WORDSPJ Some
封面明星 - Prettyboy 做
創意總監 - Derrick Odafi & Jessica Rushforth
創意製作人 - Jessica Rushforth 和 Derrick Odafi
攝影師 - 芭芭拉普雷莫
視覺總監 - John Serunjogi
造型師 - Malcolm Yaeng
造型師助理 - Gloria Iyare
佈景設計師 - 傑西卡·拉什福斯
MUA - 祝福 Kambanga
STUDIO - 拍攝更多照片工作室
New Wave: Hi 6LACK! Thank you so much for joining us. How have you been? How is touring going?
6LACK: It’s been really, really good. I’ve wrapped up the European tour now and since then I’ve been designated some time off. But at that time, I started to think about the album anniversary coming up. So, we just ended up doing some surprise pop up shows in New York and Atlanta. The goal of the shows was to strip everything back down to the live music mainly and just to expose ourselves in that way, be nervous again, not really knowing what we were doing on stage and figuring out what the next era of performances might look like for us. I’m constantly just thinking about what I might want to create next.
Are you planning any other shows for the anniversary at all?
6LACK: So, we did that last week in Atlanta, I can’t remember which day of the week. And then we did the New York show a few days before that, so those two are already out of the way. Now, I’m just more so thinking about what I might want to do for L.A, if we do it somewhere else. I would like to keep the theme of the show that we just did alive.
We were able to catch you at your London show and the crowd was going crazy. What would you say incorporates your signature 6LACK sound that makes it instantly recognisable?
6LACK: For me, it’s the lyrics more than anything. I believe for most people who enjoy my music, they enjoy the content. I think that with music there are a lot of distractions sometimes from the words, especially these days. But for me specifically, the stories that I tell, the things that people can relate to, the things that I’ve been through, how much I’ve grown and the content of the lyrics is what people resonate with the most. So, if you hear me kind of walking through a personal story, I think those are moments where people kind of turn around and I say, ‘oh yeah, that must be a 6LACK song’, or ‘you must be listening a 6LACK album’. If you see somebody in a specific vibe while they’re listening to music and they’re kind of engulfed in it, I think those are things that kind of give away the fact that they might be listening to me.
Prettyboy DO 的星光熠熠
就像第九期的“野火”一樣
當您想到 Afrobeats 時，尼日利亞藝術家很可能是您心目中的形象，我們知道他們擁有許多強大而有影響力的名字。開創性人物 Prettyboy DO 是當前來自非洲音樂強國的有影響力的藝術家名單中不容錯過的人物。這位出生於新澤西州的突破性藝術家提供了一種充滿活力和活力的聲音，不會讓您坐以待斃。這些聲音與他古怪的風格無縫匹配，從他在 COLORS 上的“Jungle Justice”和其他非常成功的單曲（例如“Same Energy”和“Chop Elbow”）的表演中，您可以清楚地看到這種創造力的反映。 Prettyboy DO 是一位走鋼絲的社會評論和實驗音樂的藝術家，將這些性格特徵歸功於他的環境和個人影響。 Prettyboy 本人和他的音樂一樣有趣，受 Dennis Rodman 和 Sisqo 等人的影響，他的個人風格和能量從頭到腳都與眾不同，從他五顏六色的頭髮到他富有表現力的風格感。
在他最近發布的最新項目之後，受聖經啟示錄啟發的名為“野火”的 EP； Prettyboy DO 已經能夠在 Afro-Pop 和 Rap 之間產生分歧，炫耀他的多才多藝，這使他與眾不同！被稱為 Alte 界的王者，毫不奇怪，他的影響力隨著音樂傳播，營造出迷人的氛圍。繼續他的旅程，這位歌手/說唱歌手似乎有一個明確的目標，那就是成為最偉大的人，一路上激勵人們，鋪平自己的道路。
WORDS Shenead Porosootum
“音樂讓我成為一個男人。我一直熱愛音樂，即使是在孩提時代，但更喜歡音樂的時尚方面。大吉、馬斯、圖帕克…… ”
Full Look , LEO PROTHMANN
Silver Chocker, CHANEL
您對於倫敦的觀點是？
P：我經常來這裡，這次因為音樂而不同，我們現在起床了。我愛倫敦，我愛那裡的人，對我來說，這似乎很非洲。從某種意義上說，它就像家一樣。
倫敦和拉各斯有很好的聯繫，你覺得它是什麼？
P：首先，我們這裡有很多自己的人，這裡有很多非洲人。這裡有一種類似於拉各斯的整體氛圍，因為它非常繁忙，非常喧囂。但這裡是一個更高的層次，還有鬥爭。我愛倫敦，但與此同時，這裡的鬥爭很瘋狂，因為他們在這裡什麼都不說，只是內部的。
你在紐約也有經驗，那也是一個你真的必須努力才能做到的地方。
P：我想我所過的生活，我學到的一件事是你不能真的後悔。如果我有某種職位，我不能浪費它。倫敦很忙，就像地鐵一樣，你真的沒有空間，紐約就是這樣，就像 x2 不干淨，比倫敦更堅韌不拔。
回到音樂上來，你是說音樂找到了你還是你找到了音樂？
普：那很深。音樂讓我成為一個男人。我一直熱愛音樂，即使是在孩提時代，但更喜歡音樂的時尚方面。 Biggie、Mase、Tupac……我喜歡 Tupac，我什至有一個像他一樣的紋身。時尚在我的腦海裡一直很重要，同時也是音樂，但我從來沒有把自己看作一個說唱歌手，我把它看作是一種生活方式，所以我到處跳舞、振動、模仿。它的文化，尤其是它的時尚。當我年輕的時候，我可能想成為一名設計師。問題是，在高中時，我曾經寫過很多，詩歌等，陳詞濫調，但總是奏效。在大學裡，他們讓我用英語寫一首詩，我寫得很快，他們讓我把它讀出來，而且很長，每個人都喜歡哇。那個時候我腦子裡真的沒有音樂，但是那個時候 Drake 出來了，Rocky 出來了。我在學校表現不佳，我只是失去了我的女孩和心碎。然後我開始進入錄音室，但直到我覺得它很好而且那是在 2012 年我才發布任何東西，我沒有回頭。
