When Elijah Bank$y mentioned that a certain “Big Flowers” helped him secure the Deem Spencer feature on his album, “FLEE TAPE,” I honestly had no clue who he was talking about. I didn’t press the issue at the time; I assumed they were one of the countless musicians whose name I would hear, yet go without hearing from.
Time passed by. I was doing my usual perusing on Twitter, and I saw a couple of artists engage with a few of Big Flowers’ posts. I found out that he does collage, one of the many forms of self-expression he uses. It wasn’t too long after that I saw his stop-motion paper work, and I was sold. Within my own network of friends and creatives, I didn’t recognize anyone that did such work. I was intrigued to say the least, so I followed Big Flowers.
My memory is sometimes as shaky as a rope bridge, but I believe it was November 2021 that I listened to Big Flowers’ debut tape, “Big Smile.” I was petrified by the features, but my body slowly regained its feel with each passing track. To say the least, “Big Smile” offers a refreshing taste of authenticity, originality, collaboration, and just downright dopeness. In other words, it’s a no-skip project.
Big Flowers’ music is one thing; his Internet presence is another. The amalgamation of the two led me to this interview. Each and every person is unique, but more than ever before did I get a sense that someone else in the world was “like me”; I felt as though we shared the same love for art in general, local musicians, and I believed he was being the most unbridled version of himself.
So, I set up a phone interview with him in the middle of December. I learned that he is a 27-year old artist from Poughkeepsie, New York (don’t watch the tapes), now based in Buffalo, New York. What I was impressed by, was how much he proved to me that I didn’t have even a fraction of an idea as to how much love, respect, and consideration he has for his contemporaries. He was as open and honest as a person can be, forthcoming with all of his thoughts and opinions. Rather than assume who a person is, I like to let them speak for themselves. This is Big Flowers.
HangTime: Tell me a little about yourself. I am leaving that open to you; you can answer that in any way you see fit.
Big Flowers: I have the “simple” family; I have three little sisters. Made music since I was like, I don’t know; I started playing guitar when I was 14. I started rapping when I was 17.
I really like mushrooms, like foraging for mushrooms, a lot. Just the culinary kind. I’m not gonna chance taking some Buffalo forest psychedelics. I like video games a lot.
What sort of genre video games are you into?
I suppose platform fighters. I like Smash, but I was really into Rivals of Aether for a bit. I played the Nickelodeon one when it came out, but it was absolute trash.
Other than that, I’ve been doing collages for about three years, which is a huge part of my life at this point. It’s what I do, mainly. Music is fun, and I love it – that’s where I can be emotional – but in terms of what I can do, day in and day out, it’s definitely more so the collages.
I really like goats; goats are sick. I’m trying to have some goats at some point. I don’t necessarily believe in marriage per se. I don’t know, that’s a pretty open ended question, you know what I mean?
Dude, I’m glad you gave the responses you did. Those are things I can’t get from your music, so I’m happy you shared that with me. So, getting into your music, I want to talk about “Big Smile”. I’ve already shared with you in the past that that is one of my favorite projects from 2021 just because of the production, the features, just how you were able to put that together.
I’m actually really interested; how did you pull that off? You have Pink Siifu, Deem Spencer, Elijah Bank$y, Chango4, who will come up a little later. What was the thought process behind making that tape?
It’s funny, because after I made it, I let it sit for a while. I messed with it so much in the mixing process – because I mixed it myself. That was my first record; I never put anything out before, so it was my first time getting it mixed, and it was my first time mixing it by myself too. I haven’t had a project mixed by someone else.
I didn’t really listen to it that much after. But then after I came back to it, I was rummaging around and I found this old cassette that I made a couple years ago. [At the time] it was six, seven songs. I think I had the Deem feature, maybe I had the Pink Siifu feature as well.
It was really getting the Pink Siifu feature, and just him being on a track with me. I was showing people and they were like, “Yo, he’s not even outrapping you.” So there was that connection, and Deem was a huge part of it too. After a while, things started to amalgamate into the idea of Big Smile.
