I.O.U. Talks About Their Debut Album, their past mixtapes, & much more!

Posted by VMan on March 20, 2014

Fresh off the release of their debut album “The Soul & The Intellect” and one day away from their first show performing all of their hit songs off the album, at Saints & Sinners in NYC, FNT had a chance to link up with the up and coming New Jersey duo I.O.U. We asked the a guys a few questions on the album, on what a soul and an intellect do for fun, their past mixtapes, working with Harry Fraud and much more! Click on the jump to read what Buck and Izee had to say, and stream the entire album on the Spotify embedded player below. To get more information on their NYC show tomorrow night, click here.

What was the inspiration behind the album?

We wanted to show more of us as individuals, and how we work so well together as a team. We knew we wanted to do something different than our past mix-tapes and show who we truly are on a daily basis as the characters of The Soul & The Intellect.

Who is the soul, who is the intellect?

Buck is the soul child his lifestyle and choices he makes are more as a free spirit. He enjoys smoking, drinking and partying. While Izee is the Intellectual. He makes more rational decisions and while he enjoys partying, he will probably be the designated driver and looking for a nice female to accompany him home.

How did you get into music, and why?

Music for us was always about fun. It was just something to do after school when there was nothing else to do. But after being in the studio for hours, we soon realized this was something that we wanted to get better at. Then it turned into a passion. Then that passion became our hustle. And now we do this for a living and we’re enjoying life more than ever.

Who were your earliest influences?

Early influences came from all over. Izee was always listening to different movie composers, like Steve Jablonsky and Hans Zimmer to inspire him as a producer. Buck was more of an underground hip-hop head. Lupe Fiasco was a big influence on Buck in the beginning; because Lupe always fought for his vision and spoke the truth. Our manager and DJ Chuck always tried to incorporate some mainstream influences on us to make sure we are keeping current with the times and content. Together, you get what you hear lol.

Favorite track off the album?

Greatest Time Of My Life, Other Side of Fear & Why Do You Run…Cant just pick one.

Favorite track off your mixtapes?

From B.O.M.Bs. – Bottled Emotions because of the impact it had on our careers and it was the first best song we ever made in our opinion.

From Lo<3, Great. Humans… – Write Down The Sky because this song stands for so much and it was the first time we really did WHATEVER we wanted and it sounded awesome.

From Patience- Rule The World- Because we let people so far into our personal lives that if you listen to those lyrics you will literally get to know pretty much everything about us.

You worked with Harry Fraud, how was that experience?

Harry Fraud let us work out of his studio for the past year. Going there we learned a lot about the industry, the studio, and how things work in terms of labels & responsibilities. We are extremely grateful for the time he let us put in with his engineer Rusty Mack and Red Walrus hopefully you will find some Harry Fraud & Izee productions coming out soon.

What’s next?

We plan to hit the road and spread the word about The Soul & The Intellect album now available on iTunes, Amazon & Spotify. We are now working with Radikal Records so we hope our relationship continues to grow and develop into something really special and where we can become major national artists. And we will be releasing music videos to put visuals to our project and really bring the vision to life.

Any shout outs?

We first want to shout out all of our fans, friends & family we appreciate their support on a daily basis so much and we do this for you! Vianney and Jurgen over at Radikal Records for ALL of their promotional work, investments and belief in us .

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Tags: album, BUCK, Harry Fraud, I.O.U., Inside Our Universe, Izee, lupe fiasco, mixtapes, music, Radikal Records, soul, The Soul & The Intellect, track, work