Zaan6below

What got you into making music? And how long have you been making music?

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I've always been into music since I was a little kid, like before I could really read and comprehend words. My mom knew how to sing and my dad always played instruments back when he was in school. But I probably took my first notice into like, damn, I really want to start making music when I was around five or six. I went to some jazz  concert with my mom, that's when I saw live music for the first time, and that got me into playing instruments. So in school I joined a band, but I wasn't really fucking with it.  

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What instruments did you play? 

 

I could play a few, the saxophone, the drums, the piano, and the trumpet. I remember, one Christmas when I was little my mom got me my first laptop ever and then my uncle gave me FL Studio and then I just started fucking around on that. So I've probably been producing since I was around 10 or 11. I didn't start taking that shit serious though until probably my junior year of high school (so 15/16), and I'm 22 now. So yeah it’s been a minute. I try to listen to a lot of different genres of music. When I was growing up, I wasn't only listening to rap, really everything, like R&B, Jazz, rock, my family are really versatile when it comes to music. So that helped play a role into when I make beats, even rapping too. 

 

What are your biggest inspirations for your sound at the moment?

 

I think right now. The people I'm making music with influence me the most with my sound, like Southsidesilhouette, Diorvsyou, Rollin Thrax, Tezzus. the list goes on, I think we all help influence

each other. Right now I only really listen to them, but I grew up listening to a lot of Chief Keef, Future, Young Thug, but that's just rap. I listened to a bit of everything, a lot of rock, like The Strokes and Nirvana, and also some electronic music artists like Daft Punk and DeadMau5.

 

What do you think the main difference in the music between rappers that produce and rappers that don't? How do you think you are advantaged by being a producer as well as a rapper?

Making your own beats! Not having to rely on producers. Rappers that don't produce have to find the beats they want to rap on, they always need a producer. I've got a lot of homies that rap and wished they could produce, sometimes there's a sound that only you can hear in your head. And it's two different avenues, you can be a producer getting big placements and sell out shows as an artist, (like Pierre Bourne, Icytwat, Kanye, Tyler the Creator ect), so if you can do both well there's way more money to be made.

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 Are you interested in working on other projects outside of music if so, what would you do or are doing?

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Fashion. I've always liked clothes, I just don't know how to go about making them. I feel like that's what I'd be doing if it weren't for music. And if I wasn't making clothes, I would still want to do something fashion related. Something where my career is around clothes and I could travel with it.

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What is 4ET?

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We started 4ET in high school, just as a group of close friends. I guess you could say it's like a collective. We are all creative and make music, but we would still be 4ET if we never made music.

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 What are some goals in 2024?

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I'm gonna release more music, I feel like I got to shove it in their face more. I feel like all of us are holding on to so much music and procrastinating on dropping it. We just got to fucking drop that shit and work with more artists.  Another thing I really want to do this year too, other than just my own music, is to work with some more female artists. One artist I’ve been working with is Babysosa. I feel like, with a lot of artists coming up, it's easier to get a male fan base than a female fanbase. I feel like if you've got a female fan base as well, it solidifies you as an artist.

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Is there a message you are trying to send with your art that you want to address now?

 

I wouldn't necessarily say a message, I definitely have songs that have messages for sure. But I feel like right now I'm just making music to make people feel good, to get up and motivate people to do some shit. I feel like right now everybody’s music is so dark and grungy, with upside down crosses and stuff. That's probably another reason why a lot of n*gas don't have female fans, nobody wants dark music all the time.

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What do you plan on dropping next?

I plan on dropping this little EP “Gear 5” at some point this year. I just don't know when, it’s really been done since August last year. I like holding on to it adding to it little by little, so it’s just getting better and better. I'm really not rushed. I want to build anticipation for it.ss

 

As your producing for artists your working on their projects your not worried about rushing your own projects?

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No, no, I wouldn't necessarily say that, because, as a producer that's trying to make music too. It be hard to balance it. As I'm helping a lot of other people with projects, everybody's sound is different. So in terms of making my sound I need to try and make these for myself and get into my mode for my projects. For example, In terms of 4ET everybody is their own artist, yeah we can rap on the same type beats but that's not all our sound, I might want to get on some shit that's different from what Rollin Thrax want to get and vice versa. Everybody got their own plans for certain projects. So you know, everybody really just loves working on music, which is cool, Dropping gear five this this year. I just don't know when, probably this summer.

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04/03/2024