I think I was gonna call it “Diet”. Yeah, in 2019, I was gonna release the song with Siifu, it was going to be called Diet. I had a completely different verse on it, but something told me not to release it. I didn’t, and then I kept on adding songs to it. I think I had five other songs, other than that one, that I had on the second tracklist. I think I had a song with Lil’ B which ended up getting taken off. It’s on SoundCloud, you can find it, maybe I took it off, I don’t know. But yeah, there was a song I did with Lil’B at one point that was gonna be on Big Smile.
I moved to Buffalo for school. I finished school, continued to do whatever and then Covid changed everything and it kind of pushed me away from any idea of what I was going to do. In that time – I was doing art on the side, it was great. In that time, it allowed me to focus on [Big Smile]. I was sitting there like, “I do have a really solid 7-8 songs on my hands here.”
At the end of the day, there were years of making shit and not loving it. I’m trying to remember where the first “big smile” line was. After I spit it, I was like, “Oh shit. This could really be the theme of it.” The verse I spit in ‘restock’, there’s a moment with the Big Smile aesthetic, and it was unintended. Then in Siifu’s verse, he was like, “Must be the gold, must be the teeth.” And I was like damn, alright; there’s a link to the theme. I know he didn’t intend it. In all respects, it was pretty passive until it wasn’t. Then, at that point, it was both hands on deck with figuring out how to get the message across.
There were certain beats that I had for years, like the beat for ‘type’ and the beat for ‘dentals’, I had for a long long time. I knew in the back of my head I was using those beats. Nadeer sent me the beat for ‘dentals’ probably in 2018. That was right when I started doing collages. I think that was one of the later songs I wrote too. Then andyfrenchtoast gave me the beat for ‘type’, and it was weird because I knew I wanted to use that beat, but it didn’t sound like anything else on the record, at all. I wanted to know how close I could get this to sound like what I need, so that things can make sense? As much as I feel like I am a decent rapper, I know I’m very limited in how comfortable I feel delivering things. I could never say something the way JODI could say something. Being able to collaborate with him on ‘type’ was so cool. Out of all the songs, it was the most out of pocket for me.
I guess what I’m getting at is that it was a long process that took a lot of thought, collaboration, and randomness, just chaos. It wasn’t something that I was trying to get to work; I was making sure that it made sense on a deeper level, but also something that I could enjoy. I didn’t want to make it too commercial or too cryptic, you know?
I get that from it. It doesn’t seem like a forced project. Often, when I interview people, I ask, “How did this album come about,” and they’re like, “Oh yeah, I did one track in the studio with ABC, then we did another track, then boom, we banged out a whole album in one day.” I hear that a lot. But to hear that “Big Smile” was just you making songs over the course of years, then eventually realizing you have a project after three years, that’s dope to hear.
As of this year, it’s been 10 years since I started rapping. Obviously not working on “Big Smile” the whole time. Technically, I could have been working on this album for 27 years. It’s the only debut album that you ever get.
I paid for studio time, went into the studio and started working on a project. There was never a point in the past where I was like, “This is me enough.” I didn’t know what that was. For a while, I wasn’t going as Big Flowers; that was just something I started calling myself for the collage stuff. After a while, I wanted to release a song, and I was like, “Why am I going to split up the names that people – who even could be remotely interested in what I’m doing – have to keep track of?”
So I just put it out under Big Flowers. At first, I didn’t know how I felt about it, but it’s come to be really endearing; the metaphors that come with it are really deep.
One of my questions was about your name and how you came up with it.
So [laughs] there was this beat that I made in 2015-2016 on my phone – maybe it was 2017 – called ‘Big Big Dandelions’. I was making collages one day, and my Instagram handle at the time was “Sixcollage”, and I thought that was stupid so I wanted to change it. I was listening to my SoundCloud, I saw my song “Big Big Dandelions” and I was like, “Welp, Big Flowers.”
At the time, I never released music under this name; I was telling myself I was rapping under “Locke.” It was never intended to be a rap name, or an artist name or anything, but it has developed into such.
