Production and songwriting duo, Rock City (Theron and Timothy Thomas) aka Planet VI, have garnered music for some of the music industry’s chart-topping heavy hitters from past to present. Now, from somewhat of a long hiatus from their own personal road to music as a group, the fellas are back, and more than ready to finish what they started. Peep a full interview below and their new visual “I’m That” featuring 2 Chainz.
Rock City spoke with SFPL for a bit about new music, working with 2 Chainz, music that was consistently being leaked and more.
Rock City x SFPL:
From the songwriting and producing side of things, what have you guys been working on?
We’ve been working on music with Nicki Minaj, Rihanna, Becky G., Fergie, Usher, Jamie Fox, Mila J., Fifth Harmony, Juicy J, Drake and the list goes on and on…
How do you guys balance working with producing and with artists?
We have been doing a lot of work with Dr. Luke, so in-between our sessions, we take out about 2 or 3 days to work on our own stuff then we jump back in with an artist.
Do you find that process difficult or is it still easy to balance your own work with work for other artists?
It’s easy to us. We were born to do this shit! We have been blessed to be genre-less, so we can easily do any genre. Our own music isn’t like the music we do for other people. There is never battle between the music we do for others and ourselves. We know who we are as artists and what our music is, so it makes it easy to separate the two.
What is you method in making a hit song? What is your process?
There isn’t necessarily a method, its very simple. Our number one motto is “simple works”. If anybody listens to a song that we have been a part of, its very simple. “Pour it up, pour it up. Watch it all fall out” (Rihanna), “We cant stop, we wont stop”. Me and my brother also be like, would I actually say this? A lot of the times that how our songwriting goes. Would I use this in an actual conversation? If I’m talking to a girl, would I use these exact words? “Shawty I don’t mind. If you dance on a pole, that don’t make you a hoe, shawty I don’t mind” (Usher ft. Juicy J.). I would say those words. If I would say them, I would sing them. That’s how me and me brother think about it. We always incorporate who we are in our music no matter who we work with.
We have recently seen a name change from your guys. Are you guys now back to Rock City?
Legally we are R. City. We are working towards owning the name Rock City. We did two projects under the name Planet VI; ‘The American Dream’ and ‘The American Nightmare.’ In the process of working on a new album we decided to go with New Rock City and its time to go hard. Blogs were picking up songs and a lot of the songs that they broke.
It got the point there was so much work that was getting leaked to the blogs that we couldn’t get our own songs out with the right attention and promotion. So we switched it up so that people would know the difference in-between the 2 brands. It was confusing the fans because the songs would be leaked under the name Rock City with our vocals, on when it was supposed to be a demo for Usher.
Did you guys find out who was leaking your music?
We found out! It was some hacker dudes from Germany. It was the most disrespectful compliment ever! They were big Rock City fans and they were like “fuck that! People need to hear this!” We were like, dude! We gotta sell this. People have to hear it when it is ready to come out! They were very apologetic but it all worked out and now we are back as Rock City with new energy and back in the mindset as a new artist. We are out here grinding like we are new artists all over again.
This time around, what can we expect from Rock City as far as your new music goes?
As far as music, expect the complete unexpected. We have been putting in time and dedication for years and shaping our sound to make it one-of-a-kind. We have finally figured it out and our music sounds like nothing else that is not out there right now. If you heard the first single, we want people to know that there are many different styles that make up Rock City, but its nothing confusing. We have a hip-hop fused with caribbean culture sound and that includes everything from the rapping point and the melodic point. The people are going to be really excited about our new collaborations coming up so the fans have to stay tuned!
Whats up with the new single with 2 Chainz? How did that come about?
We were in the studio Dr. Luke and Circuit cooking up some good music. We are Caribbean and we have been living in Atlanta so we knew we gotta have that element, plus we are not afraid of mixing something old with something new. Circuit started laying down some stuff and then we started bridging stuff together and in the end, we just said “2 Chainz”. He is a real good dude. He always comes through like we grew up together or something. This is how we are reintroducing ourselves! It’s going to be crazy and we appreciate all of the support from our fans!
What advice would you give someone who is going from being a songwriter to an artist?
Figure out a way to separate the two. Try to figure out who you are as an artist. Don’t get caught of in the same sound that you have created for other artists. Work on developing your own sound to separate yourself from the people you have worked with.
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