Sean Delaney – Thanks for Asking!

Sean Delaney – Thanks for Asking! – by Liam Sweeny.

RRX: What was the very first reaction to your music, from the first person to ever hear so much as a practice jam or the demo of your first song?

SD: Well if you want to travel back to around 1992, you would find me being praised by my English teacher for the poetry I was turning in. It started out there, but once outside music influenced my
brain, such as my father’s classic rock or the hip-hop scene of the 90’s in Hudson, that’s when the poetry shifted into songwriting.

RRX: “The best laid plans of mice and men…” I don’t really know the quote, but I know this one; sh*t happens. When we least expect it, calamity befalls us. Sometimes just comic inconvenience. Please tell us a story about some comic inconvenience that happened to you whilst performing?

SD: This is something I spoke of when I wrote my book “The 40 Year Old Rapper”. In my early days I would take a train from Hudson to NYC just to get a chance to get on the mic in front of the best of the best at the time in an underground rap club called “Boot Camp.” This happened more than once, when I wrote my name on the list to get my shot and the other artists before me would do 3-4 sometimes 5 songs. So by the time it was my turn to finally shine, I had already been sitting there biting my nails and nervous as all hell for the last 4 or 5 hours to perform in front of basically no one at 3 am. Sometimes not even getting a chance at all, and to just swallow going home with nothing to show but the tenacity and will to succeed. It was a hard lesson in the grind and what it would take for me to finally get my opportunity.

RRX: My singer punched my drummer out. Memorable moment, though nothing to brag about. But we have these things that, when summing up your endeavor, an incident comes to mind. What do you got?

SD: I think for me, that moment came not so long ago. I decided that a shift was necessary and I realized that the music game was nothing like it used to be. The moment I made the decision to create my own genre “American Flówk” was the time I realized all of the blood, the sweat and the tears were all meant for me to come into my own and to build something brand new.

RRX: We have to play somewhere, and sometimes those places have more going for them than a stage and a power outlet. What is a memorable place you played, and bonus points if it’s not a well-known place.

SD: Back in 2007, Open Your Eyes was a massive hit, we went viral overnight on Youtube and we had a quarter million plays in 3 days. I was asked to travel as a consultant for a company called NYSACRA. For those who are unaware, Open Your Eyes was the first hiphop song ever written on Autism, and I was a Direct Care worker at the time. Well, as I was saying I was invited to this
event in Saratoga where I was asked to stand up in front of 500 people and recite the first verse Acappella. Needless to say I crushed it and that the applause was tremendous. This was when I
knew this is what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.

RRX: Playing out is tricky because you never know what’s going to happen when you get there. Sometimes everything goes wrong. What was your worst show like?

SD: Fortunately I haven’t gotten to experience by so called “worst show” yet. But, I am not naive to the fact that it’s gonna happen one day. If 10 out of 5,000 shows end up tanking for some god given reason, well I’d take those odds because my philosophy would be, at least I got to play 5,000 shows.

RRX: Would you rather have one of your songs blow up and make you a one-hit wonder and household name, or would you rather have all your songs be solidly received, but no chart-climbers? (You have to pick one or the other here.)

SD: I would have to go with the longevity of it all. At the end of the day I want the world to be able to hear my message. My lyrics are very profound and speak on an abundance of relatable topics. A one hit wonder would do nothing for me. Now if that one song opens Pandora’s Box and then the world gets to find me this way, that’s a different story. But I have a vast catalog of music I am
trying to change the world with. So one song, would not be enough. One hit wonder’s go viral, but they don’t build legacies.

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