Everything works out like that. So you’re from Poughkeepsie, living in Buffalo now; I spoke with Chango a while back when they came to New York, and I got a little information about the scene in Buffalo. They said there’s something of a resurgence going on in that art community. I’d love to hear your thoughts on Buffalo as a city, in general, and their art community. As someone from the city, I tend to think of places like Buffalo as just not NYC. But I’d rather hear about it from someone who actually lives there.
In terms of it not being New York, it’s definitely not New York City. It’s its own thing; there’s no skyscrapers, there’s no massive ass buildings. There’s, generally, not as much going on, just like those smaller cities. But at the end of the day, it’s a lot more lowkey than other cities. But…
It’s fucking beautiful. What I think is cool about Buffalo is that even within the city, it’s really isolated. We’re happier. Right now it’s cold as fuck and you can’t get me to go most places. There’s not ample public transportation; we have a metro that goes in a straight line up and down Main Street. If you don’t have a car, which I don’t, and if you don’t want to be cold as fuck, you kind of just do your thing. I have roommates that I love to hang out with, like Chango per se. I was texting them a couple days ago like, “I fucking miss you.” I haven’t seen them in a bit.
It’s cool because you end up with someone like Chango, with a style that’s so fucking unique.
Everyone expects it to be Griselda-type, and it’s so cool because it’s not, like, at all. Don’t get me wrong, you have more conventional stuff. You have sophisticated-ass rappers, like Wakefield.Everyone is different, especially the people that grew up here. Every fucking winter, you’re just spread apart and dead inside, and it causes you to make your own thing. The internet helps you stay connected, but at the end of the day, I’m not living on my phone.
Buffalo has a very cool scene, especially when it’s warmer and people are playing shows very often, and Covid’s not really a thing. I can’t say I’m the most most active member, because I may often have art shit going on, but I’m also a homebody. I really like being at home.
It’s a really beautiful scene. I’ve put on a few events here, I’ve gone to several. I’ve been a part of planning a bunch of them. The people I’ve worked with are some of the most beautiful people on this planet. There’s no clout to being a Buffalo artist; I think even past Griselda, there’s no clout to being a Buffalo artist. There’s something so gritty and raw, and it worked for them. I think people respect it, but I don’t think there’s a lot of clout that comes with it. The only reason I say that is to hone in on the fact that if you’re doing it here, it’s because you love it. I know a couple homies that come to mind: Brooke Joy; she runs this company called OGLXRY, and it’s just the most out-of-this-fucking-world fabric design. It seems weird to call it fashion. I mean it is fashion, and it looks really good, but it’s so well-thought out. There’s just a lot of people that really care.
Then there’s Schondra; Schondra is the hub. She has SNEAKVIBING blog. I have never seen someone pay so much attention to their city. She knows everything, everything! I thought I had some sort of idea of how deep the Buffalo scene ran, but I don’t. She knows everyone. SNEAKVIBING Blog. Dude, that’s Buffalo right there. Especially if you want to know the women of Buffalo, or the women of Buffalo music. Curtis Lovell, she’s not Hip-Hop, she’s more like soul, but oh my God, one of the most talented musicians I’ve ever met in my entire life. The women in Buffalo are crazy, it’s actually nuts.
Yeah, Buffalo is a sick city, but you have to be down with buckin’ it up. You gotta put your big boy pants on and fucking deal with it.
Nah I know what you mean. Chango said it’s like that; there’s really nothing to do in the winter besides being wherever you are and making art.
It’s either that or be cripplingly depressed. It’s a 50-50.
Exactly. Speaking of, I wanted to ask, since you do so much – you’re doing the collages, you make music, I’m sure there’s so many other things going on in your life – do you ever feel like you’re spreading yourself too thin?
Umm, I don’t even know. There are times where I’ve been a couple days late on a deadline, and shit like that. But I don’t think there’s ever been days where I felt truly overwhelmed. I know that the people I’m working with are A, genuine, B, respectful of my time, and also understanding that the only reason I’m taking the extra time is to make a better product. I guess I’m only saying that to say it’s not often where I feel like I can’t take on more.
