British artist Max is presenting his latest single, “yet, i’m afraid,” fusing rap with experimental electronic elements. In the track, an honest and polished flow seamlessly merges with lush atmospheric synth layers. Read our conversation with the artist below!
Describe your sound in 3 words
Would ‘hard to place’ work? I’ve never been great with questions on myself; it changes too much. I guess looking at everything that’s out there then maybe something along the lines of ‘moody, driven, spacial’ might fit. Then again, those might just be 3 words that mean nothing to the next listener.
Can you elaborate on the specific self-realization era that inspired this project, and how it influenced the themes and narrative of ‘yet, i’m afraid’?
I’m not sure if it was induced, natural or a strange combination of everything but I began just letting go of any previous feelings I had and saw them as experiences instead. That sounds out of touch, and I still get nervous, jealous and feel ‘bad’ feelings but I see a good in the act of doing so. I came to a point where finding comfort in all of those feelings has somehow expanded my capacity to feel even more – so I took off those chains and found I had it all wrong before.
How did the process of rewriting, recording, and organizing the track contribute to conveying the spiritual and existential themes the song touches?
I don’t tend to think too much when writing or producing, usually all of the understanding comes afterwards when I’ve reached a point of not knowing what to do next, which is exactly how it unfolded here. When I redid the track, I was living away from home and trying to finally structure the work I’ve putting together. When figuring out where I wanted ‘yet, i’m afraid’ to fit in, I had somewhat of a clearer vision for what it should really be addressing and its true narrative, which is probably the main factor that helped in getting the ideas out. For starters, the title itself is the ending to a sentence of a track that will eventually find its place right before it in the full project. I was also experimenting a lot with transitions and creating spacial sounds through foley at the time, this ultimately lead to me wanting to create some sort of narrative that felt and sounded real. To me, it introduces an ‘existential’ moment as a listener to be brought to a new place like that.
In what ways do you believe your own vocals contribute to the authenticity and personal connection you’re aiming for in this project, compared to the original version?
I think the main reason would probably be that, it’s me. Originally, the track was made and finished with a good friend and using my vocals just covering the outro. It felt weird when I came to structuring the project I’m working on because I knew I wanted this track near the start, and with it not really being myself, I wasn’t sure on it. On top of that, I didn’t contribute at all to the lyrics on the first version and they weren’t saying what I wanted them to for where the track was being placed and so I started rewriting it.
Favourite rapper, lyricist and producer?
While my work is questionable, I’m also not great at listening to music and never have great answers to these either. I think rapper I’d go with Westside Gunn, JPEGMAFIA or throw in a curve ball like Yeat or Destroy Lonely. Lyricist is probably going to be Kendrick but producers there are too many to name; Flume, Kenny Beats or Ivy Lab to name some.
Why sexism, and even outright misogyny, is so pervasive in Hip Hop culture?
That’s a tough one and whichever way you take it someone will pass the blame – in reality it’s probably as a result of everyone involved, whether you’re a producer or consumer. I’m not sure if you could pass it to specific genres in the Hip Hop scene that might frequent it, through lyrics, visuals or the way artists present themselves, or if it’s just bled over and stained everything. The ‘why’ factor is interesting though, I don’t think I know enough history to give a definitive answer on that and I suppose if new people entering the scene are creatives, then perhaps it finds it’s way into their own work without them seeing it for what it truly is outside of a Hip Hop context.
Do you think there is a true underground hip hop sound today?
Underground is always changing and truthfully it’s members are the first ones on new waves to make them popular, which is probably good and bad. If everyone just keeps looking for what’s going to catch on then soon enough we’ll just end up with nothing. Personally, I’m not even sure what counts as underground nowadays. Is it just guys not being in mainstream media? If it is then I think the whole scene is so broad to say it has just one sound. In that case, I’m all for it.
What advice would you give to your younger self?
Be serious and actually chase it. You’re going to make a lot of incomprehensibly bad stuff and you always will, that won’t go away, but you still know what you want and that’s what you’ve got. Don’t be afraid of expressing yourself to people who can’t take expression, sooner or later it’ll make sense. Also, don’t be afraid of getting hurt either, you’ll know what it meant at some point.
Thank you!
Follow Max
Instagram
Follow our Spotify Playlist “Verse Eclectic” feat. Max
Secret Eclectic 