Isaac Dunbar Takes Our Pop Quiz
office gave Isaac an impromptu pop quiz where there are no wrong answers... except, of course, the wrong ones.
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office gave Isaac an impromptu pop quiz where there are no wrong answers... except, of course, the wrong ones.
In this project, Smino wanted to keep things simple, and even though he’s a bit of an acrobat when it comes to rapping he doesn’t hold back his message. Always having explored love and Blackness in his previous projects blkswn and NIOR, Luv 4 Rent feels like it’s tying up loose ends to the trilogy, but there’s always something new to learn, he says. He drops a lot of gems in this interview with office; he’s got wisdom in his words and speaks with intention, just like in his music. Take a look at what the rapper had to say about his perceptions of self, consistency, and perpetual learning.
The themes of self-love explored in your album are really important regarding the Black male community. Reaching into yourself, did you think this album would impact that community the way it has as a Black man?
I don't think I was thinking about that. I was just trying to express what I was trying to express, but it was cool to see the response, like a lot of people definitely pick their own themes that they resonated with out of it.
I love the artwork for this album, and I know it is kind of a running joke where all your album covers have you doing your hair but can you talk about your connection to getting your hair done growing up back home and give me a play-by-play of the feelings evoked from that?
I started doing my shit when I was a Chicago and started my hair journey, I guess, from there. I think it just became a thing. Like, I don't even know I had cool hair until people just start telling me and shit. So after a while, I was like, fuck, I'm gonna just make that part of my vibes. I mean, I didn't even really have a choice; I just had hair. For the second album cover, I actually did that unintentionally I was trying to be cohesive. And then on this one, I was just like, it was kind of interesting to see that all the people that were telling me to hurry up and drop was like, “I bet he gonna have someone doing his hair.” And I'm just like, I wanted to play on that but at the same time, I was just playing on the fact that influence-wise, I definitely see a lot more Black dudes doing their hair, saying good night taking care of their shit since you know back in the day. Not to say I started this shit because, Black people been taking care of their hair but I feel like I brought a little awareness to our generation, and other people behind me doing their hair in the mirror kind of represented that metaphor.
How has consistency and working at a steady pace looked like for you since your now 10-year career has begun?
Damn, let me see, you got me tweaked out. I started dropping in 2015, yeah, so damn almost 8 years. I mean, my first real one was in 2017 but, it do feel like that long. Like I always say, just only racing yourself, like being on pace with yourself. Doing shit when you’re ready. I just constantly made music, also. So, I'm just conceptualizing and thinking about ideas all day, not even trying to think of them and this is just happening to me like this shit be happening all day. So trying to sort out what’s right to put out at the moment, what I need to get off my chest, what do people need to hear right now, what do my people need to hear right now? And shit like that, that's how you stay consistent for me. Especially throughout the time, I got the homies who I affiliate myself with, real talented artists and shit. So, when they put out music, it's like I'm putting out music.
That’s real. I really like that, racing against only yourself. Comparison really is the killer of joy and creativity too. How are you always keeping ideas fresh, and how are you keeping a clear head to maintain the sense of creativity that you have?
I think I just experienced life and I just tried to be very present when I experience life. That way when I record and shit, I got a lot to say. It's not really like a thing, you had to be around a know. I'm a musician so, music is in my body. It's like Kobe shooting some shit like I've practiced a long time just so I can be able to just wake up and to do this shit if I feel like it or not, you know what I mean? Yeah, I wish I had something way cooler to say, but that’s it.
No that’s really cool. In this new album, what was the most exciting part of ideating to executing?
Two things. One, towards the last lock-in session that we had, we did it in Malibu and it's crazy it was at a big ass house right by the ocean. We just had a bunch of mushrooms, we made “Louphoria.” I made “Pro Freak” in there, I made a bunch of shit, and that was a good time. I always just like getting out with everybody because outside of what I'm making, I like to see what everybody else is making. I'm more influenced by my friends than anything. Another thing was right before my album was finished, I was trying to put it in order and sequencing like I do all my sequencing myself. I do all of the blends and shit and I was in there trying to do this shit. And I threw a listening party that same night before I was finished. To my manager like, “I’m throwing a listening party like fuck it see if you can get this spot.” And they got us a spot and I still wasn’t done with the tracklist so that's what made me finish the album, me throwing a listening party. So, that was probably like the most exciting part. I was in there tweaking but, that shit got done.
I love that. Your intro and outro sound the same, and it really makes the album feel whole and poetic to start and end the same way; how’d you come up with that idea?
