Waiting almost a year to release, Tate Tucker has finally given the go-ahead in allowing us over here at EARMILK to premiere "Renaissance Man". The record is brilliant, infusing the styles & feels of hip hop, r&b, and electro-pop to create something very current – near forward thinking. It has staying power and the single-listen impression factor that chart-topping hits often possess.
Born and raised in sunny Southern California, Tucker is a true product of the nineties. Tate's west coast sound is heavily influenced by the soulful music he was brought up with. At 18 years old, he got the chance of a lifetime to rap in front of Lupe Fiasco in notable professor Michael Eric Dyson's 'Sociology of Hip Hop' class. In the fall of 2012 he dropped his Follow the Leader EP, which has received over 24,000 downloads internationally – that project followed his "Harlem Shake" video which has totaled over 5.5 million views on YouTube to date.
Last summer, Tate dropped another strong set of visuals, including the music video for his song "Fire" featuring Lion Babe. And while all of this looks impressive on paper, Tucker is just getting started. He will graduate this Spring from the esteemed Georgetown University (which allows him one hell of a backup plan) to pursue music full time. Check out "Renaissance Man" below.
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Peep his personal explanation behind the meaning of the track as well.
I want this shit to inspire people, man. This song is the most important I’ve ever made. Out of all the songs I’ve listened to in the years that I’ve actually been paying attention there hasn’t been a single track that I’ve felt has articulated the struggles I’ve been going through, so I made one myself. “Renaissance Man” is the result of people—both those close to me and those I’ve never met before—trying to convince me that my dreams couldn’t be achieved. And, sure, for a little while I let that negativity bring me down and stifle my music—but the creation of this song really changed all of that. Despite years of honing my craft, this was the song where I started to really develop my own sound as well. Since meeting Garrett [Lodge] last year, my sound has come into its own—a colorful lovechild made out of elements drawing from Trap, Rap, Indie and Alternative music. IT’S POST KANYE RAP, MAN! Feelings and melodies can convey real shit too, that should be a genre forreal.
I also proved a lot to myself on this one, that I can seriously write, co-produce and sing my own music. Singing is just as important as rapping to me, I grew up on Otis Redding, Lenny Kravitz, Jon B, Donell Jones, Carl Thomas, Bob Dylan, Avant, Case, Toni Braxton—the list goes on, but it’s pretty eclectic. More than that, this song helped me let go of any dependencies I had on other people and take a more active role in taking my music to the next level. When I wrote it, I wanted this song to eat away at my haters as much as I wanted it to be a track that my fans—bold old and new—could really vibe with on more than a melodic level.
At the end of the day, I’m at a point in my life where there are so many external pressures to succeed—from my family and friends and even from my own expectations, and this song ended up being one of the coping mechanisms I’ve used to deal with the stress. I want this track to help people get through their own struggles and help them really pursue the things that make them happy. That’s how I’m approaching everything in my life right now, my passion decides everything, my passion cures everything.
