How 6LACK Rejuvenates

Now may be the time to shift the tide and see 6LACK as a person who advocates for bliss — especially for those in the Black community. In order to achieve meaningful work, he must be inspired by every aspect of his life. We all know and love 6LACK as the artist who releases back-to-back hits and collaborates with our favorite musicians. Instead, he’s recently released different versions of the same songs for listeners to meditate, study, and relax to.

Tell me about some of your favorite discussion points with Sadhguru.

My favorite part of it was the different perspectives and talking about the same thing but from two different angles. I actually got to learn a little bit more than I got to share my perspective which was cool because I come from a space of normally being the person that people come to. So having a moment to sit back and listen to somebody with a lot more experience and wisdom was my favorite part. It was a listening session for me.

Were there any commonalities that you two had when it came to mental health and love?

I think the idea of being loved and making that a part of your everyday life and everyday practice. That has been the constant driving force behind everything that I do creatively, and I know as a yogi it has to be the center of who you are, so that’s definitely where we connected.

What do you think makes you and Sadhguru different?

I would say that the only difference that I could offer to that discussion is that sometimes when you come from different backgrounds or different areas, the hurdles that you have to go through in order to attain a level of peace or a certain amount of love is just a little bit harder to tackle. The focus on being loved when there are so many distractions and we live in the social media era where news is flying at us 24/7. Coming from a younger generation where there’s a lot more for us to sift through and filter through – that’s where I would say we’re a little bit different. I have a little bit more of an understanding and compassion for just how hard it is to dedicate yourself to that practice.

Was there any piece of advice Sadhguru gave you that really stuck with you?

Honestly, it was aside from the talking points. It was his poise and his patience throughout the discussion. I think that being able to speak clearly and freely only comes from doing so much work on yourself. That was the lasting thing that I noticed throughout the discussion. The way that he’s conditioned is just something that I aspire to be.

You released Since I Have A Lover back in March. What’s the overarching theme of the album?

Since I Have A Lover ties back to the discussion with Yogi Sadhguru. The album is about practice. It’s about figuring out how to be your biggest, best self and how to show up for yourself. It’s about love – and not just romantic love, but self-love. It could be love for a hobby or for a passion. It could be love for a routine, doing something for yourself health-wise…Reminding yourself of who you are outside and the one or two things you may have adapted as a personality. So for me, it was just an album that was made to help me practice getting back to myself and inspire other people to do the same thing.

You took a hiatus to focus on your mental health. During that time, what did healing and taking care of yourself look like?

Sitting with myself sometimes in complete silence and just have those moments where I’m going through everything that I’m thinking or feeling and trying to organize it. After sitting with myself, I was finding something to read; a good book. “The 5AM Club: Own Your Morning. Elevate Your Life” was one of my favorite books during the beginning of that process because I was switching my sleeping patterns and starting to wake up earlier to tackle more of my day before 11 a.m. Besides that, yoga and meditation in the morning. Doing one or both of those makes me feel a lot more prepared for anything that comes at me for the rest of the day. I’ve been running a lot lately – any kind of exercise. Anything except the music was helping me because in order for me to be creatively inspired in music, I’ve just grown to the point where I have to be creatively inspired in every other aspect of my life first.

How long do you think it took you to get back to being musically inspired?

Right around the time I was wrapping up some of my sessions with my therapist who I was also talking to during my process. Once I started to have a better scope of everything that was going on in my life, I just felt better going into the studio. I felt more excited and a weight was off my shoulders and I actually had something worth saying.

You said you hit rock bottom which means something different for everyone. Do you feel like you’re bouncing back and more able to continue working on music?

Absolutely. To this day, it’s still an everyday practice, but the bounce-back has been amazing. I was up at 6:30 this morning for yoga class in Venice, then 8 a.m. meditation, and now I’m doing this nice interview. A lot of stuff has been done before my day really starts. As soon as I get off here I’m going straight to the studio.

I think that being able to speak clearly and freely only comes from doing so much work on yourself.

Why did you choose QUIN, Don Toliver, and Wale as collaborators for Since I Have A Lover?

