Uni V Sol : Sweet Sofrito! Throw Some Stank on It! (Interview)

Bringing something unique to the music industry comes naturally for artist, Uni V Sol. The evidence is in his music and his overall presentation. He keeps clarity in his music by keeping his voice out front, focusing on cadence, limiting slang, and writing so his music can be easily translated to another language.

As I virtually sat face to face with Uni, he exuded all which an artist should be. Artist is key when referring to Uni. DO NOT call him a rapper. With his tracks such as: Lovely (which he recently remixed), Bang Hard, Keep on Rising, This Is My Dream, and Audio Assassin; Uni V Sol successfully displays versatility without compromising talent.

From sweet syrupy pancakes to the spices of Sofrito, Uni is an eclectic force in the indie music scene. Uni lets Unheard Voices into his world, he provides a fun yet “about his business: insight into his music – no fun and games; it’s his business!

KICK: Besides being an artist, tell me about yourself.

UNI V SOL: I like pancakes LOL, Sons of Anarchy, Misfits, and movies. I’m married and my wife and I each have our own business. I used to own a Nissan Sentra LOL and play basketball. Growing up, I traveled a lot since my step dad was in the military.

KICK: How long have you been performing?

UNI V SOL: Music isn’t something I just picked up; throughout school, when I was a kid, I performed in plays and wrote. I always loved music. I’ve done a lot of basement performances. I’ve performed at Brighton Bar in Long Branch, Saint in Arizona, and Starland Ballroom as well as various talent and modeling shows. A major gig: I opened for Jazz artist, Ramsey Louis. Wow moment: opening for Redman and Method Man.

KICK: You have various characters or alter egos you by: Pop E. Kokk, Johnny Velvet, Ya Royal Flyness…LOL

UNI V SOL: They’re more like lyrical characters that I embody. Pop E. Kokk…he’s nonsense with sense. Ya Royal Flyness is because I’m always spitting that fly sh*t. Johnny Velvet…lol he’s smooth. I’m just Uni V Sol, Man vs Machine conglomerate.

KICK: Who/What influences you?

UNI V SOL: Stevie Wonder, James Brown, 60’s & 70’s music, early Hip-Hop, any music that’s creative, great, and different.

KICK: Listening to your music, there’s no way to describe it; it doesn’t fit just one genre. How would you describe it?

UNI V SOL: Electro-funk, electro-boogie, new school music, stank music. It’s my own style, no copy, my own flavor; THROW SOME SOFRITO ON IT! LOL

KICK: Who have you worked with? Who do you want to work with?

UNI V SOL: I’ve worked with Teresa Cook (she was on Scarface’s album)….Pacewon, Christopher Brown(jazz musician), Eve Arielle…a dope opera singer, Ashes of Your Enemy (hard core metal), UE, Angels Ink, Soon I’ll be working with Milk Bone. I want to work with Kendrick Lamar, Cee Lo, Andre 3000, Jay-Z, Nas…I wish I had the chance to work with James Brown. I will work with any Indie artists who are going as hard as myself.

KICK: What’s your take on everyone being a rapper? Is it difficult to be different?

UNI V SOL: You cannot limit yourself. You will not make money as a rapper. Do not limit yourself to what you can do. I am an artist, do not call me a rapper. It discredits everything else that I do. I dibble and dabble in all types of things. As an artist, if I don’t make money rapping, I’ll make it another way. Different? No, it’s natural. There’s no one like you, so how hard could it be? I purposely kept myself off the scene for over a year so that I did not oversaturate myself. Once I did that, other opportunities were presented.

KICK: What challenges do you face as an Indie artist? What is your mission? What have you learned?

UNI V SOL: There’s only on challenge – finances. Everything’s coming out of my pocket…it makes things move a lot slower. My mission? I want to become a legend. I want to keep freedom and creativity and show that music can be a business with influence on culture. It’s not enough to make good music, you have to influence. If my music or what I do isn’t influential, then what the hell am I doing it for? I want to display the independent power house, independent artists can be successful and come out independently and do better than a major label. Ryan Lewis did it. The most important lesson I learned is to protect yourself, first thing you should do is get a lawyer. Be organized and efficient.

At one time, Uni was told that his sound was all over the place. He is now confident and happy to have found his sound which he defines as Electrofunk Goodness. He’s currently working on something really great and that’s all to say about it.

As for his future? He says it full of buttery goodness and looking very dirty. Be on the look out for his track, Dirty. Uni’s bringing more videos, great music, and putting it all together to put it out the right way. He finally has a great team. They’re going hard…there will be shows local, action to expand, time to blow up and then keep it moving!

Check out Uni V Sol, on SoundCloud: www.soundcloud.com/univsolmc

FaceBook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube : Uni V Sol