"It's Part of the Climb": the process of Victor Henry and Bradockdan

Jun 18, 2024

For

The new EP, resulting from the partnership between the producer and the artist, was released yesterday (05.17) and is the materialization of an entire process. We talked to Dan and Henry a bit about their references, the creative process, the chill drill genre, and their expectations for this release.

Check below for a bit of our interview with Bradockdan and Victor Herny.

BRADOCKDAN:

Briefly tell us how you started in music and who your inspirations were.

Well, my first connection with music came through rap battles. Around 2009/2010, my mom got a computer for us, and one day while using it, for some reason, the highlighted video on YouTube was a rap battle by Emicida from 2006/07. From that day on, I became obsessed with rap battles, and from watching so much, I developed a certain skill in rhyming. I never had the courage to participate in a rap battle. So I started following and listening to all of Emicida's albums, until the moment I wrote my first song - largely due to the inspiration his songs brought me. Time went by, and this ended up being put aside a bit as I was doing other things in life. Still, I would always be writing a thing or two but never thought of actually releasing something. Then in 2019/20, with the rise of the grime and drill scene, my friends and I would rhyme over grime/drill beats and show some lyrics we had saved to each other. Since then, I continued to write songs, and in 2021, I had the opportunity to go to a studio for the first time and record my first song.

You’ve been in the scene for a few years now and are blowing up on TikTok. How do you see this new generation, and how has it impacted your success? - I feel like you have always been very patient and related well to the fact that "everything has its time".

My relationship with TikTok is a bit funny because before all this happened, I hated using the platform. I heard for a long time from friends that it was a network that delivered a lot of content, especially from artists who usually promoted previews there. But precisely because I am a more patient person and believe that everything has its time, I made myself understand that posting previews on the platform was a way to rush a process that needed time to become something even bigger. At some point, I decided to try posting a video there for the first time, and that’s when everything happened. And I really understood how important it is to relate to tools that are part of your generation because when everything happened, I realized that was exactly what brought me closer to the audience I have today.

How did you identify with this drill genre that only you do? What makes you, as an artist, unique?

For some time, we were making the drill that most people used to listen to, that more chaotic and somewhat more "generic" thing. At a certain point, I was consuming a lot of jazz samples and even boombap beats with jazz samples, we can say, beats with a more "chill" sound. It was then that in a conversation with Henry, I asked him what he thought about it and how we could do this in a drill while still maintaining the essence of the style. We started making some beats like that, and created our first song with that sound, the song "Kéké." And I think what has made this something unique is the way the beat interacts with the lyrics. We make drill in a calmer and less violent way, but still addressing themes with a sharp critical sense regarding our daily lives and the daily lives of the people who follow us.

How did the partnership with Victor for "FPDS" come about? And why this name and what does it represent for you?

Henry and I had been working together for a while and realized how much our works and ideas complemented each other in the studio, much due to the respect and admiration we have for each other. The idea for the EP arose very much out of a need to put our name even more on the map of drill and music of our generation. We wanted to show what we are doing new and how it could influence others to do what we do. The name of the EP itself is very explanatory. Being part of the rise means believing that every process, both musical and in personal life, contributes to growth in achieving our goals. And the EP has that representativeness for us - it has shown how valuable the processes are in our lives. Learning from losses and gains is understanding that certain things happen because they need to happen so that we can climb more steps.

What can fans expect from the EP "FPDS"?

I feel that this EP will have the power to inspire and allow other young people to see themselves in us and thus take all their dreams off the paper. FPDS is more than a musical work - it is a way to show how valuable the process is in the lives of people who believe in improvement.

VICTOR HENRY:

What was the creative process of the EP "FPDS" like, together with Dan?

It was a very natural process, we studied some references, created, and brought our arts together. He usually writes before the beats, so I made the instrumentals specific for this project, but it was blind without even knowing the theme or the lyrics. After that, we combined everything, changed a few things, and gave meaning to the work, but there are no rules - that was the case with “Tipo Assim”, “Deixa Eles Achar”, and “Deixa Levar” where I made the instrumental first. Working with Dan makes everything seem easier; we understand each other very well, it was a very enjoyable experience.

You have already made a whole journey in the rap scene. What is it like for you to release a collaborative project that focuses primarily on drill?

Drill is not my main genre, but when you produce something specific that reaches a larger number of people, you end up being tied to the genre. But I liked it a lot, I hope to continue doing it.

What are your expectations for the release, in relation to the audience?

I am very excited; I hope the audience receives it well and identifies with everything - with the beats, with the tones, with the lyrics, with the overall aesthetics. We tried to bring a vibe that is still recent in Brazil, but with our own touch.