I always just make the music first. Then if I hear somebody’s voice, it’ll pop into my head in a moment where maybe I have an empty space on the song that I didn’t complete. I’ll listen to it with that empty space for a while then hear one of my friend’s voices pop up in my head. That’s normally how it happens. For the song with Wale, I had finished the entire song, and then toward the end, I just kept saying ‘I hear somebody else but it’s not me.’ I hear poetry so it has to be Wale. For Don, I had an open space for a hook, and knowing that he was one of my favorite artists throughout the pandemic so I reached out and made it happen. QUIN is obviously my partner and one of my best friends.

Who do you want to collaborate with in the future?

I would love to make a song with Erkyah, James Fauntleroy, The Dream, and Frank. I’m open to anything. There are tons of people I haven’t worked with who I would love to work with. I would love to work with Sade even though she doesn’t do collabs.

During your discussion with Sadhguru, you touched on the point of Black women being the blueprint. How do you incorporate the inspiration of Black women into your music and daily life?

By opening my eyes and opening my ears. Some of the best advice and most unbiased opinions that I’ve ever gotten were from the people around me and the women around me. I’ve always been the leader for my group of friends as far as guys go, but it’s always cool to have a perspective that’s like, ‘Hey, you need to get your shit together. I can see you, and you might look cool to everybody else, but you have a little bit more work to do.’ It’s hard to accept in the beginning, but it’s so necessary in order to grow.

Are there any direct Black women in your life who give you daily inspiration?

My mom for sure. She was there from the very beginning of what wasn’t even a career during the time. Besides the music, she took on the responsibility of raising three kids, having to make sure everything was covered, and still allowing space for there to be some kind of creative outlet. If it weren’t for her, then I probably wouldn’t even be on this call right now.

If you were a yogi, what is some advice you would give to people who want people to slow down and take care of themselves?

I would honestly just say to be gentle with yourself, and be gentle with other people. That’s the best piece of advice. I’m even taking it for myself today and with everything that I do, with every conversation I have, with every conflict that pops up. I’m really taking my time and not getting worked up, not overreacting, and allowing myself to be responsible and seeing what that does for my life.

Were those some of the issues you faced that made daily life difficult?

For sure. You have pent-up feelings of resentment towards something. Then you get caught off guard and the next thing you know you’re reacting or overreacting. I know what the best version of myself is and I love to be proactive, to listen, and to figure things out.

Why is therapy important to you?

I really had to talk to somebody on the outside to figure out how I feel inside. It was the main thing that I know I was struggling with. I left therapy feeling like I had trained for football or a sport. I know so much better now and it’s not even that I need a specific answer about anything in my life. I just needed to get it out of my head and my body, and once I got it out I had a better idea of how to handle myself next time versus just continuing to create this story that’s way more dramatic than it has to be.

What are some of your goals moving forward?

I would love to put on some weight and take care of my body. I also want to spend as much time as I can with my daughter and continue to figure out ways to help myself and help the people around me figure out the rest of our lives in the most fun and creative ways possible. I want to make more cool shit.

Music

Jesse Jo Stark Is in a Genre of Her Own

April 19, 2024

In the midst of a total solar eclipse, I got the chance to talk about music and style with Jesse Jo Stark.

As I’m on the phone with her from New York, Stark is on a tour bus with The Veronicas, driving through the Colorado mountains to enjoy some time off in between shows. The Veronicas have just started their Gothic Summer North American Tour, and Stark is opening the show. What’s special about this tour for the lifelong music obsessive is the sense of powerful feminine energy encapsulating the tour. “We just started [tour], but it’s been really lovely. I’m obsessed with the fact that we’re all women — it feels like a very powerful crew. The Veronicas are lovely, the crowds have been so fun, and the venues are beautiful. It’s gonna be a good month.”

