Rawrr Interviews - Richard Pigkaso

Coming off his performance of the Monday Night Rawrr #GiveBackShow this past Saturday; Bronx artist Richard Pigkaso has started a new initiative called the #OurBikerJacket Initiative in which the proceeds will go to Autism Speaks, making Richard Pigkaso our latest artist spotlight. Since the release of his project There are Always Strings Attached he has continued to strive and will even be performing in Arizona this summer. Read his interview below .

1) Tell us a little bit about yourself?

I was born and raised in Bronx, New York. I would consider myself an introvert that is constantly trying to break out of his shell. Also I love food more than I love people.

2) What is a typical day / week like for you?

I usually head to work at 5am. As I'm on the train or my father dropping me at work, I am hearing beats and thinking of writing creative rhymes. After work, I go home yo-yoing while I'm walking and on the train waiting. I usually stop by this peanut stand by the train and I eat them as I'm walking home. I get prepared for the gym with my pre-workout and protein shake and workout for about a half hour a day. I usually hut the hay around 930 and do the day all week. On weekends, I'm at the studio for about 4 hours and go on cray weird random adventures with my friends in the city.

3) How did you get into rap ? What is your creative process like?

I got into rap about 2012 but didn't take it really serious until 2014. I wrote a lot of poems in college and one of my friends was a songwriter for Sony. He recommended me to a person that eventually lead me to where I'm at today, a signed artist on Coalishun Entertainment. My process for writing my lyrics comes from my personal life. I take certain aspects of it, and turn it into a fun song. Other times it comes from how I'm feeling at that moment and the inspiration flows through my veins. I would also yo-yo for hours thinking of lyrics. Yo-yoing is like an extension of my brain to come up with complicated wordplay and stupid punch lines.

4) Do you feel like you needed any musical training ?

Not really. I am self-taught. In the beginning, ill admit, it was kind of difficult to learn how to rhyme. Overtime, after some practice and my friends and label mates encouraging me to be better, I ventured out into excelling in my vocabulary and added them to my music.

5) How important do you feel your image is as an artist?

I'm a yo-yo rapper... what image?

6) You have recently been featured on Wu Tang's mistake? How did this happen and how do you feel about that?

My friend shared an IG photo of the contest to me. DJ Symphony was holding a contest for his latest mix tape called "Wu-Invasion Mix tape - World Edition" hosted by Ghostface Killah. I uploaded my song "OMG" which features Kwoat. I didn't think nothing of it because I knew he wasn't going to pick me to be apart of it. About a week later, I get a call on my phone while I'm at work from DJ Symphony himself telling me I am getting a slot on his mix tape. I was so excited that I told EVERYBODY close to me about it. What made it more surprising was that my song is featured on Wikipedia. I didn't even know that was apart of it. As of today it has over 4 million downloads.

7) What is your secret to your videos, how have you always pulled great numbers ?

The secret is simply being yourself. I always make sure any video I do contains my thoughts in real time. What you see is what I think of myself. Certain numbers I'm not gonna lie, you got to put up some bread. Also you got to reach a lot of legit IG followers that have organic views. You may have to pay $100-$700 if you want a few to a lot of people to see your masterpiece. Your budget as to match your promotion. If you're putting $1000 for videos put another $1000 for promotion.

8) Tell us about the this is our biker jacket initiative ? What do you hope to achieve with this?

I am doing a personal project called “This Is Our Biker Jacket”, Go follow it on Instagram @thisisourbikerjacket . Its a project where I travel to different showcases, events, exhibitions etc. and ask everyone or anyone in the underground or up and coming in the world of music, art, film etc. to put their signature on an all white biker jacket. This jacket will be a great representation of people who are grinding and striving to be all they can be while starting from the bottom. After the jacket is fully signed, I’m going to shadowbox it (put the jacket in a frame) and put it up for auction. All proceeds will go to @autismspeaks As you can see in just a few weeks, we have a lot of notable people who want to be apart of this endeavor. it officially kicked off on July 7th with @safielvonay of @thenycgrind being the first signees. I truly appreciate everyone that is on the jacket and in the future will sign my jacket. If you ever see me carrying this on my back or hanging this on a wall, don’t hesitate to stop me and ask to sign. I would hope it would inspire other people to want to be able to come together and help out different causes around the world. It doesn't only have to be autism. It can be breast cancer, AIDS, Diabetes etc. I have always love joining causes and I wanted to do my part as a human being.

9) Tell us about your other community actions, what made you want to be involved with Autism Speaks! how important is it for you or for artists to take action in community matters?

Personally, I have had developmental issues in my life. I had lead poisoning at age 5 and I was really sick for about 2 years straight. Always throwing up, having headaches, going to the doctor etc. took a toll on my learning. People called me stupid, dumb, and the worst retarded. I was bullied to a point where I had to transfer high schools because I was afraid to go. Overtime, with the help of my parents, I was able to overcome certain mental obstacles and had a normal life. I got 2 college degrees in business, a great paying job at a hospital, and able to be creative with music while having a great social life.

10) What is next for Richard Pigkaso?

Don't want to give too much away, but ill say new music videos, more awesome music, and maybe a short film. It's all in the beta stages but we shall see what happens in the future.

There are Strings Attached Available Everywhere Now

Follow Richard at @richieluvsyoyos