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When Rexx Life Raj calls The blue hour his personal best, he’s not kidding. If the lyrics and dark melodies don’t give it away, the rapper wrote his latest album while doing everything he could to spend time with his parents and make them feel comfortable in their final months as their health declined in recent years. He even turned a room in his parents’ house—the Yellow Room from his childhood, where he grew up and first learned to produce music—into a studio and created there when it wasn’t being used for his mother’s hospice or his father’s dialysis. And all the while, he kept constant notes about the ideas and feelings he was experiencing as his family navigated death in real time.
“When my mom got cancer, it kind of turned me into a caregiver overnight and I would stop making music to take care of her,” Rexx Life Raj told Rolling Stone Radio co-host Jon Weigel.
“I would take notes on life whenever I was with my mom—in the hospital, in the emergency room. I knew that when I finally had time to write, I wanted the music to be super personal and reflect what I was going through after my mom moved away. By the time I went to the studio, I was able to write so many songs. I probably did 200 songs and chose 12 for the album.”
Rexx Life Raj recently finished most of his Blue hour tour capping off an unusually physically and emotionally intense album cycle. “After this tour and all that, I want to take a break and really figure some things out,” he admitted. “I want to make sure that I’m actually okay and protect my mind and all that stuff, but I’ve learned that I’m pretty resilient when things hit the fan.” Before this well-deserved break, the rapper joined Weigell to share his bucket list My Life in 10 Songs on this week’s edition of Rolling Stone Radio on Amp, the live radio app where you can hear the best artists, creatives and athletes spin their favorites tracks and takes your calls in real time.
The Bay Area rapper kicked off his set with an extremely personal track from James Blake (“Godspeed”). Rexx Life Raj called Blake “if not my favorite artist, one of my top three.” So even though he first heard the song as a Frank Ocean track, Rexx Life Raj really loves the emotion behind Blake’s version.
“It was a song I played a lot while my mom was changing,” Rexx Life Raj said. “I remember we were sitting at the lamp and as soon as Blake started singing we looked at each other and just started crying. That song meant so much to us at that moment. We’ve never talked about this song before, we’ve never listened to it together. But when it appeared, I felt good.
As seen in his following selections, Rexx Life Raj’s time and memories with his parents have shaped much of his track list. He chose some Tracy Chapman (“Fast Car”) and Erykah Badu (“Window Seat”) in part out of childhood nostalgia for his time in his parents’ trucks as they ran a small delivery service around the Bay Area. “I remember hearing [‘Fast Car’] and I liked the way it sounded. But when I got older and started writing songs, I realized that this is one of the most beautifully written songs for storytelling,” he said. “And [Erykah Badu] was the first artist for whom lyrics were discussed. Her music made me rethink my perspective on life, she spoke such truth and knowledge. She was my introduction to Neo-Soul. I got her tattooed on me, I love her so much.
From there, Rexx Life Raj featured a trio of Macs: Bay Area rapper Mac Mall (“Wide Open”); rapper/producer Mac Miller (“Come Back To Earth”); and another Bay Area rapper, Mac Dre (“Since ’84”). “He is on a BA legend, one of the greatest rappers of all time,” Rexx Life Raj said of Mac Dre. “When it comes to creativity, he’s one of the most creative rappers I’ve ever heard, like in the realm of E-40. The way he would come up with words and spin them and find a rhythm, he was so influential on the Bay Area culture and sound.”
Rexx Life Raj then included “one of the most timeless songs I’ve heard in the last five years” from Swedish singer Snoh Aalegra (“I Want You Around”), before ending his Life in 10 Songs with three songs of his own . First, the rapper chose “Time” because it was one of his first songs that really took off and therefore opened up opportunities to tour outside of the US. Rexx Life Raj then finished by choosing “Save Yourself” and “Sunset Over College Park” from The blue hour.
“Those two pieces influenced me the most,” he said. “‘Save Yourself’ is a theme I’ve had through everything, it’s one of the first life notes I made. [That idea] was all I had to lean on; I have family and friends, but I had to pick myself up often. So I wanted people to take that off the album. You have to learn to be there for yourself even when the going gets tough.
“And ‘Sunset’ was done in the same room after I’d done so many songs. It was literally one of the last songs I did, and it ended up being the outro,” he continued. “I didn’t know when to stop writing, and I made this song around 3 or 4 in the morning – mixed it, made the beat. When I was done, I just cried, more than I had in a long time. It’s just an ode to my mother in that way, and the song carries it all Blue hour together.”
Weigell and co-host Charlie Cooper will be back at it on Thursday 11/10 when Jean Doe joins them to share her life in 10 songs on another episode of Rolling Stone Radio (@rollingstone on Amp). Download the Amp app and tune in at 11am ET. Just getting started with Amp? If you want to learn more about the artists and athletes who DJ on Amp and experience their live shows, go to onamp.com and just press play.
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