這有點注定，這是一個過程，但你不知道這個過程是什麼。
P：是的，你不知道在遇到人的過程中會發現什麼。事情變大了。是上帝。這是上帝和工作。
除了音樂，你還會做哪些有創意的事情？
P：電影，我導演了很多音樂視頻。我可能會進入電影，這取決於我去那裡的雄心和意願。我真的很想現在開始。
你有造型師嗎？如果不是，它從哪裡來？
P：我只是在 Instagram 上，保存東西然後混合起來。
我們最喜歡你的項目之一是你的 2018 項目，你最喜歡創造它的時刻是什麼。
P：當我回到拉各斯時，我去了伯明翰和洛杉磯，那一次我決定放棄一個項目。然後我和我的表弟進行了一次談話，他告訴我“你必須放棄一個項目，放棄一些東西並了解你的聲音，就像你的單身人士正在流行一樣，你很興奮，但需要了解你的聲音”。太好了，一旦他說我很酷，讓我們走吧，讓我們開始吧。我有一堆我已經錄製好的音樂，去倫敦錄製 2 首歌。去拉各斯，開始和我的孩子們一起錄音，雨果，然後我們有兩個。現在我們可以舉辦一場表演了……我很生氣，我討厭行業政治，如果我們努力工作，你就能努力工作，讓我們去吧，讓我們抓住這個機會。我和我一起去參加一個表演行業 n****s tryna f**K 我很生氣。但演出結束後，我很生氣，我去了他的工作室，告訴他給我演奏一些東西，那個節拍讓我感到最快樂。拉起
So many big artists have come from Atlanta. Were you inspired much by your neighbourhood and surroundings to create music, or was it something that was more home-grown in the household?
6LACK: For sure inspired by my neighbourhood and my surroundings. I think there might have been a portion of time where I was mentally was trying to tell myself, ‘alright can you stop shouting out your neighbourhood like every few bars and just give it a rest for a second?’ But I grew up outside so, it was natural for that to just be a part of my music. If it wasn’t a school day, I pretty much spent sunup to sundown and past that on my bike riding in two different neighbourhoods on the other side of town with people telling my mom they saw me on it in a completely different part of town that I couldn’t have been in. But it was just a way of life to wake up and go, and there’s just so many different things to pull from. If you get into some trouble, you can get into some music, you can just be in the neighbourhood and just do kid s*it like basketball.
There were tons of different things to get into, followed by a soundtrack to actually live to. We had dance music and snap music and trap music and R&B music, and it was just a pool of inspiration for me and I pull from as much as I could possibly pull from. So, the good and the bad. Atlanta definitely is a thing that, even to this day, I don’t think there’s been a project or I haven’t said something about the city.
The number six is something very significant to you, considering you were raised in Atlanta’s Zone Six, your daughter is called Syx… So, is the whole like six thing purely to rep Atlanta?
6LACK: Oh no, it’s for a lot of different reasons. When I was a kid, I didn’t know much about the zoning of Atlanta. The number six was already my favourite number. I was born in June; the sixth month and it was just a reoccurring thing. Anytime something pops up in my life, I try to put meaning to it. So, if I’m looking at the clock at 6:00 and or the sixth person in line at school and all these things are just showing themselves to me. For me it’s just like, okay, well, what can that mean? Is that my favourite number? And then as I got older, as I got into numerology and life path numbers and I realised that six is my number, you know, in that realm. And it just kept taking on new meaning as I got older and then like I said, zone six, my daughter being named Syx, it just kept showing itself. So, I just ended up owning it.
Have you ever tried to work out your life path number?
6LACK: Oh yeah, for sure. I had gone to it before I did the calculator. I went to six first and I read it and I was like, ‘oh yeah, that’s definitely me’. And then I did the calculator and it obviously ended up being six.
Since I Have A Lover, is the first solo album you’ve done since East Atlanta Love Letter from 2018. Music has evolved quite a lot since then so, how did you adapt to these sorts of changes that were happening around in and around the music space with Since I Have A Lover?
