Roach Interview

Check out our exclusive interview with Roach. We discuss his upcoming album and much more so check it out. For the audio, click on the player below.

All right, we’re here with Roach, how’s it going, man?

Man, it’s fabulous, it’s good to be here with you, and I appreciate the opportunity to speak with you.

Absolutely. For those unfamiliar or new to your music, how did you get your start in music, and who are some of your musical influences out there coming up?

Man, I’m an older cat from Houston, so I came up in the rap-a-lot era in the early 90s. As a freshman in high school, I ran into a guy on the track team who was actually putting music together for a rap group named Muhammad 2G, and he actually kind of took me in and showed me the ropes on how to use some of the keyboards, and then just meeting all of the artists from back in the day and being in the studios with them. You know, my production style became kind of sought after here in the early 90s.

And then I took a hiatus for about 20 years of just making music, going through some PTSD and some medical issues. So, man, make a long story short, RBX hit me out of the blue and was like, man, I want some of that fire. And he was coming back.

So about three years ago, he got me out of reclusement. And we’ve just been banging eaters out ever since.

Okay, how’d you link up with LABCABIN Records and working with them now currently?

So I have like a catalog of about 12 albums that are already done, plus some stuff I had previously released that I pulled down, it’s all coming out since I had so much material. But through RBX, he had found me somehow and reached out and introduced himself and had heard some of my work and was ready to get back into working. Shortly after that, he started working on the deal with LABCABIN on the Hibernation Shivers.

And he was like, man, Roach, I gotta talk to the dudes over there and get you on some of these tracks, get some Roach production on there and get some work in. So I did a co-production on the shivers with Crooked I and RBX, and then the Night Stalker remix fits on there. I did those, so the relationship with LABCABIN was kind of a blessing because they’re really putting out real rap, no mumble stuff, just real hip hop.

And this is their third project, I believe, and then they’ve got like four more coming. So RBX was a real instrumental in making that relationship happen.

Okay, you did post on Instagram that you have a new album entitled Hiding, that’s dropping April 25th. What are listeners in store for on April 25th once a project drops, or any details that you can give about the album?

Absolutely. Yeah, what I wanted to do with it, it first started as a three-song project. But I had done some other work with LABCABIN, so I got on the phone with them.

I said, hey, let’s collab on this, and let’s do this Hiding joint, and actually make an EP that’s like an album, that if you play it from start to finish, it tells a whole story. So the Hiding, you know, there’s other songs on there called Storm, and Razor Sharp, and Midnight Drive, and Nightstalkers, so they’re all similar. And so I created a real nice intro with all the, you know, crime scene, helicopters, and Dolby Atmos, and put the intro together, and lined up the song.

“So it’s really a story of like a madman, like novels you see about serial killers and stuff. It’s kind of like, it’s got everything on it from, you know, being in the mix of committing the stuff to where you’re in your psychological mode, where you feel like a normal human being, and you’re wondering what’s going on with your mind. So there’s even, you know, it kind of goes through the whole spectrum of, of like a Dexter type film, but audio.

So I call it like an audio film.

Okay, that’s dope, that’s dope. Absolutely. Do you have any visuals also that will kind of follow in that same vein for the album, or any videos or singles?

Yeah, all of the artwork has videos that we did that will be dropping after the single drops on the 11th. So Hiding is a video that’s basically, you know, showing that, that whole theme. It’s all, it’s all themed around it.

So we’re really trying to get people to hear it, not just pick one particular song, because there’s some classics on there. I mean, MC Eiht, Krayzie Bone, I mean those are, those are legends that I was very grateful to be able to work with.

Okay, absolutely. All right, we’re now about, well, I’m about to be four months into 2025 already. Just what’s your thoughts on hip hop being an event in the game?

Just your thoughts on the music industry and maybe some new albums or just what you’re currently playing on your playlist right now?

“I really don’t play a whole lot of my playlist. People think it’s funny, but it’s going to be like a Roy Ayers or a Curtis Mayfield or I’m going to listen to some old school soul music and just decompress because the way my mind works, I’m always listening to melodies and anything hip hop, rap, even rock. If I listen to it, it’s making me want to go produce and compete.

Where I can produce those 70 styles tracks, the music is soothing, it relaxes me. I do have like RBX, I have some of the old school people in my playlist. The number one that I have in my playlist is my idol of all time, which is the Doc, DOC.

He was a huge influence on my writing style and everything growing up in. And Dre is a producer, you know, Dre, Timberland, Big Swift from Houston. Big shout out to him, one of the producers for H-Town and Pokey and all them.

So I was fortunate to come up around a bunch of, you know, legendary guys like Mike Dean, I’m sure you heard of. We was in the same studios together. We all came up in Houston around the same time.

So it’s just been a blessing. And as far as the rap game today, I’m liking the direction it’s starting to go. People are finally getting tired of the same recycled, like auto-tune type stuff, which, you know, I don’t have any problem with it.

It’s music, be creative. But hip-hop and rap is supposed to be storytelling in bars. And, you know, I see it kind of moving back to that direction.

Matter of fact, a lot of younger artists or younger people are actually putting CD players back in their cars because they realized it bumps a lot harder than MP3s. So that analog era, I see it making its way back. The AI stuff, I’m not a fan of.

I think it just, it kind of ruins, it waters down the art.

I could not agree with you more, absolutely. All right, do you have any upcoming shows or tour dates or anything coming up for you to let the people know about?

No, not nothing as of yet. That’s something that we’re working on trying to put together with LABCABIN, you know, like trying to put a show together with RBX, myself, some other Houston people, and try to put something together. That’s in the talks.

And it takes a lot of preparation for me, because I don’t know if I mentioned it, you know, I’m disabled with a spinal cord stimulator, been through PTSD, you know, anxiety, and I have chronic pain. So, you know, that’s why music saves my life, because if I don’t have music, I don’t have no relief. So, but I’m down to get out there and still, if I have to be in a wheelchair, do wheelies on it on stage, I’ll do it to perform.

What’s your website information for people looking to check out your music and see what you got going on?

It’s the realroach.net. And then of course, I believe you have my Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/richard_roach_kler?igsh=cTM2azI3NnhyM3dv) and everything, and people can reach me through there, and I’m real accessible. I’ve been around a long time, and it’s time to come out of the shell, and I really greatly appreciated the markets for you giving me the opportunity to put some print out there about the project and about myself. That’s, you know, lots of love, man.

I appreciate it.

Of course. Absolutely. Any time.

When we get off, man, send me your address and stuff so I can send you some, send you a care package with some merch and stuff.

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Definitely.

I appreciate that.

Well, that’s all the questions I have for you. Appreciate you getting down for the interviews. Are there any last words or shout outs you want to get out to other people?

Man, really, man, a big shout out to RBX, the Narrator, LABCABIN, Siavash and Sccit. They’ve been very instrumental, and all of the people that really, really held me down, and as far as like not hitting me for verses and stuff like that, some of the local cats like Lezzo and L Chill and a few other artists. So, I’ll just throw their names out there, because they’re the ones that are, you know, when it’s time to do real music, they don’t ask about money, they just try to get music.

So, shout out to those types of people.

Alright, appreciate your time, appreciate the interview, man.