Roc Marciano & Errol Holden Talk '656' Album Track-by-Track

It’s hard to believe, but Roc Marciano hasn’t fully produced a project for himself since 2013, when he dropped The Pimpire Strikes Back and Marci Beaucoup. So, with 656 — named after an apartment he lived in during his days on Terrace Ave. in Hempstead, Long Island — the rapper and producer wanted to take his craft back to the essence, with the only feature being Harlem’s Errol Holden, who appears on the tracks “Rain Dance” and “Trapeze.” Many are aware that he was once a member of Busta Rhymes‘ Flipmode squad during the late ’90s and early 2000s, but it really wasn’t until 2010’s genre-shifting classic Marcberg where he really truly arrived. Fully produced by Marciano himself, that project’s purposely gritty and stripped down sound helped usher in a new era of East Coast underground rap, which has since helped create a self-sustaining ecosystem of music, merch and touring that has made needing to sign to a major label a thing of the past for certain artists. The day of 656’s release, Roc felt the need to boast a bit on social media, something he rarely does in a public forum: “Don’t compare me to nobody. This has never been done,” he tweeted. This was followed by, “We talking beats and rhymes, full body of work discography?” And then he added, “Acting like these sons of mine produce better than me is blasphemous. Watch how I strike down upon thee.” Marci and Errol stopped by the Billboard office in New York City to give a track-by-track breakdown about how this album came together, the thesis behind it, their working relationship and budding friendship, and what’s next for them. Check out their breakdown below. “Trick Bag” Okay, so the intro, “Trick Bag.” What can you tell me about how that track came together? It was something I was messing with for a while, as far as on the beat tip, and at th last second, I found a different way to chop it. And I was like, “Damn, this s—t is so fire. It gotta go on the project.” I think it was probably the last beat I made. I was like, “Oh, nah, this is it right here.” So, yeah, that’s pretty much how that one happened. It wasn’t really nothing more to it. I just love the sound of it. I felt like the album needed that sound on it. The album title is named after an apartment you once lived in on Terrace Ave. in Hempstead, NY. Were all these songs specifically for this project? Did you have some kind of laying around? Nah, all of this was was intentional for 656. What was it about these tracks specifically? To me it was like pressing a reset button on everything that I’ve been doing — like how Marcberg was all produced by me. I really felt like that was like my sound and my neighborhood. So, 656 is me bringing it back to square one again. I picked out the Kristi Yamaguchi line as my favorite one. Made sense for the Winter Olympics. I also like the line about the Chanel Elmer Fudd hat. That’s a tough hat. “Childish Things” This is probably my favorite beat. How did you come up wit it? I caught that traveling around, digging for samples overseas. When I found it, I said, “Yeah, this is gonna be special,” and I knew that I had to put it to the side. Do you remember when you found it? I found that sample about a year ago. You remember where you were? I think I was in Amsterdam. Whenever you travel for shows, you make sure to go digging, right? Yeah, sometimes. We don’t always have time to do it, you know? But that was around a time when, I think I was with the Alchemist — and if you’re with Alchemist, he’s going to be dragging you to the record stores. When I talked to him, he said that he makes sure to go digging whenever he’s overseas. I think that a lot of the samples on this album was from stuff I was finding on those trips. My favorite lines was the Boomerang Strangé one. Also, the one about the watch giving you a tan line. How do you come up with this stuff? Does it come to you on the spot? Are you writing it down? I just sit down and write. It wasn’t like a note that I put to the side or nothing like that. It just came to me while I was writing. I do what the beat is telling me to say. So, you prefer to write as the beat is playing? Yeah, I write to the music. “Hate Is Love” Okay, let’s go onto “Hate Is Love.” What can you tell us you about how that track came together? It was the crazy soul chop that inspired me. I had that joint already to the side too, but it wasn’t complete. So, I sat