Mentor Spotlight: Meet ClickNPress
ClickNPress joined us at Songathon in May, 2019 in NYC.
ClickNPress is a Nu-Era production and DJ duo from NYC, comprised of Kaleb “KQuick” Rollins and Marc “Fresh2Def” Soto. They’ve worked with Alessia Cara, J. Cole, Wiz Khalifa, amongst others.
ClickNPress are currently nominated at the 62nd Grammy’s for Best Rap Album of 2020 for their work on Revenge Of The Dreamers III - Dreamville.
They joined us at Songathon in May 2019 in New York City to share some of their career insight and approach to songwriting. Here are some takeaways from the Q&A session at Songathon:
How did you meet?
Kaleb: “We both met in college freshman year at NYU’s Clive Davis Program. We met first day freshman year. The summer before freshman year a whole bunch of us from the program found each other on Facebook and created this group and we all decided that the first day we would meet up and wear all black. We all wore black and walked over to the NYU Welcome Party together.”
What’s your approach to writing with strangers?
Marc: “You can’t write songs with people that you have zero connection to - every session begins with a pow wow - how did you get started? What are you listening to? How’s your day?”
Kaleb: “What’s important when collaborating with new people and or with people that you already know, is asking what their process is. What’s their usual process when they’re writing by themselves?”
Marc: “You can’t force someone to work the way you work because everyone’s process is different. Some people are reclusive and have to go to a corner to do their best work. Every time you work with someone new you kinda gotta get a gauge to what they do, what they like to do, what makes them comfortable. We are here to facilitate the artists and songwriters we work with. That means making them the most comfortable so they can express themselves the most authentically.”
Any advice on balancing the creative and the business side of music?
Marc: “The most important thing to do for people that are interested in being in this business as professionals: Learn as much as you can on your own, understand how the business works, understand the writing process, that the writing process has a business element to it. At the end of your sessions, there should be an understanding of what these publishing splits are going to be. As songwriters, as producers, you have to understand mechanicals, you have to understand publishing. The most important thing that we ever did was get a dope lawyer."“
Kaleb: “That was a turning point in our career. When you have a good lawyer, especially a lawyer who has some status in the industry, people will treat you differently and people know they can’t get things over on you.”
Check our their Q&A session here:
