Max Gertler, an up and coming rapper out of Brooklyn, NY. He released his first project, DI$NEY, in July, receiving over 200,000 streams across Spotify, Soundcloud, and Youtube. Currently, he's gearing up to release his first solo EP, Paper Route.
What inspired you to become a rap artist?
I guess I was just really motivated from growing up in Brooklyn. Not necessarily because of the music coming out of here, but because I saw so many random people my age blow up. When you see shit like that happen first hand it really changes your mentality. I just kept thinking "if they could do it, there's no reason why I can't".
When did you write your first song?
I probably wrote my first song when I was like 10. It wasn't rap though. I played piano and sang with my pre-puberty voice. I don't think I sat down and wrote my first rap song until I was 16, and I'm pretty sure it was over the Jay-Z Public Service Announcement beat. No gas is was complete trash though. I didn't suck until last year.
You have been working on your debut EP, how has that been going?
It's going good! I just submitted everything to Spotify, iTunes, etc. I had to decide to cut this one song that I really didn't want to, because I realized it wasn't ready. That was wack, but other than that I'm really pumped. It's like a week away from dropping.
Where did the name Paper Route come from?
So after DI$NEY, I wanted to have the next project tie into the story. The way I saw it, DI$NEY was the end goal. It was a much more happy project, and it was almost like all my hopes and dreams jam packed into one album. With Paper Route, I wanted to paint the picture of getting there. In the industry, there's a lot that goes on that people don't know about. There's an insane amount of work that goes into making success look easy. If point A is rock bottom, and point B is happiness, the "Paper Route" is the journey from point A to point B. Plus it all ties in with the whole Delivery Boy theme.
What made you pick 'Grammy' as the lead single from the EP?
'Grammy' was the happiest song, so I thought it made sense. All of the EP was made in my home studio except for that song. I did it out in Boston with my homie Jared (Scuba Moose) and it just sounded like an instant hit. I also wanted to throw people off guard, because that's the most different song on the whole tape.
How will the rest of the EP compare with Grammy?
'Grammy' is the most upbeat song, but there's a kind of close second called 'Lost & Found'. I really tried to give off a sort of bipolar feeling on the tape, so it goes from these really intense highs to these really depressing lows. Hopefully the listener will feel like they're on an emotional rollercoaster.
Do you ever listen to your own music?
I'm not even joking when I say the vast majority of the music I listen to is my own. I have a really short attention span, so I want to find a new song I love every day. At a certain point I decided I didn't feel like waiting for other people to make that music for me, so I started doing it myself. I make a new song pretty much every single day, mostly because I want new shit to listen to. I'm also very cautious about getting too invested in another artist's music because I don't want to be influenced by anyone other than myself and my friends. If someone listens to my song and says is sounds like (insert rapper here) I feel like I've done something wrong.
What other music do you listen to?
I've been getting really into Paul Simon. I think he's one of the best songwriters of all time. I've also been bumping my homie Dashel's EP like crazy for the past couple months. He goes by Lil Young Man.
What do you have planned once your EP is out?
There's about a million things I'm working on at any given point. I have no idea what the order of releases is going to be like, but I'm working on an EP with Lost Boy, a mixtape with Tyrin, an EP with Linus (the producer), an EP will Lil Bill and another project with Goldwood. I also got a bunch of college shows coming up the northeast. I wouldn't be surprised if I wound up dropping one of those before the year ends.
