RM47 on Crafting Hits and Captivating Crowds at Everyday People

On a recent July night, RM47 lit up South Central Los Angeles with their infectious track “Buss It,” making a strong case for song of the summer. As soon as the duo hit the Everyday People stage, partygoers instantly got in formation. Some threw themselves booty-first into the rhythm, while others bobbed to the beat with perfect precision. Near stage right, a vibrant crew burst into synchronized body-rolls. The audience's joyful reaction suggested that Raleigh and MAAD, the multitalented minds behind RM47, were seasoned 90s veterans performing a cult classic, rather than millennial stars presenting a track released in May. “They knew the words by the second chorus,” MAAD recalled afterwards. “That's all that I needed.”

Whether creating music or showcasing it live, RM47's dedication to connecting with their audience lies at the heart of their creative ethos. Though they’d been working together for “many moons” as individual artists—MAAD, a seasoned DJ and model, and Raleigh, a musician and producer—joined forces in 2020 during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown, realizing the strength in combining their singer-songwriter talents. Though MAAD and Raleigh might not yet be household names, it's because they’ve chosen the road less followed, prioritizing their skills, taste, and vision over mere appearances. Don’t mistake their laser focus for a lack of style, though; like Everyday People host Gitoo noted in his introduction of the duo, their looks are as versatile and fly as their sounds.

Fresh off their first headline show in New York City, the Los Angeles-based duo felt a sense of coming full circle at Everyday People, the global dance party that began in the same creative downtown circles RM47 once navigated as aspiring young artists. In a post-performance interview at The Beehive, the two opened up about their creative process and their commitment to making authentic, genre-defying art.

How do you feel coming off of that performance just now?

MAAD: Honestly, I feel very whole. Just performing in front of people that look like us is a really special feeling, too. It was cool.

Raleigh: Yeah, that was tight. It's cool too to see the audience and the people here embrace us. I appreciate the balance of Everyday People's community. There’s a little bit of everything. I think they do an A1 job as far as community curation and creating a liberating, inviting, safe space.

MAAD: I love Everyday People. People come ready to dance and that doesn't happen often at parties. A lot of people just like to watch, but at Everyday People they're dancing. I remember when it first started in New York City, very small. Chef Roble would also have the buffet! It's grown tremendously since then and become this very iconic event, so for us to be here is very special.

Speaking of dancing, let’s talk about the crowd’s reaction to “Buss It.”

MAAD: That was special because I was like, “Oh, y'all are really going crazy for this record!” A lot of people love that record because it feels very nostalgic, like something they understand. It's easy to digest and dance to. There was a lot of ass shaking happening, and that made me very excited. That's part of our mission, to get people dancing. So mission accomplished. It was beautiful to see.

Raleigh: You hear all the stories about how hit records came to be, like, “Oh, it took no effort to do it, and then when we put it out, people just received it. It just kept going up.” “Buss It” has that hit record kind of feeling. I had to go to an appointment or a studio session, so it took [MAAD, my college friend, and I] no longer than 30 minutes to come up with the melodies and lyrics. We’re doing the work when it comes to [marketing and promoting “Buss It”], but it also seems like people are naturally taking to the song and telling a friend to tell a friend to tell a friend. So to see a sea of people all bouncing along to your music, that's a priceless feeling and a priceless experience.

The Everyday People audience definitely seemed aligned with the RM47 brand. I can also see y’all performing at AfroPunk.

MAAD: I love Afropunk! They’re definitely a community we’d love to perform for. They've built something really special that we would love to be a part of. They get the alternative crowd perfectly, so I know that they would get everything we're doing.

Raleigh: AfroPunk would be dope. We used to attend as fans back in Brooklyn, so it would be pretty full-circle, surreal, and cool to perform for an audience and a community that we’re legit a part of.

Ya’ll are both a multitalented duo and individual multi-hyphenate artists, so how do you each incorporate your respective strengths and preserve your individuality while effectively working together?

Raleigh: We're both intensely multi-hyphenate and naturally into all things art. We love to just get our hands dirty, digging deep into a lot of different things. So as much as I do a bunch of the music related stuff as an artist, producer, and musician, she's also very hands-on. And when it comes time for us to work on visuals, I'll say if I dislike it or like it and if I have some ideas, but there are certain times when I'm going to sit in the passenger seat. We're partners in a race that we're driving at our own pace. We swap off where necessary, we refuel where necessary. We didn't always have that balance. We've learned that over time.

MAAD: Yeah, we both pretty much have our hands in all of the pots. I’ve recently been inspired by him to get into production. It's something that he's told me to do for the longest. In the visual aspect of our work, I've always been a visual person because I've modeled for as long as I can remember. You often have to bring your own clothes and figure out your makeup on sets, and you have to be able to portray the story and the picture. It’s second nature for me. I just want to make sure that I always have my hands in the visual aspect of things because if you just go ahead and give anybody control over how you look and sound, then you're not really being your true, authentic self.

Raleigh: Some of the most crucial aspects of storytelling are how things sound and how things look. The best thing that anyone can do for themselves is tell their own story. And that's really what 'we’ve been aiming for every time, telling our truths while having fun and expressing some cool shit through good music.

What do you consider to be good music?

Raleigh: Good music requires a mixture of skill, discipline, and time. You can see, hear, and feel when artists have put in the time to actually practice and develop their skills. And you can tell when they’ve fallen on their face and had to get back up. When they've had a bunch of no’s. When they've had those nights where nothing's going right and they still kept pushing.

MAAD: It all comes down to work ethic, like Raleigh was saying. You have to have the idea and then you have to figure out how to get to it. So sometimes you might have to pivot—a lot of times you might have to pivot, low key. We've had so many different kinds of ideas that sometimes they don't go anywhere.

Raleigh: Yeah, it's cool to see how something that started as an idea—just us on a laptop, jamming at home—resonates with people.

MAAD: I'm going to have to sprinkle some resilience in there. Because we have been doing this for some time, and when we get to these spaces and we're able to perform our music in front of crowds of people, it is very humbling. I'm very grateful for it. I really live for this. We love doing this.

Raleigh: “Stick with it” used to be my least favorite advice to hear from people, especially from any of my OGs or big homies and people who have looked out in the past. I used to never understand it. They’d always be like, “Bro, you got it. Keep going.” I'm like, “Bro, that's not helpful! I need to know what do I need to do different right now so I can go home and work on that!” But I understand now. It’s sort of like, “I don't have the direct answer for you, but I can tell that you're onto something. If you don't stop, you're definitely going to get there.”

MAAD: Yeah, you just have to break through that ceiling. I don't know if we ever really get to our goal because every time we reach a goal, we're trying to reach the next one. It's character building.

Raleigh: In the words of the great poet Lil Wayne, “No ceilings.”

MAAD: Period.

You can catch RM47 opening for Gavin Turek on September 21 at Echoplex in Los Angeles, CA. Head here for tickets.