By Kristian Garcia, Staff Writer
Robert Tate, 19, is a sophomore at Denison University with a talent that he’s aiming to share. Formerly known by his stage name “Sarob,” Rob Tate is putting a different and unique groove and style into the hip-hop genre. With an already recently dropped mixtape called decent, Sarob hasn’t stopped mixing and creating new tracks. He has an up-and-coming mixtape that is going to be released soon as he proceeds towards the finals stages of that conquest. Sarob also has other future plans ahead to expand the reach of his music throughout the airwaves.
Kristian Garcia: What is a “sarob”?
Rob Tate: One of my friends in high school, Connor, always kept calling me “Sir Rob” and when I started rapping one day I blended “Sir” and “Rob” together and it became “Sarob.”
KG: Where does your inspiration come from?
RT: I started back in high school. When I was younger I wanted to be a rapper. I had a book of rhymes in middle school and they were downright dirty and skillful for someone of my age and when my older brother found it he told me to stop and never do it again because it was inappropriate. Then, back in high school, when I got older I just started writing again and touched based with former aspirations.
KG: Would you consider yourself to be a rapper?
RT: I know that everyone around says that “They aren’t rappers” but, at the end of the day, we are rapping. I don’t consider myself a rapper at all. I’m more of a writer.
KG: What are your struggles in being a rapper?
RT: I don’t know. It’s hard to think of it. Sometimes I’m in such a mindset like a zone that it’s hard for me to function and do other things as well. That was probably too real. I can’t do regular things.
KG: What’s your style?
RT: My style is to talk to you – not exactly to preach or condemn, like “Yo, don’t do drugs,” or “Go to school.” I don’t want lessons. I don’t want people giving me lessons. I want to find it myself through conversation and discussion where I believe you can find out who you are. I think sometimes hip-hop tries to preach and tries to tell you who you are and I think that’s where hip-hop falls short in quality. My style would be: I’m here to say what’s up. I try to be subtle and low-key.
KG: Why do you choose that style?
RT: Because it makes sense. My thing is to show different types of styles in one verse, different flows. I’ll play around with it. The whole purpose of me as an artist is to let people know that you can do anything, not to be restricted to one thing or one major focus. I tend to tweak a lot of stuff and have a combination of styles and flows.
KG: What themes do you touch as a rapper?
RT: It changes. I try to employ a lot of different concepts and ideas. If I go into the studio with a specific theme it doesn’t come off very strong because I don’t want one main focus. I just want an array of material and different ideas. Whatever comes to my head.
KG: What’s your goal as an artist?
RT: I do it for me. All the music I make is part of my own personal taste. Whenever I drop a single or a mixtape, I drop with the intent that it’s for me and hope that others like it too.
KG: What are your future plans at the moment?
RT: I’m planning to drop a new song pretty soon and then my upcoming mixtape, noon., will be out later this spring.
KG: What’s noon. all about?
RT: It’s a mixtape, but I wanted it to sound like an album. I’ve recorded over 20 songs, but I only picked 12 of them. It didn’t come out as planned. It’s way better than the format that I originally had. It shifted and came natural. Noon. means a lot to me.
Sarob dropped a single titled High Noon from his project noon. that has received attention and spotlight in web-blogs and sites. Sarob blends different styles and gerenates an unbelievable flow. He serves as a reminder of good quality, old-school hip-hop. You can check his stuff out on his SoundCloud page, Sarob. Be on the look out for Sarob’s new mixtape noon. hitting the waves this spring.