Behind the Beats: A Quick Minute with Glitch Hop Crew
Right after the grease cooled down at The Skat-O-Taco and the first streaming numbers for High Point started rolling in, we caught up with Tony D and Raymond X. We wanted to dig past the polished tracks and get into the raw, chaotic energy that makes this duo click.
As expected, Tony was pacing the floor with a red-hot energy, while Raymond sat back, cool as the ambient room temperature, nodding along.
saints in unison: First off, congrats on High Point. The album sounds massive. But looking back at the journey, we've heard some legendary rumors about your teenage years in the Furniture City circuit. Is it true that you two would often use each other's names to get out of trouble when you were kids?
Tony D: (Explodes laughing, slapping the stainless steel counter) Oh yeah! We still do that to this day, yo! Straight up! Like, sometimes Raymond will say he’s Tony and vice versa. Back in the day, if the neighborhood watch or some showroom security was chasing a shadow over a fence, I’d be like, "Nah, officer, I’m just Deep End Ray checking the humidity levels for the wood veneer!" And this man right here? Stoic as a statue, telling the block captain he’s the frantic Nitty Gritty. We had the whole zip code twisted, man.
Raymond X: (Smiles slowly, deep voice rumbling) It was a survival tactic. Tony’s mouth moves at 200 beats per minute. If he got caught, he’d talk himself into a longer sentence. If I stepped in and pretended to be him, I’d just give them the quiet stare until they got uncomfortable and walked away. We were a glitch in the system before we even had a name for it.
saints in unison: That chemistry definitely carries over into the music. How do you translate that chaotic history into an album like "High Point"?
Tony D: It’s all about the friction, baby! I come in hot with that pneumatic stapler rhythm—clack-clack-clack—just firing off bars like I’m running out of air.
Raymond X: And then my job is to drop the heavy anchor. I bring the deep-funk weight so Tony’s energy doesn't fly off into the stratosphere. We build the groove, we break the groove, and we make sure the sub-bass rattles your teeth. That’s the High Point sound.
"High Point" is out now. Hit the links to listen:
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