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Whu Else Is Headed to the Moon
Whu Else's keen ear for melody is no surprise, as he comes from a family of church musicians and has been studying music from his childhood. He combines his love of rap and classic rock with elements of church music, resulting in an entirely unique sound that has captivated industry insiders and fans alike.
His first project, I Fell in Love with a Beat, dropped in February 2020 and was a successful introduction to his artistry, placing him firmly under the spotlight. The subsequent release of Big Brain Man only cemented his position as a rising star in the industry, garnering praise from publications such as Complex, Pigeons and Planes, and Lyrical Lemonade.
With the release of BIG BRAIN MAN II and the accompanying video for "MAN MADE ASTEROID," Whu Else confirms his creative vision, pushing boundaries and exploring topics that intrigue and challenge. This album is a must-listen for anyone looking for something fresh and innovative in today's landscape of music.
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Zombie Juice Chooses Love
Did you get a chance to listen to the album?
Yeah, I've been listening to y'all for a really long time since “Thug Waffles” so it was pretty nice getting to listen to the album early.
That’s crazy, we all grew up together. We're about 30 years old now, huh? It’s wild.
You've been active for over a decade now. How do you see Beast Coast and your legacy in hip hop?
Nine times out of ten when I leave my house, somebody's gonna come up to me and say, dude, you helped me get through high school and changed the way I look at certain things or you helped me get through a traumatic experience. So for the Flatbush Zombie legacy, I hear that all the time. It was special, the Beast Coast thing. So maybe I'm not a fucking Grammy recording, winning artist, but I have a legacy that has touched people for over 10 years.
That’s such a beautiful answer. How important was New York and Flatbush in establishing your sound?
Well, I didn't get adopted by my grandparents till I was seven years old. I used to steal CDs and tapes from my cousins and my aunts and just listen to all the classic music. I was over there getting in trouble at seven, eight years old for rapping Ol’ Dirty Bastard, not knowing what the fuck it meant. I didn’t understand what Flatbush was till I got older and started hustling. Being on the streets really shaped the music too because now I'm talking about my life stories and things of that nature.
I remember the acronym that Flatbush Zombies coined, “Death and Reincarnation Under God.” Do psychedelics still play a large role in your work?
Um, I didn't know it played a large role, but it did obviously. But I never noticed it because I was just in the moment and doing it, even though we talk about acid in like 50% of our songs. When I was younger and I tripped, I was trying to go places and then turn into a fucking wizard that can make shit move and levitate. But I don't do that anymore, I got shit to do. I got kids. I don't rely on psychedelics for music.
How does it feel releasing your debut solo album?
Shit, around the time that Covid hit Meech, Erick and I were trying to figure out what to do next. The computer crashed and we actually lost all of our music. I feel like when you separate from the pack for a second, it gives people the opportunity to just judge you. And that was desperately needed for my soul, because I just wanted to be judged for myself. I always say to myself, I can't forgive myself for being 30 years old and just starting my Spotify page.
If you're just going by your own definition of love or what you see on TV, that's not going to fly. I'm not looking for you to fucking bow down and wash my back everyday, just show up when you can and I'll show up when I can.
When I was listening, I noticed a lot of songs where you were singing. Do you feel like that shift in sound relates to the subject content that you're dealing with?
It kind of started from me at home listening to Lo Fi beats on YouTube. I felt like most people knew me for high energy and fast raps. I realized that expressing your feelings didn’t have to always mean yelling or having high energy. I like to say that if you know me or you want to know me or you want to hang out with me, listen to the album. This album definitely feels conversational.
What are the ideas that you want listeners to take away from the conversation?
We're not fucking superheroes. We might be super humans but we're not superheroes. We're vulnerable, real life happens. Right now we’re in an era where the whole world is on some influencer shit, some social media shit, everyone just wants to flex. For my debut album, I didn't want to add on to that pile of music. You mentioned the word Black earlier and all of us have to heal, especially the black community. The Black community's been broken and part of the reason why it's broken is because our parents are so traumatized. Our generation is more in tune with ourselves and healing, now we're trying to teach our kids the new shit but our kids are computers. Things are moving and changing so fast.
You touch on things like generational trauma on the album. How does it feel being so vulnerable?
It’s healing for me. I've been doing reiki and energy healings, going to therapy and things like that for the last seven, eight years of my life. For instance, me talking about my mother, all the fucking time is real. I don't celebrate my birthday because I feel guilty for being alive. Making the album helped me grow. It helped me say, okay, maybe I should celebrate my birthday this year. When is your birthday? It was July 8th man. My lover said we should go to New York for my birthday and I was like, I'm not gonna fight you. So we went to fucking New York. I was calling my friends and my family. I wanted to stay positive and show gratitude for life. Everyday is a blessing.
