Learn About The SHAPES That Built Renzell.Wav
Renzell.Wav, or L Boogie has been around the scene for a long time, working with some of Chicago’s top artists. From Chance to NoName, to Mick Jenkins, Renzell has always delivered the heat. By working next to his peers and creating moments, it all helped shape him into the person he is today.
Dig into more of Renzell’s last 10+ year run as he discusses getting into producing, 10 Day being his first major placement, the concept of SHAPES, having a personal/work relationship with Mick Jenkins, and developing an event for men to get together and share issues that they’re going through.
When did you first start getting into making music and producing?
I first started producing my sophomore year of High School, although I had been into music for years before that. I first learned the piano at 10 and had lessons up until 15. From there I moved onto the viola. After that I played the saxophone and have played that ever since.
While growing up, I was really into Timbaland and his production style. I also dove into that R&B world and was so infatuated by how it was recorded and the way it sounded. That’s what really got me into production, starting in high school. I started to record all of my friends in my parents basement. I had a studio there. That’s when I started to learn how to engineer as that was what was going to take me into the world of producing that I wanted to be in.
I moved to Chicago in 2007 to attend Columbia. I went there for a year and a half and met pretty much all of ThemPeople (theMIND, Michael Anthony, Jean Deaux) in the first week. From then, it was history, we grooved and were inseparable. Coming from Milwaukee, I was like a fly on the wall in sessions, because I was so astounded by the talent. I knew I made beats and could engineer, so I was hype about that. I would always tell people ‘Yo let’s go to the studio, let’s go to the studio.’ Thats what connected everybody.
Was ‘10 Day’ your first major placement?
Yeah, forsure. I believed in Chance when nobody else did. He was going to studios and they were trying to charge him and I was like ‘nah bro,’ let’s lock in and make some shit right now. Basically I did that whole 10 Day mixtape for free because I believed in him.
This project was really a big placement for me because it pushed me into this Chicago history. It opened up the door for everybody in Chicago to hear what was going on. It was a great time period where all of these creators were at their prime and peak. There was a strong and high frequency going in Chicago.
Once I got to work with a celebrity artist, a whole bunch of people started to hit me up. I ended up working on most artists in SaveMoney’s projects. Towkio’s, Joey Purp, Kami, Vic started Innanetape in the studio I was working at. I also started working with NoName and Mick Jenkins, and have been able to do every Mick album since ‘The Water[s]’.
7 years ago is when that project released. Talk to us about who Renzell was during that time.
Renzell was L Boogie at that time. I had a 2BR apartment that was small as hell, but I was running the studio out of my living room and running every session I could. I was so locked in on being better as an engineer, as a producer, that I looked at everybody around me that was making me better. I was open for everybody coming in. I did not sleep. Chance would literally come in at 7am right before I start my first session and we would get in for two hours before my next session. I would then have an hour break and here comes Chance again trying to get back in. I’d finish the day with another session and he was back again first thing the next morning. That was the routine for years. Back to back. Any social life I had was strictly around music.
While I had other paid sessions, I learned that the free sessions were just as important because I knew those people were probably going to make it and I believed in them. They were going to teach me how to make them sound like whatever artist I needed to emulate. It was overall a time of a lot of learning. There was so much going on. Even us as a music industry in Chicago, we lacked the wisdom of the business side. We were more concentrated on the music and that’s where I was in that mindset. I was locked in on music and what was going around us.
“IN LIFE YOU MOVE WITHIN SYMMETRY OF THE PEOPLE AROUND YOU AND IT WILL SHAPE YOU INTO THE BEST VERSION OF YOURSELF”
For the last couple of years you’ve been working on ‘SHAPES’. Can you talk a little bit about what the concept of ‘SHAPES’ is?
‘SHAPES’ is all about me learning from the people around me. So much of what’s around me has made me who I am. It shaped me. I wouldn’t be the person who I am without that and I was so in awe when I had that realization. What it took was looking at my speakers, looking at my keyboards in the studio, and seeing the symmetry in the shapes of this equipment and how I can make it sound a certain way.
I was tripping off it one day. Then I was like, that’s the same way life is. In life you move within symmetry of the people around you and it will shape you into the best version of yourself. That’s the concept of shapes. All of the records that I have for the project are with the people that had an influence on myself in some way.
First single from the project you released was “I’m Done Holding My Tongue,” featuring theMIND and Mick Jenkins. Why was this the first single to be released?
That was the first single because it felt like a good breakout record. I’m done holding my tongue in the sense of being a producer and not being respected as an artist. We deserve a certain spotlight and our due diligence. theMIND and Mick were also spitting some real bars that were speaking to what is going on now as well - specifically referencing the social/political things that they’re talking about.
While you’ve collaborated with so many artists over the years, a frequent name we always see is Mick Jenkins. Can you talk to us about how important this relationship with him has been, creatively and personally? What does working with Mick bring out in you?
Mick has brought out disciple within my work ethic. He’s brought out creative control. Mick is my neighbor right now, like literally. This is my homie that I talk to all of the time. It’s a relationship where we are a dynamic duo behind the scenes. That’s a big thing for me. When we were locked in on the albums that we’ve put out together, it’s an inseparable relationship in which we’re flying to Montreal to work with Kaytranada for a week together. We went to LA together for two weeks to finish the album and got to work with artists that might need to work on their features for the album.
