Freder Seric is a 32 year old male German rapper with over 20 years’ experience in song writing. “Ocean” is his first Studio Single and the Studio Album “Chase Your Dreams” will come out soon on all streaming platforms. Seric currently works as a very successful software developer after he finished his Master’s degree in applied computer science. After his parents died in 2019 Seric decided to chase his dreams of making music people will listen to.
- Can you tell us a bit about how you got started and why a Professional Software Developer for Daimler and other big companies start to make hip-hop music?
Freder Seric: Of course! As an employee that works a lot of hours every day it just feels like you only work just to “sell your brain”, just to eat and still not have any money left at the end of the month. I have a master degree and I should be making a lot of money, but reality just makes it so hard. After both my parents died and I lost my over 10 year relationship I also lost all my stability in life and I feel like my workplace did not “catch” me but instead throw me even deeper in that situation. I want to become more independent and do something I really love. I would love to become an independent musician or a computer game developer.
- Who were your first and strongest musical influences that you can remember?
Freder Seric: My Family was listening to a lot of Rock. The only Bands I could enjoy were Limp Bizkit, Korn and Linkin Park. But what I really liked was when they worked together with Hip Hop Artists like Jay-Z, Methodman, Redman, DMX, Swissbeats, Busta Rhymes. My main problem with Rock was always all these long instrumentals and the lack of a lot of text. The normal Rap usually lacked a bit of variation for me, it all sounded so monotonous. But the Crossover between Hip Hop and Rock really made music very enjoyable for me.
- If I was to turn on your media player right now, which artists/songs would I see on your recently played list?
Freder Seric: Recently I love “complex melodic rap” which most would call “Trap” or “Cloud Rap” like Juice WRLD (R.I.P), Lil Uzi Vert, XXXTentaction (R.I.P), Rae Sremmurd, Migos, Future, Fetty Wap, Gucci Mane, Cardi B, French Montana and 21 Savage. But there are also some songs that I wanted to train for Karaoke!
- What do you feel are the key elements in your music that should resonate with listeners?
Freder Seric: I want to mix the best of all genres! Fast rap, flow, cadence, variation, fast melody, deep emotions, rhymes, rhythm and stylistic elements! I think what people admire the most is my way of mixing it all and still having a backstory that I process in the song.
- Could you tell us something about your latest project?
Freder Seric: What inspired me a lot was the Scene in the movie Fight Club, where they robbed a gas station while holding a gun to this guy’s head telling him that they will kill him if he doesn’t do everything he can to chase his dreams. This inspired me to make an album called “Chase Your Dreams”. I also helped my brother into finding what his dream was and helped him into chasing it. I want to inspire everyone into chasing their dreams now.
- When putting together a song, do you usually start with the beat first, or do come up with a narrative first?
Freder Seric: I always write all my text while listening to the beat, as it is very important to me how it will sound on the beat. There is one song I made called “In The End of November 2018” on my album “Chase Your Dreams” which is purely narrative-driven though, as I talk mainly about the time between the death of my parents and the end of my over 10 year old relationship. People who are more into narrative will love this song! All my other songs are mainly driven by emotions and my love for form.
- What is your process when writing, recording and producing your music? Do you collaborate with others or outsource any of these tasks?
Freder Seric: I have experience in every single step of making music. But when I do it, I just make horrible quality music which only few people loved. After my parents died in 2019, I decided to invest into making a real album. I wanted to make everything perfect. So I bought beat licenses. I went to a real studio to record. I hired a Grammy nominated sound engineer Beau Vallis for mixing and mastering. I’m still trying to think of how to make an amazing video! I’m really hyped for the release of my album!
- What is the music scene like for artists working your music genre in Germany?
Freder Seric: German Rap is just so very limited! Everyone who has more than 10k views is already accused of cheating. The most successful songs only get to like 40 million. Only about 1% of my listeners are even from Germany! In my opinion I should focus more on the world than on Germany only. And I don’t feel like competing with German musicians, but I feel like competing with the best of the world!
- What has been the most difficult thing you’ve had to endure in your career or life so far, and how did you overcome the event?
Freder Seric: The death of my parents was hard to deal with. I am working on this album “Chase your Dreams” to fill it with all my different emotions that I have since those events. It is very hard. It’s probably impossible to ever “overcome”
- What would you consider a successful, proud or significant point in your career or life so far?