Talking about blessings, on your song “Fly” off the new album you address your son. What was it like making a song for him?
Ah man that shit was hella fucking fun. I actually was listening to that beat on YouTube for months before I knew I wanted to make a song on it. I start it off with “Every day is a new day. Don't bring that negativity from yesterday to today.” That's something I tell my kid all the fucking time. Grow up. Take accountability. Wash that shit off. Tomorrow's a new day. Let's get it right. It was easy to have a conversation through the music because I'm a writer.
Has your son listened to it. How did he react?
Yeah, yeah, he loved it. He was like, yo mom woke me up and said your dad fucking did it. He fucking killed this album, like we’re listening to this shit right now. He was into it. I always tell him the story about my mom but the fact that he felt it more and really understood it to the music is you know. Like I said, fuck a Grammy nigga. That's the Grammy.
I know that the title of the album is Love without Conditions. What does that look like to you?
I was reading some fucking book, I forgot what it was called and the author mentioned love without conditions. When I read those words I realized I've been searching for love without conditions since I was fucking born because I didn't get that. From a relationship point of view, niggas really look at girls as bitches or like a lick. It’s degrading. One of the most important things I learned about love without conditions was that if you care enough, you need to figure out how your person needs to receive love so that they can feel safe and so that they can feel honored. If you're just going by your own definition of love or what you see on TV, that's not going to fly. I'm not looking for you to fucking bow down and wash my back everyday, just show up when you can and I'll show up when I can.
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Dreamer Isioma Taps Into All Parts Of Themself
Falling in love has to be one of the scariest and beautiful feelings to taste and even coming close to it will have you wanting more. Isioma’s encounter with love even at the young age of 17 is documented and hearing the thoughts ruminate from then to now in their new project brings a feeling of nostalgia and longing. With these different themes circulating, it shows that there is no real binary in anything; dichotomy is not complex enough in this case. Princess Forever is about garnering community and taking care of it, loving one another enough to heal, and being okay and patient with the changes that happen within yourself.
In just a short three years, Isioma has done something special—they’ve cultivated true artistry. You can hear that in this new project and in this conversation with office. While on set I was able to step into Dreamer’s world and meet the characters that make up this one dynamic human. Ahead of their tour starting this month, we were able to slow down amidst the constant movement they are in and confront all that they had been through. Sitting across from me was not Dreamer the character but Dreamer, the "ever-evolving" artist who is reshaping what it means to be a Black and queer artist.
top ECKHAUS LATTA, pants R13, shoes ECKHAUS LATTA, earrings HEAVEN by MARC JACOBS, earring JUSTINE CLINQUET (stylist’s own), necklace CHOPOVA LOWENA.
So you're a big advocate for mental health awareness. Was this project therapeutic for you in terms of healing?
Yes... incredibly, so. It's very healing to my inner child.
You’re first-gen Nigerian-American and you’ve had a traditional Christian upbringing, which I relate to. Can you share how that has influenced the music you make? And with your personal journey?
I mean yes. It's very much reflected in the song “Why Pray To God?”
I literally had that as my next question.
See? Look at that, period. I've definitely had a very long wrestle with not only Christianity, but religion in general. Christianity on many levels. There's the whole colonization thing. And then also the structure specifically. I grew up Catholic. I was in fucking Catholic school. I'm trans. It was not working for me. So, it was a long wrestle. There was a point where I said, “I hella don't fuck with God.” But I have grown and now I’m trying to get more in tune with the earth, more with nature. Have a healthy body, healthy mind, and energy these days. I've been saying this a lot where I'm like, “I want to live to be a good person without the fear of hell and the goal of heaven”, you know what I'm saying, and that's how I feel. It doesn't matter what you believe in. I don't care what you believe in. Do what makes you happy, as long as you're not hurting nobody type shit. Just be a good person.
I want to live to be a good person without the fear of hell and the goal of heaven.
Was the making of this album spiritual in any way? Like, as that relates to the song “Why Pray To God”, like, were there any spiritual aspects of it for you?
Yeah, the earth; living; experiencing new love; new life. You know what I mean?
Do you meditate?
I do yoga.
Love it. So did you study any Afro-surrealist artists for the album? Who are some of the people you look up to?