I like to look at that shit like book ends. Like when I'm thinking about my intro to blkswn was “Wild Irish Roses.” The intro to NØIR was “Kovert” and the intro to this is “4rm Da Source” and “No Ls.” So, I like to think of it like that's the cover, so I'm just always trying to like, color up the cover real good. And then the backend, I ain’t know how to match how I started. I wanted to start different and different than how I started, but like still have it similar, because “No Ls” was so turnt at the beginning. So I was just like, shit I’ll just put this part back. I wanted it to come twice to make it feel like it was going into the next.
In this album, I can feel a spiritual essence of church. Do you still go to church or pray?
I pray a lot. I ain’t been to church in a while but I pray a lot.
Same, I grew up in church too, but I haven’t been to church in a long time, but I pray a lot too. How would you say that that influenced your sound?
Every way, every way possible 100%. Like, I'm a drummer naturally, like, I've been playing drums my whole life. All my flows come from that, I've never run out of pockets. Ain’t no pocket I can't find then like, all my harmonies and shit come from being a drummer and having to just sit there, not be able to play but, have to just hold the tempo and listen, and then try to figure out the harmonies and the parts that go together. Subconsciously, I just know harmony because I grew up in that shit like that. Then the actual desire to make motherfuckers feel something when you on stage, the desire to like really touch someone's heart and their soul like that come from church too. My showmanship on stage and my crowd interaction. I mean, almost everything. Rapping, that's the only thing I didn't pick up in church.
Luv 4 Rent is about these different kinds of love. How has your sound evolved with your self-love journey?
I feel like even with relationships now, I just kind of keep shit separate. It's not like it's transactional like I require a lot, you know what I mean, it's just like, if-it’s-love-it’s-love-type-shit and when I was making these songs, I felt like I was just doing the same thing just keeping shit simple. Like lot of times where I like go off on a tandem and just do my beaucoup, my acrobatic shit I can do. I didn't, and I was just more so focusing on, like I want to just like bask in the moment on this pretty part. I think can just treat everything more simple as I get older.
How did you get comfortable with being this vulnerable as an artist in this particular album?
Shit, I mean, on my momma man, I ain’t never been no lame, I've always been cool just being myself. I always noticed people drawn to me and I never felt like, I gotta bend or some shit. So if I feel like talking about love, I’ll literally walk in and tell all the guys, I'm sad right now, I’m finna drink this drink, and then make “90 Proof” or something. That’s literally how this shit go, it be all love, I got real niggas around me. I mean, they might talk shit too, that’s why they real too. That's what I real to feed me. So it's just like, all this shit, you know I don’t really hide my emotions from myself.
That's really beautiful and very healthy. I feel like mental health, especially, doesn't really get talked about a lot with Black men. So that's really beautiful that you have that, and do you feel like your parents kind of shaped that, like do you feel like you had an upbringing where you could be yourself?
Yeah they still raising me like that is just like cool shit I be noticing that just put me on as I’m grown, as I’m older. Like running a business and doing all this shit like, my momma still teaching me shit.
What’s one of your favorite childhood memories?
One of my favorite childhood memories, let me think. I’d say my first time ever getting drums my grandma made my pops buy me some bongos, and I didn’t know what to do with them but, I had to do something in the school talent show in first grade and that was my first time just like I'd like everybody to chanting my name and shit. I vividly remember the day, shit was tight. It kind of made me want that more.
You’re returned home to perform for kribmas. How would you say St. Louis in general has shaped your sound?
St. Louis like more so sound-wise, my lyrics raunchy, like, the reason my lyrics just like straight force. I’m very explicit with my lyrics even if I'm talking about something positive but, that’s just some hood shit. We just talk how we talk and allow that to at the same time. I say the Midwest in general, we're like St. Louis is real soulful,m church of St. Louis, but, the Midwest, in general, is probably like one of the most just soulful places on earth. I don't know what the fuck t we figured out but just a lot of like crooners out there. Everybody, like y'all most of the rappers even the Detroit niggas be doing all their cool shit. They got a little bit of croons to them. I don’t know, I think it’s just like endless, the blues element experience. They got soul.
With an innovative sound of the underground, Might Not Make It is coined from lyrics of Gucci Mane's song Wasted when he raps, "Rockstar lifestyle, might not make it." With features such as Sushiboy Mexico and Young Coco, ZelooperZ combines a old-school sound, new-school beats and his eclectic voice that can never go unrecognized.
ZelooperZ is a member of record label Bruiser Brigade; Detroit rapper Danny Brown's brainchild created almost a decade ago. Bruiser Brigade is comprised of six-rappers; Danny Brown, ZelooperZ, Fat Ray, J.U.S., Bruiser Wolf and Quentin Ahmad DaGod. Named after the timeless video game Marvel Superheroes vs. Street Fighter, Bruiser Brigade never falls short of creating great music together and individually. Although he is known to frequently collaborate with members of Bruiser Brigade, ZelooperZ has recently tackled various solo projects. "Bruiser's my family, but I don't necessarily have to always make music with them," he says. "We have a lot of songs and I have songs on the homies' projects, so I'm not really tripping."
