Hip Hop/Rap
Everlast: 'I've never written down a song lyric or rap'
Everlast, who was previously the frontman of hip-hop trio House of Pain, opened up to Songwriting Magazine about how he pens his tunes, and explained that he doesn’t do things the same way as others.
Everlast has “never written down a song lyric”.
The 56-year-old singer, who was previously the frontman of hip-hop trio House of Pain, opened up to Songwriting Magazine about how he pens his tunes, and explained that he doesn’t do things the same way as others.
He said: “I have this weird… I don’t know what it is, it’s not OCD, but I don’t know if it’s a mental disorder or something… everything is pictures to me.
“I’ve never written down a rap or a song lyric. There’s something about the picture; when I commit the words to paper, they become two-dimensional, and they’re not the picture anymore, and I’ll lose complete and total interest in it.
“Even in the aftermath of making records, where there are places you have to submit the lyrics, I have to have other people do it because it’ll ruin it. It’s a bizarre thing.
“That’s why I don’t know if it’s some sort of disorder. But yeah, I don’t write things down. It’s like picture books or photo albums.”
Everlast, real name Erik Schrody, also said there’s “no particular formula” for him when it comes to writing songs.
He mused: “It could be a phrase that caught my eye on a billboard, or I overheard a stranger say, or something that happened to me.
“Or it could start with a simple little chord pattern that I like the rhythm of, and I then start filling it in with words.
“It’s like slapping clay on a sculpture; sometimes you’re going to take some away, sometimes you’re going to add some. I don’t know how I do it, bro.
“I’m a lucky, fortunate guy who knows how to turn a phrase here and there, and I know how to tell a story in a way that’s earnest, connectable, and relatable.”
It’s important for the musician to find something for his fans to relate to in his tunes.
He continued: “The only point is finding these points of highest common denominator that we can all say like, ‘Oh s***, me too.’ Or, ‘I didn’t know anybody else felt like that.’
“There is no thing or feeling that any of us have experienced that others haven’t. It’s main character syndrome. We all got it.
“It might be in a different shape or form, but if you express the idea in the right way, everybody will say that, ‘Oh s***, me too,’ and that’s really what a song is for to me.”
