Your approach to genre also is pretty unorthodox, which matches the variance of your taste. The opening song of MERCZONE even has this really powerful electric guitar chord sequence. You’ve mentioned in the past that you wanted to release rock music under an alias. Is this your way of releasing rock music?
I lied about the alias shit, it’s just going to be me. [Laughs] When I first was making MERCZONE — it wasn’t called MERCZONE yet — it was a rock album. I wasn’t able to continue to make the songs that I wanted to because I was making them out of town. It was limited time. I was like, damn, if I'm going to continue this project, I need to do something else to be able to work with other people. I still wanted to keep that element and kept that specific song. I felt that it translated well. It was still rock-like, but it was also some shit that you could just vibe to. I felt like my cousins could listen to that and really fuck with it. Somebody like my mom, people who wouldn't usually gravitate towards my music, would still fuck with it because it rides. After I realized that I wasn't going to go completely rock, I was really sporadic but I wanted it to sonically flow.
So you started recording the project out of town?
The first song I made for the project might have been “PHAT PACK,” but that I recorded in Atlanta. Most of the songs I recorded out of town because I was just hella inspired out of town, and I started working with Mikey Freedom Hart in New York. He produced “GETTING IT IN.” It was our first or second time hooking up, but we had hella chemistry and we were making some great ass songs.
I recorded “INFLUENCER BAG” in Atlanta, but I started working on the beat in New York. My friend Glen [the Saiyan] made it. That was also a sample I sent him. I was listening to hella video game soundtracks and I found that sample.
I was working on the last half of my project in LA and was really on a bender for a month. I left the crib four times out of the whole month. For “BE BOPPIN,” Ethereal came into LA. They [Ethereal and Hesh] made that beat, and I hopped on it at night. We would make the beats and then at 3 or 4am, I would get fucked up and record all night.
So you worked with a lot of different people for this project?
Mhm, really all my homies, though, all people that I already knew or that I already worked with, except for Otis, MTRSPRT, and Mikey Freedom Hart. I’ve made a song on MTRSPRT’s beats before, but this is my first time releasing something with MTRSPRT. These are my homies. Even Shane [Mane], that's my dog. We talk all the time even though he lives in Germany and I’ve never met him.
You mentioned that you worked with Ethereal a few times on this project. Were you listening to Awful Records back in the day?
Hell yeah! When I was 15, I went to Afropunk and Father and Abra were performing. That lineup was crazy. It was Father, Abra, Tyler, the Creator, Earl Sweatshirt, Lion Babe, SZA, everybody before they blew up. Seeing that when I was 15 was life-changing.
I used to love Awful Records. Then, maybe in 2019 or 2020, I met Ethereal. Me and my friend Coco were at a show and we were too young to get in, so we went to the back of the club. This is crazy because this is the same club I’m finna do my show at in Atlanta. We were standing outside of the club by the back door waiting for somebody to come out and then Ethereal and Father come out. We were like, let’s take pictures, whatever. He followed me on Instagram, and a year later, he hit me being like, push up, and we made “PANKO.” Ever since then, we’ve just been cooking up. We have the same taste and he gets it. He really understands the shit I am trying to do. I really fuck with him. He looks out for me, he’s like a big brother to me.
Do you go out quite a bit?
I go out a little bit, not much in Atlanta, but when I'm out of town I go outside. Every year, I go to New York for MIKE’s Young World festival. Other than that, I’m just seeing my homies at their shows. I haven't really been out to a concert in a minute, other than MIKE, Young World, and Nicki Minaj’s concert. I would like to go out more but I just feel like I don’t see what's going on because I am lowkey a hermit sometimes.