ALTYEG

When did you start making music? 

 

When did I start making music? I like to say I really started taking it seriously around 2018. Yeah, I had dabbled in it for fun a couple of years prior, but 2018, I was in school, I was a U of A, and it was kind of the only thing. 

I kind of kept my mental health. Right. Had some competitive edge as well. I just kind of got back into it, and then ever since then, I think the ball really started got rolling in, like, 2019. Well, I've been doing shows for, like, ever I've had any new shows. 

I think the biggest thing I did was started a year, January and December 2. I was in Ghana. Where I was born and raised. Just happened to go back home, and they were together. This event, it was, like, super insane. 

I don't know the capacity you dude, but it was like it was a lot of people probably,  closer to 20,000. That was, the biggest that I've done.

​

What are your earliest inspirations for music?  First time you kind of branch off from music. Your parents were kind of introduced.

​

Oh, man. Like I said, I grew up in Ghana. Right. This guy's name is Sakurdi. S-A-R-K-O-D-I. 

Thankfully not in December. When I got back home, I had a chance to meet him. Things just really lined up for me when I was back. Cole, man, I was able to share that with him. Like, yo, he's a big inspiration for me. 

I remember we used to run around when he'll play his songs on the radio. We had to record our things, so as soon as the song come on, record it and then end it and learn the lyrics so we could impress our friends. 

By singing it, and I was, like, the cool thing to do back then to know other people's raps. So I think, the earliest memory of, Die Hard, till this day, I'm still, such a fan. 

I remember meeting him, it was, like, so surreal, and telling him I make music as well. He, like, embraced me. That meant a lot to me. So Sakura is a big influence, but I think more contemporarily speaking. 

J. Cole is somebody that I look up to, especially, in the hip hop realm. Like, Sakura does hip hop as well, but I guess he speaks to my native tongue. So English, new York, hip hop, whatever. So J. 

Cole is that sort of character for me early on.

 

Yeah. How would you classify your music?

 

Yeah, there's a lot of there's there's a lot of subgenres in hip hop right now, which, end of last year, I took a little bit of the hiatus from releasing music because I kind of wanted to figure that out. 

The exact question, like, what box do you fit in? Because I like to think I'm a very dynamic artist in the sense that I can make a lot of different sounds, hop on lots of different beats that would fall in these different subject matters. 

But I think as a positive that is crazy. As much as that is a positive thing, it could also be a negative thing when it comes to branding, when it comes to marketing. Right. Because it's like, I look at music like a grocery store. 

If you don't have an aisle that. You fit in well, that we can we just know to go grab this stuff. Then you're just all over the store and really, who are you? Right, so I think now what? I'll categorize myself as a very long winded way to ask your question. 

Like, I'm more of a chill hip hop. Like an old school boom bob, caught a new wave type. I'm a very lyrical artist in that sense. And like I said, yeah, some of my inspirations is, like, J. Cole, that kind of lane. 

I listen to Drake a lot. Like Mac Miller type beats. That's the way the influence, a Joey Badass type of sound. Very chill, lyrical hip hop.

​

Is there any deep, meaning behind the latest single do you have out? 

 

Well, my new song is called Industry. It's something I was working on before I left to Ghana. 

And I guess the theme or the premise of the record is that me as the aspiring artist, me as the lyrical artist, you unfortunately, we're at a point in the game, I like to call it we're at a point in music history right now where, unfortunately, talent is barely any percentage of what's required to be successful in what we do. 

In that sense, the more traditional skills are not as celebrated. And I think that's in a way, because anybody can get on the beat and say whatever these days, and if you have the right look or you say the right thing or you make the right TikTok, you take off. 

It doesn't really matter what you're saying. And my whole point with Industry is that I don't like what people are saying or, more importantly, the lack of things being said at all. People aren't even saying anything right. 

That's what industry is all about. What's the. Had a henny buckle in my hand. I'm pouring out the pain. Because I'd rather tell the truth to. You if it's all the same. Don't compare me to. These industry guys. 

We ain't the same. I'm tired of. These fuck. Ass rappers is what I'm saying. Essentially, right? But in that same line of thought, thankfully, like when I went to Ghana, I was able to meet a lot of industry folks randomly. 

That wasn't something like I had planned, but it just spelled in my lap just a couple of connections. I was able to be chancellor rapper like Cody, the guy that shot the Kanye West documentary, right, so it's like a whole host of people and soccer and somebody's. 

Just a very surreal experience. But I just think it was perfect timing be that I was riding so many industry folks now that the song isn't targeted at any of the people that I named or anything. I think they are more of the standout of the industry folks that I was talking about in the record. 

But I think just being around that many people like Juno's just came here, a lot of industry folks got to meet Zacks and stuff like that. But I just think with everything going on, it's like the perfect time to release that record. 

Let people know where my stance is on things still. And then I would just keep a push.

 

Awesome. So are you your lyricist and that as well?

 

No, I don't produce, I do engineer. So like I record actually most of the stuff that I have out right now, I record it myself. 

But on the mix it master inside. I have my guy Madison that helps me out a lot. Currently I've been branching out to try different places. A couple of my dear homies decided a studio. They call it Starlight Studios. 

So I've been tapping in with them as well, especially with those guys. That's why I kind of get my beats. Like ah prior to I was really surfing online. That's kind of where my production comes from. Usually like I'm working with guys. 

I'm sorry. Beat stars a lot of Americans. But now I'm cherishing the experience of an in house producer, which is something that Starlights I tapped in with soundproof this guy's name as well. So just like having that experience and having a say and like, oh, do this, tweak that, it's valuable to me. 

 

Awesome. So anything else that fans can expect?

 

Well, the people can expect consistency and just delivering content. I mean, I put a lot of kind of onus on myself and more importantly, I have really I hold myself to the higher standard at this point. 

People can expect quality from me. I've been doing this for a few years now and I'm only getting better. I'm only getting smarter, only making better business decisions. And the content itself is just going to be off the hook. 

And I'm writing some best music ever. I'm creating some of my best music ever. So yeah, high hopes for the future, man. They could expect more singles a project this year for sure. I can't go into any further details, but yeah, man, I'm working. 

 

Anybody you'd like to give a shout out to?

 

Oh, damn. That's like a tricky like yeah, a long list, and if somebody don't get so I'm sure they'll shout out to my boy Madison. Behind the scenes. He's kind of been the closest guy working with me. 

He's like, longtime friend, engineer. Sometimes I'll go record with him in his studio. So everything what I've built, I've kind of partially owed to him as well. So big shout to mazda and yeah, I mean, shout out to all the industry guys that I met, because they honestly opened doors to me and they introduced me to a lot of people that matter. 

So, I mean, I got to meet Dave Chappelle, right? You know what I mean?

​

​

-Alternativejustin