By Tate Luckey

Some consider Homies the 502’s next big rap group. They have close ties to Jack Harlow who headlined May 26, having opened for him during his “No Place Like Home” tour back in December. They have steadily built up a following with the locals, opening the first day of Forecastle Festival.

Before their show, The Homies sat down with The Louisville Cardinal to answer questions about their upcoming work and the pride they have for their city.

The group consists of Shloob, rapper/artist; Quiiso, the designated singer/songwriter for their hooks/melodies; Ace Pro, who takes on more lead visual creator roles, and 2forwOyNE, lead producer and engineer.

When you think about typical hip hop city “sounds”, they all are pretty defined. You have the East Coast with groups like A Tribe Called Quest, West Coast with producers like Suge Knight, or even Atlanta with groups like Outkast and TI. What defines the “Louisville Sound?”

Ace Pro – “It’s kind of funny, you mention collectives like Tribe. What the ‘Louisville sound’ is just kinda getting started, steadily evolving. You have artists like Bryson Tiller, EST Gee, and Harlow; With us, it’s more borrowing inspiration from lots of different places. We do have an identity, and try to color outside of the lines a lot.”

The Homies by Nathan Zucker for Forecastle

What is it about Louisville as a city to you that is so special?

2forwOyNE – “The city of Louisville is based on a sense of pride- we originally come from the home of Muhammad Ali, so it’s just the natural-born philanthropy and having the pride of being somebody from not that big of an ego city. It’s rare for someone to come here, make it to where we’re heading, we try to put the city on our back.”

Shloob – “Everybody here knows everybody. Everyone has groups of friends/cliques; we represent the group/brotherhood culture. I feel like we’re gonna make it catch on, it’s pretty cool.”

Let’s pivot to your newest music video that dropped, Shake, and your newest album. Can you detail a bit about the songwriting process? Do the verses come first, then the melody? Does someone in the group lead more of the creative control?

Ace Pro – “The Shake video was comprised of the vibe that we feel the song gives. It has that early 2000s bounce. We wanted to reflect that with a Hype Williams-esque video. So we have the fish eye, we have the light tunnel, and we built that up from scratch. We had a good team around us that helped build everything, but everything else comes straight from us.”

Quiiso – “The recording process for that song, we were winding down during a recording session, and wOyNE just started making a beat and I put that first verse out there. As far as our recording process for that song, it’s pretty organic, but sometimes some of us write before we hear anything, and sometimes we’re rapping as the beat is coming out. We’re trying to get more in a process of fluidity. As things are being made, hooks are written, someone’s doing this…everyone’s doing something.”

Do you guys get nervous at all performing? What’s next after Forecastle Festival?

Shloob – “I feel like it’s situational. For me, I’m used to performing, it’s like muscle memory, but if it’s winging it, I’m a bundle of nerves. Some people take shots, or meditate/pray. It’s situational.”

The Homies by Nathan Zucker for Forecastle

Last question for you guys: If you had to make a Louisville Mount Rushmore, who’s on it?

Ace Pro – “Well I mean, it’s gotta be Quiiso, Ace, Shloob, and 2fo.”

2fo – “Facts, haha.”

Ace Pro – “No, but, if we weren’t being biased, we’d say Static Major, Bryson Tiller, Jack, and… then the Homies, again.”

No Muhammad Ali?

Ace Pro – “Oh! I thought you were just talking about music. My bad, then uh, York (Lewis and Clark), Ali, Static Major, and Jennifer Lawrence. Diane Sawyer.

Shloob – “Charles too man, shoutout Charles Booker.”

More about The Homies can be found here. Their latest album, Honest Living, is available to listen to now.

Photo Courtesy // Forecastle Festival //