Senior Eli Kronovet, a member of Elon University a cappella group Rip_Chord, is creating an upcoming EP titled “Unethical” that shows his rap credentials. The six-song EP is written by Kronovet and is completely produced by a crew of Elon students.
“Unethical” is different from Kronovet’s first album, which included a variety of covers and his own original music.
Kronovet couldn’t produce an EP all on his own. His main engineers — people who mix, master and post production — are senior Jonathan Glover and junior Kevin McCarthy. Glover also makes beats for Kronovet along with junior James Hare and junior Marc Spano.
To get Kronovet known by the Elon population, senior Allison Srour is helping by managing his social media, setting up shows and concerts and getting him in touch with other people in the community who are willing to work together creatively.
Kronovet explained his music process with the following Q&A:
How would you describe your sound?
“Over the past year or so I’ve been experimenting with different genres within hip-hop. But I also don’t worry about trying to make my music sound a certain way; my goal is to create a sound that is the most authentic and organic sound possible.
“I spent all summer making turn-up, party music with [senior] Jonathan Glover out in L.A. Now that I’m back here [at Elon] I’m working on songs that are more substantive and also more groovy than they are hard-hitting party music.”
Who are some of your influences?
“I grew up listening to Southern hip-hop. Outkast, Lil Wayne, T.I. and Ludacris were all major influences to me when I was younger and were the reason I fell in love with hip-hop.
“Since I’ve started taking my music seriously, I use every hip-hop song and artist that I vibe with as my inspiration. And that list is way too long to type out.”
How did you get into making your own hip-hop music?
“I went to a very diverse middle school and that’s where I got into rap. I remember me and my friend Antonio writing songs in class and then going to the bathroom to record them on his old flip phone back in sixth grade.
“I knew that I had the ability and skill to make good music, but it wasn’t the until the summer before my junior year that I decided I had wasted enough time and it was finally time to start pursuing what I really want to do with my life, making music.”
You mentioned before you had an album coming up. Can you talk a little bit about your recording process?
“Not sure if I can release that precious information [laughs]. But first I have to get inspired, and I can be inspired by anything. Then I gotta make sure I write it down on my phone so that it doesn’t escape my mind in the future.
“Once I have the time in my schedule to put my mind to writing a song I look at this list of song ideas that I have already written down and use, that as the basis for the [new] song.
“The recording time honestly varies song to song. I will say that now I am spending much more time editing, reworking, and refining my verses than I did when I was working on the ‘Kronicle,’ my first project.”
But how long does that whole process take?
“I usually will write a few drafts of a song, record it in the studio and then listen to the song for at least a few days to a week to see if there is anything else I need to change before I am completely comfortable with releasing it to the public.”
Who’s in your team or crew? How did you meet them?
“Ah, the squad. First, it wouldn’t be fair to describe them as ‘my’ team. It’s everybody’s team because everyone is working not only to better themselves, but to better each other. Every one of these people wants music to be in their future, and by working together and getting on the same page, when one of us succeeds, all of us succeed.”
Finally, why don’t you tell me about “Unethical,” your upcoming EP?
“I am currently working on a handful of projects, but the one that will be released first is the project I alluded to earlier that Jon and I were working on in LA. It’s an EP titled ‘Unethical’ that will consist of five to six catchy songs that we hope people at Elon will be able to party to and vibe with.
“As of now, the plan is to start releasing singles towards the end of October, leading up to the release of the full project by early to mid-November.”
Editor’s note: This Q&A was conducted over a series of email and in person interviews.