In terms of the amount of things that I do – I have one desk. I have a desk that I write at, do book work, maybe I’ll collage there, but really I like collaging on the couch or somewhere comfortable. Then I have another desk that I do all the computer work, but it’s a standing desk. Transitioning out all my design stuff, all my collage supplies, because there’s not enough room to have all that there and still have that mic set up, and still have my speakers set up. Taking that down, putting my recording set up, calibrating and everything like that, it’s a lot in itself to do, and be motivated to do frequently enough.
Really it’s just been beats, beats, beats. But I’ve also had art commissions, and video commissions. Transitioning and pivoting all the time, it’s taxing but definitely rewarding.
I was just talking to someone the other day, and they were like, “Yo, I think you’d be really sick at this,” and my natural response was, “Oh there’s no chance in hell I can take that on right now.” I would love to, but I’m honestly happy that I can appreciate you doing it, purely as a spectator, and not as a speculative, future version of that thing. So often I would do that; I’d go to a sporting event or an art exhibit and be like, “If I really gave my time, I think I could do that.” Some time earlier this year, I remember being in this conversation with this person – I was doing the stop-motion animation stuff – and they were like, “I feel like you would enjoy working with clay, and not only stop-motion because I think you would be good at that, but also making pottery.” I feel like I would make some cool pottery, but at the same time, I didn’t even want to entertain the idea at the time. And it was sick to be like that. In the moment, I was like, “Nah yo, I’m here watching you do pottery and you do such sick pottery, and I’m going to keep buying your pottery for the rest of my fucking life, Angelo.” That would be spreading myself too thin. That’s where I really appreciate a creative network; having people that can fill in those holes that you can’t do yourself.
Exactly. All I can say is that you found your sweet spot; you’re sticking to your guns, the things that you know you are very good at, and you’re not going to try and take on too much. I’m interested in what self care looks like for you. Is it your art, or is there something else in your life that you use to destress and remain balanced?
Significant others and video games. That’s not technically healthy, but I don’t give a fuck.
That’s okay, it looks different for everybody.
Also, I be smoking some weed here and there too [laughs]. It’s funny because I don’t really give a fuck about the way I look that much. Like, I’ll shower, and I’ll dry my hair – I don’t really comb it, it kind of sticks out whatever way it wants to stick out. I did a face mask with my partner the other day; she was laughing and she was like, “Yo, this is probably the first time you’ve ever done this in your life,” and I was like “Yeah.” Maybe it’s the second, but I think the other one was involuntary.
But yeah, there’s not really much beauty in terms of self care. I don’t really sleep all that much, and when I do, it’s involuntary and really uncomfortable. I don’t really eat all that much and when I do, it’s either unhealthy or non-nutritional. I guess by that I mean, I’ll just eat rice and garbanzo beans. Either that or I will only eat once a day, and it’s at eight at night, and I wait so long that I’m making a shit decision, so I don’t even know if that’s considered self care.
It all comes down to the therapy of writing, making beats, and doing the art, you know? I guess the collages – I’ve had a lot of fun treating it like graphic design, and treating it like a problem, that needs problem-solving to get done. This is why I love doing album art, because people just have an idea. They’ll be like, “This is my idea, and I want this to be conveyed through art. It would be sick if that was like this.” But I don’t have that process, all that much, internally. That’s very much a lyrical, musical thing for me; that process of being emotional. There are times when I tap into it with collage, but it’s harder. That’s not to say it’s not self care, because I think that the thing I appreciate about collage is that it’s the most professional thing that I do; I get paid the most money for it, I spend the most time doing it, if you look at the year at large. It’s kind of what ties it all together, in terms of how everything started, Big Flowers itself, and who I am.
I remember I was tweeting the other day – a bucket list – one of the things was that I want to be considered a monger of sorts. I think I’m five years out from being considered a “paper monger.” I really feel like it has a heavy weight on my life. Being able to be structured and build that off of a collage, has done wonders for my self care.
That’s what’s up. I’m glad you brought up your Twitter; I like a lot of the stuff that you say. We have a lot of the same thoughts, and, to be honest, was the basis of this interview. But something you tweeted the other day, I have to ask you what you meant, but it was really funny. December 6, you tweeted, “Stop making food sexy.” I have to ask: What were you talking about there?
