Carlo Waibel’s aka Cros debut album RAOP – which, as the name suggests, is a mixture of rap and pop – is now celebrating its 10th anniversary. During this time, the 32-year-old released his three other studio albums: MELODIE, TRU. and TRIP released. The native of Stuttgart was one of the first to balance between the two genres. What Cro was initially criticized for later opened new doors in German rap. Now his fifth record follows with 11:11. We spoke to him about his career, love and the meaning behind his lucky number.
Musikexpress.de: With your last two albums TRU. and TRIP there is said to have been a brief thought that they will be your last. How did 11:11 come about?
Cro: At TRU. many thought it could be my last album. With TRIP, I toyed with the fact that this time it would be my last. But in fact, I also briefly considered whether I really wanted to continue or maybe do something else. But then I thought to myself that I had become so fast and good at making music. I can make an album in what feels like two weeks if the muse is right.
Is that also the reason why two albums, TRIP and 11:11, have been released in less than two years?
Cro: At 11:11 I didn’t want to waste so much time this time. Before TRU. there was nothing for three/four years and before TRIP the same. There were so many years in between – especially nowadays. Also, I have 500 songs lying around, but it’s hard to release old songs. It’s like taking a drawing you made when you were eleven, posting it and claiming you made it yesterday. You don’t want that.
So is it more up-to-dateness or pressure, which is why several years shouldn’t go by?
Cro: Rather the topicality. I think it’s good to make songs faster and bang out straight away. But of course the rhythm has changed: there used to be an album every three years, now a single every two weeks.
What is behind the album title 11:11?
Cro: It’s a lucky number for me, it reminds me where I come from. Whenever it is 11:11 a.m., I stop for a moment, drop everything, ground myself and lie on the ground or touch the ground. Just because you do it so seldom. That does something to you. You’re always running through everyday life anyway or looking at your cell phone – at least that’s how I notice it.
Why did you decide to name the album that?
Cro: This number is very present for me and also for T-No who produced the album. And it’s a little ritual of ours that sometimes at 11:11 we send stuff back and forth. The number is there and is part of it. Like when I come into the studio, take Palo Santo and smoke out the spirits. It’s the little things. And when I thought about the name of the album, it was kind of clear: 11:11.
How can one imagine the formation process of 11:11?
Cro: This time I was in Bali, in a new studio that I built. That’s why the motivation was high. A studio in the jungle with a view through the glass pane directly into the pool. We also did the recording relatively quickly: in about three/four weeks. I’ve never had such a clean vocal signal. You could have heard a pin drop on the carpet. There were always some people there. So you can imagine friends, T-No and I locked in the studio with Palo Santo and microphone. (laughs)
The press release stated that 11:11 was an album about love and “what it does to you”. What would you say she does to you?
Cro: Phew, a lot! I think she does everything with you. We also do most things because of and for love – and to be loved.
Do you think it made its way into the record as well?
Cro: Yes, I also have to admit that almost every song is about love (laughs). But of course it is fully included. Most of the stories happened the same way. I was in Bali, she in New York: when she Facetimed me with a bad connection. In some Uber or at some party, which is why she was only half there. Then when she put me down for a minute, I wondered what this was all about, hung up and went on recording.
In “Facetime Luv” you rap, “You say you miss me, I miss me too”. What’s behind the line?
Cro: Sometimes you have moments when you look back and wonder what you’ve lost and how much you’ve changed. But you continue to develop, even if many don’t want to. And some things you don’t want to have back. If I remember back when I was 14/15 years old for example. I had a “don’t give a fuck” attitude. Even at the beginning of the career we still demolished everything in the backstage rooms. Now I want to leave the room nicer than we found it. I never went to after-show parties until I was 26, and in recent years I’ve changed that and socialized more in the scene.
Times have also changed in general since then. Do you think you are more accepted in the rap genre these days?
Cro: I don’t really want to be a part of rap anymore. There was a time when I wanted it more and that’s why I made one or two albums that went in that direction. But now I don’t care. If someone thinks I rap, I’m glad and thank you, but I’m trying not to fit in anymore. I tried that for a long time.
In your track “Freiheit” you rap about it: Freedom. What is your definition of “freedom”?
Cro: Being able to do whatever you want. And thank God I can too. As soon as you do something you don’t want, you are no longer free.
You’re known for feel-good music: do you also do it when you’re having a bad day?
Cro: I record a lot of songs just for myself, so that I can get things off my chest. But I don’t publish them. Who knows, maybe one day I’ll find some melancholy in it and publish it… but not right now.