454 makes Colors, Sonically

Who do you make your music for? What type of audience are you reaching out to when you make music?

The audience I'm trying to reach is, I think more of my close friends. Because I think when I started making music, it was really just my friends who was listening to it. Also my sister, 'cause she makes music. So I know we kind of have the same ear through music. So whenever I was trying to make music, I was just trying to make it for people that were familiar with where I may have gotten my influences from. So really just for the Southern people, just people who was tapped into that world of knowing what I was trying to do or trying to have in my music. I think that's really it.

It sounds like outer-spatial Southern music though. Like if aliens lived in the South or if Southern people lived on Mars, or something. You talked a little bit about your influences and that's really interesting. What was it like growing up in Orlando? Because I feel like if you would've lived a couple of miles away, in Miami, you would've made very different music. So who were those influences and what it was like growing up in Orlando,and how did that shape your ear?

I think when I first started getting into music, it was from my mom and dad and just being around them and listening to all the stuff that they had at home. I found some CDs that my uncle also had, and I think that changed a bunch for me too. And the local artists in Orlando, like we have a lot of good local artists, but nothing ever really happened or they just continued to make music and stay in Orlando. And I think I tried to put stuff that I heard either from Texas, or even from the Miami area, or Atlanta and try to just use all of that and try to make something for my city, or my state, or put something together they never heard before. I think when Limewire came out and I was able to find other music that wasn't from the area or that my parents never knew of, I think that's what changed a lot too.

What was the music that you were discovering?

I ended up getting into a lot of old-school hip-hop. There was this artist named Curren$y that was putting stuff out on Limewire and I was downloading, and I had never heard anything like his music before. That was different for me because he ended up becoming one of my favorite artists. So I think as I got older, I started to look more deeply into also like older bands from the seventies and late sixties and just try to see how different the music was — as far as within the creative aspect, as opposed to nowadays. So ever since then, I'll just go back and forth and try to find little songs that I never heard of or something that I wouldn't necessarily try and go for.

Reddit is a great place for that. I do that all the time. There's this thread and it's like archival rare music and it has to have under a certain amount of viewers for you to put it up on there. I'm always on there. The music is so good on there... And you mentioned growing up in Orlando?

Orlando is super simple. It's not really much going on. It's kind of suburban, like outside of the city; it's pretty calm. It's cool. I think it's very family-oriented. And it's a bunch of sky. You can see the sky for days.

You recently put out your project— congratulations! When you finished that, what was the thing you were most excited about?

I was excited that it was finally out. I think because I wanted to put it out a little bit earlier and at the end, I was just happy that it was completed. It felt like, not a test, but just something that I actually felt like I put my work into, and then I just kept constantly listening to it over and over and was just sitting on it. But it was good because I felt like I had [the] majority of it done pretty quickly and we were able to get the videos and all the artwork done in the in-between time of me getting mixed and mastered and then actually putting it out. So it was good when it actually came out, it felt like an accomplishment.

Was there any particular moment you were most excited about? Where you were like, 'Oh my God I can't wait for people to hear this song, or this bridge on this song, or this lyric that I said on this song?'

Yes, on the day of, I dropped one more single called 'Heaven' and I just was excited to see how people would react to something I did in the song. It's like a small little bridge part in the middle. I was curious to see how people would react to that.

That's exciting. I'll have to re-listen to the bridge on 'Heaven.' If you could compare your music to a visual artist or a piece of visual art, what would that be?

I think 'Street Lights'. You ever seen the 'Street Lights' visual by Kanye? It's animated.

Is there anything you aspire your music to one day sound, like the way a piece of art has made you feel?

I think usually I think of it as a video game. I try to make colors I don't know if this makes sense — but I try to make colors, or I try to make it sound like a certain color, or I try to make it sound bright or just like a rainbow or something euphoric. I'm not like a lyrical person, so I try to bring a different perspective to it. And I think that just comes from being into cartoons and video games.

So what cartoon or video game would you say your music is like then?

I would say Adventure Time. Zelda. Or Mario Kart.

I can definitely see Zelda. Those are good choices. There's a lot of skater rappers out right now from Tyler the Creator, to Rich the Kid, Pharell, and Jaden Smith. Where do you think you fall on the line from best to worst - if you could rank that?

