Zepkins is the Past, Present, and Forever the Moment

April 14, 2022

When you think of female rappers what comes to mind? Is it their undying fabulosity, cut-a-bitch lyrics, or is it their ability to be so daring that they don’t care what anyone thinks? Dripped in crystals and sipping on peach bellinis, Zepkins proves herself that she not only possesses all of these signature traits but that she truly is forever the moment. From space-alien bald caps to rhinestone-covered nebulas, Zepkins is an intergalactic chameleon. Her God-given talent to produce bad-bitch tracks will have all of the girlies out here feeling their ultimate oats.

In her debut project, FOREVER THE MOMENT, Zepkins hops on the mic and delivers 11 tracks that bring us into her cinematic world of interstellar wonder. However, Zepkins is more than just a musician. She is also the designer of ZEPSTARZ, and a multidisciplinary artist who proudly works from her bedroom without the help of a management team. But I mean, if Zepkins can’t do it all, then who really can?

Interview by Cassie Jekanoski
Photos courtesy of Zepkins

In an exclusive interview with the up-and-coming rapper, we get a proper insight into a hard-working, dream-making, GenZ artist who has gone through it and came out on the other side hungrier for success. Get ready for Zepkins, because she’s here to show all of us what she has done and will only continue to do.

Continue reading for an exclusive interview with the multidisciplinary intergalactic artist.

Hi! What have you been up to recently, what's been going on?

Well, I dropped my project, April of last year, and it was my debut project. Now since I'm independent, I'm just working with the visuals and just really learning the industry and learning my way through all of this.

Why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself? Who is Zepkins? Where does Zepkins come from?

Zepkins is a multifaceted artist from DC. I moved to LA when I was 13 and I'm a trans woman. So, you know, that's a big part of my journey. I started rapping in 2018 when I was 17. I've just been taking it very seriously as of late, and also have been working on a lot of different creative projects, and just pushing myself and the limits with everything.

You said you moved to LA when you were 13. What made you move from DC?

My mom really just wanted to start a new life for me and my brother. My brother does music as well. He was in acting and everything when we were younger. So it just seemed like that was best.

So you guys decided to make the move West Coast?

Yeah, and when we moved here, we didn't have anything. My mom literally moved out here, didn't have a job, or anything, and she made a way. We'd sleep on air mattresses for such a long time. It was really, really bad. She moved out here with a friend and her friend ended up leaving, so we were homeless for a little bit, like six months. But you know, we made it.

You made it and you're out here. Let's talk about your "bedroom content”: not really having a lot of different things, making your beautiful artwork, and the creations that you have kind of out of nothing. Would you say that you kind of took that from your upbringing, like making something out of nothing?

Yeah, for sure. When I was younger, my mom would only give me crayons and stuff for Christmas and my birthday. The only stuff I got was crayons and paper. The fuck am I going to do with this? I don't want this. But, you know, when I was younger, I would draw. I always would draw beautiful women. Women with like, colorful hair and just doing all the crazy shit that I do now. So it's so crazy. The bedroom content was for OnlyFans, it was for Twitter, but the aesthetic that I had, and still have, is not based on the sex. You know, anybody could be on here fucking and sucking, and that's just that. But mine is really off of my look, off of my quirkiness, off of my aesthetic.

So let's talk about your debut project FOREVER THE MOMENT. What was the process of making this, and then what is your process when it comes to writing tracks?

Well, when I first started this project, it wasn't even like I was trying to start rapping. It never was something that I even thought I could pursue because my brother, as I said, he does music as well. So, I just never felt like that was me. But, how I started rapping is, I already wrote a song before and it was like this Foxy Brown remix. And it was just like, okay, cute, whatever. So then I was like, "No, I'm not going to drop it." So, then I was talking to this girl on the phone and she lost the song that she wrote, so I was like, "Girl, let's do a song together." Long story short, she did some shady shit and in her verse, she was talking about me. She was throwing shots at me, right?

While you're on the track, though?

