Somebody told me that “The Gaudy Side of Town” by Gayngs is one of your favorite songs…
Yeah, that’s crazy, where’d you hear that from?
Stacy, the producer…
Yeah, yeah! That’s dope. But, yeah, Gayngs “The Gaudy Side of Town”, it’s funny, when I moved from San Francisco to Los Angeles I had a pretty epic vinyl collection. And, for anybody that has vinyl they know how much of a bitch it is to move, especially from one apartment to another, let alone from San Francisco to Los Angeles…crates upon crates…long story short, I sold or gave away most of my vinyl before moving to Los Angeles. It’s funny, the only vinyl that I have in my room right now is the Gayngs album they dropped a couple years ago, Relayted. I got it at one of their shows a couple years ago.
I came across Gayngs through Brick, Brick Stowell actually. He put me onto them because one of the Odd Future members put him onto them previously. I ended up listening to it, “The Gaudy Side of Town” and they’re honestly one of my favorite contemporary bands out right now. They have a very good dedicated following, but they’re very much so under-the-radar due to their magnitude…they’re like a thirty piece group or something like that.
That song, I wouldn’t say it encompasses the vibe I want to portray in music, it does encompass a lot of the elements of music that I like to listen to.
Who’d you give your vinyl away to?
I have a lot of homies in San Francisco…even people that didn’t have record players wanted vinyl [laughs] you know?. Vinyl is a trendy accessory nowadays almost. It says something about a person when they have vinyl.
When I moved from San Francisco to LA, I literally got rid of everything. The only thing I brought down was my computer, hard drive and my clothes. I didn’t even come down with a bed or anything. I really wanted to start fresh in LA. I wasn’t on some, try and mimic poverty type shit, but I definitely wanted to start from square one.
What can you tell me about your relationship with Chill Black Guys (a.k.a. CBG)?
They’re like…long story short, I met the original two members of CBG, Chill Black Guys, which is Young Hawaii Slim and Jay Ughh. I met both of them while I was living in San Francisco. Jay Ughh, whose real name is Julian, we both worked at The Hundreds in San Francisco. So, I met him and essentially two or three years ago I moved to Los Angeles and Jay Ughh was the first LA kid that really showed me the ropes around here. He introduced me to everyone. He made sure that everyone he introduced me to was familiar with me and the fact that I do music. This was even prior to Chill Black Guys having started a group.
Somewhere down the line they became a group and they’ve been family since the beginning through me kicking it with Hawaii and Julian while I was living in San Francisco down to when I moved to Los Angeles finally. They both took care of me. Every time they had a show they’d bring me along. Every time I had a show I’d bring them along. Every time they went out around the town they’d bring me along because they knew I didn’t know folks. They’ve been holding me down. It’s really a family thing when it comes to me working on music with them more so than it is about collabing to better each other’s careers. It’s a very natural thing whenever we get together.
Can you explain to me what “viva la resistance” means to you? What is the Alexander Spit “resistance”?
It starts with the medium of hip-hop for me. My medium is hip-hop music. The same way an artist’s medium is oil painting or a photographer’s medium for expression is black and white photography. My medium of expression is my music. My expression is to resist against the mainstream norm mindset that things need to be a certain way for you to be successful. Or, what’s expected of you…I like to break down those walls with the hip-hop music I make.
More important than that is just having an awareness and mindset, knowing that there’s an alternative to what’s been shoved down people’s throats every day in life–whether it’s people believing that a 9-5 job or college education, you know, all society’s prerequisites for being a good person are pretty much unnecessary to really just being a good person and doing what’s fulfilling in life.
You grew up on Wu-Tang Clan, who’s your favorite member and why?
It has changed over the years. My first favorite member of the Wu-Tang Clan was Method Man because he always had the illest voice by far next to Ghostface. I just thought his whole charisma and cadence was on point. As I started getting into hip-hop music more my favorite member started becoming Inspectah Deck who’s low-key one of the most slept on member of the group. I’ve always liked his very in-the-pocket, witty hip-hop steaze. Over the years I started to become a Ghostface fanatic because he just has lot of swag and style. You can tell he’s having fun in his voice, I really like his expressiveness. Now, I’m on the Raekwon tip. You know, real poetic street raps and I like his means of telling really hard bodied stories, raps with eloquence. All the Wu-Tang members do that, but nowadays I’m on the Raekwon tip with it.
You used to have a full-time job, do you still have a full-time job? Is music your full-time job now?
If all goes well, come April or May I think I’ll have gone a year without working a full-time job. I plan on continuing not ever going back to a job ever again. [laughs] So, music is my full-time gig right now. I’ve worked a full-time job since I was 13 and I’m 25 now. Last year I quit my job to fully immerse myself in music. That in itself was a really cool feeling. I’m going to continue to work hard so I can maintain this lifestyle that I’m living that I’ve pretty much worked towards my whole life.
Nicely done man, big fan of Spit
‘Preciate it Oz!
So ill! Great read Seth!