Ohio Rapper Falease Has Arrived With Excellent New Single "Come Up in a Minute"

With "Come Up in a Minute," Falease could have the breakthrough moment he's been working towards.

Falease
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Falease

Within the first 20 seconds of Falease's "Come Up in a Minute," the song's a hit potential is obvious. By 30 seconds, it proves itself to be more complex than expected. From the one-minute point on, the rapper just keeps tacking on surprises and flaunting increasingly impressive flows, peeling back layers to expose a multi-faceted song that showcases his range of abilities. 

Right now, hip-hop seems divided—there's the melodic, hook-centric side and the wordy, rap-focused side. These sides of the spectrum often bleed into each other, but on "Come Up in a Minute"—a song that deserves to be Falease's breakout hit and introduction to a much larger audience—they're combined masterfully. The hook is powerfully catchy without being too basic, but the splashes of sharp, tongue-twisting rap give it a depth that many hook-heavy songs lack. To Falease, this eagerness to appeal to a wide range of tastes might come naturally, but his ability to present it so effectively didn't happen overnight.

Falease, born Sandy Truss, has been rapping since he was 12 or 13. Raised by his Japanese grandmother in Toledo, Ohio, Falease grew up loving music and learning early on how to embrace different cultures. He fell in love with music at a young age and has spent years working on his craft, but it wasn't until recently that he bought a one-way ticket to New York City and decided to focus full-time on music.

"Come Up in a Minute" documents this critical point in Falease's life and career, and the song could be a watershed moment for a dynamic young artist with so much potential.

First off, can you give us some background? Who are you, where are you from, and how would you describe your music to someone who's never heard it?

My name is Sandy Truss but I call myself Falease. I was born and raised in a city called Toledo, Ohio. My mother is half-black, half-Japanese and my father is black. My family on my mother’s side plays instruments and sings and being around them as a kid influenced my love for music. My music is sonically melodic but dense and conscious driven. 

Where did you get the name Falease from?

One day in 2011, I created the name and created my own meaning for it. It means “shining prince.” It isn’t derived from any prefix, suffix, or root that is defined by the dictionary or thesaurus.

There’s an imaginary ceiling in Toledo that your head hits that stops you from elevating. Being curious and wanting more made me go all-in. Being curious and wanting more saved my life. 

"Come Up In A Minute" is crazy. Can you tell us a little about that song and how it came about?

It’s a song that encourages people to know that good things will come to you regardless of what hardships you’ve been through in the past. As long as you manifest good things, good things will come. I created the beat for it at my homie Boogodi’s crib and the melody for the hook just came to me. It started out as a repetitive, mumbled melody, and then the words “Come Up In A Minute” came into my train of thought while singing it. It was inspired by a conversation Boogodi and I had prior to the creation of the song about sticking to the plan of progressing and going to the next level. 

I listened back to some of your other music on Spotify and it sounds really different from "Come Up." Is this song an indication of where you want to go in the future?

Absolutely. I want to showcase my ability to get a message across in various ways of expression.

It almost feels like this song has multiple parts to it. There's the catchy hook and the melodic pieces around it, but there's also some really good rapping. Can you talk about that balance and why you decided to do both?

Those different elements were incorporated deliberately so that it can allow a larger mass of people to be receptive to it. I decided to do both because I feel that it is important to seek out different kinds of effective ways to reach someone and successfully get the same message across.

Right now in hip-hop, it feels like there's a huge gap between different styles of rap. Do you think there's room for both? Is there a way to combine different approaches consistently?

I agree that there is a gap and it’s because rappers from the older generation may feel like young kids are abandoning the initial purpose of hip-hop, which, in my opinion, was meant for uplifting and unifying people, relaying an important message that’s vital for survival, and reflecting the times. There will always be room for both because both are just different forms of expression. There is absolutely proof that you can combine these two approaches consistently because I am doing it myself.

When did you start rapping, and which artists inspired you to do that? What music are you listening to now?

I started rapping around the age of 12 or 13. Tupac and Jay-Z inspired me to rap for sure. Right now, I listen to a lot of Stereolab, Toro y Moi, Kid Cudi, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, and Young Thug. 

Are you living in NYC now? How has that affected your music and career?

I live in North Jersey, about 30 minutes away from Manhattan. Being close to NYC—where I’m able to go and experience youth culture and fashion and music—has affected my music career in such a positive way, man. NYC is amazing. 

"Come Up In A Minute" seems to describe a time in your life when you were kind of half-committed to rapping. You mention older homies asking what you were waiting for. What were you waiting for? What made you finally think that it's time to make the move and go all-in? 

Growing up in a place like Toledo has it’s cons. It’s very easy to fall victim to being narrow-minded. We tend to block our own blessings a lot there. But, for some reason I always told myself that there’s got to be more to life than just this enclosed, corrupted environment that I’m living in. There’s an imaginary ceiling in Toledo that your head hits that stops you from elevating. Being curious and wanting more made me go all-in. Being curious and wanting more saved my life. 

You're working with Ken "Duro" Ifill now, a legendary engineer who's worked with Jay Z, Mary J Blige, Beastie Boys, and Nas. How did you two connect, and what have you learned from him?

I met Duro at the studio through Mally The Martian, who executive produces for Fabolous and is also a Toledo native. Duro and DJ Clue found Fab of course, and being that Mally works closely with Fab, Duro was interested in what Mally had going on outside of Fabolous. Mally told Duro about me and a movement that he believes in called Never Stop Dreaming that is a music indie label and sports agency.

Duro has taught me patience and how to be poised no matter what. He’s very chill but gets hella work done and I’m kind of the same way so studying him and hanging with him compliments the way I approach music and life. It’s a blessing watching him at work or hanging with him cause I’m actually seeing what a successful and generous and caring person really is. That’s important to me cause I didn’t always think you could be truly successful and caring until I met him.

What's next for you?

I would love to open up on a Kanye tour, man. And I will create a new wave of music that will challenge the way listeners listen and receive sound.

What else do you want people to know about Falease?

I want people to know how excited I am about this new wave of music that I am creating. It’s gonna change hip-hop forever and it will be very memorable and fun for the fans to be a part of it.

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