what you can probably see and in this point in time and moment.

SPEAKER_00 19:38

Yep, and that's a skill within itself, just being able to have tastes and pick out what works and doesn't work.

SPEAKER_01 19:45

Absolutely. So that's all I have for today. So thank you so much for watching. Thank you guys for having me. Yeah, thank you for coming over and sharing tea with us. And for those of you who are listening, those of you who are watching, this is Rex Navi. And we thank you for tuning in. And until next time, friends, bye bye.

SPEAKER_00 20:08

See you.