[Laughs] I think it was a commercial or something where they were trying to sell chocolate, and they just had shorty laid out on the beach, and it was like, “If you want this beautiful chocolate.” Bruh, I didn’t need that. I don’t need those two very human urges to be tied to each other in any way shape or form. That shit is crazy.
The last thing I want when I’m eating chocolate is to be like, “Aw shit, damn man,” and start getting those urges.
Yeah right? Chocolate is cool as fuck, and it has a very decadent feeling about it; it’s not sexual to me. The closest thing to sexy, that I’m okay with food being, is the cracking of an egg yolk. Like a perfectly poached egg, when you’re cutting into that slow motion, that’s sexy. That’s about it.
I have nothing but respect for sex workers. They do something that I could never do. I think that the bravery, the courage, the self-confidence, the brazen personality – I mean not always – but a lot of the sex workers that I know… it just takes a fucking lot to stay in that industry. I love the fact that sex work is being more and more respected, but fuck Hooters, and whatever place is like Irish Hooters. They’re both fucking trash, and I fucking hate that, I just hate the idea First of all, I’ve never been to a strip club; I don’t think I’ll ever go to a strip club. And secondly, I would never order food at a strip club. It’s just like, bro, I feel like they’re mutually exclusive. I know that’s a very subjective thing, but that’s crazy.
I mean, I’ve had food with a stripper before, like years ago, but I have said to myself I really don’t think I’m going to go back to a strip club because it’s just not my scene. I don’t dig it anymore.
It’s cool that people can get paid for being naked. That’s literally the coolest thing, but personally, I get bored quick. It’s cool that your tits are out and all, but I know I’m not supposed to touch anything. And I don’t know how you’re feeling. I’m just a person in the audience to you. I’ll just be sitting there, uncomfortable as fuck, not because I’m uncomfortable in that situation, but moreso I don’t even need to be there. I got shit to do! At the end of the day, it’s all just romanticizing the fact that this woman is naked in front of me. I’m not trying to say, “Oh, it’s easy for me to get a woman naked.” I just have a partner, and even if I didn’t have a partner, the last thing I’m going to do is put myself in a situation where I’m like, “Wow, she sure is attractive to me, and I sure am lonely.”
Absolutely. Also, it’s just the fact that she’s only here for my money. I’m here wasting money on an experience.
If I’m at a strip club, I’m emptying my wallet. I know deep down, I won’t go to a strip club because I respect these workers way too much to walk into that establishment and not – like bro, imagine this! I’ve imagined this and it’s not something I would feel comfortable with; imagine going into work, and your uniform is a thong! Now take that off for this old, sweaty person, because they have money. I know that’s not every situation, but that’s a lot of situations. Be naked for this person that you don’t want to be naked for. I’m sorry, but you could not get me to do that, you could not. And then do it tomorrow?
Wicked stuff, honestly. Another tweet that I saw from you was the one saying you want to produce for AKAI SOLO. I can see that happening, and I really need that to happen, no kizzy.
You could be a loudspeaker for it. If anyone wants to see that happen, they could be a loudspeaker for that. I sent him two packs, I’m probably going to send him a few more. I met dude a couple of times; he was a really sweet man, really cool, we all hung out. I can’t say enough about the dude’s talent, demeanor, his drive. I think I’d make some shit that he would sound pretty cool over.
Oh you do, you do. You don’t have to think, I know you do. So there’s AKAI SOLO; is there anyone else you’d want to hear over your beats, or is there a producer you would want to work with?
Besides AKAI, I’m giving it to Cities Aviv, R.A.P. Ferrera, Semiratruth; those three, I would love to hear them over my beats. I remember I was talking to CRASHprez a couple months ago, and he was like, “Yo, I don’t know if you hear it, but I’m hearing Semira over your beats crazy.” I think this was right before “I GOT BANDZ FOR THE MOONLANDIN” came out; I was listening to a bunch of her stuff and I was like, “Whoa, I wanna work with her.” We’ve been talking recently, a little bit, here and there. I sent her a few packs, and I think she said she was into them. Those would be my top three for right now; I could go on for days, but those are my three right now.