I love to have conversations with the people that I’m working with. A more introspective conversation - a lot more than just a surface conversation. I don’t think we could’ve made the music that we made without us having a certain point of vulnerability together. Once Mick and I got past that vulnerable place, the relationship flourished. I’ve brought out things in him that he will tell me that he can’t get working with other artists because he can’t be that comfortable in front of them. This friendship had a lot to do with how seamless the music sounded.
Mick is not the only artist that tells me that. Anybody that I’ve named throughout this interview, I have a friendship on top of the working relationship. From Smino to Jean Deaux to Chance to Joey Purp, all of them are the homies. We aren’t just making music together.
“YOU WILL ONLY BE ABLE TO PUT YOUR REALEST SELF ON A RECORD IF YOU ARE YOUR MOST COMFORTABLE SELF”
Can you expand on this important artist and producer relationship?
For me it’s a collective consciousness, you’re able to tap into the same thought. The more people thinking about it at the same time, the better it’s going to be. I’ve been around so many projects that started with a bunch of heads in the room and everybody putting in their two-cents and it becomes ‘Telefone’, ‘blkjuptr,’ or ‘blkswn’.
This relationship has been very important for all of the artists that I’ve worked with. I have to have a conversation with them. I don’t necessarily tell them that’s my plan, but I just genuinely start a conversation. I’m very open and music is therapy in my opinion. You will only be able to put your realest self on a record if you are your most comfortable self.
I don’t know therapy, nor am I a psychologist trying to drop gems, but it’s the relationship that it creates. Because we are openly taking about these issues, we are going to be able to put it into the music. That might be the topic of the song or it might add to what’s about to happen.
Collective consciousness will never happen if everyone is separate.
You put together an event, called ‘Release Date,’ for guys to get together and vent about issues they or the world have been dealing with. Can you talk through what led to the inception of this get-together?
I went to therapy and my therapist told me that black men are unicorns in this world. I’m like, damn that makes sense, but it’s also messed up. In our unconscious minds we don’t even want to go to therapy. As men we are messed up and it’s not our fault. It’s the worlds construct of a man is what messed us up. We were brought up us to think we can’t cry and that we have to play certain sports, etc. That opened my eyes up to how important it was to create a community for men to address these issues and grow. I felt that I needed to create a dynamic for my male friends to have these conversations and release everything that was going on emotionally. We needed to be able to hold each other accountable for things that we may want to do in life. I think that mental health is so important for creators as well, as we get lost in anxiety or depression.
It definitely ended up being better than I imagined. I thought I was just going to start it for the homies and dig deep into the topics I wanted to talk about, like how I was reading ‘All About Love’ by Bell Hooks with my girlfriend, which showed me how I was loving. That was the main theme that I had at first. Then I started bringing in guest speakers to have conversation about financial literacy and entertainment law.
All in all, it was all about wanting to help my guys and create a space for men to come and be put onto new information and have a conversation about it.
I know for a lot of artists, moving around and experiencing situations helps fuel the creative process. How has it been being stationary for this long?
At first I was the most creative I had ever been. I was making something for me every single day. Then after the first two months, it was like, alright let me figure out the financial situation as quarantine had messed things up a bit. I knew I had to get back into my engineering bag and work my services.
On top of own projects, I also work as the head engineer at Spaceship Chicago and this gave me the space to ramp up my work. I knew that other studios had been closing during all of this, but thought that if we keep our studio under a certain amount of people, socially distanced, wear gloves, masks, and fully clean everything, we could benefit from this. And that is exactly what happened over the last two months. I had to hire two other engineers because of all the work that was coming in.
This job has helped with my creative space because I’m now back active. It did take a bit away from working for myself, but it’s really all about the balance. Me being who I am,I can’t be in the studio 24/7.
What’s it like being a father during these times? Is your daughter fully aware of what’s going on?
Man, it’s different because I’m a Black man. I’m having to explain it to her as things that can happen to daddy. These are things that I am struggling with living in this world everyday.
I have real in-depth conversations with her; I don’t just talk to her like she’s a kid. I tell her, ‘look babygirl, this is how it’s going to be, this is how it is.’ She might be a little more nonchalant about it and say ‘that’s cool, I know,’ but for me, it’s really important for me to let her know what’s going on so she’s not within a blind eye of what happens.
My great grandparents and grandparents have all lived through this. We are tired of it now. I’m not even surprised by the things that are happening anymore. I think we are making baby steps of progress, but I think it’s also beneficial to the people that are making it happen. I try not to be a conspiracy theorist, but I feel like there’s something else going on.
As you think of the word ‘hero’, what does that mean to you?
My father - he was always my hero. Hero means being your true self and always searching for the best version of yourself. I think that’s what every hero encompasses. A hero is a nurse that was going to work or a bus-driver providing daily transportation throughout this pandemic. These are people that are living their true selves and not trying to be anything they’re not or afraid of what their friends might say. I think people that live within that light of themselves is what makes somebody happy and a hero.
Written by: Nico Rud