This video was made in partnership with Nō Studios. Milwaukee Magazine is partnering with the video production company to showcase the stories of local artists and musicians. Watch for more content like this here.
Tae Spears is the founder of Rooted Society, a collective that formed in 2012. Spears, a Milwaukee-born hip-hop artist, brought together other artists to form the group, which is now working on an album to be released next year.
“With Rooted Society, we always stress being transparent and just being truthful in our music,” Spears says. “How I would describe my sound is just really authentic. No matter who it relates to, it’s going to always be authentic to me, which means it’s going to be authentic to somebody else out there.”
In 2020, Spears released the album Undefiled. “My sound is really like my timeline. Whatever I put out, you’re getting a glimpse of what I’m specifically going through.”
RJ Riddle is another member of Rooted Society. The Milwaukee rapper has been writing music since he was 10 years old and takes inspiration from many styles.
“Music been a huge part of my life forever,” he says .”I can listen to some of everybody and find some kind of inspiration.”
In 2020, Riddle released the album Reconstruction (Reconstructured).
