Everybody is Rooting for Recoechi
Photos by Alex Jibaja
Donning a brown hoodie and cargo pants, Recoechi walked into South Facing Windows with a cool, guarded demeanor. He exchanges greetings cordially, but with measured expressions, eyes scanning the room and the new faces present in the photo studio. You might mischaracterize him as reserved, even restrained. But once small talk and intros shift to chopping it up about music, his personality sparks up—animated, sharp, and full.
Raised in Chicago’s East Side, where caution is instilled at an early age, it’s apparent that Recoe has done the work to open up more to the world without forgetting the swagger and lessons he picked up from his neighborhood.
A few weeks removed from releasing Flavaz, his excellent debut album, Recoe is in a great mood, excited to talk about the process of self-discovery, sacrifices and stubborn persistence that led to it.
Originally inspired by the city’s drill scene, it wasn’t until the passing of Nipsey Hussle, in 2019, that Recoe felt a calling towards a more conscientious songwriting approach and recorded “Luminary,” a tribute to Nipsey’s legacy as an emcee and community organizer. Recoe’s music began to carry more weight and depth, without losing its grit and hard-hitting sonics. “When that song dropped, it was a turning point for what I wanted to see myself as an artist,” he shared.
“Luminary” also caught the attention of multi-platinum producer (and fellow East Side representative) C-Sick, who then offered his mentorship. Along the way, he also found in Healthy Hood, the local nonprofit run by Rev. Tanya Lozano, a space to serve and lead in his community. These mentors identified his potential, not only as an artist but as a human, and encouraged his talent while challenging him to improve.
Recoe raps about struggle, blessings, and faith with unabated conviction. His passion and hunger are so prevalent that it’s hard not to buy into the belief that he was preordained to achieve greatness. However, the ability to channel all of that in a fully-formed song didn’t come without friction.
Recoe remembers a blunt conversation with C-Sick: “He's like, ‘man, I need you to start making records. You can rap your ass off. But, dude, we need records [….] you need to expand your style.” That moment of musical brothers bumping heads led to him to temporarily seek out other producers to work with and serendipitously connect with another cornerstone in Chicago’s creative scene, Renzell of ThemPeople and StudioShapes fame.
“Once I met ‘Zell, that’s when I really started learning. People call him underground, but what you don’t realize when you start working with ‘Zell, is you start working with somebody that knows instruments. Now the music production is different, how I’m hearing [the music] is different. We’re hearing stacks, vocals, and where to put certain ad libs. I’m getting comfortable recording, you know what I’m saying? I’m becoming more comfortable becoming more of myself.” That growth allowed Recoe to fully understand C-Sick’s challenge, eventually reconnecting with him on a deeper level and record the title track and intro of the album.
Flavaz is a fully sculpted debut that introduces Recoe —the person and the artist—by immersing listeners into his world with the soundscapes chiseled primarily by Renzell, with additional production support from C-Sick, Lonzo and Galaxy Francis.
Across the project, he speaks lucidly about grief, ambition, and his revolutionary mindset; grounding heavy truths in raw, lived-in stories. By the final third of the album, it builds into a cathartic experience: the heartbreak of a failed relationship (“TO BE LOVED”), a tragic instance of street violence involving his cousin (“FEEL SOME TYPE OF WAY”), a spiritual reawakening through his sister (“HEAR WITHCHO EYES”) and his ongoing mission as a “STARVING ARTIST” to not only make it, but help everyone elevate.
As our conversation wound down, Recoe shared his hopes for Flavaz: “Ultimately, I hope they get a sense of hope in times like these. Even though we're all on the ground, we live our lives every day. Just across the sea, there's a lot of shit going on. I'm grateful to have freedom the way I do, you know what I'm saying?…”
“...so while I got this freedom, I feel like as an artist, it’s my job to make some form of the revolution irresistible. It’s my job as an artist. We have to work, use our art to make sure that we talk about shit that the voices can’t.”