Artist Profile: runitupday!

A producer and rapper from the South Bronx, RUNITUPDAY!’s musical journey began, as many have, as a small child singing in his church choir. Being from a family of musicians, this was both a rite of passage and a sign of a growing interest in the capabilities of his own vocals.

As he grew older, and discovered FL Studio, he began making beats for his basketball teammates. Originally driven by the social aspect of music creation, this process spurred his interest in other avenues, including mixing and mastering.

“Everything was a lot of self sufficiency… making my own beats, mixing my own music, because you know at that time we didn't really have enough money to go to different studios or get the high end equipment… And then, you know, over the time with making beats, my curiosity piqued for just recording my own music, writing my own songs, recording myself because at that time, I had to practice on myself.”

While his ability to produce and refine his own music defines a large part of his creative journey, you can’t truly begin to understand RUNITUPDAY!’s mindset until you delve into the collaborative aspects of his process. His first major project, “My Brother’s Keeper”, was a collaboration between him and his brother, Dot Demo, produced entirely by RUNITUPDAY!. A certifiably talented artist, Dot Demo’s ability to flow over RUNITUPDAY!’s luxurious instrumentals elevated the project onto the radar of multiple music outlets.

As he worked to improve his production capabilities, he began working with more vocal samples under the influences of Kanye West and Tyler, the Creator. He branched out his creative ventures and began working frequently with a small group of artists from around the country.

However, as he describes it, his biggest hurdle came in the form of gaining the confidence to project his own voice into his music and start rapping over his own beats.

“It really takes a whole different mind-frame to cultivate your image and your sound, and that was really what I was doing up until I released my own music. [I was] just finding my image, what I looked like, the sound I was going for, and, luckily, since I made my own beats it was easy [to make that transition] because I knew what I liked.”

As he developed his image, he began working with his sister, Carys Cabø, who is an R&B and hip-hop producer. Accompanied by her beats, he began experimenting with autotune and refining his lyrics, eventually feeling comfortable enough to spit verses himself. They’ve put out two projects together, “Seclusion” in 2021 and, most recently, “Algo Maior” earlier this year.

As he looked to develop a solo project, however, RUNITUPDAY! was seeking to further refine his craft. Already a fan of Earl Sweatshirt, he began listening to MIKE and toying with his vocal style. After time, he developed a tone which more closely matched his natural voice, a deep and rambling vocal range which is reminiscent of Mavi.

This style appears prominently on his solo project “Walking with Closed Fists”, and he plans to continue using both styles in the future.

A talented individual with an impressive range of abilities, RUNITUPDAY!’s development, as he continues to come into his own artistically, should be of interest to those with an eye on the New York rap scene. He continues to produce regularly and has an upcoming solo project which will be released in the next couple of months. He claims that it will heavily expand upon his first solo project.

“If you listen to “Walking With Closed Fists” and then you listen to the new shit that I'm going to drop, it’s definitely like ‘Wow, like he really expanded this shit’... so I just can't wait for people to hear that.”

Check out “Algo Maior” here and “Walking with Closed Fists” here.