In terms of producers that I would love to rap with, Fines Double probably number one. I have already, but I just want to do more of it. Alexander Spit, really cool. He’s got some really cool sounds. I was just listening – I found him recently – “basement shit vol. 2”. Really cool mixtape, whatever you want to call it. Apollo Brown, yeah, that would be crazy. Oh, fuck, JWords. There was a beat I bought from her a while ago that I didn’t end up using. I’m honestly not rapper enough for it. She’s so great; she’s one of the greatest producers I think I’ve ever talked to, ever in my life. She’s such a sweetheart too, yo. She’s on such an up right now. I remember I met them a couple of years ago, and then last time I saw them was with Keen in the city. She had just moved into the city, and I was like bro. You said you live in New York City?
Yeah I live in Brooklyn right now.
Did you move into the city or not?
Nah, I lived in Queens, then I moved to Brooklyn, like, five years ago. So I’ve been in New York City my whole life.
You’ve been living the New York budget your whole life. To even come outside of New York City, as far as New Jersey, that takes a lot. [JWords] was doing it straight off the music. I was like, “I’m proud of you. I’m so fucking proud of you, yo.” That was huge, huge! My favorite part about it was when she was like, “Really though? Other than like, MIKE, I’m not really working with these dudes out here.” And then you look back and you’re like, wow! She did it with Nappy Nina, she did it with Maassai. She did it with all these other women in New York City; she seeked them out. These are women that are out-rapping men, in the same fucking field, in the same sport, right next to them.
I just appreciated that JWords took that stance and was like, “Look, I’m doing this with more women,” and proudly so. And they really did it; [JWords] moved to New York City off that. That’s a statement, and I love that, bro. So yeah, I’m gonna give my third producer spot to them.
Alright, we’re doing four and four. Olof [Melander], the dude that produced Moor Mother’s last tape. Oh my fucking God! It was crazy! Yo, he is nuts man… Billy Woods, in terms of a fourth rapper. Every once in a while, I’ll send him a beat here and there. I always forget, cause I’ll text him and he’ll be like, “Yo, you gotta email it to me because I don’t have any music apps on my phone,” and that always blows my mind. I’m always like, “Wow, Billy Woods doesn’t have any music apps on his phone.” He has made it impossible to listen to music on his phone. That shit is amazing.
Everyone has at least one. Even if you have the default music player app on your phone, there’s at least one.
I don’t know bro, shit is great though. Personally, love it. Either way, those are my picks.
What are your thoughts on NFT’s?
I think they’re cool. They have a really cool way of bringing out the, “Okay, I’m making 12 of these in the same style.” I love that, but I also think that people need to make sure they have the ethical and environmental impact understood before they get into actually minting NFT’s themselves. I think it’s a pretty significant impact on the planet, and without the cognisant, just awareness of what you’re doing, which a lot of people do not have because they’re doing it through these agencies and galleries that are minting it for them, and it gets rid of that interface. But other than that, I really don’t have any problem with it. I just think that people need to learn about what they’re doing before they start doing it because money’s involved.
Very well said. Once again, I agree with you 100% because there is an eco-friendly way to do it, but a lot of people are very short-sighted. They don’t see that; they’re going for the big money or big names that aren’t doing it in an eco-friendly way, just like every other industry, and the big name companies inside those industries.
I remember right when the NFT shit ws really poppin’ off, and Lindsey Lohan was the top-seller on Rarible, and I was like, “Yeah, this is broken.” At the end of the day, it would be cool to sell an NFT, and make a bunch of money off of it, but A, I’m not Lindsey Lohan, and B, The amount of – like, I think things minted for six Ethereum, and like, fuck, that’s a lot of energy. That is a lot of energy.
My big ticket question is if you have any plans to make a “Big Smile 2” at any point in the future, after what I would call the success of, or how good “Big Smile” is?
Oh, probably not. “Big Smile” is, by all intents and purposes – the idea of happiness, and the search thereof, I mean obviously I am who I am now. Some years down the road I might feel differently. But nah, I’d rather focus on other things. I think that “Big Smile” was a really cool thing – I think I will do a deluxe. Whenever I have the agency to do a vinyl release, I’ll do a deluxe. Whatever that entails, I don’t know what it means. I don’t think that a deluxe should be, “Here’s this album and three bonus songs.” If adding bonus songs is the route you want to take, then I think that you go for the Pink Siifu deluxe edition, where you add another full length album to it. I just think that that’s the bar now, as far as I’m concerned.
