Q: Where did the inspiration come from for Cry No Mo? What is the story you wanted to tell?

A: Our inspiration for Cry No Mo was from all the consistent deaths of our black people by the hands of police officers who are supposed to protect us, then seeing the officers get away with it! The last straw was the George Floyd murder caught on camera so really wanted to let that pain and agony on a track. The story we were telling with this song and with the video enhancing the meaning is saying that we can’t even cry anymore because we see it so much that now that sadness has turned to anger. Think how long can a person be bullied by someone before they fight back. The justice system is our bully, and the video explains the part of the innocence of black boys with the kids in the video but still teaches them to protect themselves.

Q: What is the story of the group? How did you guys meet and then decide to make music?

A: The funny thing we never actually met was that we were already brought together. We are real blood brothers, from the same mom and dad. We decided to make music at such a young age because it ran in our family. My grandfather was a famous singer Willie Hightower, then my mother used to sing when she was younger as well. So our oldest brother Milan Hightower who got his name from our grandfather started doing music first as a solo artist, but once Dash was able to speak he wanted to be right behind him with music then it just trickled down to the rest of us. Since Milan started first and was already building his name as an artist they decided to group us up since we were so close in age, so started at the ages of Dash at 7, Jelani at 6, and Jawara at 4.
Q: Where did the “group” name come from?

A: Well we actually went through about 3 name changes before sticking with Gnarl3y Boyz, our first name was when we first started out was Riznsunz which was thought of by our father who saw us our his rising stars who are his sons. Then as time went on around us being the ages of teenagers we had a kind of futuristic look to ourselves so we went by 3rdimension or 3d. Now the way we got our name Gnarl3y Boyz was after we took a trip out to LA for the first time and just caught the vibes of LA the weather and the people and it just changed our whole perspective on a lot. We came back with a whole new sound which just had a gnarly, radical, vacation sound to it where our friends would always say our sound gnarly so we ran with it and it just stuck to us as the Gnarl3y Boyz.

Q: What makes you guys different and stand out the most?

A: One thing that always raises an eyebrow is the fact we are real blood brothers from the same mom and dad can not really say many if any music groups that can possibly say that. One other thing that we would definitely say our look is like no other is the way we can just switch it up no matter the occasion and have a star appearance no matter who is in the room. Now our favorite thing that we know our fans cherish the most will be our performances. The way we bring energy to the crowd is not like many artists nowadays. We come up with our own routines we put together bringing that old school energy that is missing in this industry
Q: How was the move to CA? What established this move and how is it different from what you are used to?

A: The move to Cali was probably the best decision of our lives because we just felt as if we had done enough in our home town. So we thought to extend our fanbase and make a new home there. What sparked that was our last trip to LA that we just received so much love that it just felt right for us to start a new name out there! It’s completely different from Charlotte because there was a lot more to do out there and more events in such a fast-paced city compared to Charlotte so that just helps so much when trying to make it in the music industry. Do not get me wrong Charlotte is growing but just not a lot of music industry opportunities at the moment so until then we’re stationed in Cali growing our new fanbase chasing a dream.

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Q: How do you guys keep the balance between business and pleasure?

A: I think this is the hardest thing to do especially being a rapper because you have to be on the scene to stay relevant but still have to get your behind-the-scenes business handled. So we have weekly meetings to try and lay everything down for the week to space it all out in a timely manner. Knowing how the industry is, it is very hard to always stick to that because events always come up at the last minute. So business always comes first at all times but we do love to celebrate a good hard working week on the weekend when everything on the schedule works out.

Q: When the world opens up again are there any accomplishments you would like to achieve?

A: We really want to get booked for a music festival such as rolling loud, Coachella, etc yea it is far-fetched but definitely a dream achievement when outside opens completely. Other than that we would like to do a college and high school tour across the country we have started a little before COVID hit but really want to expand that this time around and put more time and effort to scale it to another level.

Q: What keeps you guys going and continue to make music? How did you come up with your own sound, and agree on it?

A: With everything that we have been through as a group and as brothers, making music alone has been our safe haven, so we always just looked at it as the one thing that could not only distract us from these problems but completely eliminate them from our lives. Success and the thought of never having to stress again just living your life and creating a legacy for our family to live on is definitely what keeps us motivated to continue to make music. Now with our sound, It was never actually planned out or talked about like “this is how we are going to start making our music” it literally just formed more and more as we matured. But the crazy thing about it is that we all have our own taste in music. Like of course we like the same kind of music but we “Favor” different types of artists and genres creating each of our own personal sounds in which we put together to form this Rap, Rock, Punk sound that we like to call Gnarl3y Talk.
Q: What is something you can tell your fans that you are working on, to get us excited about?

A: Well if you are a day one fan then you know that the one thing we haven’t had much of is visuals. So with that being said, you’ll be seeing the Gnarl3y Boyz a lot more than hearing this coming year. More and MORE videos are dropping and since they have been so patient we will be dropping a few tapes too.

Q: What do you guys have planned for the rest of 2020?

A: We have a few more videos in line to drop and planning on dropping an extended tape called Terrible But Good. It was originally supposed to drop Spring of 2021 but the way 2020 has gone “ Terrible But Good” is a perfect way to end the year, it has literally been Terrible BUT Good.

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