I didn't even get to show her my shit that I wrote. I was supposed to call her the next day, but she never answered the phone for me again. She never called me again, never texted me again. She just dissed me and was like, "Okay, fuck it." So I made a whole song about this bitch which has yet to drop. But in the song, it just shows how hungry I was and just my aggressiveness, and my competitive spirit. It was just like, "I'm not playing with these hoes." So then after that, my friends around me were like, "You can really do this shit." So I was like, "Really? Boost my ego. Alright, bet." So I just kept on and wrote songs like "THE BEST" and "Forever the Moment." I dropped "TOP NOTCH" in 2020 and I said, if I'm gonna do this, I'm taking it seriously and I'm not going to stop until I get to where I want to go.

And where do you want to go?

I see myself as a mogul when it comes to music. I feel like the door that I'm opening for me and for other people in my community to be able to express themselves on a scale that we feel like we're not able to express ourselves on. But I don't want to just solely base myself on music, I definitely want to get into the fashion industry. I'm already modeling, I'm already doing my shit. So you know, I'm already doing it all from my bedroom as well. I have pieces in my room that I created that you guys will soon see in the "Showstopper" video. So I see big things for myself, for sure.

What was the inspiration behind the music video for "Peekaboo?" I watched it and it was so incredible.

My real name is Naomi and I have this Naomi Campbell book that my mom gave me with all of her old pictures throughout her whole career. And she has a picture of herself as an alien and I just loved everything about it. When we think of female rappers and we think of just icons, female icons, we just think of somebody who was daring. When you think of Gaga, when you think of Grace Jones, when you think of Nicki, when you think of Kim– daring. And I'm just like, if not me, who? Who else is going to put a bald cap on their head and really eat this shit up?

You were talking about earlier how you don't have a team, and you don't really have much insight into the industry. But you've definitely gotten yourself where you are right now without that. What are some of the lessons that you've learned along the way to get to where you are right now?

I mean, I definitely learned that you cannot do all this shit yourself, you will literally drive yourself crazy. I'm sourcing a team and I'm so blessed to have people that really believe in me, be around me, and see a light in me. That they would love to, you know, help be a part of but you can't do this shit all yourself. You have to be careful with the people that you keep around you because a lot of these people are around you only to suck the life out of you. They're only around you because they're waiting for you to pop. They really don't like you. They really don't fuck with you. They really don't have good intentions for you. So I would just say keep a clear mind. Keep your circle small and focus on the goal. It's hard day by day especially when you're independent. You don't have a manager calling your phone like "I got this, this, this, for you." When it comes to everything you're literally out here grabbing it.

When it came to the "Peekaboo" video or my album cover, I'm just a real ass bitch. I had no money in my account and I prayed to God. God makes all this shit happen. I was able to get every single prop for that and make that happen within 24 hours and that's really a blessing from God. I'm so thankful for my relationship with God because if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be here today. And what I'm doing would not be manifesting into what it's becoming.

You're just starting out and you're already doing all of these things. Just keeping that hunger will get you to anywhere you want to be.

Yeah, because some days we wake up, and even me, I'm guilty of it, like waking up and just being like, "Is this really what I want?" Not feeling like things are happening fast enough for us, but we have to understand what the goal is. And when we started this, we already knew it was going to be a journey. We did not know what type of journey it was going to be, but we knew it was going to be a journey. So we just have to rock and at the end, we're gonna be good. We will be straight. As long as we keep our souls clear.

Would you say there's something that you know now that you wish you knew when you first started?

I would tell myself to take advantage of every moment and stop overthinking yourself. Stop criticizing yourself because eventually, that's self-sabotaging. Stop running away from the things that you don't want to do because those are things that are going to propel you forward. I wrote Forever the Moment when I was 19, I first started writing music when I was like 18, and now I'm 21. So, you know, I'm definitely learning a lot of things along the way because I'm growing as a woman and growing as a person.

If and when the opportunity presents itself to have a management team, would you want one?

I definitely would want a management team if the time was right, and the situation was the right situation. It's all about the right situation. People who understand me and who are not going to try to control me, or try to have me conform to some type of standard that they think that I should conform to. People fuck with Zepkins because Zepkins is a character, that's who she is. She's a character. I'm also a person, which people will get to know more about as I continue on.

On top of music, you also created ZEPSTARZ. So do you find that your creativity when it comes to designing clothing inspires your music or vice versa?

