One can find the creative behind a pair of dark, round sunglasses in his studio in Oakland, California; incredible talent can be found hidden inside the cracks of the Bay Area, somewhere that rapper LONG NGHTS prefers to be.
LONG NIGHTS has always been a fan of music, but his dreams of pursuing the career path were made clear in high school.
“I had a few friends who were making songs on GarageBand and stuff like that, and that’s when I realized that it was really something I could pursue. Before that I had no idea what the process was, it almost seemed out of reach,”
He explained in a recent interview with The Advocate that at the beginning, the music he created was “mostly songs that make my friends laugh.”
However, as he grew older, his love for the creation grew as well. “It’s just something I’ve stuck with. It’s a great form of expression. [It’s] just something that I really love.”
Since then, LONG NGHTS has been working hard at his craft, with his discography reflecting his progress. In 2021 he released eight singles, all in the span of three months. The Cramped Chords session consisted of three of those singles (“Never Switch,” “Drama,” and “Drive”).
When asked about his favorite track, the lyricist likens it to “like picking a favorite child,” but stated that that child was released in November of 2021, titled “Curtains.”
“It was the first time I really tapped into a level of songwriting that I was super proud of.” he explained, “Beyond just trying to like, rap and have bars and this and that. It was just something a little deeper.”
The rapper credits his older brother for the influence he had on the music they both would listen to when they were younger, and still listen to today.
“I’m an immigrant and my parents were listening to music from Bosnia, from back home. But when we first moved to Oakland, he started discovering all sorts of artists,” he said.
He references artists like Kanye West and MF Doom as “influences that I [still] carry to this day.”
The music industry can be a hard one to break into, but LONG NGHTS said “There is no right way or wrong way” to do it; his advice to up and coming artists: “Just trust yourself.”
He explained that the craft is not a race, but “a journey for every artist.”
He encourages artists to keep advancing in their abilities and their skills, and explains that hard work will showcase over time.
“You’ll notice that the more time you put into it, the better you get,” he said. “So just trust your ear, trust your vision, and pursue that. Don’t worry about what anyone else is doing.
