Artist Bio: Atlanta -based duo Trilhoutte defy easy categorization with a deft blend of R&B, hip-hop, and soul spawned by such varied influences as New Edition, R.Kelly, Eric Bellinger and KCI & JOJO.
Blurring the genre lines, the pair first made waves with their partnership with local producer and engineer Say yo Feek and artist Chrizz Michaels. Much like his song’s mixture of sounds, their own music aimed to surprise and manipulate expectations.
Trilhoutte Is made up of Baton Rouge producer Ty Cook and Chicago producer-vocalist Shaq on da track . They both arrived in Lafayette Louisiana separately, choosing different songwriting paths.
While Ty produced and did work with Sweet November, Shaq lent his talents to artists like Sean Ardion and Lesly Lesha, even winning a Awards for his work on Lesly Lesha’s “Show Me.” After a chance meeting, Ty and Shaq combined their talents and decided to officially form an act.
Their instinct has always been to push against structures. Overall, TRILHOUTTE’s record, and indeed their overall mindset, is one of progression. Since they cannot be specifically classified into a genre, their main objective is to make good music in a different way.
1) What inspired you to be a part of the music industry?
Well we have always been really passionate about music in general pretty much our whole lives. So just to have the ability to be able to create our own art and present it to the world is what we really love.
So whenever we see how other artist are really blessed and appreciated by others we really want to be apart of that which is the music industry.
2) Talk to me about the making of your latest project. What was the inspiration behind it?
Well we are currently still in the process of recording our latest project, but our inspiration behind it comes from us just wanting people to really respect and appreciate our sound because it’s like no other.
We are bringing a rich new wave of R&B into the industry so we have dashes of old school and new school with Hip hip/R&B with pop all in one sound.
3) What was the process behind making the project?
Our basic process is we both find beats separately that we both like them we present them to each other and pick which ones we like the most. Then we go in the studio and create from scratch and that way it’s really natural and organic.
4) What are your thoughts on the hip-hop industry at the moment?
It’s very interesting right now and it’s in a place it’s never been before. It’s a different wave with this generation and only few will be able to move past this wave and that’s how music works. At one point the fans want something new and different and if you can’t provide something they desire it gets really hard.
5) Do you enjoy grinding it out independently or would you prefer to be signed to a major label?
We just purely enjoy making music and we enjoy the freedom of being able to be creative, but we would like to be signed to a label because they can help with pushing your music and your brand further then you could by yourself.
6) What do you think goes into building a loyal fanbase?
You have to figure out what is it your fans like about you and you have to provide that to them to earn their attention. Once you do that then they will be open to hearing anything new you may try because they respect you so much and just appreciate you as an artist.
7) What sort of online promo and marketing are you doing to reach your fanbase?
Well right now we use our social media pages such as Twitter and Instagram to promote our music, visuals, and videos.
8) As an indie artist, how do you brand yourself and your music to stand out from the rest of the artists out there?
By simply just being real and open to trying new things. In music it’s good to not be boxed in and once you learn how to be yourself and people love and appreciate that it’s magical.
9) How do you currently make a living as an independent hip-hop artist? What sort of income streams do you have?
At the moment we have our single out “1×1=x” which is a stream of income. Also from writing for other artist and doing features, background vocals, etc.