While he's most known for his music, ZelooperZ is also very passionate about painting. He paints most of his own album covers, and whatever else is on his mind at the time. His art was featured in TV series Bel Air and Truth Be Told; making those his largest platforms for his paintings so far. As fans eagerly wait for his upcoming album and tour, ZelooperZ is eagerly waiting for his dream collabs to come to life with artists such as E-40, Missy Elliott, Lil Wayne and Thundercat. In the meantime, ZelooperZ does not intend on putting his foot on the brakes anytime soon. While he's most known for his music, ZelooperZ is also very passionate about painting. He paints most of his own album covers, and whatever else is on his mind at the time. His art was featured in TV series Bel Air and Truth Be Told; making those his largest platforms for his paintings so far.
As fans eagerly wait for his upcoming album and tour, ZelooperZ is eagerly waiting for his dream collabs to come to life with artists such as E-40, Missy Elliott, Lil Wayne and Thundercat. In the meantime, ZelooperZ does not intend on putting his foot on the brakes anytime soon.
office sat down with the multi-hyphenate creative below to discuss auras, music on the horizon, ugly fashion, and more.
Your jump into the industry as a model and now your artistry in music cemented your metamorphosis into a multidisciplinary creative. You come from a family of musicians — did they influence your evolution into that world at all?
It definitely influenced my path, but I also like to earn things the old-fashioned way and to work hard. My dad's in a pop-punk group and I love him and support him. We support each other a lot, but I really made a point to do this on my own. I don't like shortcuts and I don't like winning for no reason. I'm gonna earn it.
It's so much more fulfilling if you feel like you're achieving on your own terms.
Absolutely. Or else I feel like you win and then you're still not satisfied. I don't know, that might also be my Virgo rising. But I would consider myself multidisciplinary for sure, starting with modeling, and then obviously the Bieber videos put me on the map. I think as you get older, you start to find your own way. My Instagram started catching a lot more attention I think just because I wasn't paying attention to anybody else. I was just in my flow. As I've gotten older, I've developed a much more conscious way of how I want to be perceived and I feel like I've kind of lost that natural flow, but since I'm aware of it, I think I'm coming back to it. It just comes from being relaxed and being yourself, you know?
Which can be really hard to do in an industry like this one. There are so many outside influences and other people's opinions that you have to learn to balance. What did you learn from being in the modeling space and starting off in such an audience-facing role that has helped you now with navigating being in the public eye?
I think early on, I was really unaffected. I was a really uninhibited girl. And that naivety translated a lot into authenticity; I didn't really have any issues with identity because it felt effortless. But then obviously, everything can get convoluted as you get older and you become more self-aware of other people and what you want. So you kind of build these constructs and different pathways of how you think you should create yourself and your identity when it's really not about that at all. It's about keeping that naivety and letting the path carve itself. And being in a good relationship with yourself enough to consistently present the best version of yourself.
I actually love the idea of naivety sometimes yielding the most authentic self — it's so true because you're not as jaded. You mentioned traction starting from the Bieber videos. You moved from that to now being this rockstar and it truly feels like you've done it all. Is there something that you haven't conquered yet that you really want to in your career?
Kayla, there's so much.
I can see that because of all of the things you do. I feel like you're ready to take on anything that comes your way.
It's cool. I wonder sometimes if it's a fault, but I'm really trying to just embrace everything that inspires me and get into it. I'm super attracted to art in all forms and I'm even starting to get into acting now. And then I have a bunch of goals with my music. I obviously haven't dropped my first album yet but I've been working on it tirelessly for the past year. I'm really ready to deliver it to the world. But again, I wanted it to come in a really flawless way that is authentic to me. I want to win a bunch of Grammys. I want to be in some really sick indie films and I want to be a spearhead of Web3 music as well.
On the note of your upcoming album, in the past year that you've been working on it, you've also released some singles. You released “Die Down” in October and you have an upcoming single, “Psycho Freak.” How would you classify your current musical era?
Oh my gosh, it's been an insane evolution. I'm just looking for special moments. I'm really into lo-fi. I'm in my tastemaker era right now, but when I was making the album I was definitely in my 'this is me laying down the law' era, because I felt very misunderstood at the time. So the sound of the album is very multi-dimensional and it's spacious and very sexy. But where I'm at right now is very tastemaker and niche and earthy.
This idea of standing your ground and asserting your own sound is kind of perfect, as you're blossoming from being part of a band, RUSSO, to now being a solo artist. What were some of the biggest changes in that shift to now putting out a project on your own?
