Free Party isn’t exactly “just getting started,” but it does feel like they’re in the middle of a new beginning. Hailing from PG County, the duo composed of MoCo and Jay Veno have just leveled up with Cut Your Teeth, a brief, but immersive EP that refines a formula they’ve been working on for close to a decade. Coated in stylishly ambient soundscapes and flows that can be as melodious as they are agile, it’s a fitting re-introduction for a team that’s peaking at the right time. It’s the result of a partnership that began 15 years ago.
After meeting on the gridiron as high school teens, the two eventually redirected their attention to the studio and started recording as the clique Free Party. The name is a nod to a lifestyle as much as their art itself.
“Free means not having limitations on what we wanted to do with the music,” says MoCo. “Party is kind of just bringing everybody else into that experience.”
As of late, a lot of folks have been in attendance. After unloading projects like Grey (2019), Mirrors in a Dark Room (2021) and now, Cut Your Teeth, Free Party earns nearly half a million Spotify streams every month. Now they’ve got plans to go up even more.
Chopping it up with Okayplayer for First Look Friday, MoCo and Veno give the low-down on their new project, their origins and their goals for the future.
Okayplayer: What was some music that influenced you growing up?
MoCo: When you’re from the area, go-go was something that you just wanted to listen to just off-rip. And I would say artist-wise, a lot of the people that I listened to growing up was [Lil] Wayne, Kanye, 50 [Cent], Get Rich or Die Tryin’. one of my favorite albums and my older brother, he’s a huge Biggie fan, so I hear that all the time around the house.
Jay Veno: Wayne, 50. My mom loved Hov. My dad loved ’Pac, so got I into ’Pac off that. Bow Wow was fire, too.
You two have a natural chemistry on wax. When did you meet?
Veno: We met each other when we were in high school. We were both playing on the football team so that’s where we started connecting. We’ve just been friends ever since and then we ventured into music together as well. We gave each other the confidence to pursue music. It’s been history from there.
So let’s get to the project. Why is your new EP called Cut Your Teeth?
MoCo: We wanted to build a sound and take some time out to really master what we wanted to figure out our identity. The definition of [cut your teeth] goes hand and hand with that. Basically, if you’re cutting their teeth, it means you’re beginning to master some of the skills in your career. We’ve been doing this for some years now, but we’ve been self-taught, so we just wanted to take some steps back and build our sound.
Veno: We were just falling in love with the process. We talked a lot about process, and “cut your teeth” is like the phrase is acquiring the skills and gaining expertise. That’s what we felt like these songs were born out of. When we initially got into this, we were focused on the writing and the actual skill of rapping and putting the words together and just telling stories. This time around we really honed in on growing that sound and presenting the full Free Part.
You talk about refining your approach to create a more distinct artistic identity. How is Cut Your Teeth different from your other releases.
MoCo: When we first started a lot of our [songs] were on YouTube beats. But a lot of the songs lately and a lot of the songs, all of the songs and this project was built from scratch. Our instrumentation and the structure and the way we went about the process of [making] the records. It was just playing with structure and understanding that we can step outside the verse, hook, hook, bridge type of mentality and build off just interesting structures of the records and different sounds.
What’s your ultimate goal for Cut Your Teeth and beyond?
Veno: I think it’s really just us pushing this forward. I mean allowing people to step even more into our world, starting a run. A lot of music is going to be dropping this year and next year. We just want to continue building our fan base and telling our story. I think we’ve allowed people in a little bit through our Mirrors in Dark Room project and our PG Baby project. There’s been some songs that are autobiographical, some just showcasing our rapping ability. This one is just letting people in a little bit more. We’re really showcasing our brand and our sound and the world we’re building with the videos and in visuals we showed this time. We’re just expanding the whole Free Party umbrella, allowing people to step in more. I think that’s what this will accomplish. We’re just setting the stage for everything that’s coming.