down with it, worked on it one day, got it floating in a way where I felt like it was ready to become a song. And once I got that s—t rolling, it was nuts. What do you use to make your beats? MPC 2500. You went crazy on the whole track, but I think my favorite lines were in the second verse where you said, “Diamonds quiet like Kawhi” and “I moonwalked out the spot like the King of Pop.” Don’t sleep on the first verse, though. That was fire. I don’t remember the whole verse, but “Bag the bitch in the Ritz then after kidnapped her, actress bitch with a British accent, I’m a caster, might have to crack the old rich cracker, caviar on a Ritz cracker.” Man, you crazy? Don’t sleep on that. I said, “How you fresh as f—k but yet in a funk?” Yeah, I like that one. “Pink gold Rollie gave a pink eye,” “Your favorite R&B singer getting finger-popped.” “Yves St. Moron” Let’s talk about “Yves St. Moron.” That’s one that I had for a while too. I just was like, “Aight, I’m ready for this one now.” Because when I first made it, the time signature is so strange. Sometimes that’s how it is with beats. One day you just pick your day like, “Today’s your day, muthaf—ka, you gonna get it today.” And that was one of those joints. To rap over it or to finish making the beat? To rap on it. Yeah. And why did you name it that? I just thought it was slick, you know? Like an a–hole getting fly, a–hole. I like the Alexander McQueen triple beam pistol with the beams. I actually googled to see McQueen ever made something like that, or maybe it was on the runway. Nah, it was something custom-made. [Laughs.] I like how you used “haberdashery” at the end, “From head to feet, elite haberdashery.” You in haberdashery right now. As usual. Yes, I am a haberdasher. [Laughs.] “Prince & Apollonia” I really like that beat and the video for “Prince & Apollonia.” The rhymes are pretty good too. That’s another sample that I think I found overseas or some s—t like that. I don’t know, it was something about that sound that was just moving me. Any lines that stick out for you? Honestly, I feel like there’s no weak lines on the album. We can start from the beginning to the end. They’re all my favorite lines. All the lines are f—king crazy. You’ve been on a run or whatever, but what was it about that project that inpired you to really get into your bag on this? I mean, I hadn’t produced a project for myself in so long, so it was like, I guess… I don’t know… a little bit of excitement. I felt inspired. I liked the “water off a duck’s back” and the line about nerds, math and murder. There was social commentary there. I also wanted to ask if you ever told a shorty to purify herself in the waters of Lake Minnetonka? Nah, I never did that. I’m assuming Purple Rain or Prince inspired this album. I felt like Prince making this album. So, Prince was the underlying theme of this album? Because I think he used to date Vanity, which is the title of the next song. Yeah, to some degree. And they did date, but that track is named literally after the word vanity. It’s not named after her. “Vanity” Do you remember making this one? I thought the beat was just so soulful and it belonged on the project. So, when I found there was no way that I wasn’t touching it. It also has one of the one of my favorite lines on the whole album. “The Range nice, cocaine white like pagan women.” Then there’s, “My s—t hit different, I look better than b—hes.” You sound like a wrestler on this one. “Rain Dance” (feat. Errol Holden) Let’s get into “Rain Dance.” What is it about Errol and his music that made you want to work with him? He’s super nice, for one. It’s that old New York s—t, that s—t that I’m from. I just feel like Errol is speaking my language. And then on top of that, after meeting the brother, we’ve been like family ever since because it’s always deeper than the music. It was like when I met Ka, and Ka also put me onto him — so once we started linkin’, it was just like, ‘D–n, we actually f—k with each other past the music.’ And that’s always a great thing. How did the beat come together for this one? I took a lot of pride in putting that one together because I chopped that muthaf—ka up. All the pieces are from different pieces on that particular record, and it was a very hard record to get, so when I found it, I was like, “Damn, this motherf—ker is special,” and I sent it over to Errol. Can you talk about your contribution to “Rain Dance,” Errol? You start your verse off talking about labyrinths and sinking into holes. The mold on the ceiling. [Laughs.] Errol Holden: You know, the verse is pretty old, and I’m trying to take myself back there now, and what I was thinking about. But, I’m always integrating the past with the present. Garments with food, my time and projects, to where I’m now, things of that nature. It’s just a litany of thoughts that the beat makes me spill out. There’s also the outro, which has become a signature on your tracks, of you and your friends talkin’ s—t about ironing your drawers and whatnot. You got, like, the little rant. E.H.: Yeah, because that’s what I do. I iron my drawers, I iron my T-shirts. They feel better when I put them on. Everything you hear is just us in the studio because it’s an open process, so sometimes I just let them n—as keep talking. It sounds like there’s an old head talking with you all the time. It reminds me of OGs on the block talking. Assuming you were already a fan, what was it about Roc that made you want to work with him? It made sense to me because the subject matter is similar. E.H.: I guess you could say it’s similar, because it’s conversation-based. I’m attracted to tonalities. I’m attracted to anything to where somebody’s not rapping at me. It’s his tone, it’s his creativity, things of that nature. You know, birds of a feather flock together, you know? “Tracy Morgan Vomit” Love this song title. What do you remember about making it? Just another joint, just at the crib cooking up. I think I caught that going through my old records. My favorite line on that is, “You ain’t gotta be a barber to get your wig parted.” I like “Floor seats at the Garden like Olive Garden/ Your garbage made Tracy Morgan vomit.” That pretty much was me remembering when Tracy Morgan spit up at the Garden when he was sitting on the floor, so I named this track after it. “Trapeze” (feat. Errol Holden) Let’s talk about “Trapeze.” I think that was something that was sittin’ in the cut that I had in the stash and just thought it was some raw s—t, and once I cooked it up I said, “I gotta send this to Errol.” And after I sent it off, he just went to town on that motherf—ker. Did you already have it mind for this project? I don’t know if I necessarily had it for this one, but it was definitely in the pipeline. Like this is gonna be one of the joints on whatever’s next. I was into the Todd Snyder reference for the haberdashers and Errol’s Buster Brown and Florsheim mentions. That’s where people of a certain age used to go cop their church shoes back in the day. Old New York s—t like Fayva and Thom McAn. Errol, can you give us some insight on your verse on there? E.H.: I started off with, “Smooth ride up the West Side, talking to my man in the FCI, he gotta phone/ Soon as I hang up with him, I get a FaceTime from Tone.” I mean, you know, that’s real life. I was talking to my man in that’s in the federal penitentiary and soon as I hung up, my man Tone called me. He was sitting in the Autobiography Range Rover while we were talking, and then it goes off into a bunch of other stuff. I believe, on that one right there, you sent me the beat. I did my verse first. Yeah, I was gonna ask, was this an older verse? Was this something that you wrote to the beat? E.H.: Yeah, I wrote that to the beat and then I think he had came to New York. When we was in the studio, he heard it and he said, “Yo, send me that.” And the we didn’t talk about it for a while, and then maybe a couple of months later, he kept saying, “Yo, send me the joint.” I couldn’t remember exactly what he was referring to, and he was like, “The one where you say you autographed the project stove.” Also, Roc, I feel like you’re not underrated anymore — you were for a little bit — but I liked the line where you said, “If we rating thе pen, if I ain’t top 10, the list was created by atheists.” I feel like you wanted to show people that you’re top five, top 10 — because after it dropped you were tweeting and talking s—t, which you don’t really do. Yeah, I’m one of them guys. I’m pound-for-pound. As a producer and a rapper? E.H.: Who’s a better producer/rapper? And I’m asking. Well, I’m biased, because — and he knows this already — but since 2010, Roc has been my personal favorite. I model myself after guys like Q-Tip, Large Professor. Those are the guys I modeled myself after. E.H.: In all fairness, and I don’t how much of his own production he does, but Jay Electronica comes