ZEEN* Issue 1.5, Winter 2023

Issue 1.5 WINTER 23

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DI D YOU M ISS US? WE FIGURE D YOU WE RE DOOM-SCROLLI NG AN D N E E DE D SOM E HOLI DAY CH E E R. KICK BACK AN D I N DULGE YOURSE LF WITH A DIGITAL M I N I BOOK TREAT. HAPPY HOLI DAYS. - ZE E N* TEAM

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TABLE OF CONTE NTS

0.1 LI FE'S TE RMS - ROBE RTO DE LACRUZ 0.2 ARTIST I NTE RVI EW - YAM I 0.3 YOU WE RE N'T I NVITE D - L. SONG WU 0.4 WE LCOM E HOM E - AN N I E CH URCH

Roberto Delacruz*

*i thought about it heavy and there was a lot of stuff from this shoot that i believed matched the energy of the prompt, a lot of it going unseen due to there just being so much to work with but coming back home after studying abroad i feel entails a lot of looking for identity and purpose some people indulge in partying, some people like the idea of spending time with family, others really just need time to take a walk in a park or frolick in a field and just think: “damn, i been gone, and now i’m back, what do i do now”

You

Invited.

weren’t

L. Song Wu is a figurative painter hailing from Florida but lives and works in Stanford, California, where she is currently studying art and engineering.

Her confrontational paintings aim to alienate viewers and force them to reckon with their spectatorship towards the depicted figures. Her work has been exhibited in New York, San Francisco, and Berlin.

YAMI is an up-and-coming underground artist op, hyperpop, and punk. Last year, he released was featured in the promotional teaser for ZEE leasing his second EP SITH, we wanted to a

artist interview

YAMI I: How have you been?

I’ve been good you know I’ve just been grinding a lot.

I: I noticed you put out a whole new little project.

Yeah, I wasn’t really—I wasn’t really fucking with that... Can I cuss? I could cuss or no?

I: Yeah you can cuss. Don’t filter yourself.

I: I just wanna start by saying we’re really excited to have you on this issue because we listened to your first album. And then we showed it to our friends and they really liked you. I had you on my playlist and I- -didn’t even tell them about nothing. They would be like ‘play something’ and I would be like, oh, let me play Will’s stuff.

Shit, I mean, I appreciate it.

I: First, I want you to introduce yourself and tell us how you got here with your music. What’s been going on?

I’m Will, AKA Yami I guess, and I’m from Holyoke, Springfield, MA, and I’ve been playing around with music for a little bit but I really started this year.

Or last year. So it’s been like a year since I started making music. But yeah, I don’t know. I just started writing and then now I just freestyle everything. I

just been doing different shit now. I don’t even be doing all hip-hop right now.

I: I remember, when we were kids. You would memorize Eminem verses and when I tell you like Will could spit when he was a kid. Of course his stuff now sounds a lot different but when I tell you when he was a kid, he would rap so fast.

You know what I think started it, you remember that movie, Let It Shine? He’s like ‘I might be a busboy, but you just got served’. Oh man, that shit inspired me. I wanted to be the truth.

I: How did you start experimenting? What was the first thing you used when you started making music?

Band Lab, to be honest, I make all my stuff on Band Lab. And I tried to use FL Studio. I tried to use the actual guide at first, but it’s very difficult to understand it. So yeah, just go with Band Lab. That’s pretty much it and I just add my presets and all my vocal mixtures and shit. Over time I just learned how to do it I guess.

I: What’s your creative process like? Songwriting?

What does that look like for you?

Well, I just get real geeked up and then I just, you know, freestyle. Literally. That’s the process. But

t experimenting in hiphhis first EP SKUNK, which EN*’s first issue. Since reask him some questions.

unless like it’s real late, you know what I’m saying?

And there’s a vibe hitting, I make one with an acoustic touch.

That’s basically the process—I feel like people really think it’s a lot more but it’s actually so simple.

I’m not gonna lie.

I: Like it comes easy?

Yes, very easy for some reason.

I: It could be specific, not really. It could be musically. It could be your personal experiences.

It could be anybody around you or anybody you look up to. So just feel free to talk about what really influences you? What really brings you to that kind of stuff?

Doja Cat. I: How? I just listen to Doja Cat for real. “BBY DOJA”, that’s like my alter ego, I guess.

That’s what I’d be calling my second name instead of YAMI. But yeah, Doja Cat, I’m not even lying.

