Procrastinating while cruising through my Facebook feed, I came across this event “Sketchfam Presents: Nurnobi An Album of Sorts.” Personally knowing sophomore Clay Edwards, I was really excited about the Lounge EP when it came out some months ago and was interested in how he has matured as an artist.
I contacted him instantly, a little last minute, but luckily he had time to talk about his album and the entire music making process. Waiting in Benji’s for Thing2 to appear, I thought about the questions I could perhaps ask him.
The first question, what the hell does Nurnobi mean? He laughed. “After getting super stoned with my friends, we went to this Village Inn that was abandoned at night. We finished our meal, and I finished hitting on the waitress and when we went to the counter, my buddy grabbed some business cards,” said Edwards.
“On that business card was the name NURNOBI. We just decided that was the realest person ever. The next day I started making a tape after being in the car for half an hour shouting Nurnobi, Nurnobi, Nurnobi.” I was in disbelief that Nurnobi was actually someone’s name but loved how simple moments like that can become the inspiration for creative projects like this.
I hadn’t had the opportunity to listen to the tape so I wanted to know what was different. According to Clay, this album really shows how he has matured as an artist, since he has gotten better at the recording aspect side of things and has had more of a hand at production, mixing and mastering.
Releasing his last EP gave him the opportunity to connect with many producers from around the world who would send him beats. However, he has been able to collaborate with people on campus such as Mamoun Nukumanu, Addis Goldman, Sleepy James and even has a track with Sophia Capp and Alex Farr.
However, his dream team seems to be with First-Year Jeremy Zucker and Sam Clement, which he met while living on fourth floor Mathias this year.
“It’s significantly better now that I met him [Clement]. He’ll come up with a beat that’s like a four bar loop and then I’ll write lyrics to the loop, figure out where I want to expand on that and then he’ll produce around it and that’s like a significantly better process,” he said.
After this it’s just a matter of recording it. Zucker then does all the mastering.”
The most intriguing thing he said was that he hated his album. Immediately confused, I asked why.
“I put the Lounge out because it was finished, and I hated it. I put Nurnobi out and it’s finished, and I hate it, but I hate it less. It has more emotional variety and more depth and it’s like three times longer,” he said. “I’m just not satisfied with it. I want to be doing better stuff than I can. Part of it is about resource and being independent, and it’s tough. I don’t think I’m as good a rapper as I could be.”
That made sense to me, and as someone who has a lot of creative interests, I understand the dilemma of never fully being satisfied. Regardless, one thing I can say is his performance that night was truly monumental and opened the door for many musical possibilities available on campus.
If you haven’t had a chance to listen, make sure to go to Soundcloud and search thing_bridgegang.