Keep it authentic

Surron the 7th talks process and inspiration

Ron Bailey, aka Surron The 7th, is a prominent figure within Tulsa’s thriving hip-hop community. His introspective and cunning lyricism will sometimes make you laugh and always make you think—setting the bar high for authentic local writing.

“Surron blends honesty and ingenuity in every word,” said Oilhouse’s Dan Hahn, aka Algebra. “There may not be anyone as authentic [as Surron] making hip-hop right now. His narrative is the narrative of an entire ethos that seeks to replace millennial ennui with cleanliness and bravery.” 

Surron’s approach to lyric writing is also authentic. 

“I don’t actually pick up a pen and write,” he said. “I like driving around with music playing and writing in my head. It’s getting to the point now where I can’t even pick up a pencil because then I get writer’s block, because I’m so used to kinda going off of how I feel, just expressing myself and being free.”

I asked how he can remember so much content without writing it down. 

“You start with the first bar then you get to that next bar and you repeat it until you come up with something.” 

Throughout his discography, Surron exhibits an impeccable talent for sifting through a laboratory of beats and selecting that perfect sound to compliment his complex web of wordplay.

“I’m always borrowing someone’s car to hear different sound systems, different environments and aesthetics. I remember in my old car I didn’t have AC, it was super hot, so [that meant] a lot of aggressive lyrics,” he laughed. 

As he explains in the intro of his latest EP, Chill, “The beat feels like it’s lap dancing on these flows.”  

Chill is a 10-track EP featuring production from Tulsa’s finest: Nic Cheek (aka Sol Ray), Rivi, John Moreland, and 1st Verse, complete with mixing and mastering by Mugen Music’s Had Enough. Chill and much of Surron’s previous work features beats crafted by Chicago producer BrandUn DeShay (once a member of the group Odd Future). Surron discovered DeShay on Myspace as a teenager and was the first person whose beats he sampled.

At one point DeShay told him to check out a 14 year-old rapper named Tyler. Surron was immediately impressed by the “dark, melodic, jazzy type sound” of the teenager’s music, and the two ended up forming a relationship. Tyler would go on to become Odd Future’s iconoclastic leader, Tyler the Creator. 

Surron is currently working on a mixtape he expects to release in September that will feature his popular song “Zombie Apocalypse.” A full-length album, Lo and Behold, is also in the works with no planned release date. He credits this surge of creativity to the recent passing of his biggest role model and musical inspiration, his father, Ron Bailey Sr.—a writer, musician, and luthier. Surron remembers him as a selfless and positive force in his community, a “man of God” who, along with Surron’s mother, took in a large number of foster kids throughout Surron’s childhood and teen years. 

Surron often reflects on his father’s work, and during our interview, he volunteered a piece of his father’s writing: 

Why don’t someone save the kids we often see on T.V.
nasty flies swarm around their eyes, stomach riddled with disease
why won’t someone give up something, give their money or give their time
maybe I’ll be that someone who makes a big difference in their little lives
as I walk over to my lazy boy chair, I unfold the paper but before I can sit down
I’m startled by the headline news, disaster struck a neighboring town
why don’t I jump in my truck drive over and volunteer my time
oh Lord I pray that when you show up, I’m there to help you toe the line.

“I felt completely unmotivated after my pops passed, of course, but oddly enough, I felt extremely creative shortly after,” Surron said. “I had time to process everything, like I was in a new space artistically. I knew the force that drove my pop creatively had been passed down to me, I knew I had that energy.”

For more from Mary, read her article on OKC rapper Jabee and his new album, Black Future.