By RayJaun Stelly

Earning the name ‘RC The Trackaholiq,’ Ryan “RC” Croone, Seattle’s very own music producer and DJ, is a huge staple in the Northwest music scene's growth and development. Throughout his career, he’s managed to DJ up and down the West Coast, leaving crowds in awe of his tremendous ability to blend and transition between song selections.

Raised in the Rainier Valley area of Seattle, Croone’s musical journey started at 10 years old when he gravitated towards his older cousin Toby Croone, who was in a jazz group called ‘Onyx.’ Unfortunately, his cousin passed away, and while attending the funeral, RC saw the amount of love that Toby received. From that day, he decided that music was for him.

“Seeing that many people—it was the first funeral I had been to because my parents didn’t take me to funerals—there was standing room only, and he was a really popular guy,” said Croone. “I just thought it was so cool that so many people turned out for him, so I remember that day thinking about doing music. That same year, I got into band at school and played the drums.”

Starting out playing the drums, Croone continued to develop his craft, especially once his parents bought him a drum machine. He began making drum patterns and beats, then putting them on tapes to show his friends at school. As time went on, he became innovative, putting his father’s old keyboard and recording equipment to use to make mixtapes.

Finding his niche and becoming more advanced by the time he graduated high school, along with adding more equipment to his drum machine, Croone grew a following of rappers and fans, putting on his producer hat and essentially never looking back.

“People were coming to my house and rapping to me, and I would come up with a beat. That’s when I jumped to a four-track recorder and started producing. More people started coming to my house to record,” said Croone. “That was the process—literally getting lyrics, and I’d make the beat around them, then record them.”

When making a beat, Croone’s philosophy is to make it sound as real as possible, with a deep appreciation for instrumentation.

“I like the way certain parts play off each other—strings, horns, and things like that. It’s my expression, personally. I’m a selfish producer where I try to make every instrument on the track before I hire somebody to play it,” Croone expressed.

From 1988 to 2024 and counting, Croone has put in 36 years toward the craft and art of music. The lineage of music runs in his bloodline from his cousin to his brother and now his nephew. With three decades going on four, his motivation and passion for the art have yet to fade, regardless of the obstacles faced along the way.

“It’s really easy for the music to become business to you, so what I have to do is get back to loving the music, discovering, and appreciating what the music really is,” said Croone. “When I have a block and I’m not really doing anything, I go back to the vinyl that I have and turn something on to just listen. I go online to search for different music. I discover a lot of music now through podcasts and find new artists.”

Croone continued, “For me, it’s about getting back to the music. Sometimes you can fall out of love with the music—it’s kind of easy to do, and you cannot get blocked. I go dig and listen back to music for fun.”

Nodded as one of the pioneers of Seattle’s hip-hop scene, and despite his current title as a DJ, Croone is the founder of Cidewayz Music, which provides the opportunity to produce several albums and compilation projects for Northwest artists to display their rhymes over his beats and highly-touted production style.

Entrepreneur, founder, producer, engineer, and DJ are not the only hats Croone wears. He is also a podcaster, hosting a show titled ‘The Cide Show,’ covering different topics and hosting guests from the Northwest and around the world.

Looking to the future, he is set to release more DJ mixes while currently working on his 12th album, Dirty Maserati, with hopes of making it a vinyl release. He is also finishing up a documentary telling his story.

Croone stated, “I’m hoping to get a little bit away from rap and hip-hop, getting more into R&B, dance, and instrumentals. I’ve been working on my documentary for three years and am looking to wrap that up. And I’m still making beats and staying relevant.”

Find Croone on Facebook @Ryan Rc Croone or on Instagram @rccidewayz.