GIGG.com, who along with Rap Genius are sponsoring and hosting Ms. Grey‘s currently-running FINAL WARNING Rap Contest, have published an interview conducted by Alexandra Lovin with Ms. Grey. The interview details what the contest means to Ms. Grey, why she ended up choosing GIGG, and her advice to artists entering the competition.
Check out the intro and a few of the questions from the interview below, and click the article’s title to read the interview in full!
Skylar Grey Interview w/ GIGG’s Alexandra Lovin | GIGG.com ::
“….everyone appreciates what an excellent song writer can do. Skylar Grey’s “Love The Way You Lie” with Eminem and Rihanna debuted in August of 2010 and won several awards, received 5 Grammy nominations, and surprised everyone. It was Eminem’s best selling single, topping the charts at #1 on 26 weekly record charts, including Billboards Hot 100 for 7 weeks. It went on to sell 5 million copies in the US, and put songwriter Skylar Grey right smack dab in the middle of the map.
Gigg recently teamed up with Skylar and announced a contest that we’ve never done before—a rap competition for aspiring rappers all writing for Skylar’s hook. Gigg, Skylar, and fans would choose the winner, and the prize? A day in the studio with none other than Skylar Grey.
It is a tremendous honor to have someone like Skylar on board for a contest with us here at Gigg, because she represents everything we are trying to accomplish. We are searching for the most talented unknowns and giving them a chance. In this interview we learn about Skylar’s introduction to the music industry and how she wants the industry to be given back to the artist….
How did you learn about Gigg?
SG: Funny story. I had this idea to do a rap contest long before I knew about Gigg. I wasn’t actually sure how I was going pull it off! Having people submit videos requires a tech platform I didn’t have-but I really wanted to have a rap contest. I was flying back from SXSW and Scott Warner was sitting in front of me. He recognized me and told me about everything he was doing. I instantly knew this would make my life so much easier. So it was great. It was just kind of serendipitous I guess!
You made your mark by someone giving you a chance—now you’re giving your fans the same opportunity. How important is it for you to give back to the artist?
SG: It’s really important because no one really knew who I was before Eminem discovered my hooks. I was just so grateful to have such a well known rapper choosing someone totally unknown like me to do a hook. Now I just feel like I have a opportunity to give someone a similar chance. Instead of discovering somebody’s hook, I’m discovering somebody’s raps with my hooks. Its backwards but it’s a lot of fun! There is so much talent out there that doesn’t get an opportunity to be heard and I’m so grateful that somebody gave me the chance. It means a lot to me to be the one to give somebody else a chance.
What advice do you give to people submitting their videos?
SG: The advice I give to any up and coming artist is to just really stay true to who you are. It’s easy to try and chase what you think people want to hear versus what really makes you feel good and I’ve done that-I’m guilty of it. I feel like that’s what has taken me so long. I’ve been so unsure about myself before musically that I would chase all these different things and it never panned out.c I realized the whole time I should have been just making the music I wanted to make and not worrying about if other people got it or not. I really feel like it’s only a matter of time before people do get it. And you can’t take every rejection personally because it just means that the person doesn’t understand it yet, and maybe one day they will! Rejection can be a really hard thing, especially for a sensitive artist. When someone doesn’t like something you do it’s like, “oh, I need to change”, but I think that’s the biggest mistake I ever made–changing for someone else’s opinion. So even if you don’t win the contest, it doesn’t mean stop. It means keep going and someday something great is going to happen….”
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