NUZU: Masculinity, Mental health and the Culture of Rap
Rap group NUZU are making serious waves with their conceptual, intelligent and genre-defying tracks. Each member invites us to explore a different perspective of the world they collectively create, harnessing their imagination to fuel narratives that are true to each individual. I sat down with Jack, Kofi and Teige to speak about their relationships with artistic expression and how this exists alongside their experiences of masculinity, mental health and the broader culture of rap.
Rap culture has played a huge role in creating and dismantling definitions of masculinity. Do you think it has that same influence today?
T: In short, yes. If anything I believe that it has even more influence now than it would have had 10 or 20 years ago. Rap music is the most popular and influential genre globally right now and is often biographical by nature so it drives a lot of conversation around pretty much all topics to do with identity, with masculinity being one of them.
J: Yeah definitely, I think also it’s a genre that’s largely dominated by male artists so masculinity is bound to be intrinsically linked to the culture, shout out to all the overlooked female rappers killing it right now.
K: 100%, but it’s clear to see that the culture, on a global scale, is being slowly re-defined as the years go by. I think we are beginning to see fewer parallels between the “bravado-machismo” type of rap and “vulnerable'' story-telling, with more of an open-mindedness on both sides of the spectrum.
How does the portrayal of masculinity in rap align with your own views on what masculinity means and how it can be defined?
T: This is a good question. I think the rap artists that I find the most interesting as well as the ones pushing the envelope culturally are the ones that are open minded and push that open mindedness publicly. There’s a lot of toxicity in rap (like most pop culture) but I think the most exciting artists mirror our open mindedness to what masculinity means/could be. And that’s wavy.
J: Yeah I mean the landscape of rap is constantly changing, the last 5 years has given us artists like Brockhampton, Lil Nas X, Tyler who are challenging that toxicity and breaking down the genre norms, I think that progression is important. You also see people like Young Thug and Uzi wearing more feminine clothing and I think that has caused people within the culture to start to view things differently. Also fuck Boozie Badazz.
K: I just think it’s important to be yourself, at all times - but not to the point of complete and utter exaggeration. I understand that this is Rap we’re talking about here, but I’ve always rated artists who were sincere in their style, approach and other areas of interest. I don’t think I’ve ever written a lyric with the intention of sounding “macho” in mind. Although, I’ve never been one to shy away from telling my story, in a very candid way.
How important to you is it to be able to speak about your own perspectives and create your own narrative through music?
J: I’ll let you answer this one
T: It is important but I also think escapism through art can be beautiful and is as important. A lot of my favourite music is rooted in people sharing their experiences/perspectives but also a lot of it isn’t. Shout out to the escapists.
K: For me, it’s a big part of my brand at this point. I treat my work as a time capsule for where I am at a particular moment in time. Something that I, my friends and family can always look back on be like “oh yeah, I remember you making this when etc”.
Music allows us to escape our own minds as well as find inspiration and relate to others. How does creating or listening to music affect your mental health?
J: I think most people would agree that we all have an itch that can only be scratched by listening to music. I think for me personally, the same applies to making music (and creating in general) I get restless and ultimately unsatisfied if I’m not creating in some form or another.
T: Yeah I’d say mental health and music are massively linked for me. One thing I’d like to say is I am often a lot more productive creatively when my mental health is better. So I would implore any artists/creatives to not romanticize the ‘tortured artist’ thing and value self care and being happy. The art will follow, put the time in to get yourself right.
K: Mental health plays a huge part for me. It’s often the difference between actively writing and producing records, or just saying “fuck music, my anxiety is on 10 atm.” Admittedly, I am still trying to find a balance, even still now, but I’ve learned to accept that there will be times when I am super inspired; and times when I’ll just be going through the motions. Fortunately for me, I am VERY active at the moment, and long may it continue.
Your art invites us all to step into an immersive audio-visual landscape where we can escape. Are the visuals you create just as important to you as the music you produce? How do they interact with one another?
J: Being the project’s primary music producer and also creating the visuals I’d say for me they are heavily linked. I think being from a film background my mind is based heavily on the visual side of things, so when I’m making a NUZU beat I pretty much have an idea of what I want the video to look like already. Obviously that vision is bound to change through the processes of shooting/editing etc but that’s generally how it works.
T: Yeah from the very beginning a hugely important part of what we do is trying to build a vivid, layered world. The visuals are as much of what makes us what we are as the music is in my opinion. An image can ‘feel NUZU’ and that excites me.
J: Yeah I think as a group we are all very in tune with what we are trying to convey with NUZU. Whether it’s bars, beats, videos, artwork, fashion, it’s kinda an unspoken thing that we all know what’s ‘NUZU’ and what isn’t.
K: Lol, what they said. Although, music will always be the primary asset for me, considering that’s what I know and do best!
What has it been like unleashing NUZU onto the world during a pandemic? How has lockdown affected your ability to communicate with one another and create music?
T: It’s been hard but also it’s proved to me how much we care about this. I also feel like now we can create together in the same room we appreciate it so much more.
J: Honestly in some ways it’s been a blessing. It’s allowed us to really hone our craft and find our voice musically; I think the others would agree that our vision of what we wanted NUZU to be evolved massively throughout the whole period. Now things are returning to normality, it’s been sick to finally perform live and get a reaction to what we’ve been working on over the past couple years.
K: I think we’ve done OK, all things considered. We all live quite some distance apart from one another these days, so getting together to do things was difficult during the lockdown 1 - I think we shot ‘Hazy’ just before it, so we were lucky! But since then, I think we’ve found more of a synchronisation when it comes to linking up and getting work done, especially within the last 6 - 8 months.
What can you tell us about the future of NUZU? What’s on the horizon?
T: Nu Music. Nu Vibes. NUZU.
J: Yessirski
K: ZU-OLOGY VOL.1 THE UNOFFICIAL CERTIFIED GUARANTEED UNCONFIRMED ALBUM OUT SOOOOON MAN!!
