The South Carolina born, Indiana-raised midwxst is one of America's upcoming stars. His music is volatile whilst able to span multiple genres to show that there's no boundaries with what can be made. His energy on the new EP 'Back in Action' is infectious. The project takes a step into the mainstream, whilst also bringing the focus on rap.
The artist has been touring the US selling out shows around America, his hyperactive sounds are bound to make waves across the globe too.
Midwxst brought the hyper energy when Clash got on the phone to speak with the artist.
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Congrats on the EP 'BACK IN ACTION', are you happy with the reception?
Yeah I’m super happy with how it’s turned out. The direction for this EP was to make something more focused on rap, because I've been dabbling in a whole range of genres recently. So to make a whole project of a similar style was fun.
Is it a project you’ve been working on for a while?
It’s been a minute since I started the project – some of them are songs I made before moving to LA to fully focus on music. I’ve been sitting on some of this for a while.
For you, was there a song in particular that was fun to make?
The last song made there was called ‘Slide’. It featured two of my closest musical friends. Everybody has their own moments in the song. Slump has his moment with the punchlines and Eric has the melodic voice which matches well with the beat. We had people from different scenes mesh together. It was a super sick moment.
For your new music video ‘slide’ will be out soon. What was the inspiration behind this?
It was super fun to shoot this, we went to Atlanta for a weekend and my friends were able to pull up too. They were able to join me on a scene where we’re all dancing around. I haven’t had any videos like that before, it’s going to be a lot to take in but in a good way.
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I’ve seen that you had your first show in New York recently. How was that experience, does it feel good to play this music out to fans?
It was so good! That was another reason I made an EP with music like what’s on 'BACK IN ACTION' – I wanted music which I could take into the live space. I don’t want to only be singing sad songs, I want to be able to have fun and see some mosh pits.
One of my biggest inspirations is XXXtentacion, Ski Mask, and Denzel Curry. They all make aggressive music and if that’s possible, I want to be able to have that energy too. Everyone knew the lyrics and the venue was sold out which was crazy for me. It blew my mind, I thought I was going to be in the military, but I’m selling out shows in New York. But playing in front of the stage is important for me. If you see a crowd of people that are there for you, it’s a crazy experience and your adrenaline shoots through the roof.
Does it give you more motivation?
Yeah it gives me that motivation – if i can bring these people together with the small catalogue I have now, imagine what I can later down the line. If I’m able to inspire people and have a room full of people who know all the words to the songs that will always motivate me. I couldn’t care less about the money, I care about the emotions that people feel when they listen to my music.
You mentioned before a few artists, is it important for you to pay homage to those who inspired you?
That’s a really big part of me as a person. I’ve been influenced by so many people from so many different genres. From the likes of XXXTentacion, Bill Withers and even Marvin Gaye. Everybody has some sort of inspiration, no one is going to be 100 percent authentic. There’s always going to be a driving factor in the back of their head. Even some songs on this EP are inspired by artists by the likes of Skrillex.
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'BACK IN ACTION' EP is out now.
Words: Joe Hale // @Joesquestions
Photo Credit: Zamar Velez
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