Other than that, it’s reimagining the entire album, and if I do that at some point, I’m definitely gonna add songs to it, but I don’t think I would ever do a sequel. I’m just not a sequel person.
I’m working on another project, and it’s gonna be sick, and I say a lot of cool things on it. I think I’ve revealed in an interview at some point that it’s about bees. As opposed to “smile,” it’s just a different general metaphor. It’s a lot different; talking less about myself, more about the things around me in this next project. Generally, I’m against doing things twice. It’s a big thing with merch; when I make something, I’m not making it again. A good amount of people that follow me and support my stuff, they know. “You like that shirt, buy it now.” It’s not like it’s not gonna be there tomorrow, or two weeks from now, but it’s eventually gonna sell out. And when it does, you’re never gonna see it again. At the end of the day, it stems from artistic process; I’m never gonna be in this mind state again. I’m never gonna be this person again, ever. I’m never gonna be able to make this song again, I’m never gonna be able to rap this the same, ever again in my life. So I’m just gonna do it now, and it’s gonna be sick now, and it’ll stay there, because I recorded it. It’s cool, and it’s there.
I hope that the stuff I do in the future can continue to captivate like that, and I’m really excited. I did the whole tape with Messiah [Musik], PTP is mixing the whole thing, and mastering it too. It’s really sick working with people I’ve never worked with before; just a bunch of people that are really fucking dope, and I’m really excited about being involved with it.But it’s just not going to be “Big Smile,” and I like that.
That’s so dope. My last question for you is, looking toward the future, what is something you would like to see changed in the music industry?
Hmm, well what are we talking, like, snap my fingers and it happens, or slow, gradual change?
Damn, that’s a good counter-question. I was thinking the slow gradual change; something you’d like to see get chipped away at over time.
I would just like to see things like human-identifier labels make their way out of music. There’s just something weird to me about someone being a “woman rapper,” or a “gay rapper.” I think that more and more we can respect each individual person for what they’re bringing to the table, and what they choose to represent is up to them. Maybe not that, but in general, I’d just like to see genres disappear. I’d like to see the idea of genres just melt away. I think that goes, in part, with the idea of music being more universal, and the idea of genre being more fluid. Or at least get reduced a bit. I can’t stand when it takes someone 16 syllables to describe to you what kind of music it is. Like, is it Hip-Hop? But people need to say, “It’s experimental, avant-garde,” whatever the fuck. Alright, bet, but dude, what is it? I’d like to see that.
In terms of a snap my fingers change, I would love to see Bandcamp be the primary app that people use to engage with music. Other than that, I think the music industry is always going to be as fucked as anything else within the outlines of hyper-capital oligarchy. It’s the best it’ll ever get. I see this outcry for a more representative music industry. Why? In what way do you ever think that in this country, that’s what you’re getting? Welcome to Amazon. I’m sorry, that’s just not what you’re getting. Either you do this shit because you need to and it’s therapy for you, and you can either meet success or not. And if you don’t meet success, and that’s a deterrent for you, then you were never doing it for the fucking passion anyways. Or you’re doing it for the fucking money, and if you do it for the money, and you don’t get money, it ends eventually. That’s fine, but if you do it for the money, and you get money, that’s the reason to persist because that happens so fucking much, because that’s what people want to hear, that people make money. That’s what this country is built off of.
At the end of the day, maybe I’d like to see a different country take the reins on global music. But when you look at the other titans of pop music, like Britain and South Korea, they’re both, in ways, emulative of American pop. This is what we got! It’s stupid to say that I’d love to see the underground become more mainstream, because then that takes away the “underground” of it. This is a beautiful thing that we have, and you’re here for it, and that’s cool.
That was beautifully said. Honestly, this was a great conversation. Fuck this being an interview, this was just a beautiful conversation.
Thank you. I appreciate what you came in with, and I appreciate what you spitballed while you were here.