One of the most exciting things to come out of Phoenix recently is a group called Most Wanted. The 3 piece R&B ensemble made up of Silk, Zenny and Goodie has been making waves for some time now, but over the past couple of months, those waves have gotten stronger off the heels of a few viral moments all grounded by the quality of their music. A lot of people inspire me for different reasons and when it comes to Most Wanted, you’re not going to find another group who will inspire you to work hard and chase after your dreams the way that they do. Last week, on the eve of their new EP release, I had the chance to sit down in my living room with the guys and chat life, music and everything in between. Keep reading to check out my interview with Most Wanted.
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Sam: How’s life treating you all individually?
Silk: Life is treating me good; very interesting section of life considering how everything has been going…in a good way of course. There are still times where endurance and things of that nature are tested and I think that’s the hyper focus for me right now…the endurance and being able to see that the finish line is attainable, but you can’t just skip steps and teleport, you gotta keep the feet moving; so I think that’s the reality of my life right now.
Goodie: I’m good dude! Everything feels like it’s just falling into place, but I’m trying to learn how to detach from it in a way, because sometimes, when things are going any type of way and you care about it, you want to try and put your hands in the mix a little bit, and I tend to get in the way sometimes, so I’m definitely learning to have a healthy detachment, because everything just feels like it’s clicking. You start to see things unfold in ways that are bigger than you, so I’m loving it.
Zenny: I’m in such a day to day state at all times right now. I try and look a couple days ahead and literally, my brain won’t allow me to. I’m just in a really grateful mindset right now. I’m just extremely grateful. Things are perfect, you know what I mean? And it’s because I’m getting the things that I’m supposed to receive, even if those things are negative…I’m still receiving it as a positive. It may look negative on paper, but I’m still formulating how to shoot it out and project it as a positivity. It’s been such a state of gratitude, being present and having clarity.
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Sam: Obviously I’ve known about you all for a while now, but this is really our first time getting to sit down together and chop it up; So with that, I’d love to take some time to dive into ya’ll’s personal upbringings. Let’s start with you Zenny, then go down the line. What led you to music growing up? What was that journey looking like?
Zenny: Man, growing up, we grew up singing in church a lot. I recall singing “Dear Mama” by Boyz II Men and this was pre-sports, which was even crazier because having Nigerian parents, they weren’t too excited about organized sports. But I ended up starting football in about 8th or 9th grade, then got to High School and all the homies were playing ball, so I kept going. I ended up quitting my sophomore season, then came back my junior year. By time Senior year rolled around, I had a 1.7 GPA. In order to play, I at least needed to have a 2.0 to qualify for college so throughout the year, I hit the books hard and I qualified for the NCAA with a 2.1 plus a good SAT score. After that, I had to leave to go to Ole Miss about 2 days after I graduated High School. I got to Ole Miss and I really wasn’t worried about playing, but we were bad at that time and my coach looked at me when I was a freshman and he was like, “you have a chance to play”…Fast-forward to my second year, the senior who I was battling with for the starting position, he oversleeps and misses class, so I get to start the first game of the season. First play of the game, I’m at weak side linebacker and I get a tackle for loss…first play ever in college! This was 2012! Crowd went crazy! Long story short, that was the beginning of an awesome career for me. Fastforward a bit, my little brother Rob gets drafted to the Cardinals and I move out to AZ in 2017, then Silk moves out here in 2018/2019…I was just partying out here and getting into bunch of substances, but in 2019, I got sober, which is when Silk and I decided to start living together. At that time too, I was going to try to pursue football, but then my family told me that I don’t need to chase it if I don’t want to, so I knew I as going to go crazy with this music stuff. So I just dove into it. Trying to learn how to produce…Trying to learn how to play the keyboard. All of it. Me and Silk just start making songs over and over again. We just started pumping them out. He’d get back from work and we would just keep making songs…Then end of 2019, we meet Goodie at an audition/showcase…
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Sam: Okay, Goodie, you take it from there! Tell me what you were up to musically, but also tell me what it was like meeting these guys.
