Chuck Nasty on GRYSCL, ‘Gangrel’ & more
On getting started in the music industry:
Chuck Nasty: I started writing when I was about 11 and got hooked when people liked what I rapped on the bus w/ my best friend Maxamillian aka Millz that passed last year, so we made group on the bus called MCK w/ me, Millz, and our boy Rae. It was Max, Chuck, and Kid lol. Fast forward to 9th grade, and I put out a mixtape on Datpiff called “Gothica”. Super emo Joe Budden “Mood Muzik” kinda tape, that was inspired by what Joe was doing and other artists like Jedi Mind Tricks and stuff, inspired by that Gothika Halle Berry movie, with the concept being centered around mental health and having a perspective no one could see from w/ about 16 tracks.
A bit too moody for the masses, but it got people to check me out, but I started performing music acapella from there at this poetry slam “Slam Richmond” in Richmond, Virginia and got a couple people in the crowd to give a standing ovation damn near. Then I put out a project “Moleskine Music: Done With The Games!”
I put that project out and went to college at Richard Bland College and people on campus knew me by name and face because people were on campus listening to my music in their dorms. People pulled up to me playing my shit in their cars and stuff, and I was like yeeeaah this is the way for me
Gulie Carrington: That’s amazing!! I love the origin story question because they’re all so unique.
Speaking of figuring out this is the way for you, tell me about how you got started with GRYSCL!
CN: Honestly, GRYSCL got started back in 2012 when I was in college. A producer from Virginia Beach at the time Braedon Schmelz found out about me from this song “Mydol” from the “Moleskine Music: Done With The Games!” project, because a friend of mine “Blue” posting it in Tumblr. He messaged me on FB after adding me, telling me to check out his beats. At the time, I didn’t even know who it was and thought the message was random, but I opened it around Blue and he told me he was one of his friends from the beach back when he was in high school. I ended up hitting him back and he was co-producing beats with his friend Kamau Troutman, also known as “KamAintShit” and “Kam Kommissioner” on some of my old song credits, and we did a song for my lil ramen noodle concept tape “Top Rymin” I was gonna put up on Datpiff and the song was called “Cheddar Cheese”. I was going by Chuck Nasty at the time and still solo.
Once we cooked that track up, I proposed that we made a group. They were wondering what the name was gonna be, and I said I wanted to create a group called “Gray” to like, rebrand the idea of the color gray from being boring and bland to being interesting, saying the group was gonna be Gray and the producers were “Grayscale”. We ended up just sticking with Grayscale because they liked the sound of it, so we based the group on the idea of life never being black and white, because there are shades and niches in life. Ironically it was also a group of 2 black people and a white dude lol. But that’s back when it all started. Then I brought Max in later, and they instantly loved his sound. After that we had a couple other members that it didn’t work out with, two artists and our other producer Aaron Booker, aka The Root Doctor, then Braedon got his law degree and pursued a career and stuff w/ his shorty, Kam moved to Chicago and started doing other things, so it was just Max, and I w/ Aaron
After that, Aaron started producing less, so we were making music with pretty much anyone we had a connection with, then Aaron fell back, Max brought Evrly in after we did our songs “Niterider” and “PMS” on his project “Bloom”, then it was just us from there on and we pushed on. Max passed RIGHT during the process of us working on out “Girls Love Gryscl” project, and that was gonna be our first release on all platforms after we sold it in Bandcamp. But now, here we are lol. We just keep the Spirit of Max alive and just keep pushing on the mission Max and I were working on.
Long ass story, but it’s a whole thing. I feel like the background is what’s interesting, and I haven’t even scratched the surface on our story to be honest (laughs)
GC: That’s sick! I love that you continue to honor Max and his talent. With that being said, what’s next for you?
CN: The next thing we have coming is the GRYSCL “GET THE TABLES!” EP. All production by Evrly. A project idea Evrl came up with while he was vibing off that old WWE/WWF attitude era shit from back in the day w/ the Dudley Boyz. Gonna be a 5 pack of bangers to keep things flowing and create some dope songs to perform when things open back up fully. At the mom that we have another video for our next single “Razor Ramon”. I’m getting the wardrobe together, wrote the script up and everything, so that’ll be coming sometime in July w/ the project dropping in August.
GC: What about next steps? Any touring in the near future now that were coming out of the pandemic?
CN: We’re hoping so. Right now we’ve been tryna build up videos and merch to have some promo available for when we step back out. We have a list of bands we worked with that we really want to tour with too if our stars align.. I’m sure we’ll be back around Charlottesville for some spots too. Hope we can pick up where we left off and try to put together some cross genre stuff too, but I’m not big on speaking too soon (laughs). More than anything we’re trying to step up visuals and merch this year so we’ll be ready to set up shop when things open back up. Gotta come to the venues with more than just music to perfection is our current goal.
GC: Anything else you want to add? That was all I had left. Just drop where we can find your music
CN: But people can go find our albums and merch for purchase right now directly from us on our bandcamp; we put together cool album care packages with rare show footage, videos, and even mini coloring books for our projects and sell our shirts at: girlslovegryscl.bandcamp.com
Available on all platforms as GRYSCL whenever music is streamed!
Check out Chuck Nasty and GRYSCL:
#chucknasty #gryscl #artists #gangrel #virginiaartist #musicindustry #virginiabeach #beats #producersofinstagram #artistinterview #artistprofile #producer #producers #musiciansofinstagram #musicbiz #musicianlife #musicmarketing #musicbiztips #rappers #singersongwriter #musicindustrytips #creatives #finessedfinds #productionmanagement#spotifyartist #features #interview