Freder Seric: It’s mainly when I am on stage and people are singing with me, cheering me and talking to me after I was on stage congratulating me on my performance or telling me I’m a really great singer/rapper. It happens more and more lately.
- What is the best piece of advice regarding the music business that you actually followed so far, and what is the advice you didn’t follow, but now know for sure that you should have?
Freder Seric: First you should work on your skills! Then if you think you are ready: Invest in a recording in studio, mixing and mastering and licenses for beats, then put your music on Spotify through Spinnup and make professional music videos for YouTube.
- How do you handle criticism, haters and/or naysayers in general? Is it something you pay attention to, or simply ignore?
Freder Seric: I’ve always let myself get dragged down by critique in the past. But I feel like now I am ahead in the race. I still see the Haters cry, but I only see them in the rearview. This though also inspired me to write the song “Haters”
- Which aspects of being an independent artist excites you most and which aspects discourages you most?
Freder Seric: I’m very free. I have no deadlines. And I have all the potential in the World. But I also have all the risk on myself. So imagine if I blow a couple thousands or more on my music there’s a high chance I won’t get it back, even if there are people out there loving the songs.
- What is your relationship with visual media? Do you think videos are important for your music, and do have a specific video clip you would like to recommend that fans watch to find out more about your craft?
Freder Seric: I plan to release awesome music videos in the future! I made the lyrics music videos of “Ocean” and “Haters” myself and I think they turned out pretty good.
- In general, do you consider music and social media platforms as fundamental in building a career in music today, and what is your personal relationship with the new technology at hand?
Freder Seric: I was one of the biggest bands of my city on myspace and my first YouTube channel I made over 12 years ago was very successful back then too. The problem is that I let it slide and everyone else caught up and to be honest I have some problems to catch up myself now! I’m still trying to become more noticed with all this competition.
- For most artists, originality is first preceded by a phase of learning and, often, emulating others. What was this like for you? How would you describe your own development as an artist and music maker, and the transition towards your own style?
Freder Seric: I really like Karaoke and I especially try to think behind the thought process of the person who wrote the text. I’m known a lot in the karaoke scene in my city! But I have also always wrote original texts myself for over 20 years. I think imitation should give you new tools, but you should not “copy paste”.
- Creative work in studio environment, or interaction with a live audience? Which of these two do you ultimately prefer and why?
Freder Seric: To be honest I just love music. I love making music and I love performing it. What really frustrates me when being on stage is the time between the music. I feel like I don’t really know what to say between songs. Even though I got more used to it after having so much Karaoke Experience!
- Do you have a personal favorite track in your record collection that has a specific backstory and/or message and meaning very dear to you?
Freder Seric: Every single Song has a very different backstory. But I feel like the song lyrics is my best way of telling those stories, even though it’s more like poetry and not as easy to read as a book. The most backstory is obviously “End of November 2018” which is literally me just telling the story of my life between the death of my parents. The Song “Charade” tells the story of a girl I knew being tricked by a guy I knew. “Insecure” is a song about my social anxiety around another girl I often have trouble talking to when I am not very drunk.
- What’s your view on the role and function of music as political, cultural and/or social vehicle – and do you try and affront any of these themes in your work, or are you purely interested in music as an expression of your artistry and entertainment?
Freder Seric: Well I think music is often like different roles in theatre which can even show conflict between different views. And often between the verses is not the same person in the same state, but sometimes there is character development in between or even a role change. This does not always have to mean that a different person is doing the verse! In my Songs I often tried to do character development between the verses of the lyrical self.
- Do you have a specific vision or goal that you would like to achieve in 2020?
Freder Seric: I’m going to release my first studio album “Chase your Dreams” and I hope it will be as perfect as possible.
Connect with Freder Seric:
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/7jzN1t…
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/de/album/1497…
Deezer: https://www.deezer.com/album/129266612
Napster: https://www.napster.com/artist/freder…
All Streaming Platforms: https://spinnup.link/289666-ocean
Subscribe to YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/frederseric?s…
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/frederseric/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/frederseric
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FrederSeric/
SnapChat: https://www.snapchat.com/add/frederseric
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