On the Rise
Rapta

Growing up just outside Boston, hip-hop spoke to Matt Rapta from a young age - the likes of 50 Cent, Lil Wayne, Mac Miller and Drake. “Those guys just sparked something in me, just made me feel good,” he explains.

He started to make music, teaching himself GarageBand and Logic and watching YouTube tutorials. On working alone he explains, “I think it’s efficient. You can get your vision across fast by yourself or just with one other person creating.”

He started uploading videos of covers and remixes to YouTube and Soundcloud before discovering how to get his early rap-pop onto streaming platforms. First singles “Night Off” and “Trophy” were raw, but showed melodic promise. However it was the track “Chiefin”, a wavy slice of RnB, that started to move things for Rapta. “It was like, oh I’m seeing more of my community hop on. It was a turning point, in a small way,” he smiles. “I was just finding my groove, finding my sound, just putting out singles.”

It’s a journey that you can still trace back to 2016, and one that Rapta isn’t afraid to leave exposed: “I’ve never said to myself, I wanna take it off,” he explains. “I wanna let people see everything, coz I know as a fan, that was what connected me so well to other artists, was seeing their come up. It’s more about emotional attachment and riding that journey with them.”

After high school he attended Bridgewater State University to major in business. He applied his new knowledge to building his own brand, Luv The Plug, a group of young creatives who shoot videos, design clothing and form an inner circle around Rapta. “People use the term ‘the plug’ as someone, like when you need to go get a bag of weed, like who’s the plug?” he grins. “But it’s a universal term, it’s anybody who comes through for you.”

Rapta was, however, also the literal plug. At nineteen he was caught selling weed from his dorm room and kicked out of college. “I think that was the biggest turning point in my life,” he says, shaking his head. “One day I get a knock on the door from the cops and that was literally like my life flashed before my eyes. It was like, what am I going to do with my life, y’know?”

Luckily, music began to pick up and six months later he was out on tour in New England. “That was a pivotal moment. It’s a constant reminder that I was meant to do this, the way timing aligned and the way things happened,” Rapta explains.

Another big moment was when Boston rapper Sammy Adams reached out to Rapta. They ended up collaborating on the single “Brady”, and the track “Bananas” from Rapta’s debut album, Leo, released in 2017. “Sammy’s like a bro to me,” he smiles. “One day I got a random DM from Sammy Adams and I was like, what the hell I used to listen to you in middle school! He used to tour and he had a deal with RCA at the time and he had some great singles, so I was a fan. And he’s from Boston, he had a lot of respect so it was cool to see him reach out. It’s just a vibe and he’s always been there for me, brought me out to my biggest show which at the time was like 2700 people. I’m very selective with who I put on my music because it’s important to be authentic coming up.”

Moving to LA last year, Rapta began working with Berlin and LA based label/agency 2DEX to release his music. “It’s really just a different chapter for me right now. I think it’s like a gateway period where I found some people that can take the vision to the next level,” he says.

Tracks like “Seasick”, a trilogy of floating to intensifying production all hooked around a simple punch of chorus are entirely self-produced, whereas with “Energy Therapy”, a woozy track of clipped trap, Rapta worked remotely with Berlin-based Canadian producer Hendric. Fluid in the process of creating music, Rapta says he’s grateful to be living in a city so rich in resources, but he still finds his hometown a recurrent theme. “A lot of people that I work with out here just happen to be from Boston which is crazy,” he laughs, “And I didn’t even know them when I lived in Boston.”

Moving forwards, there’s a new single on the way produced by KC Supreme of Internet Money, and once lockdown lifts, Rapta’s keen to get back on stage. “I’m excited, I feel like I’m in a whole different chapter now and I just want to get on the road and see what I can do,” he says. “My ambitions are to the moon, to my highest potential, that’s how I see it. I don’t do it to be second place so I’m always gonna have my head set on the top. And I just feel like I have music that says something and it can resonate with people in a certain way, which is the catalyst to doing this on the biggest level. So I feel like that’s where my ambitions stand, is connecting with a mass audience and resonating with people all over the world.”

And the most important thing people joining this journey from all over the world should know? “I think the most important thing that people should know and hang on to is genuinity and authenticity,” he smiles. “When you hear something, if you feel it, you also know it’s real. There’s a lot of artists that just say stuff and it’s not real. I think when a fan can connect it and understand that there’s a real effect to it, it travels deeper. That connection becomes stronger, so just know that it’s genuine and authentic.”