It means quite a lot to be not only one of the most engaged figures in a rising music scene but also one of its originators and/or purveyors. These figures have a tellingly unique perspective on their respective scene by simply taking up that mantle, but their status as to how much they are respected or otherwise tends to go up in the air once that scene does take off.
This exact dichotomy has made itself most apparent in the case of Misaku Foxx in regards to the coming wave of pop music; they have been pushing this scene from a musical standpoint for a very, very long time – longer than a great majority of its members – but has since seen a resounding divide as to their status among the scene from fellow artists and fans alike.
Any keen eye within this movement could easily tell you that these criticisms of the Tucson, Arizona native are almost always completely unsubstantiated, but that is failing to recognize the toll that their actions have taken on Misaku themself in the process.
Yet with that being said, an aura of sheer progress, positivity, and passion seems to follow them anywhere they go and with whatever venture they take on. The GoonnCity mainstay and Graveem1nd forerunner is working towards an all-too-promising future with an equal amount of talent to go with it, and it’s safe to say that any sense of negativity coming their way will certainly be dispelled once their lofty goals are inevitably reached.
It’s no secret that you’ve been in this scene for quite a long time now, but when did your musical upbringing begin?
That’s actually something I’ve been wondering myself. When I was younger I always really, really liked classic hip-hop and rap stuff, and I wanted to be a rapper myself… but I had probably the worst lisp in the country at the time, so I was convinced it wasn’t possible until freshman year when I was listening to a lot of Shoreline Mafia (laughs) and I decided to take my phone and earphones and record a verse and it wasn’t even that bad, so I guess in a way it was just an impulsive thing, haven’t stopped since that night.
Was it just that one moment or had other factors influenced you as well?
It surprises me to think about it like that, because of course, I had hundreds of inspirations because all I did ever was listen to music, but if I had to pinpoint it that’s where I would.
What kept you moving forward with music from that point onward?
I guess curiosity and my friends mostly. In high school, we would all rap together and they would come over and record on my phone on the weekends and all of that kind of stuff.
When did you find yourself being introduced to the scene that you’re now such a huge figure in?
Okay, this is like my favorite thing to talk about because I’m so grateful for all of this stuff. At the time, I was making sort of nightcore mixed with R&B stuff, but I made this song called “Lonely” over a beat I found on youtube produced by Maknae – who I had no idea who they were at that point – but Prblm from Novagang had reposted it, and I guess that’s when everyone in this community saw it and really fucked with it. I got comments from people like Kketamine and Chach asking to work, which I was insanely happy about because these guys made the craziest stuff I had ever heard and they were a lot bigger than me.
Since you’ve really seen things come up for you guys – whether you influenced those things or not – what was the biggest breaking point for the scene from your point of view?
I think probably the breaking point would be like when Quinn started to go up. Of course, we weren’t irrelevant or anything before there were a lot of big artists in the scene, but Quinn got a lot of us seen which I’m really thankful for.
Quinn has certainly stated publicly that you guys are super close, but are there any other figures you could point to as being special in that way, musically or otherwise?
I’m so glad you asked because I really love to talk about my friends like this. So first of course there are all my friends in GoonnCity: Monty, Kevin, Kasper, 2007 (who seriously does not get the credit they deserve considering most if not all of us are inspired by them), Dvdi, Irys, Benny… the list goes on and on. These people are like family to me and have always been there when I needed them. Also, Chach is like a big brother figure to me so shout out bro so much.
Do these things ring true from an entire community standpoint to you?
This whole scene as a whole has been great friends to me, especially coming from not having really any friends at all throughout most of my life. It’s cool to feel accepted somewhere, you know?
So even though you obviously have a deep level of concern and care for the people that make up this community, you, unfortunately, see yourself getting a lot more hate on places like Twitter than one would think looking at you from the outside. Why is this the case in your eyes, and why do you think these things keep happening over and over?
I’m honestly not sure. Maybe jealousy, or maybe there are people who don’t think I’m deserving of like a platform and stuff. I mean, I’m definitely not perfect, but really I just sing into a mic in my darkroom every night… there’s not much to be jealous of.
In dealing with all of this as often as you do, have you found music to be any sort of an escape for you when these events all go down?
Definitely, definitely, definitely… Music is sort of like therapy for me, and I’ve always used it as an escape from everything.
Do personal issues like the ones you’re confronted with – in real life or not – also affect the type of music that you end up creating?
Oh yeah, stuff like anxiety and heartbreak are pretty common themes throughout my music, drug issues and what not too. It’s like if I were to take all my experiences from my brain and make a sandwich out of them, how would that sandwich sound?
Now with all of that being said, what’s coming next from you as far as music is concerned? How do you plan on ending this year on a high note?
There’s a lot of special things coming… (coughs) a project. I’m working on some sort of video that would go with like a song I made that sounds cool, and lots of crazy cool stuff with Graveem1nd — an insanely stacked roster and can’t wait for people to see what we come up with. So far, this has been an amazing year and I’m just so thankful for all the support I’ve gotten.