Photography Sophia-Liv Maguire
Styling Marc Eram
Interview Angelina Hazzouri
Talent Jesse Jo Stark
Hair Antoine Martinez with PARADIS using Roz Hair
Makeup Sydney Szramowski
Photo Assistants Mia O’Neal, Rashaun Richardson
BTS Ms Josephine
Creative Producer Olivia Roper-Caldbeck

This is Stark’s second time touring since the release of her full-length debut album DOOMED in late 2022, which was very well received and led to Stark’s first sold-out international headlining tour on behalf of the album. Previous to her solo tour, she’s opened for various notable acts, such as Guns N’ Roses and Jane’s Addiction. I asked Stark, who’s been writing and playing music since age 11, what it was like to prepare for her first sold-out headlining tour. Unsurprisingly, before any tour, Stark goes into what she describes as “bootcamp mode” — dancing every day, vocal training, rehearsing with her band, and of course, working on her outfits. “That’s the sort of homework I love,” she says, smiling. (Even though we’re on the phone, I can tell she’s smiling when she talks about the outfit part. I’d smile too if I had her tour closet.)

What’s unique about Stark as a musician is that she has ultimately created her own universe by embracing every aspect of her creative upbringing, her raw talent, her fascinating influences, and her unwavering beliefs in not needing to fit into a certain box when it comes to her art. She creative-directs and styles all her own looks, referencing an ever-evolving list of influences that range from Vegas showgirls to Halloween to old films to her parents in the 90s. “I think when I was younger, I had this rebellion against what I was made from,” she tells me, “but now it’s just my blood. I constantly reflect on my childhood and everything I was taught and everything I saw. My brother and sister and I are constantly pulling influences from our parents from the past. I think, more than ever, I’m heavily influenced by them.”

Stark, the daughter of founders and owners of the self-made American fashion brand Chrome Hearts, and now its creative director and designer, is someone who always knew what she liked, but as she describes it, had to ‘go through the motions’ that come with growing up and knowing one’s identity. Today, her self-efficacy is palpable — and it’s inspiring.

...when I was younger, I had this rebellion against what I was made from, but now it’s just my blood.

When she’s on tour, Stark is growing with herself and with her art — she’s not afraid to take life as it comes and learn through the process. With every show, regardless of whether it was on her DOOMED tour or this tour with The Veronicas, Stark understands the importance of human connection through music. Seeing faces of music lovers like herself, meeting those who have traveled to see her, and visiting familiar and unfamiliar cities has reminded her that she loves being on the road. “The growth that happens on tour is so important to me as an artist.” Sometimes we have to leave behind what’s familiar in order to rediscover what’s important, and Stark is a proponent of this growth mindset.

Growth doesn’t just happen on tour with Stark — this evolution of herself happens within genre as well, and for Stark there’s no such thing. Since her first release Driftwood in 2017, the artist’s sound has shifted year after year, but in a harmonious way that still feels central to her gothic Americana roots. When asked if she’ll experiment with genre in the future, Stark confidently answers, “I think I’ve only experimented with genre. I don’t think anyone knows what genre I am.” (She calls herself a “horrific hillbilly” — a perfect descriptor.) Steadfast in her belief that we as humans can constantly evolve in our work, Stark thinks it’s antiquated to fit yourself into a certain box and focus on one specific trade in order to succeed. “If you look at us as people, we’re seasoned. We change all the time. I want to experience different things.”

Since Driftwood, a two-song EP rooted in rock and country, Stark has experimented with more robust beats and 808s on DOOMED, and her most recent single “skeleton” features a softer, grungier punk sound. Without fitting into a specific genre, Stark’s music is undoubtedly and wholeheartedly her own, transcending the boundaries of what many artists struggle with when finding their sound. “I don’t think we should have to label ourselves in any way, shape, or form; so I’m not going to. I will continue to make all types of different music.” Fuck yeah.

If you look at us as people, we’re seasoned. We change all the time.

This goes beyond just music — in terms of her personal style, the same mentality applies. We discuss the idea that clothing and dressing is a sort of playground, and personal style comes from within. Stark isn’t about following trends, but rather, she thinks it’s important to tap into different stylistic elements that amplify who we are at our cores. On her DOOMED tour, Stark wore a lot of leather and stuck to a fairly dark color palette. Right now, she’s into more bourgeois satin and lace, experimenting with different textures and wearing things that feel slightly daintier and more delicate. On this current tour with the Veronicas, Stark is making it more of a point to take everything in — absorbing inspiration from every city, writing songs on the road, recording video on a friend’s super 8 camera, styling and wearing new outfits, learning and performing new covers — ultimately growing through the whole experience.

