Give us a general description of you as an artist. What cultures and experiences cultivate this persona or identity of yours?
If I had to describe myself I’d say that I’m someone who likes to let the art speak for itself instead of trying hard to get people’s attention. Besides that, as an artist, I consider myself as a visual guy; I like to accompany my music with interesting visuals. I also hate to be pigeonholed to one thing so I always try to be unpredictable. Overall I’m really into fashion, I like to get fly, I like to cause a reaction. I do my best to set myself apart from others, and I value originality. I’m very versatile but I always try to keep my art organic, meaning that I want things to make sense, not just do anything; I think there is a science to it. I’m really into Hip Hop, R&B and Soul culture. Of course I’m very open to other cultures but I always been a fan of those particular genres and that’s what I listening to everyday.
Me being such a fan of Hip-Hip and as a rapper I always thought that in order to be the best I’d have to learn from my forefathers. Therefore, that’s why now I’m delving into a lot of 80’s and 90’s music catalogues to find inspirations. from BDP’s Criminal minded, Eric B and Rakim’s Paid in Full, The Juice Crew to Mobb Deep’s Hell on Earth or Jay-Z In My lifetime Vol.1, I try to listen to as much as I can in order to reuse what I’m hearing in my music and keep the legacy going. It also helps to pick up on things that new rappers won’t necessarily know about. Also, one thing I always been fascinated about is the art of MC’ing, the poetry in the raps, a tradition that tends to be disregarded by nowadays mainstream public. So I hope that with my music I’ll be able to revive the interest of this art.
Where are you representing and why is it important to you to recognize where you’re from?
I was born in Paris and raised in a town called Gentilly located nearby Paris. I never really felt like my home city represented who I was, as the culture that I relate the most is much different than French culture. Therefore, I don’t have a deep connection with the place that I’m from. There’s always been a misunderstanding. I’m into unpopular niches of Hip Hop. Most people In Europe aren’t really familiar with this part of Hip Hop or with US culture period. So to answer the question, I could say that I’m representing Gentilly or Paris because I love what the city represents fashion wise, Its aesthetics etc… but I never felt connected to it. However, in my opinion it’s important to recognize where you from because, for me, even if I never felt completely at home I still love my city.
Who or what were your inspirations behind these themes and cultures? How did they influence you to become the artist you are today, along with any experiences you might have had?
I always been a fan of music because my dad used to make me listen to a lot of what he was listening to, which was dancehall and Caribbean music. I think that’s what got me onto music. However, my first big influence was Michael Jackson. After his death I started to become an avid fan of his music and it made me want to become an artist even more. Then I think, around that time, in 2009, Chris Brown was really big, and one of my cousin introduced him to me. He became my new favorite artist and I stopped listening to MJ. It was my first real introduction to Hip Hop. I was used to listen to Hip-Hop before but it was occasional, and it was only the popular songs, like 50 Cent’s, early Drake music etc...
Mind you, I’m from Paris, so I caught on later to a lot of things people my age in the US already knew about. At the time, I was 9 and I wanted to become a singer, but Chris used to do the the rap singing thing so by trying to do the same as him I started to rap. Then later I gave up on singing and focused only on rap. Nevertheless, when I was younger, like in 2011-2012, I used to listen to a lot a swag rapping/ dance rap etc. I was familiar with everything from Pusha T to Big Sean etc… but I was mostly listening to what was cool at the time. So to 2009 to 2014 Chris brown was my favorite artist. Then he started to become a bit too repetitive so I kind of stopped listening to him. In 2015 I was re-introduced to A$AP Rocky’s music.
To be fair, I wasn’t really into his kind of music when he came out, like the Odd Future/Asap Mob/ Flatbush Zombie/ Raider Klan of the world, so I caught on to it later. But listening to Rocky and the Mob’s music made me review my approach on music and it helped me discover a side of hip hop and fashion I didn’t really knew about. By tracking down the references in their music I discovered Three 6 Mafia and Bone Thugs which ended up being two of my favorite groups. Around the same time I started discovering Kanye’s discography and he became my new favorite artist. It’s really in 2016 that I started to dig into 80’s rap and study Hip Hop. I realized by listening to Kanye, ASAP and Drake that I knew so little about that culture. As of now, I think I’m well versed in Hip Hop even though there are a lot of things I still don’t know about, but I never stop studying. My current biggest inspirations are Kanye West, Jay-Z, Pusha T, Juicy J, Lil Wayne and Mobb Deep.
How do you incorporate these themes and cultures into your music?
What I do to incorporate those influences to my music is interpolate certain flows, sample songs and make references of what influenced me through my music.
What do you think is the most important aspect of music as a concept, personally and objectively?
In my opinion the most important aspect of music is spontaneity because when things flow naturally you can tap into pockets of creativity that you couldn’t get to if things were forced. I think that if it wasn’t for spontaneity some of the best music wouldn’t’ve made it to our ears. But on the other hand great music also takes time to be created and it requires a lot of patience, organization which can hinder the creative process. In my case, it depends because sometimes things can happen right away and other times it can take forever to take shape. But most of the time spontaneity gets the best out of you and it makes the process more enjoyable. I also think that fans can feel when things happened organically and when it took more time to create. The energy is different. When you’re spontaneous your work flows faster. That’s why I think it’s the mostimportant aspect of music.
How do these aspects find their way into your music style?
I try to freestyle most of my music in order to stimulate this spontaneity. Then once it’s recorded and that I found the flow I start to rewrite certain parts and to deepen the lyrics. I try to have a balance between spontaneity and organisation.
Is there any one song that you’ve made that stands out from the rest?
Every time that I’m writing a song I try to do something different so I feel like every of my songs serve their own purpose. But If I had to pick one among those I released I’d say a song called Things Escape You because it was the most personal song I made at the time and I feel like it is very relatable.
What do you think personally sets you apart from the rest of your peers in the music industry? What do you bring to the industry that you believe no one else has the ability to bring?
I feel like the game has been missing authenticity and as of late we haven’t seen much inspiring figures. I used to look up to rappers growing up, I liked the way they were dressing, the way they were presenting themselves in and outside of their music. I don’t feel that anymore, I feel like there is a lot of corniness going on right now and a lot of people just lack creativity and originality. When I say the game is missing authenticity I’m trying to say that people aren’t open enough in their music. A lot of things that people are going through every day aren’t getting covered because rappers don’t want to go out of their ways to create conversations or be too personal. It’s that vulnerability that I can bring to the game. Rappers like to portray themselves as superheroes in their music but what they’re talking about is not what’s happening in real life. Either that or they only talking about their own experiences, they don’t really put themselves in other people’s shoes.
Therefore, there are a lot of people who feel abandoned and alone in their struggle because no one seem to understand what they’re going through. The authenticity in my music is what will set me apart from others. Moreover, I’ve always tried to stand out and create my own style, I like to be different I hate when everybody is doing the same thing. Of course me being such a fan of Hip Hop I will always try to provide good material whether it be music wise, visuals or fashion wise in order to further our culture and try to do better than the one that precede me, innovate instead of doing the same as them.
Where do you think you would be at this very moment if you weren’t pursuing your career in music?
That, I can really answer as I never wanted to do anything else. I feel like I really was made for this and nothing else. So yeah, I couldn’t answer that. I guess I’d be doing whatever
Walk us through the steps you take to create a track. What is your creative process? Doyou happen to just walk into the studio and throw some beats on until one sticks? Or is there a more delicate process involved?
I have a very long writing process but it depends on what type of song I’m working on, if it’s a turn up song it will be more or less fast but if it’s a conceptual song or a personal song it might take me a while to get it done. What I usually do to create a song is put the beat on freestyle on it with my microphone or with the beat playing on my speaker to kind of get the flow and find couple words or lines here and there. Once I found the flow and scheme of the song, I’d write down couple ideas and list all the things I want to say on the song. Then I’d do some research on the subject that I’m talking about and try to implement what I learn to the song.
Finally I’d try to deepen the lyrics and add references and parallels to the lines that I first freestyled to compliment them. I don’t have the luxury to have a lot of beats at my disposal so usually when someone is making me a beat that I’m messing with I’d take it home, work on it and when it’s dope go to the studio to record it.
Is there anyone in the industry around you that you’d like to collaborate with?
Giving my whereabouts there aren’t a lot people around where I’m from who are doing what I do so I couldn’t tell. But if we’re talking about the music industry as whole I’d love to work with a Kid Cudi or The Weeknd, Kendrick too. There aren’t a lot of people that I can think of right now. I think it really depends on what song I’m working on.
Can you tell us anything about future projects? Anything that people can look forward to coming from you?
I’m currently working on a mixtape/project that I’m trying to release this year, I don’t want to talk about it too much but I want to do something major or at least do something that people will relate to and something that will help them in their everyday life.
Lastly, what advice or experiences would you like to share with your peers or anyone else who is up and coming in this industry?
I’m fairly new myself so I don’t have a lot of advice yet but what I can say is, don’t try to chase a trend or copy someone else’s style especially if he’s a current artist because most of the time artists stay stuck in the era in which they were prominent and you don’t want to look back and feel weird because all your music sounds like artists who is no longer popping. Be yourself and draw inspiration from what you like that’s how you’ll find your path. But most importantly don’t hate on someone else’s shine, because eventually you’ll get your turn if you have a style of your own and someone else’s success don’t make your failure.
Is there anything you’d like to say to finish off this interview?
I feel like the interview was pretty complete, I don’t have anything to add but I do appreciate the fact that you guys reached out to me. I’d also like to thank those who took the time to read this whole interview. I got dope things on the way so just stay tune and you’ll see for yourself. Andy Tyler is a name that people will remember.
Big shout out to Andy Tyler for coming on and interviewing with Nefarious Supply, if you enjoyed this interview and want to stay up to date on his you can find him on Instagram here and you can listen to his music on his SoundCloud as well as on Apple Music.
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