Sixteen Minds, One Vision: The Urban Renewal Project on their Single "Money" and Upcoming Album "Love Glory Duty Death"
The 16-piece Los Angeles collective talk about their explosive new single, the challenges of collaboration, the bold themes behind their upcoming album, Love Glory Duty Death, and more.
Los Angeles-based 16-piece collective The Urban Renewal Project isn't your everyday band. They're a whirlwind of jazz, hip hop, and vintage soul, woven together with fiery horn lines and razor-sharp rhymes. Their latest single, Money (featuring Oh No), pulls no punches: it's a riveting exploration of wealth as both promise and peril, aligning with the heavy themes of their upcoming album, Love Glory Duty Death (out October 24).
We sat down with R.W. Enoch and Slim da Reazon to talk about the band's journey - from keeping sixteen musicians in sync on stage, to the gear that shaped their new record, to the challenges of being a collective of strong creative voices. Along the way, they opened up about their dream collaborations, the philosophies that guide their writing, the realities of promoting new music today, and yes, even what it would sound like if The Urban Renewal Project became a Shania Twain cover band for one night.
Eugenia Roditis, Musicngear: Sixteen people on one stage sounds like a beautiful kind of madness - how does the band keep things flowing smoothly in rehearsals and live shows without stepping on each other's toes (musically or literally)?
R.W. Enoch: Experience — both as individual musicians and as a group — plays a big role. We've been performing together consistently for 15 years now, so we've learned a lot from each other and collectively developed some routines that help us navigate the stage smoothly.
Preparation has been helpful too. I'm a big planner, and while we don't have as much time to rehearse together these days, I try to make sure everyone knows what to expect, in detail, before the date of any given performance or session.
Musicngear: Your new single “Money” digs into the double-edged nature of wealth - hope, opportunity, greed, vice. When you were creating it, were there any real-life moments or conversations in the band that shaped how you approached this subject?
Slim da Reazon: On the road, we often talk about politics, capitalism, and history. There's not a single conversation per se that informed the song, but it allowed me personally to feel safe exploring the topic of how money has been a double-edged sword and necessary evil at times.
Capitalism has enabled both opportunity and oppression; if there's a have, then there's a have-not. Most rap lyrics tend to focus on the pleasures of having, so we felt it would be more authentic to focus on the feeling of not having.
Musicngear: With so many musicians involved, your gear must look like a small music store exploded. What are some of the instruments or pieces of equipment that feel essential to the band’s sound, and do you have any quirky or unexpected gear that sneaks into the mix?
R.W. Enoch: Saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and, of course, guitar, bass, and drums have comprised the core sound of our music since the beginning of the group, but I think one of the defining factors of our new album, Love Glory Duty Death, is the incorporation of new and atypical instruments.
Some of the more unusual sounds we recorded include a real vintage harpsichord and several gamelan instruments from Bali. We also conducted a remote recording session with a full string orchestra in Hungary.
Musicngear: On the flip side, when you're on tour, how do you even transport that much gear? Any horror stories of broken horns, missing amps, or last-minute MacGyver-style fixes before a show?
R.W. Enoch: Things travel surprisingly smoothly on the road. We don't have a ton of bulky electronic gear or sound equipment, so the trailer ends up mostly full of horn cases and a drumset.
Air trips are much more difficult, with many fragile instruments that do not fly easily, for example, the baritone saxophone or sousaphone. The most dramatic incident would have to be the time we flew to Jakarta for the Java Jazz Festival, and the headstock on Tim's electric guitar snapped off during the flight.
Ultimately, we just had to borrow an electric guitar from one of the sound engineers at the festival, but ever since then, Tim has traveled with two guitars. Apart from that, I think we've been pretty lucky to avoid any major instrument loss or damage *knock on wood.*
Capitalism has enabled both opportunity and oppression; if there's a have, then there's a have-not. Most rap lyrics tend to focus on the pleasures of having, so we felt it would be more authentic to focus on the feeling of not having
Musicngear: Sixteen creative minds also means sixteen different opinions. What’s the biggest challenge you’ve faced as a collective, and what advice would you give other artists who are trying to balance collaboration with keeping the vision on track?
Slim da Reazon: I'd say the biggest struggle is finding a way to incorporate another's idea, even if you don't agree with it. I'd say the trick is to allow yourself to merely be part of the creation instead of needing to be 'correct.'
I may not agree with a direction or note, but as a collaborator, it's my job to put the same energy into trying someone else's idea as much as I would my own. In doing that, you may discover bits and pieces of ideas that eventually add up to something that a single idea alone can't generate.
Another benefit of having sixteen different creative minds is that we are fortunate to have a diverse and inclusive outlook that is not siloed in one perspective.
Musicngear: When it comes to promoting “Money” and your upcoming album, are you more focused on racking up streams, landing festival slots, getting blog coverage, or is there another goal you’re chasing? How do you actually go about turning that goal into reality?
R.W. Enoch: All of these goals feed back onto each other, so we try to plan our business objectives and creative goals more holistically.
For example, if Love Glory Duty Death gets a million streams, more festival slots and blog coverage are almost guaranteed as a result, so we try not to get sucked into specific marketing gimmicks or overextend ourselves on a specific platform that might detract from the larger picture.
Musicngear: If you could collaborate with any artist, past or present, who would you bring into the Urban Renewal Project family? And on the live side, are there any dream venues or festivals still on your bucket list?
R.W. Enoch: For me, the easy answer is MF DOOM. It had always been a dream of mine to work with him, and honestly, his premature passing was a major personal inspiration for me to push this album—which took us more than seven years to make—across the finish line.
Among those who are still with us, allow me to manifest a Gorillaz/Damon Albarn collab into existence. And as for venues, there are so many amazing stages out there, but I want to shout out Treefort Music Festival in particular — hit us up!
The biggest struggle is finding a way to incorporate another's idea, even if you don't agree with it. I'd say the trick is to allow yourself to merely be part of the creation instead of needing to be 'correct
Musicngear: Your album Love Glory Duty Death wrestles with big themes. If you had to describe the record not in musical terms, but as a story or journey, what kind of narrative would it tell?
Slim da Reazon: I'd say the story would be the classic "Hero's Journey" as described by Joseph Campbell. It's setting out for the Love of the game, finding Glory through success, then understanding that repeating success is an act of Duty that takes diligence not just glory, and then understanding that eventually success needs to be reimagined in order to win again, thus experiencing the Death of your old ways and finding a new aspect of the journey to fall in Love with all over again.
In the album, we explore the highs of finding and losing lovers, the pain of not having money or success, and the thrill of enjoying those successes, the freedom to have American Dreams, with the challenges of maintaining a free and fair democracy. Ultimately, the story we tell is that of the times we live in.
Musicngear: If The Urban Renewal Project had to transform into a cover band for one night only, what artist or genre would be the funniest or most unexpected fit for sixteen of you to pull off?
R.W. Enoch: Shania Twain.
Musicngear: Beyond the release of the new album, what’s next for The Urban Renewal Project?
R.W. Enoch: We really had to dial back every other aspect of our schedule in order to get this thing done, so it'll be nice to take a breath and get back into a routine that includes more regular live shows, tour dates, video shoots, and other random stuff.
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About Eugenia Roditis
Eugenia's passion for music was ignited from an early age as she grew up in a family of musicians. She loves attending concerts and festivals, while constantly seeking fresh and exciting new artists across diverse genres. Eugenia joined the MusicnGear team in 2012.
Contact Eugenia Roditis at eugenia.roditis@kinkl.com
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