It’s endearing and inspiring how well Stark knows herself. A Los Angeles native, she proudly tells me that the tour finishes on May 5 in her hometown, a show that she’s especially excited for. While we can’t predict what thoughtfully-curated outfit she’ll wear or what songs will be performed, with new music already underway, one thing is clear: Jesse Jo Stark is just getting started.

Music

9lives' Latest Single Continues to Push Sigilkore

April 19, 2024

The versatile artist, producer, and pioneer of the sigilkore genre, 9lives, has recently unveiled his latest single "CANADA" featuring jnhygs. In less than two years since his emergence onto the music scene, 9lives has carved out an impressive niche for himself as a prominent figure within the digitally-driven sigilkore movement. "CANADA" sees him teaming up once again with experimental dance artist jnhygs, following their successful collaboration on "XTAYALIVE".

With aspirations to establish himself within the mainstream arena of experimental music production and artistry, 9lives is blending his distinct dark production style with collaborations with a diverse array of influential artists who trust him to create innovative sonic landscapes. "CANADA" marks his second release of 2024, as 9lives continues to champion the burgeoning sigilkore movement, pushing the boundaries of genre, evolving into a multifaceted artist, and solidifying his status as a rising star with an expanding audience.

Image by Connor Pritchard

Reflecting on their latest project, 9lives shares, “In early 2023 jnhygs found my music and we started chatting through TikTok, releasing our first song together called "XTAYALIVE"." He adds, We’ve been friends since this song had a viral moment, and fans have been heavily requesting for us to work together again all over our videos.” Describing their creative process, he explains, “I sent a bunch of new ideas to jnhygs via Discord and she sent back vocals to “CANADA”, which I then used to create melodic layers and extra percussion to complete the song.

Music

Eclipsed at Vampire Weekend

April 16, 2024

It had been about a week since the goosebump-inducing communal howls at the moon, as it covered the sun through a cloudy Austin, Texas sky, left me needing to take a seat—suspended in awe of the totality of the event and the synergistic break from routine. I overheard someone say, “I mean, it feels like we’re all going to die, but in a way that’s okay, you know?" under the shadow of the eclipse's peak, ceremoniously brought in as the band performed “Jonathan Low,” (in Vampire Weekend's familiar ironic hue) a track they wrote for the third movie in the Twilight series, Eclipse.

It had been five years since the band had released an album. In celebration of their latest album, "Only God Was Above Us," ticket holders wrapped the streets in blocks outside the venue for the band’s first Stateside show in about two years. Event managers searched to replenish the venue’s stock of eclipse glasses, while the band prepped a show reminiscent of 'getting the boys back together again'.

Words and photography by Rianne Akindele

In between newly released songs like “Classical” and “Capricorn”, the boys filled the almost two-hour-long show with old favorites like “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa”, “Diane Young” and a genre evolved rendition of “Sunflower” as the crowd danced barefoot feeling the Earth’s energy intertwined with their own and the vibrations from the amps on stage. People stole glances at the imminently darkening sky, artists doodled, friends grabbed onto each other to scream the lyrics in each other’s faces, and onlookers from the highest level of the parking garage across the street cheered on in a symphony of nostalgia and anticipation.

Adding to the layers of the celestial afternoon, the band invited to the stage the likes of Thomas Mars from Phoenix, Dave 1 from Chromeo, and guitarist Brian Robert Jones, inducing further levels of indie revival euphoria.

As the show drew to its close, and the zydeco/country-rock “Cocaine Cowboys” medley fiddled through the air, a conversation could be picked up between two sisters in search of their Lyft driver through closed-off streets,

“I wish this happened more often.”
“Eclipses or shows like this?”
“Both.”

It’s moments like these that remind us of our shared humanity and the power of collective experiences; a gathering of souls under the same sky, sharing the joy of music and a wonder of the stars above. Perhaps it’s the rarity that allowed such transcendence, reverence, and gratitude to be felt. Either way, what a beautiful moment in time it was.

Here are a few shots from the Monday afternoon: