"Although I didn't write this song, it spoke to me in a way that made me feel as if it was my own story,” Brandon said. “I found myself playing it over and over again in my bedroom, remembering situations that I've been through.”
Check out the video for yourself below.
“You might remember me for that 2-year prison sentence you slapped me with back in 2012, when [I] performed a 40-second act of protest and beseeched the Virgin Mary to chase you away,” Nadya Tolokonnikova writes, “but right now I’m not interested in talking about church or prison – I want to talk about a different issue. I want to talk about rivers of blood, black snow, toxic waste, and acid rain.”
She’s not overstating the environmental distress. The video sees the group alongside MARA 37 in gas masks with a backdrop of bloody snow and black fog––an image inspired by Tolokonnikova’s childhood growing up among smokestacks, mountains of slag, and a river that periodically turns red from acid rain and chemical interference in Norilsk. In typical Pussy Riot fashion, they're rising with a healthy dose of arrogance against the powerful people responsible for the devastation.
"The rule of law doesn’t apply to corporations," Tolokonnikova writes, "But what we can do is take power into our own hands – this takes a certain level of arrogance. We need to act like we have already won – we need to act like we live in a clean Russia of the future, where we elect and be elected, where the media is free and independent, where we can create autonomous environmental watchdogs, where we can support Greta Thunberg and 'Fridays for Future,' where we can go outside and be organic kittens.
I love you – but I don’t love Putin."
Be an organic kitten and read the full letter, here. And check out our photos of the group, below.
“No matter who I’m doing a song with, I’m probably going to go harder than I even do on my own shit; because it’s not even my song, I gotta bring the magic,” she told us. “I’m trying to channel more of that type of mindset into my own shit now. If I wouldn’t allow something to be mediocre on another person’s song––now I treat myself with the same respect as an artist.”
And that sentiment shines through on her sophomore EP, where she finesses between trap beats and synth melodies with her signature agile, raspy flow. It’s a freer departure from Krash, which she tells us was all about reaching a place where she could grow from failure––“getting it wrong, to get it right, to get it better."
Deaux’s been writing songs since the age of 10, but didn’t start recording until high school. “I didn’t go into music thinking I would make money off of it,” she told us. “Music found me and I feel like because of that, it’s my duty to do the best I can in return.”
But with things taking off so quickly for her, landing huge opportunities before she even turned 19, she came up against both the drama of starting out in the industry and the struggles of transitioning into adulthood all at the same time––working two jobs, finding an apartment, getting out of a bad relationship, and worrying about getting her debut perfect. All that was the fuel for Krash. “Krash was really so scary,” she explained, “It was my introduction as an artist, a lot of people’s first time hearing me, so much ground I felt like I had to cover.”
So Empathy marks her progress toward release. “[The EP] is about self-acceptance, being confident, loving yourself, making sure the ones around you are loving you how you need and want to be loved. So it’s not a straight line from Krash, but it’s definitely been a journey,” she said.
office sat down with the artist to talk "Goodfellas" trap and learning from failure.
What’s your relationship to music like?
Music is a lot of things right now. I'm learning to compartmentalize because on one hand it’s a career, but on another hand it’s also the way that I heal and how I have self-therapy. Right now I'm just finding the balance between those two, understanding that I am doing a job but I’m also here to have fun and make life better for myself in any way that I can through art.
A lot of creative people experience that, when you’re finally living your dream, making money off what you love. How do you remind yourself that this was your original place of healing and creating versus just seeing it as a job?
I just have to remember how I got started. I didn’t go into music thinking I would make money off of it at all. I didn’t see it as a career or a way to further myself. I always thought college was the only way. Music found me and I feel like because of that, it’s my duty to do the best I can in return. Remembering where I started and how it was before I had access to what I have now.
Who are three people or artists that’ve helped shape you?
Pivot Gang as a collective. Kembe X, who’s one of my best friends, and the person I started recording with when I was 15. Strong and powerful women like Beyonce, Amy Winehouse, Missy Elliott; any strong black women in the industry really helped shape me. Nicki Minaj is one of the most influential rappers I grew up on.
People have been talking shit about Nicki Minaj in recent years but I feel like she’s so revolutionary.
Definitely, I don’t think Nicki gets the credit she deserves. I think it’s one of those things where people aren’t going to really fully love her until she’s gone, as far as not being involved in the music industry anymore. But I like how resilient she is and how she’s not afraid to speak her mind. I just heard that her new manager is the same guy who manages Travis and she went off on him on one episode of her radio show. You have to be a strong-minded man to have somebody chew you out and still be like, ‘Well you right. And actually, let me come be a part of your team.’ I think that just shows how powerful she is. I love that.
You’ve said Krash was all about failure, I wanted to hear what Empathy is about.
I feel like after you’ve failed so many times, it helps you decide what you really want to succeed at, how and why. And I feel like Empathy is about self-acceptance, being confident, loving yourself, making sure the ones around you are loving you how you need and want to be loved.
With Empathy, it was really easy to make as far as just making the music and not thinking too hard about it. Which is why I call it an EP and not an album. It’s not like I’m trying to sell a story, this is just the place I was in when I was making these songs.
What failures were you alluding to?
I feel like I was doing all the right things, and going from not even knowing I could make money off something I like doing to actually making money off of it, and seeing that progress had my mind like, ‘OK this is it, this is my journey, this is where I’m going.’ So many things happened after that, I got my first manager, lost my first manager. And then the deal I was in, it was probably one of the best deals for anybody coming into the industry, but it was not the support that I needed behind it as an artist. So I had to get away from that. And then I started working two jobs and I had to get an apartment, and I was in a terrible relationship that failed, and I came up out of that. I had to go to a hospital at some point because of how depressed I got.
And I just felt like, failure happens to everybody and it’s not something to beat yourself down about. But at some point I wasn’t really trying to succeed. I was failing at even wanting basic happiness. When I got to Krash, it took right before I started making it to come to it with a new perspective. I didn’t really just fail. Basically I was learning what I needed to learn [in order] to succeed when it’s my time. So I got to the place where I could make Krash, make something that I enjoy, and that I like to perform, then I was able to come back with Empathy and learn even more from that. I’m using the places I didn’t succeed, learning why, and applying it the next time around.
That’s really just what we have to do as human beings, really channel both sides of life––getting it wrong, to get it right, to getting it wrong, to get it right, to get it better.
Do you feel like you have perfectionist tendencies?
I did. Someone recently told me that perfectionism is a form of self-hate because you’ll never be perfect. So it’s a false sense of self. Ever since they told me that my brain’s been kind of fucked up thinking about it. I don’t think it’s self-hate, that severe, but it is a self-loathing type of thing.
If you could’ve been born before the internet and social media, would you want that?
I feel like any time before now, being black, I feel like I’m in the best predicament. If segregation is the environment versus Facebook, I’m gonna go with Facebook.
Absolutely.
The internet is a tool and you just have to know when to use it. I’m so used to having it in my life that I have to remind myself to be without it. I’d rather know that difference. Lately the internet has become the matrix, man. I’ve been in situations where I didn’t have service or my phone stops working, and I’m like, wow. If something doesn’t go right, if we lose our connections to whatever big ass satellite towers we’re on, it’s all done. It just feels very fickle to me. At any moment someone could press the off button and these connections we have, people who are “following” us go away. I think from a business perspective, damn, how would I still be making money?
If you could see your songs in a movie which one would it be?
I would want my songs in “Goodfellas,” when they all came from that bar and they had on new clothes and new cars and shit and Robert DeNiro was like, “I told y’all not to buy anything, take it back,” and he took the girl’s coat off her whole body. I love that scene. It’s one of my favorite scenes of all time. It’s some real gangsta shit. Low-key they should just do a new soundtrack of all trap music.
That would be sick dude. You should pitch that to someone. What’s your dream venue?
I want to play a big ass theatre. I want to discover the perfect place. But I want to play in a stage play theatre.
What’s your best Chicago advice?
Man, just get to know everybody before you make any major moves. A lot of people don’t seem friendly but a lot of people in Chicago, we always are hustling. So you gotta really get to know the people you’re gonna work with.
Check out our interview with TJ below.
Can you just say your name, where you’re from, how old you are?
TJ Porter. I’m 19 and I’m from Harlem, East Side, El Barrio. Right here in the projects.
How is it doing your thing and still being a part of the fabric of this neighborhood. I find so often that people get famous, they “make it,” and then immediately dip out to greener pastures, move away from their home base. You’re still here in Harlem, you know all the cats on the block.
Just cause you get a lil' fame and stuff don’t mean you change up on your people, you feel me? That’s the quickest way to have your people not fuck with you—I just keep the same energy I been had with them. When I look out, I look out. You gotta let people know what it is from the jump—I tell ‘em not to expect too much from me.
Tell me about your album, what compelled you to make it, your influences?
It’s called “Voice of the Trenches.” I feel like I’m talking to people in trenches everywhere, not just one specific kind—there are many different kinds. I’m talking to everybody everywhere, letting them know I’m speaking for them. There’s stuff that they experience, that they talk about that people outside of the trenches can’t hear, and I got the reach to let the voices from below be heard by the other side , to get their messages across. I’m speaking for them, and people like that.
I was going to touch on just that. Many creatives use their medium to shed light on the darkness, which is what you’ve just expressed. You have clout, you have a following of people who listen and look up to you, so I was wondering if you find it important to use your platform as a means of illuminating certain issues?
Yeah, of course. I feel like there are things that people just need to hear, so I try to do my best to keep everything authentic—everything with me is real, authentic, I’m not one of those people to make stuff up. Everything I rap about I’ve either been through myself or I’ve witnessed. I just try to keep everything as real as possible.
If you were a shoe, which shoe would you be and why?
I would be a pair of Air Force 1s, cause it got swag, everybody wear it, they comfortable—there’s nothing wrong with them, they so simple.
Why music? As a child, what made you decide that music is what you want to be doing?
My uncle came home from jail and he inspired me to start rapping. He had me listening to Nas, Jim Jones—all of Dipset used to be at my Grandma’s house across the street, I know them. I grew up around everything. I was always a music person, so it just came simple to me, it came easy.
You’re really young to be this deep in the game! In your time in the industry, have you come across people who haven’t taken you seriously because of your age? What are some of the struggles of navigating a “grown” industry?
If people don’t take me seriously, then you’re out of here, you know what I’m saying? That’s real stuff. Even at my label, I have to tell them yeah I’m young, but I’m not a kid. I had to mature at a very young age. I ain’t have my dad so I’ve always been the provider. Just the way y’all feeding your families I’ve been doing this probably for the same amount of time and y’all don’t even know, so you not about to just talk to be different because of my age. I’m very intelligent, I can keep up. You can’t spin me, is what I’m saying—a kid, you can spin. I’m 19, yeah, I’m a kid, but only in age. My mentality is different.
I like that. What’s one thing that you think music has the ability to do in a way that no other creative outlet can?
The pain, the story, it separates music from everything else. Music is unique because of the pain.
What’s your favorite song on the album?
Probably “True Feelings.” “Voice from the Trenches” has this really beautiful narrative quality to it—you can tell that sequence is a facet of the album in its own right. Did you choose the order? Yes, me and my managers. All of my songs have different messages, so we wanted to put the songs in the best place for the listener. I got some sad songs on there, but you won’t get too sad cause the next song is one that will build your spirit right back up.
Do you come from a religious background?
My family believes in God, they’re Christian. My grandma on my dad’s side of the family used to go to church every Sunday and she always used to take me when I was over there. I ain’t go to church since she died, that was like three, four years ago.
I grew up in Harlem as well, Sugar Hill, my whole family has roots here. Harlem is my home. There is something so unique, so magical about these streets. I just wanted to ask what qualities have these streets instilled in you?
Your attitude and the way you carry yourself. Some people say they way we carry ourselves is wrong, its aggressive-
We as in...
We as in the minority of Harlem, but I feel like you need that to survive. If I didn’t have that mentality, I don’t think I would be where I am today.