Her mind is crazy. Like I would love to meet her someday. Her mind is phenomenal.

You could literally hear my music, and probably could hear some some Woozy influence. Some X (XXXTentaticion) influence in there. But Doja Cat is the main priority.

I: So what’s YAMI supposed to be for?

‘Kurayami’ means ‘darkness’ in Japanese, and there’s a character in Black Clover called Yami.

I: So has Black Clover influenced you in any way?

I’m not gonna lie, no. But Tokyo Ghoul and Akame ga Kill have influenced me very much.

I: Do you feel like [anime has] been an influence

YEAH I WASN’T REALLY— I WASN’T REALLY­ FUCKI NG WITH THAT...

CAN I CUSS? COULD I CUSS OR NO?

[in your work] visually or stylistically? say cross-country runner. You’ll both Yes, 100%. You know Ryuk from Death like it.

Note?

And the second one? I made that shit I: Yeah, of course. for the moshpit. I made that shit for To make it what it is, it’s just perfect. a show.

On my first one, I was more on my Love-Song, R&B-ish type stuff. I I: Do you think your music even fits mean, I was talking about my feelings, into a genre? What do you think about I was talking about girls. Talking about genres or do you want to be called a all that and then the second one I was rapper or a singer? Do you care about talking about leather pants and little the labels? boots and popping n**** in they face.

No, not really. I know people would consider me as a rapper. That’s mostly what I make, but I’m not going I: How did you promote it? What was to lie, underground rap scene is kind that process like promoting your own of like, I don’t know. music?

Me and my friends are about to start Yeah, I’m not gonna lie. I can’t really a band or rather make a band, yeah. leak the sauce. You know, I’m saying, All my friends play instruments to a like, I got the sauce. good point. Where they have potential But what I really do—I will literally and Ivy, you know I can play drums. spend a whole morning just copySo we have bass, drums. You know, and pasting my Linktree link to all I’m saying keyboards, and I can sing my distributors. I’ll just link it and too. That’s one thing people haven’t I’ll send it to everybody I follow on seen yet is that I can really sing for Instagram and everyone that follows real. me and then I send it to everybody on I: Maybe the church. They forced us my Twitter and I send it to everybody to sing. on my Snapchat. And I post like three They did and we had to put up our times a day on Tiktok. grades in front of everybody and I had I: It’s a good point that you bring up all F’s every time. because nowadays, there’s a really big discussion of how you can’t be a I: What’s the difference between your creative without also being your own first [EP] SKUNK and second, SITH? businessman.

First one, the one that got more That’s what I’m saying. Like it’s so recognition—I purposely put it out many people who are trying to be because I knew everyone would like artists in any type of way that. You it. I knew you could be a punk-ass or really do just have to be your own you could be a, what’s it called, let’s manager, boss, everything.

I MADE THAT SH IT FOR TH E MOSH PIT. I MADE THAT SH IT FOR A SHOW. I: Last question is, where are you taking your stuff in the future?

Hopefully to the highest extent it can get without being corny.

I: What does that mean?

Let me give an example. Actually, I’m not going to say names. Just people, people who go mainstream, feel me? I obviously want to be mainstream, but not by choice. [...] And then that’s different because certain artists will make certain music and then they will change their whole music and then turn mainstream, and now they’re making the most hazard shit.

I: So in the future, do we expect a debut album?

In the works. [...] I’m not gonna drop a tape for probably a minute because the next tape I drop I’m really gonna put everything I have into it. And I hope it takes me somewhere. By the end of this year, or early next year, I’m gonna have a whole tape. In between I’ma just drop singles, you know, promote my singles or whatever.

I: Then honestly, we don’t really have anything else to ask, but if you wanna just say anything, promote yourself. Anything you want on the article.

Well, first thank you guys. Thank you for the interview. I enjoyed it. You know, it wasn’t actually as hard as I thought it was gonna be.

And if anyone [reading this] is interested in my music and you want to listen to it, look up ‘YAMI SKUNK’ in all capitals, on any platform. In there you will find the treasure.

You will find the legend. You will find what you will find. You will find the X on the map.

Pretty much, yeah, thank you guys.

*the idea of returning home is much better than the reality. you go back to find yourself struggling–trying to fit into the mold already outgrown. full of freedoms. but the things you remember to be in pristine condition are now worn out. so are you coming home?

A.C. E.S. I.W. M.S. N.U. T.L. COVER PHOTOGRAPHY NARTAY UALIKHAN