Tell us your real names, country of birth and childhood experience.
Gordon Victor. Born in the US; I’ve been composing since I was 8 and playing piano sooner than that. I’ve been musical since I was very young; my parents have always supported that.
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Tell us your academic qualification.
I’m a senior in high school and am dual enrolled at Providence High School and NCSSM.
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Tell us about your music career, band name, musical background, experience and skills.
I just started hip-hop, only started producing since May, 2017. I am mainly a composer of baroque music. I love J.S. Bach and Vivaldi; they are my greatest inspiration. I think I’m really good at making interesting music and being creative.
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Tell us about your genre, concept and idea behind your music video and the song.
I feel this song falls under being experimental rap. It’s based on a poem; included in the Soundcloud description. I wrote this poem after being told about the Ghazal poem form by my mentor Pete K. It’s really about hiding from stress and “life problems” through naps. I extend this to the world’s desire to escape from these problems — racism, crime, sexism, war, etc… Everyone can relate to naps.
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Tell us how to run a record label independently and successfully based on your experience as an artist.
Just value the art and creative process. Don’t limit artists.
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Tell us how you are promoting your music.
Not much, I’m just talking to my friends and people that help me with songs. I’m trying to really refine what I do before I send it to everyone.
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Tell us what makes you happy and what makes you sad.
Music and family makes me happy while hateful people make me sad.
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Explain clearly the story or concept behind the song.
It’s based on this poem:
Naptime Ghazal
When I was in kindergarten, I ran away from naps.
Hiding from dusty blankets and cold padded leather matts. Naps
were the last things on my mind. I would rather draw
Knights fighting wars with swords and shields before I took a nap.
I would rather pretend I was a policeman and demand that my friends put their hands up before I shot them with a crooked stick. I never wanted to nap.
Eleven years later. I see the value of naps after a day of disappointing grades, I love to nap.
I’d rather be hugged by a feather comforter than think about 58 dead in Las Vegas. So I nap.
My blankets a bulletproof vest: I don’t feel the heat threatened from Nuclear war when I nap.
When knights capable of shooting 30 rounds per minute don’t nap.
when policemen that shoot their black crooked sticks at people without crooked sticks don’t nap.
I bet presidents wish they could cover themselves in blankets sewn with tax money and sleep on matts of Electoral College votes; and nap.
But until populations aren’t bruised with ism and prisons,
the world can’t lay its head down and nap.
Tell us about other members of your band, music producer, crew or music video director, how the song was recorded and how the music video was shot.
I produce and write everything. My friend Bryce Gotta, or Belis, recorded the hook.
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Tell us how long you have been in the music industry, your experience and your future goal.
Months, just since May, 2017. I just want to make good music, refine what I do, and impact people with my music. I want to change and innovate music.
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Tell us what makes you unique from others.
I really like to be purposeful with what I do. My lyrics are thoughtful, my beat relates, etc… I really value meaning and consciousness. I don’t really think that’s very common in the mainstream hip-hop. Also, I’m classically trained and know a lot about music theory and classical music.
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Tell us your weakness and strength pertaining music.
Strengths:
Instrumentals
Lyrics
Sampling
Meaning
Weaknesses:
Delivery
Sometimes Flow
Vocals
I often get too obsessed with what I make.
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List your five favourite songs including the artists.
All made by J.S. Bach:
Art of the Fugue
The Musical Offering
Magnificat in D Major
Well Tempered Clavier Book II
Mass in B Minor
I’m a big baroque fan.
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Tell us your position on “DIY” Do It Yourself” and signing to a major label.
I think that creativity can occur in or out of a studio. I like doing stuff myself because I feel intimate with what I’m making.
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Tell us the instruments put together in this song.
I sampled drums from Karadeniz by Karl Hector & the Malcouns and A Garden of Peace by Lonnie Liston Smith. I just added some drums and a pad for the hook.
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Tell us other activities you will like to pursue apart from music.
I make poetry and study quantum physics and chemistry at the North Carolina School of Science and Math. I have written many scientific papers. I still compose some music but not as much as hip-hop. I also really like cooking.
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Tell us about gaining the confidence to sing in front of a large crowd for the first time.
I haven’t done that yet. I feel like I could though.
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Tell us the best way to make money in the music business.
Just do something new. If you do something new and you refine your craft, success will come.
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Narrate your recording experience.
I just practice and practice until I get it perfect and then I record a couple of times. I cut the best parts of each recording and mix.