I wouldn't say that my creativity for clothes inspires music, but I definitely feel like my music inspires that because it's just like what else can I do? And you guys haven't really seen anything that I've been working on right now. But you guys will see it and it's nothing like you guys have seen before.

Who did you create your clothing for?

I don't want to say boy or girl, but truthfully sexy girls who are just bold. Who just don't really care, who love to show off their body, love to show skin, and don't really give a fuck what nobody thinks.

If there's anything that you've created that you think, "This is Zepkins, this is the direction that I am going in from now on," what would that be?

I feel like that would definitely be a song. Well, we can just say the project Forever the Moment. Forever the Moment is definitely where Zepkins is going. I feel like that is such a small, small aspect of me as a person. It's my project, so I listen to it, I critique it, everything.

I feel like you can do anything you want, you know yourself. Any direction that you go in, you're just gonna put that Zepkins twist on it to and make it you.

That's very true, I definitely feel the same way. That's how I want to display my art. I don't want to just sit here and feel like I have to conform to something. The biggest thing for me is not conforming to anybody's standards. Of course, I can sit here and be a bad bitch in a 40-inch weave all day, it's obvious, but I don't want to do that. That's not what I want to do. I want to wear a bald cap with crystals all over my head.

Well, why not?

Why not? If not me then who?

No one, no one's doing it. Have you always found that you've been this confident in yourself?

No, I wouldn't say that I was always confident with myself. I feel like I dealt with insecurity for a really long time. People would point out my insecurities and they would try to bully me. So it became a point that my mom took me out of school so I could further my transition and things like that. I was in eighth grade and when that happened, I just really stopped giving a fuck about anything that anybody had to say. My family, my brother, my mom, my grandma, I didn't give fuck about nobody. And if you have a problem, then what's the problem? But it came to a point that I still wasn't confident in myself and I still did not believe in myself. But to be honest with you, when I started making my music, it wasn't for anybody else. It was for me, I was talking to me. So that's what really made me confident and I'm still a work in progress. I don't think any of us are 100% confident. It's a work in process, a day-to-day thing, but I push myself every day. Zepkins is who pushes Naomi.

If you could have anyone featured on one of your tracks or wearing your designs, who would it be?

Girl...we already know the answer– Nicki of course! I would love to work with Nicki, of course, she's one of my biggest inspirations. I feel like out of the new girls, I love Doja. I love the direction that Doja is going. I feel like she just is very aware of herself and knows exactly who she is, she's like a chameleon. So I'm here with both of them. They're like chameleons. I would love to see my pieces on Amanda Lepore, Lil' Kim, or Cardi B.

So everything you do is otherworldly and has this intergalactic beauty. What does planet Zepkins look like?

Planet Zepkins is full of little rhinestones all over. The ground is filled with crystals. The girls are walking around with big titties. You know? People are just happy, carefree living their life, blasting Forever the Moment from dusk to dawn. And you know, we just livin' our life. We're sipping a peach bellini on the beach with our titties out.

Take a peek at Zepkins latest music video "Peekaboo" out now.

Music

Jesse Jo Stark Is in a Genre of Her Own

April 19, 2024

In the midst of a total solar eclipse, I got the chance to talk about music and style with Jesse Jo Stark.

As I’m on the phone with her from New York, Stark is on a tour bus with The Veronicas, driving through the Colorado mountains to enjoy some time off in between shows. The Veronicas have just started their Gothic Summer North American Tour, and Stark is opening the show. What’s special about this tour for the lifelong music obsessive is the sense of powerful feminine energy encapsulating the tour. “We just started [tour], but it’s been really lovely. I’m obsessed with the fact that we’re all women — it feels like a very powerful crew. The Veronicas are lovely, the crowds have been so fun, and the venues are beautiful. It’s gonna be a good month.”

