How has isolation in New York been treating you?

I don’t know, it’s been interesting. Every day is different and has its ups and downs, but the other night I was kind of tripping because even though the whole world is in turmoil and some people’s situations are much worse than mine, I’ve been the most comfortable I’ve ever been in my whole life and same goes for my mother and my brothers. Kind of a lot to explain but it would have happened at this point even without this pandemic going on. I just feel very blessed.

Yeah man things have been pretty hectic lately but I’m glad you’ve been well. With a lot of time on your hands now, what has been keeping you motivated to do things like make music?

I don’t know, some days are really hard to do anything and I feel myself going back down into a dark path, but making art is the only thing that is really keeping me sane. If I don’t make anything then I’m really just falling down back where I was before. Finally starting to figure things out and what I’ve got to do to maintain. A lot of days there is no motivation at all but I know that it comes in waves and some days I gotta just chill.

Yeah definitely gotta take things one day at a time. Since music has been your outlet, how did your band Blair come to life?

I don’t know I would always half jokingly say “we should start a band” but also be serious enough to try it out with people, but no one ever really took it seriously I think. Except for one time we were at my friend Sam’s house and Nico lived there at the time and that same situation happened. I think Paul, Tucker, Nico, and I were all there and that happened then we planned a day to go to Paul’s studio and jam and stuck with it. I always loved making music and would rap or sing on beats that friends made but always really wanted to kind of try creating it all from scratch. I didn’t grow up playing anything, except for my grandmother’s grand piano a little bit, but I never took lessons so being in a band definitely seemed like a good opportunity to learn more about music in general and grow with it. It also just seemed fun as hell.

That’s sick that it finally all came together for you. Do you want to shout out any artists that have influenced the music you guys have been putting out?

Yeah I’m very happy that it worked out, I think it was meant to be. We all have our different inspirations that just go into it subconsciously. Definitely a lot of 90s emo, punk, and hardcore stuff but also a lot of r&b, rap, jazz, and funk influences too so that’s hard to really say. I do want to give a shoutout to some fellow young artists who I think are positively influencing and motivating not just me but a lot of young people, especially black people, by using their voice to talk about their struggle, black liberation, mental health issues and much more, while also just slappin’ up, and I just think those topics are very important and should be talked about more in today’s music. But yeah shoutouts to Ade Hakim, Medhane, Navy Blue, Mike, Mavi, Baby Sosa, keiyyA, Slauson Malone, Caleb Giles, Taphari, and Mal Devisa. That’s just to name some, check em out if you haven’t already for sure.

Hell yeah man it’s an interesting combination of inspiration but it seems to work really well. Also, the people reading have to check out those artists for sure. They’re on their way to do some really big things. Continuing with the subject of Blair, I dig the new song called Nothing Helps. Can we expect any more new music from you guys coming soon?

Thanks man, I’m glad you like it! That song’s kinda old at this point too. The process is longer than I first expected to record and put out a song. But yes we have another song that will be dropping very soon and many more that are on the way! Can’t wait to put em out.

That’s awesome I’m very hyped to hear it! Were you excited to have your songs used in the second 917 video and The Homies Network video? I thought they worked well with the skating.

Yeah that was cool, it’s awesome seeing it and watching em at the premieres. It gets me hyped but I also just get super critical of the music since it’s living in something else. I could have done more to make those songs better but I also know that’s part of it and we grow with it so I’m not tripping now. But at the time I remember being like “fuck those songs suck.”

It’s sick to see that you also put out a song and video with ACAB. It’s a lot different from your sound with Blair. Any input on that?

That song with ACAB was super random. I started fucking around making real beats on Ableton a couple of months ago. Medhane is actually who helped me out by showing me some useful tips on Ableton, so shout outs to him. When I first made it I thought it would be cool with two people rapping with different sounding voices back and forth and then when I was playin it I was like oh shit ACAB should just get on this with me cause I didn’t think anyone else would want the beat. So we made it in a couple weeks. I would go to their place after work with my laptop and we would write and I would add little things to the beat here and there. It’s kind of my first real beat. I’m happy with how it came out. But we finally recorded it like the day before quarantine really started, on a mic I bought that day cause my other one was kind of shitty, and I just mixed it myself. The video I just really wanted to do. When I first made the beat I just envisioned that shot with us running and I knew we were gonna eventually go on lockdown so I just got an impulse to make a video cause I knew there was a chance we wouldn’t be able to for a long time. I just always wanted to make a music video so that was a lot of fun.

It looks like Humble made a quick reappearance and you guys made a compilation of submitted songs. When can we expect to hear volume two, and what else can we hope to see from Humble in the near future?

For Humble we want to work on volume two very soon. Don’t know exactly when though, maybe after coronavirus clears out a bit or something. Expect to see some new Humble clothing and more very soon! Very excited for the future of Humble, as well as Blair, and just creating things in general and sharing it all.

What else have you been up to aside from music? Have you been able to get out and skate?

I skated like five times with Max Palmer who I live with and we’d go to this empty court not too far from us. Last time someone brought out a little box and it was chill and everyone was spread out. Still feels weird being outside, especially skating. Don’t want to fall on the ground or touch it at all, but I usually still have my mask on. Don’t really think I should be doing it much cause I have asthma and I lost my pump, but I think if you are being smart, safe, and thinking about others, you can skate if you find a nice and mellow spot.

Any advice to help people stuck inside during quarantine?

For advice to help people out, just remember that this is only temporary and to stay strong. Some days are harder than others and some situations are harder than others but every day just try to do things to better yourself as a person and that are healthy for you. It’s one step at a time but just try to find healthy motivation in whatever it is that works best for you and we will get through this. Also remember to think of others and check in on loved ones. I don’t know how long this will be, but it won’t be forever and somethings just need to happen in order for other things to happen as hard as those things may be. We will get through it though.

You can listen to Blair’s music here.