to mind. I think Roc and Ka are neck and neck, though. “Good for You” Just some soul s—t where I was like, “Let me talk my s—t.” You remember where you dug for that one? I think I had that one in the stash. You just have all these records, and you go through them to see what you find? I have a nice collection. It’s not super big, but it’s definitely curated and meticulous. If the record is trash, I don’t keep them at the crib. When you’re looking for a sample, do you listen to the record front to back or are you kind of skipping around the grooves? A lot of times, when I get records, I’m kind of like needle-popping — going through it, waiting to hear those moments. And then sometimes, if I like how the record sounds and the texture and the mix of the record, if the record just sounds good, I just let it play. I think for some of these, I was just skimming though. I listen for those moments. You know, my ear is so trained, even when I’m going through joints and just needle-popping through an album, I can hear when the music takes that turn. It’s like when a movie switches and it’s like, ‘This is when my part comes in.’ When I’m listening to music, and I hear that music that feels like, “Oh, this my part in the movie.” I could usually hear through the instrumentation. You still get a crazy feeling when you come across something? Sometimes still. Sometimes when you find some s—t, you’re like “Godd–n.” But you don’t get that often digging the records, though. It’s like a crap shoot. “Easy Bake Oven” Alright, so “Easy Bake Oven.” Let’s talk about it. That’s actually a beat I was sitting on for a while too. When I was going through my beats, it was one of those joints where I was like, “Damn, I didn’t tough this yet? I had one of those moments going through my archives. I f—ked with the Frank Sintra line. “I’m the Frank Sinatra of the modern day/ Pavé settings on the diamond chain.” “H made the time machine With the piece inside of a Vacheron Constantin.” I just getting off. That’s all it was. “Melo” And then “Melo.” You said Melo f—ked all the baddies, you kind of snitching on him a little bit. [Laughs.] To me it’s not even saying that he f—ked all about the bad b–ches. I’m saying I did. I’m just assuming, you know? You remember how that beat come together? Just going through old soul joints. “When the cameras leave, the Mansory turns back to a Camry.” I like that because rappers have been referencing Brabus a lot. You don’t really hear Mansory too much. I picked a couple lines. I like, “Two bitches missing hands and feet like some d–n Marines.” That’s a crazy one. How do you come up with this stuff? “After all that clout you chased, how the f—k you still out of shape?” I had that one in my notes too. This album felt kind of like a throwback. That’s what you wanted it to feel like right? Yeah, exactly. Anything else planned for this year? Definitely. Me and Errol dropping some s—t together that I’ll be producing fully. I’m doing a project with Animos. I got something called Criminal Jazz with Josué from Gallery Dept. You producing that one too? Yeah, and he’s gonna be producing too. I’m assuming that you’re going on tour too this year. I don’t know, maybe at the end of the year or something. I just wanna make some music for a little bit. I’ll probably tour a little later. And Errol, how about you? E.H.: I’ll probably drop four albums this year. Yeah, you got a little momentum going I feel like. E.H.: I would assume, but you know? You gotta keep pushing. And I peeped that it’s Quiet Luxury now. Is there no more Pimpire? I mean, it’s always gonna be Pimpire, but Quiet Luxury is more palatable. I feel like with Pimpire, we scaring the hoes away. Scaring the corporations a little bit. It runs more parallel with my lifestyle. We get real fly but we don’t do all the brand s—t, having all these stamps all over our clothes and s—t like that. Okay, so it’s a rebrand basically. Is this management and a label? The whole umbrella: management, production, film, fashion, label. And Josué and Errol are involved? Always, yeah. These are family members. Everything we doing we’ll alway always be mashing together when we create. Get weekly rundowns straight to your inbox Sign Up Leave a Comment Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked * Name * Email * Website Post Comment Want to know what everyone in the music business is talking about? Get in the know on Visit Billboard Pro for music business news