Yeah, you can consider him an Afro-surrealist artist. Donald Glover, Atlanta. That's how I learned the term Afro-surrealism. That show really inspired me and it made me realize a lot of parallels with my life — growing up as a African Black person in America. It's very weird. I feel like I'm in Atlanta every day.
That’s so real. It is hard. How have you grown from Good Night Dreamer to now with Princess Forever?
I have way more swag.
Yeah!
I’m a lot hotter now.
Right!
Hair grew, money longer.
Right, right! In terms of not material. What would you say?
[laughs] I mean, you know, besides my amazing body. I would say that I've grown musically. I've taken a lot of time to relearn music theory and how to play the instruments that I grew up on like piano and guitar. Studying artists like Tyler the Creator, Andre 3000, Erykah Badu and then sometimes way back with Nina Simone and Chuck Berry. The original rock stars, you know what I'm saying? Always studying and getting better.
What was the hardest song for you to write?
I don't know, they all came very naturally. Some of them came super fast like “Fuck The World.” I just wrote that shit and just wanted to be done. “Saturn Ring." I sat on that for a good year. I wrote the first verse and did the second one later. Then there's songs like “Done In Love With You." I wrote that song when I was 17 years old.
It did feel like a younger version of you in that song.
Yeah exactly, but I wanted it to be bigger so I waited for the production. All of those aspects ran their course, but they also came naturally.
top LRS, pants LRS, undies DOLCE & GABBANA, sneakers TALENT’S OWN, chain DOLCE & GABBANA, bracelet HEAVEN by MARC JACOBS
What was it about Space is the Place that drew you to intersect the story with your life and project?
I mean, that movie is just fucking awesome. It's a great film. Sun Ra is so raw, because he was doing that shit at a time when nobody was even thinking like that. Black people were not thinking about space, we had other shit to deal with. When I think about space, like no, there's a world outside of the bullshit that you're living in type shit. Niggas was king. So seeing that, and seeing him being brave enough to do that made me want to be like, “Okay, well, I'm in the future. And we're still dealing with this bullshit.” Niggas is not thinking about space, we have other shit to think about. But also, I want to remind people that there is a world outside of the bullshit. There's a way out, there's a new path and we can still fight against oppression, and all of those things.
The storyline of Terra 2000 is really cool and very realistic in regard to building community. Are you looking to build something like Wasted Island Youth in real life?
Yes, literally, Wasted Island Youth is really a thing that I run. I want it to be a nonprofit. We ran a couple events last summer, and it was really fun. Now I've been doing a lot of partnering with my mom's charity; it's called Xanderena Foundation. We've essentially tried to give education and health care to people in various villages in Lagos. I've been doing the creative direction for the uniform designs, the website, social media, and all that fun stuff.
I love that. So, this album is definitely a good balance of feminine and masculine energies, which is obviously a theme within your own life. How has your self-discovery journey been kind of documented and put into this project? You popped off with “Sensitive” in 2020 and then you've been front-facing on the internet for three years now. So how have you been able to document for yourself and put it into your project?
Shit, I mean, just what you hear is what is happening. I am very authentic to the music. I'm speaking through the vessel of like characters of course, there is a character of Dreamer versus me, who is also a Dreamer. And then there's also like the kings or Princess Forever, who is an extension of myself. So you are seeing me but, different versions of myself, you know, and I'm ever evolving like the next phase of me, maybe it is not similar to this, but it still is me.
top ECHKHAUS LATTA, pants R13, shoes ECKHAUS LATTA, earrings HEAVEN by MARC JACOBS, earring JUSTINE CLINQUET (stylist’s own), necklace CHOPOVA LOWENA.
...there is a world outside of the bullshit. There's a way out, there's a new path and we can still fight against oppression and all of that.
top ECHKHAUS LATTA, pants R13, shoes ECKHAUS LATTA, earrings HEAVEN by MARC JACOBS, earring JUSTINE CLINQUET (stylist’s own), necklace CHOPOVA LOWENA.
The throughline in the album is love. How would you describe love now compared to how you would have described it when your first album dropped?
Well, I will say love is not just a feeling, it is definitely an action. You know, I have an amazing partner who has very much taught me how to love and how to be a better partner in love.
How has love in your life helped you heal? I expected the album to be sad considering healing as one of the main themes but it wasn’t. I feel like healing is usually synonymous with suffering.
Yeah, of course, niggas be sad but love is supposed to be fun. If you're stressed out, you're not in love, you need to leave, but I am vibin' in this bitch. But yeah love is supposed to be fun and whether it's loving yourself, your friend or physical partner, it's fun. So it's vibes. It was a fun album.