Goodie: For me, since speaking, I’ve been involved in music. Phoenix boys Choir, school band, you name it. Didn’t start taking it seriously though until like 2015. The reason for that was because my Grandmother, who taught me all about music, she ended up passing away, but through my whole life I was so into it; So when she passed, I knew I was meant to do music. So, I’m playing music and during high school, I wasn’t telling anyone that I was making my own music, but I eventually started playing for people at like bonfires and I had friends who were encouraging me to do it. This is back in like 2015/2016 maybe. A Bunch of my instruments got stolen, so I got a laptop and some equipment and just started putting music out as an artist. I was around the wrong crowd at first, but every day, I was just addicted to music. I started losing friends because I was just alienating myself. I was so invested in the craft. So, I’m going crazy just taking it serious. Things were going up and progressing. 2019 comes and I had thrown a few of my own shows and I go to this talent scout/audition thing. There were 20 artists and we performed for some people and whoever was the best got to go on some sort of SXSW tour. While we’re at this event, I meet Zenny and I loved his vibe, so we connected…Keep in mind, at that time I was still using substances and I was having a hard time, because I knew I wanted good for myself, but I was always alone on the music journey. But then I started seeing his IG posts and everything he was posting was just resonating with me. Eventually we start tapping in more; I find a beat on his page, I record it in Logic, then I sent it back to Zenny and he loved it.
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Sam: Man, we just covered a lot of ground just now, so let’s get to you Silk. You said you were in LA for a bit before coming out here. How was that time for you and what was it like coming out here?
Silk: Like Zenny said, we were singing in church and things like that. Started playing in the orchestra for a bit. Dance was big for me though growing up, it was always a part of me. After High School, I did enough to get into Columbus State university in Georgia and pursued computer engineering…Because I enrolled late, all the computer engineering dorms were gone, so the only thing that was available were the arts dorms across main campus. So my roommates were in there playing classical guitar and clarinet. It was only theatre and music majors in this building. So, that sparked my interest in music. I ended up getting kicked out of school, so fast forward after Rob gets drafted, me and my cousins move to LA. We worked on music out there, but nothing Huge came from it. We were making clothes at the time too and there were cool things that were happening, but nothing concrete. So I ended up moving out to Arizona because I was crumbling with the people I was in LA with. Zenny and I began pumping some things out, but still the music stuff was a bit shaky. Myself and Zenny ended up leaving our brother’s crib to get our own place and that’s essentially what started the journey of all of this. Like he said, we would just make music, because we didn’t have anything else to do. We met up with Goodie and that was the first time we all connected. Then the third time we met up was during covid…We were given the keys to this studio and at this time, we weren’t a group yet, but one of the songs that we were working on was called, “Most Wanted”…Then the owner came in and he was like, “are y’all a group?” and we kind of all just said yeah and we decided our name would be “Most Wanted”…
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Sam: So, the group is formed…How has the grind been for ya’ll? A lot of people see the good stuff that happens, but how has it been working up to the point that ya’ll are at now?
Silk: Man, it’s hard…but it’s good getting reminders that the path we’re on is going to work out. That’s why being in a group is so beneficial. If you’re going through something, it’s so much easier to go through it with people. It’s like having shipmates. It takes a team to get through storms. I feel like regardless of the amount of grinding we had to do, us being in a group, it really helped.
Zenny: It has taken a lot of trust and blind faith. Follow it. You’re not going to be an example, if it’s easy. You have to work hard for it. We’re in our later 20’s finding our thing and although some people look at that as being late, it’s exciting to us. Having the mindset of just not giving up is so important, but like Silk said, it gets hard, so having brothers who can pick each other up is crucial.
Goodie: So many different elements come into this equation now. The brotherhood, the sports stuff, there’s just so much of an element of carrying each other’s weight. This helps keep everything clear during the times that have been hard.
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Sam: Man I love that…2 more questions for y’all. EP is out…How are y’all feeling about it?
Goodie: Man! Excited! I don’t want to say too much, but a lot of the rollout that we’re doing is 2000’s early 2000’s and it’s so close to home since we are up in that time. But the best part is just getting to put out new music. That’s my favorite part, getting to share new art.
Zenny: I think with this roll out, people are beginning to see how we move…We’re very visual. We love old school stuff and embodying certain characters. Even with the release party tomorrow, it’s very themed. People are beginning to see that we’re more than musicians, but truly artists. People who believe in everything we’re doing. It’s our world that we’re building and everyone is welcome.
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Sam: What do y’all want to come next for y’all?
Silk: There’s a lot of stuff that we’re trying to incorporate. Especially the boy band. A buddy of mine hit me up and he was telling us that no one is really doing the boy band and we agree. For us to really do it, we have to do it at the highest level, so if we want to do it, we have to really commit to it.
Goodie: It’s more than music for us. When it comes down to doing the entertainment stuff, we all understand that influence comes with it and the way the world is, we care…So if we can bring great music, but also embody a great lifestyle, that’s what the goal is. We just want to have good influence.
Zenny: I’m intrigued by the minds that we’ll be able to connect with and how what we’re doing can inspire others and vice versa. Goal wise, I just can’t wait to meet certain minds and collaborate mentally. I just don’t want to do anything that has already been done and we can’t wait to do that.
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