Photography Sophia-Liv Maguire
Styling Marc Eram
Interview Angelina Hazzouri
Talent Jesse Jo Stark
Hair Antoine Martinez with PARADIS using Roz Hair
Makeup Sydney Szramowski
Photo Assistants Mia O’Neal, Rashaun Richardson
BTS Ms Josephine
Creative Producer Olivia Roper-Caldbeck

This is Stark’s second time touring since the release of her full-length debut album DOOMED in late 2022, which was very well received and led to Stark’s first sold-out international headlining tour on behalf of the album. Previous to her solo tour, she’s opened for various notable acts, such as Guns N’ Roses and Jane’s Addiction. I asked Stark, who’s been writing and playing music since age 11, what it was like to prepare for her first sold-out headlining tour. Unsurprisingly, before any tour, Stark goes into what she describes as “bootcamp mode” — dancing every day, vocal training, rehearsing with her band, and of course, working on her outfits. “That’s the sort of homework I love,” she says, smiling. (Even though we’re on the phone, I can tell she’s smiling when she talks about the outfit part. I’d smile too if I had her tour closet.)

What’s unique about Stark as a musician is that she has ultimately created her own universe by embracing every aspect of her creative upbringing, her raw talent, her fascinating influences, and her unwavering beliefs in not needing to fit into a certain box when it comes to her art. She creative-directs and styles all her own looks, referencing an ever-evolving list of influences that range from Vegas showgirls to Halloween to old films to her parents in the 90s. “I think when I was younger, I had this rebellion against what I was made from,” she tells me, “but now it’s just my blood. I constantly reflect on my childhood and everything I was taught and everything I saw. My brother and sister and I are constantly pulling influences from our parents from the past. I think, more than ever, I’m heavily influenced by them.”

Stark, the daughter of founders and owners of the self-made American fashion brand Chrome Hearts, and now its creative director and designer, is someone who always knew what she liked, but as she describes it, had to ‘go through the motions’ that come with growing up and knowing one’s identity. Today, her self-efficacy is palpable — and it’s inspiring.

...when I was younger, I had this rebellion against what I was made from, but now it’s just my blood.

When she’s on tour, Stark is growing with herself and with her art — she’s not afraid to take life as it comes and learn through the process. With every show, regardless of whether it was on her DOOMED tour or this tour with The Veronicas, Stark understands the importance of human connection through music. Seeing faces of music lovers like herself, meeting those who have traveled to see her, and visiting familiar and unfamiliar cities has reminded her that she loves being on the road. “The growth that happens on tour is so important to me as an artist.” Sometimes we have to leave behind what’s familiar in order to rediscover what’s important, and Stark is a proponent of this growth mindset.

Growth doesn’t just happen on tour with Stark — this evolution of herself happens within genre as well, and for Stark there’s no such thing. Since her first release Driftwood in 2017, the artist’s sound has shifted year after year, but in a harmonious way that still feels central to her gothic Americana roots. When asked if she’ll experiment with genre in the future, Stark confidently answers, “I think I’ve only experimented with genre. I don’t think anyone knows what genre I am.” (She calls herself a “horrific hillbilly” — a perfect descriptor.) Steadfast in her belief that we as humans can constantly evolve in our work, Stark thinks it’s antiquated to fit yourself into a certain box and focus on one specific trade in order to succeed. “If you look at us as people, we’re seasoned. We change all the time. I want to experience different things.”

Since Driftwood, a two-song EP rooted in rock and country, Stark has experimented with more robust beats and 808s on DOOMED, and her most recent single “skeleton” features a softer, grungier punk sound. Without fitting into a specific genre, Stark’s music is undoubtedly and wholeheartedly her own, transcending the boundaries of what many artists struggle with when finding their sound. “I don’t think we should have to label ourselves in any way, shape, or form; so I’m not going to. I will continue to make all types of different music.” Fuck yeah.

If you look at us as people, we’re seasoned. We change all the time.

This goes beyond just music — in terms of her personal style, the same mentality applies. We discuss the idea that clothing and dressing is a sort of playground, and personal style comes from within. Stark isn’t about following trends, but rather, she thinks it’s important to tap into different stylistic elements that amplify who we are at our cores. On her DOOMED tour, Stark wore a lot of leather and stuck to a fairly dark color palette. Right now, she’s into more bourgeois satin and lace, experimenting with different textures and wearing things that feel slightly daintier and more delicate. On this current tour with the Veronicas, Stark is making it more of a point to take everything in — absorbing inspiration from every city, writing songs on the road, recording video on a friend’s super 8 camera, styling and wearing new outfits, learning and performing new covers — ultimately growing through the whole experience.