Oh man, so much. I listened to a lot of my collaborators and friends. I was very unsatisfied with where I was and I didn't understand how to get out of it. And they told me, 'You have to start over.' I even thought about changing my name. Starting over was really hard to come to terms with. I did in some ways, and I also didn't. But I will say that I did rebrand all of my imagery. I made music that was uncomfortable for me to make.
Sometimes you have to put yourself in that space to make something that feels genuine to you. You have to be okay with stepping out of your comfort zone, as cliche as that sounds.
Absolutely. And when you make art like that, it has an impact on people too and it moves them, which is the most important aspect. I can make a beautiful song anytime. But is it going to change anything? Is it going to reform? I'm quite an intense person, so if I'm gonna make a beautiful song, it needs to be the most beautiful song. It needs to literally sweep you off your feet.
Is that a pressure that you feel sometimes? Or is it more so making sure that whatever you put out is representative of you?
I think one of the best pieces of advice that I've gotten was, if you like it, someone else is gonna like it. So if I'm with it and I think it's dope, I don't really take on the pressure of trying to satisfy other people.
We talked a little bit about this punk aspect that comes in a lot of your songs. A lot of your accompanying visuals are inspired by punk glam, badass feminine heroes, and video games. What pop culture references shaped your persona and continue to impact your music?
Gwen Stefani and Madonna both shaped me. I think Destiny's Child shaped my pop culture references as well. Step Up, Mortal Combat, Zelda. Those are definitely staples in my psyche.
You talked before about this past moment of dissatisfaction that you're finally shifting out of. When you wear so many hats, sometimes it becomes hard to not be boxed in by other people. I feel like it has to be difficult to take on so many things and to be able to have them all coexist at the same time, while still being able to preserve your own identity.
Everyone wears a thousand hats. Do you know what I mean? And it's extremely hard. You just have to look and see what is unsettling to you. My personal dissatisfaction was that I didn't like a lot of the tastemaking around me. It was like, 'How are you telling me that this song is bad when I think it's amazing?' I kept running into these clashes, but I was like, 'This is not me.'
But I'm sure that was very freeing and just a release. Taking ownership is a bold thing to do.
I also want to highlight the fact that it's so hard. So people that are undeniably themselves, I'm like, 'Wow, I love you.' You can tell when someone is radiating that and they just don't care. I love that. That's true swag. And then if they have sick style or make sick art alongside it, I'm like, 'Yeah, we should have a baby.'
I think that your energy is really infectious, so if you could read your own aura, what color would it be?
The first one that comes to mind is purple. Purple is probably the last color I'd choose for most things, but that's what I think it would be.
Your work has started to intersect with these other really interesting spaces. I think it's cool that you grew up really appreciating these video game references because now it seems like that is still woven into what you do. How do you hope that those relationships grow and what are other projects that you hope to take on in that world?
All of these things were so in sync. I think it all started with League of Legends and IMVU and those birthed my existence in the meta world. Cut to now and we're dropping music in Web3 and it's been extremely organic.
I feel like it only makes sense because those are also genuine interests of yours. Anything that feels effortless is just second nature for you. When it comes to fashion, what types of looks do you usually gravitate toward?
Well, I love ugly clothes. I always have. I think my undertone is always rock and roll. So that can be translated in so many ways, whether it's preppy, futuristic, or girly. I'm all of those things, and I think all of us are. Now I'm super focused on getting one piece and building up from there. My style has changed vigorously throughout the years but it just comes down to how comfortable you feel and how good you feel in your clothes. I've now transitioned into wearing mostly boys' clothes. I'm gonna rock it out with belts and baggy clothes because right now that makes me feel sexy.
Exactly. I think if you feel good, then you look good.
I'm also a challenger. I like to be challenged. If something is known to be an ugly piece then I want to wear it.
That's the most fun thing — challenging yourself, especially in fashion. You have plans to release your album, Influx, in March — can you give me three words to describe it, sonically or aesthetically?
Multi-dimensional and immersive. It's a sensory experience. It's also very pretty — there are a lot of feminine undertones.
What has been the most memorable part of the whole album-making process?
I think the most fun parts have been some of the sessions actually creating the songs. I had to get out of a deal and it was so much tedious work. But it was all fun. Creating "Psycho Freak" and "Boys Taste Like Drugs" were probably my favorite. My friend was having a party the night we made "Boys Taste Like Drugs" and people started coming to his house. We were playing it and, literally, the song conjured so much energy. Everybody started moshing in the room and throwing their bodies around. I was like, 'Whoa. This is the reaction to the song that we just made!' We also flew out to the Dominican Republic and orchestrated all of the album artwork and that experience alone was so unhinged and such a gift. That's what I live for.