I don't think I could rank it because I feel like Pharrell is the OG. So he was skating before I was even skating. And Tyler's the same. Like they all been skating since they were younger, but I feel like if anything, if I had to say someone, I would say probably Jaden, because I feel like he hasn't been skating that long, you know? Or he wasn't skating when he was younger, and then like took it serious. I feel like all the other artists, they was really into skating for real or had some part in skate culture.

So you would say Pharrell, Tyler, you, then Jaden, and then Rich the Kid?

I don't know — Rich the Kid said he is the best rapper skater out. Okay. Rich the Kid, he could do some stuff like I'm not gonna lie. I think he actually skated back in his day 'cause he could still do some tricks, but I don't think he's the best.

Who's who's your favorite skater? Skater of the year?

Oh, my favorite — there's so many skaters. I think the last year was Tyshawn Jones.

Of course.

This year there's so many. I really like this dude; he just went pro. His name is Kevin Bilyeu, he's from Philadelphia and he's really good too.

I love Sage Elsesser, he's my favorite of all time.

Oh yeah. He is. He's insane too.

Where do you get your inspiration from, in terms of production style?

Beause I feel like it does vary on different songs and sometimes there'll be beat changes and I'll be like, 'Oh, this reminds me of Tyler,' but then other times it'll be like, 'This reminds me of Carti, and Pharell' so on, and so forth.

So where do you get that inspiration from?

Everywhere. I loved Pharrell growing up, J Dilla, MadLib. And then once I got into high school, I got into trap producers, like Lex Luger and Zaytoven. And even nowadays I get inspiration from newer producers, like from Pierre — his stuff is really good. Like same aspect. I just felt like we had the same kind of vision, you know. I feel like his stuff sounds pretty bright as well. And, who else? Kanye, of course. Tyler, Alchemist, and this other producer Budgie. He's really good.

So I feel like you're probably one of many to receive backing from such strong artists. You do you realize that right? And you know, with that, sometimes there may be an attachment — so I'm not gonna focus on that or like attach you to specific people. I think that'd be a disservice to your artistry, but what does it feel like to receive such recognition from people like Mowalola, or Frank Ocean, or Vegyn, and when it first happened, were you confused? How did you form those relationships?

Yeah, it was very different for me because when I started putting out music, I felt like, not that no one would say anything, but like I said, it was just my friends who was listening to it. So once people started coming to my Instagram and then I was seeing it on playlists, it just was catching me off guard. But then as time passed, it just kept happening. It's still like an 'in-awe' moment, but it's been cool 'cause I felt like it helped me just be in the moment, if that makes sense. But forming the relationships or just seeing those people even listen to me is crazy.

Like still when I think about it, it's still very different to me. And I also think it's kind of funny, in a sense, I feel like if I can do it, then you know, anyone can do it.

So how did you end up on the Homer website? How did that come about?

One day one of his people hit me up and was like, "Yo, is it possible we could use your music for the website?" And I didn't really understand what they meant until they came out because I thought they just wanted to throw a song up there with a lot of other different artists. When I actually saw it live, it was just like my tape up there by itself. And it was so crazy.

That's amazing. I feel like you write a lot of music or sing a lot about love often; it seems to be the main theme. How does love affect your everyday life and trials and tribulations?

So I moved up to New York about four years ago. I moved up with my girlfriend, and when I moved up I was 20. And before her, I never had a girlfriend or I never was with anybody that I could call my partner or anything like that. So I was just skating and making music. But when I came up here then, you know, I had to really find a job to pay for bills. And I had my girl there the whole time and like we were going through this together. So I kind of try to talk about the times between then and now. So I think that's where that comes from. Just us trying to make it out here and going through different trials and tribulations of being in a relationship together, and also trying to make it work on a day-to-day basis.

Wait, you're not a Pisces, right?

No, I'm not.

I was trying to figure out —I was gonna say "Do you realize that you have all these love problems because you're a Pisces perhaps?" So what is the best love advice you would give?

I would say the best love advice is trying to be understanding of someone and also having patience, and that's really it. Just try to be understanding, try to be considerate and, try to have that patience. 'Cause it's different for everyone, but I feel like, where a lot of us make our mistakes is just not trying to be understanding. Not trying to be understanding of how someone is feeling or not having that patience and [being] quick to storm out, quick to just like, not talk about what's going on. So I think that helps a lot.

I think that's great advice, but also I think if most artists listen to that advice, there wouldn't be as much music out right now.

Exactly. So, you know, the music is to share what someone is going through. It might not work for everyone, but for a majority, if you have that patience and understanding it should last.