It’s endearing and inspiring how well Stark knows herself. A Los Angeles native, she proudly tells me that the tour finishes on May 5 in her hometown, a show that she’s especially excited for. While we can’t predict what thoughtfully-curated outfit she’ll wear or what songs will be performed, with new music already underway, one thing is clear: Jesse Jo Stark is just getting started.

Music

9lives' Latest Single Continues to Push Sigilkore

April 19, 2024

The versatile artist, producer, and pioneer of the sigilkore genre, 9lives, has recently unveiled his latest single "CANADA" featuring jnhygs. In less than two years since his emergence onto the music scene, 9lives has carved out an impressive niche for himself as a prominent figure within the digitally-driven sigilkore movement. "CANADA" sees him teaming up once again with experimental dance artist jnhygs, following their successful collaboration on "XTAYALIVE".

With aspirations to establish himself within the mainstream arena of experimental music production and artistry, 9lives is blending his distinct dark production style with collaborations with a diverse array of influential artists who trust him to create innovative sonic landscapes. "CANADA" marks his second release of 2024, as 9lives continues to champion the burgeoning sigilkore movement, pushing the boundaries of genre, evolving into a multifaceted artist, and solidifying his status as a rising star with an expanding audience.

Image by Connor Pritchard

Reflecting on their latest project, 9lives shares, “In early 2023 jnhygs found my music and we started chatting through TikTok, releasing our first song together called "XTAYALIVE"." He adds, We’ve been friends since this song had a viral moment, and fans have been heavily requesting for us to work together again all over our videos.” Describing their creative process, he explains, “I sent a bunch of new ideas to jnhygs via Discord and she sent back vocals to “CANADA”, which I then used to create melodic layers and extra percussion to complete the song.

Music

Eclipsed at Vampire Weekend

April 16, 2024

It had been about a week since the goosebump-inducing communal howls at the moon, as it covered the sun through a cloudy Austin, Texas sky, left me needing to take a seat—suspended in awe of the totality of the event and the synergistic break from routine. I overheard someone say, “I mean, it feels like we’re all going to die, but in a way that’s okay, you know?" under the shadow of the eclipse's peak, ceremoniously brought in as the band performed “Jonathan Low,” (in Vampire Weekend's familiar ironic hue) a track they wrote for the third movie in the Twilight series, Eclipse.

It had been five years since the band had released an album. In celebration of their latest album, "Only God Was Above Us," ticket holders wrapped the streets in blocks outside the venue for the band’s first Stateside show in about two years. Event managers searched to replenish the venue’s stock of eclipse glasses, while the band prepped a show reminiscent of 'getting the boys back together again'.

Words and photography by Rianne Akindele

In between newly released songs like “Classical” and “Capricorn”, the boys filled the almost two-hour-long show with old favorites like “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa”, “Diane Young” and a genre evolved rendition of “Sunflower” as the crowd danced barefoot feeling the Earth’s energy intertwined with their own and the vibrations from the amps on stage. People stole glances at the imminently darkening sky, artists doodled, friends grabbed onto each other to scream the lyrics in each other’s faces, and onlookers from the highest level of the parking garage across the street cheered on in a symphony of nostalgia and anticipation.

Adding to the layers of the celestial afternoon, the band invited to the stage the likes of Thomas Mars from Phoenix, Dave 1 from Chromeo, and guitarist Brian Robert Jones, inducing further levels of indie revival euphoria.

As the show drew to its close, and the zydeco/country-rock “Cocaine Cowboys” medley fiddled through the air, a conversation could be picked up between two sisters in search of their Lyft driver through closed-off streets,

“I wish this happened more often.”
“Eclipses or shows like this?”
“Both.”

It’s moments like these that remind us of our shared humanity and the power of collective experiences; a gathering of souls under the same sky, sharing the joy of music and a wonder of the stars above. Perhaps it’s the rarity that allowed such transcendence, reverence, and gratitude to be felt. Either way, what a beautiful moment in time it was.

Here are a few shots from the Monday afternoon: