In case you missed it: Rapper Spose performs lives tonight at In the Venue! With Utah being his first stop on his tour, Spose is ready to kick off his brand new set list. University of Utahâs own Tommy B will open at 7; to buy tickets check out https://www.saltlakecityconcerts.net/eventx/spose/ and donât forget to take a look at Her Campus Utahâs exclusive interview with the rapper!
Her Campus Utah: Utah is the first stop on your tour! You obviously will have a different energy and excitement level here than anywhere else!
Spose: I love being in Salt Lake City and I love playing in Salt Lake City. These shows are our homerun shows; we always do great in Salt Lake City, in Denver, in Chicago and in Cleveland. So why not go his a bunch of homeruns? Salt Lake is a natural, great place to start. I have a lot of friends who have moved out there and itâs almost like home away from home, itâs almost like playing for your hometown crowd again!
Her Campus Utah: Thatâs fun and it makes it more comfortable when youâre playing!
Spose: For me, itâs like playing a show in Maine but I get to see cool different stuff after!
Her Campus Utah: When youâre on tour and youâre playing shows away from home, how do you stay focused? Is it easier to write because you are so focused?
Spose: Even if Iâm going away for just a night or two to play a show, I bring my recording equipment with me. Itâs pretty portable in 2016 so I always bring it with me everywhere, so definitely when I head out on tour. It always ends up being so much, itâs kinda relentless like the driving and setting up and playing a show, and Iâm super hands-on with my fans so it takes forever to get out of the venue after the night and at the end of the night all you want to do is have a beer and sleep instead of setting up the equipment and recording. So what I find is, I always bring my recording equipment but I donât usually ever end up recording, but when I get home Iâm just so inspired from seeing the country and maybe itâs just the change of scenery or seeing the fans or just traveling in general, but it gets me so stoked and whenever I get home Iâm always mega-inspired and end up recording like 22 songs in 3 weeks. I just feel like it makes it so much easier to create when youâre in such an awesome frame of mind. It makes for great art.
Her Campus Utah: Do you feel like you write differently depending on where youâre at on tour?
Spose: There will be lyrics or like a mood, or maybe just something inspired by a place. Weâll get to Salt Lake City and for the rest of the tour, Iâm hanging out with the same dudes for the rest of the tour so weâll end up joking and trying to make each other laugh as we drive the long distances and some of those jokes turn into songs or into t-shirts eventually. I wouldnât say I write differently but Iâm inspired in different ways in different cities.
Her Campus Utah: What part about tour makes you so excited to get on the road?
Spose: For me, I had a kid when I was 23 so right when I was [the age] of graduating college so I never got to do like a post-college road trip type of thing, so for me, going on tour like is that in a way. I worked until I had that opportunity for myself and I love seeing different cities and different landscapes. Our country is just fascinating with all of the different climates and animals and structures and land-formations are all in this one country, itâs just so cool to me. I even like driving. Itâs my peace.
Her Campus Utah: What is your favorite song to perform when youâre on tour? You havenât started this tour, but what are you looking forward to most?
Spose: The easy answer is I close every tour with the song Knocking on Wood so itâs a song about preaching what you have; and Iâve closed every show with that for 3 or 4 years and thatâs the note that I want to leave on.
Her Campus Utah: Youâve loved music since you were a little kid, when did you think âthis is exactly what I want to doâ and âthis is what I want to dedicate my life to?â
Spose: Oh man, when I was like 7, all I wanted was to be in a band. I would make up fake band names and draw fake album covers and would write out track list, so it was always something I wanted to do but I donât think it was ever like a realty or a possibility really, I always pursued it and there was never a week of my life I didnât do something to try to do something, I knew other kids way more talented but I wanted it more than everybody else. It wasnât until I put out my first album and I printed 200 copies and I thought âoh my god, 200, how am I ever going to sell that?â but I sold them all and then I thought âdamn, maybe I am good at this.â I was like 22 then.
Her Campus Utah: How are you balancing everything out especially with new music and tour with having your kid and still trying to be you?
Spose: I donât know; Iâm balancing it well, I do it better than a lot of people do. My brand is just being me, so itâs like if I have kids and have a rapperâthatâs me, thatâs my brand! Whatever is happening to me, thatâs my brand; I donât have to lie about it and pretend Iâm like banging 40 chicks, that part is easy professionally. But at home, itâs a little harderâlike Iâm going on tour specifically this week because it is school vacation week and my wife is a teacher and itâs her week off so itâs way easier for me to be on tour when she doesnât have to be up at 6am and get the kids ready and go to work. I plan my schedule around her schedule to make it easier for her. I know I wonât enjoy tour if I know itâs miserable on her.
Donât forget to check out Spose LIVE tonight at In the Venue!Â