6LACK: I didn’t at all, I just did my own thing. There was not much for me to reference or adapt as far as how outside things go. For me, it was more of a personal journey. And this album was a journal entry for me, it was where I’m at. The last two albums have been markers of where I was during that time, how I felt and how I thought. So, for this album being in a different space and not coming from a place of depression or deep confusion for me, this one was about realising my potential as a human being and realising how much more space I had to grow, seeing how far I had come and trying to figure out what the sonics of that sound like.
The title track was a moment where I was just like ‘what does an ideal day sound like for me?’ and not necessarily thinking about the confines of is this R&B enough? or is it hip-hop enough? or is this old 6LACK enough? It was just like, what and how do I feel right now? Is it more alternative leaning? Is it pop? How do I feel and how do I put it in song form? So, we went with that goal for the first track, the title track, and then from there, I just started to build upon the idea of that. It was just more and more moments of how do I make an audio version that describes me in the flow of life and a really, really good flow of life, figuring it out type of flow.
Are there any standout tracks from the album that hold like a really special significance at all?
6LACK: For sure. You know, the easy answer is all of them, but more specifically, I would say ‘Inwood Hill Park’ has been one that continues to just make itself like a regular part of my day. If I’m on social media and I’m clicking through story notifications or anything like that, people are living to it. And of all the songs on the album, it is the one that I feel is the theme to my life the most right now. It has a hip-hop type of drum pattern to it and is very like, get up and go, as far as just how it feels when you listen to it. The chorus to that song, just talking about being dazed and under pressure and embracing the highs and lows of life, and how it might not be easy, but I keep it alive, and I do it as much as I can every single day. So, ‘Inwood Hill Park’ applies to me through every single walk in my life so far so I think that one stands out the most.
“如果我還在做音樂，我認為自己是在尼日利亞從事音樂工作的山羊之一。”
我們看到您擁有很長的職業生涯並領導著新的藝術家。在接下來的 10 到 15 年裡，你在哪裡看到你自己和你的手藝？
P：10 年後我想在哪裡……該死，我會老[笑] 我看到不同的東西，但我認為自己是在尼日利亞在音樂上做這件事的山羊之一，如果我還在做音樂的話.如果我不是，我將擁有一位藝術家，但仍然是有史以來最偉大的藝術家之一。 10 年後我可能會拍電影。也許在我的腦海裡，我可能會試圖獲得奧斯卡獎。那時我認為自己是泰坦，一個家喻戶曉的名字——它甚至不會是我的藝名，而是我的真名。
令人驚嘆，希望製作能被世界記住的一代電影？
P：是的，只是想成為娛樂界的巨人。我不認為自己在商業上有什麼表現，但我會把手伸進去，我知道我會去拍電影。到那時，我認為我不會成為焦點，但我的電影會。
Does fatherhood at all play a role within creating your music as well?
6LACK: Absolutely. You know, I think that when realised that I was going to be a father, that was the moment where I felt like honesty was the biggest point that I needed to tackle in all of my music. Before I had a kid, there was a lot of deflection and a lot of insecurity and a lot of ‘I don’t know’, not necessarily being true and honest about my own part in certain situations… and once I knew I was going to have a kid, from there I was just like, okay, well, you have to clear up all of these grey areas and be a little bit more sure of yourself and be a lot more honest, because not only do you deserve it for yourself, but someone will be looking at you as an example. Maybe she doesn’t see it or notice it or hear it in the beginning, but eventually her ears and her understanding of everything will be very, very clear.
So, for me, it just pushed a lot more honesty into what I do. And I think that’s why we get to make albums like Since I Have A Lover where, I’m not creating from a bad space anymore. And that’s partially because of having a kid who needs to also feel happy and inspired and healthy and supported. And if I make music that does that for me, then I can only imagine that it’ll do the same thing for her.
You’ve collaborated with some huge British artists such as Gorillaz on the track ‘The Pink Phantom’ and featuring Elton John as well as yourself. Was there anything that you learned in the creative process from either of these artists?
6LACK: With the Gorillaz track specifically, I think that has been a lesson that I’ve learned throughout my whole entire career of making music, which is if I want to grow and if I want to do different things, I just have to continue to put myself in spaces where people might not be used to it. Or maybe the first time I try something with it, it might be uncomfortable or it might not be my favourite. And then over time, I figure out my space in those moments. And when I learn in those moments and when I create in those moments, I end up loving it. Then I can bring new tricks and new things back to my own music.
For this issue we’re focusing on the theme of resistance. So, would you be able to tell us what resistance within your art would mean to you?
6LACK: To me, that would mean continuing to just stand on purpose and serving a cause greater than myself. I think that with money, attention, distractions, social media and biases, there’s so many things that take us away from the core of why we are here and why we create. So, for me, resistance within my art just means sticking to what I know is right. Sticking to what I know actually helps people letting that just lead my whole entire career for as long as I can do it.
Dress, TRACY CUI.
Ring (Right Hand), KHIRY
Rings (Left Hand), AGMES
Nose Ring, ARTIST’S OWN.
“如果我還在做音樂，我認為自己是在尼日利亞從事音樂工作的山羊之一。”
