(hip hop music)
- All right, we are so
excited, really beyond excited.
One of your top requested
artists week over week,
is sir Lay Zhang, (claps)
thanks for coming by, man.
- Yeah, very excited.
- It's really important to note,
if you're a fan watching
this that doesn't know,
Lay co-wrote and co-produced
every single song on LIT,
the new album, both part one and
part two.
Why was that so important
to you Lay, as an artist?
- I'm a producer too.
I like to keep working on my
craft.
I have a story to tell.
I want you to make sure it is
told right.
- Yeah, and Lay there's a
lot going on on this album,
with the co-writing, the
co-producing.
But also if you take a
step back and listen to it,
you're really bridging two
cultures
and two sounds on this project.
What was that like, and is
that challenging at all?
- The challenging (laughs).
You have to decide what you
put in and what you keep out.
I want you to make sure you hear
enough of both cultures and
sounds,
it is important that Chinese
instruments can be heard.
It is a good challenge.
- Now Lay, you worked with
two specific producers on this
project.
I wanna start with Scott Storch,
who's just an absolute
legend in the music game.
What was it like working with
Scott?
- Working with Scott was great.
I learned a lot from him.
I showed him the traditional
Chinese instrument.
I was playing my Chinese flute
and we were experimenting.
It was fun for me.
He is the legendary.
- You also work with Murda
Beatz.
How did you and Murda first link
up?
- I know Murda did a lot of hip
hop.
He worked with people like the
Migos, Cardi B, Travis Scott.
I heard his beats and I really
liked them.
They are hard and cool.
- Yeah it came out
great, sounds fantastic.
Can you explain the meaning
behind LIT?
Because people might
think it's just a word,
and stateside we'll
think you're getting lit,
or something on this album.
But it has a deep meaning
and it's really cool.
Can you explain it?
- The Chinese name of the sound
is lian.
Which means lotus in English.
Lian sound a lot like LIT.
So that's why I called it LIT.
You guys know the lotus
gross out from the mud?
It comes from nothing and it
becomes something beautiful.
That is what I want to
say about my career.
I started from nothing to where
I am now.
It is reminding people including
myself
to chase your dream, just focus
on yourself and your goals.
Try to be as best that you can.
- Now Lay, there's a great
responsibility
I feel like on your shoulders,
because you're such an icon
in your home country of China,
you really take your music
and you share it all around the
globe.
How does it feel to pave the way
for other Chinese musicians?
- I just want everybody to know
that China has great artists
too.
That we are about peace, love
and respecting other cultures.
- Absolutely, so here we go,
social questions from
Instagram and Twitter.
We're gonna kick it to
Instagram first with @genia910,
who says Lay, "Do you have plans
"for a world tour when pandemic
ends?
"We would love to see you in
Europe."
- I really hope I can have a
world tour.
My goal is always to meet
all my fans around the world.
I also would love to see Europe
and see what the music is like
there.
- All right, let's go over
Twitter now.
This comes from @88xings,
I believe is how you say the
username.
"What was the inspiration behind
LIT?
"And what are your goals for
this album?
"And how do you rest between
such tough schedules?"
- LIT is an album that
talks about my life.
A lot of these songs
come from life experience
and feelings that I have had.
I want to share Chinese
culture with the world.
Let people know more about
the Chinese artists and Chinese
music.
Yes, my schedules is busy,
but I rest when I can.
I'm glad that I can do it.
- Yeah, all right, one more Lay.
@zyxarchive is asking Lay,
"has been experimenting
a lot with his music.
"Each release has a different
style.
"Where does he take inspiration
from,
"and which singers from
anywhere in the world,
"would he like to collaborate
with?"
- I get inspiration from
small things in life.
I like looking around in my
environment
and something will give me an
idea.
Once I have the idea,
I try to make a beat
as quickly as possible.
I would love to collaboration
with
any R&B, Hip Hop, or Latin
artist, yeah.
- Very cool.
Really, one of the top requested
videos
each and every week on the
show, which is yours LIT.
Can you give us any sort of
behind the scenes stories
or anything that happened on the
set
or how the video came to be?
- So for me, I think
this was very hard to do
and very amazing music video.
I worked with a lot of good
directors.
We chose of famous
place where a lot of the
Chinese historical dramas are
filmed.
They were over 100 extras that
had to do Oriental arts move,
which was very new to me, but it
was cool.
We filmed the music video in
December.
So it was really cold,
but every one on set worked
really hard.
Without them we cannot make this
happen.
- It looks like a movie,
like a feature film.
It's a beautiful, beautiful
clip.
Of course the new album LIT
is available everywhere.
Hopefully you're streaming
that, Lay thank you again.
- Thank you guys, promotion my
new song.
Thank you Kevin.
