Photographed by Akil Grubb (@spaceplayboi)
Young, smart and boisterous, [Asoh Black!](https://www.instagram.com/asohblack/) is the kid from Brooklyn who’s made his progression his profession. The rapper using his street and book smarts to create stories so vivid and honest in nature. His newest project Black Ocean: Season One dropped February 28, 2020, came full throttle with hits like “Staying Sober” and “Breakfast n’ Rewind” which features vocals from rapper Zoey Dollaz. A founding member of Free.All.Mind$, an NYC based creative collective, Asoh uses his voice to explore and expand his mind and everyone he crosses.
His style, unique but so East Coast, Asoh mixes genres and creates sounds in the moment, birthing songs in real-time. Stylizing his name with a purposed exclamation point, “I'm making a statement and it's not some regular statement. It's a bold statement,” he declared. A recent graduate from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Asoh’s already working on his next and first studio album, which is bound to be full of statement pieces and clever phrases purposed to bridge thoughts and genres alike.
**Being from Brooklyn, how has the influenced you as an artist as well?**
Around here we don’t sugarcoat shit, we’re hella authentic. It's like if we fill it, we gon say it. I think that has allowed me to just be my authentic self as it translates to music and that shows through my writing. Now, sonically, I will say that being from Brooklyn and just the East Coast, in general, is a blessing because it has forced me to grow up on individuals who placed a heavy emphasis on lyricism and using your vernacular to really invoke a message that really sticks; being meticulous with your words.
I think that that's something I'm championing and something that will truly allow people to appreciate me to the level that’s gonna end up bringing me to the goals that I want to get. That lyricism and the essence of being very meticulous with your words, being a wordsmith, that's something that East Coast really prides themselves on. I think that just going around that community, listening to these artists who did these things really help. I’m lucky to have been around that.
**What's your life been like excuse me since the release of _Black Ocean,_ which was like the end of February**
Definitely been … it’s been interesting but about the same time, it's been traveling on a very expected path. I’m playing with the mentality that it makes no sense to put up a thousand shots in the gym and then expect to miss the game-winning shot. So I’ve put enough work, energy, and passion into the project that I put forth that anything that’s coming from it, like the recognition from Hot New Hip-Hop, DJ Booth, Pigeons & Planes, Complex, all that. Obviously it’s incredibly exciting and incredibly flattering and I'm happy. I'm glad it's happening because I see myself fall into that level where these are the goals that I had, and they happen and it’s not like, ‘Oh, wow, crazy like I didn't expect it,’ like okay, this is what I work for.
So it's been going according to plan I would say. But the one crazy part that I feel as though I didn't expect for but at the same time is like oh, I don't think that I'm not due for the blessing is being asked to open up for this big-name artists. I don't want to reveal the artist yet because quarantine kind of like postponed some things and I don't want to count my eggs before they hatch. But I was getting an opportunity to open up for this huge artist, one of New York City's biggest venues with the potential to join in on his European leg of his tour, like arena tour. So that's crazy lowkey.
**That's big! that actually is funny because I was gonna ask you what's been the biggest moment but that's big. That's good. Congrats!**
Thank you. Thank you so much. I’m definitely taking that blessing and congratulations more appropriately when it actually comes forward, but just even being asked to do is a blessing in itself.
**What’s your favorite song on the EP?**
It varies. Honestly, it changes by the week, sometimes by the day. That's why I love and I'm so proud of what I did because it's not a case where I'm so glued to a specific song. I can switch out favorite songs by the week. First, it was “Tell Me Lies,” before I even put out the project, that song I put the most emotional thought into and it really returned the energy. I would play it and that feeling that I used to create the record was then being returned and I'll listen like I would get emotional. It would remind me of what I was writing about. So I was always very connected to that song. But then it was “Staying Sober.” Then we got with Zoey \[Dollaz\] for vocals and then was “Breakfast n’ Rewind,” of course, “Foolie” has been out, so that's just a record that I love just because of what it’s done for me.
**What was the inspiration behind your most recent single “Staying Sober” off _Black Ocean_?**
I took a trip to Chicago to link up with my homies at Lyrical Lemonade. I was staying in this hotel, and it got to the point where I don't know, I was just I've just high on my bed in my hotel room. I was just thinking about this girl and the fact that it was a close relationship and the only way that I found comfort was like, eating snacks, not being sober and like writing this song that ultimately, like helped me through that experience. I figured it was like I said, humans are more alike than they are different so I figured this spoke to a greater societal pain that we faced with like, a lot of times. People do rely on drugs to help them through their problems. Honestly, not all the times is it terrible, but at the same time, it is what it is, and that's what I went through. I’m just trying to be authentic and sometimes, especially for the younger generation, it's hard to stay sober because that’s how we work through our problems. So I just started making a song like that and it just happened to be what I was going through at the time.
**Describe your sound and what influences your artistry?**
To say that I'm an artist is to accept the fact that I'm not pigeonholing myself to a specific sound. I think that's the best way to categorize my sound is on that's very much multi-faceted. I don't think that is really contained to a particular community or particular sonic realm. I like to put my hands in different bowls because, it just allows me to grow as an individual and when I make music, they pull one, my emotions and what I go through my experiences. I'd be lying if I told you like, I always went through the same happy experiences every day. No, sometimes I have down days. That's why some songs are more down than others. Sometimes I'm incredibly happy, that's why a lot of songs are \[more\] energetic than others.
I am meticulous in trying to evoke a very like ... I want to make you feel, that’s it. If it’s happy and you want to dance, fasho. If a song makes you feel sad, alright, as long as it’s not making you feel nothing, like you can't relate. So I think my sound is based in versatility. By being multifaceted. I don't think it's very contained to something that’s one dimensional.
Photographed by Akil Grubb (@spaceplayboi)
**Alright, so let's say that somebody wants to say who is Asoh Black!, what is your answer?**
You’re next favorite artist. What? Come on now. Point blank period. I’m that dude that you don’t even know what you’re missing until you get it.
I do know that I'm a blend between what's pop these days like what can catch on just ‘cause I do have melodies, I can sing, I can do all these things. At the same time, it’s that technical competency just knowing how to rap, you feel me? So like the underground is gonna appreciate it. Mainstream is gonna appreciate it. So I don't see myself as being able to be limited to a certain demographic where certain people won't be able to mess with my music. So no matter who woke up to me, I’ma get them!
.jpg)
