By Damilola Grey
Dami: What was your first introduction to music?
imy: I feel like since I was out the womb. My dad and my uncles used to play Pac, Nate Dogg, Snoop and all the oldhead West Coast music. My other uncle was the one that put me on to alt rock at a pretty young age.
Dami: What inspired you to start making music?
imy: I think I always knew I wanted to. My uncle was in a group in the early 2000s and I always thought that shit was fire. I used to watch VH1 Soul, MTV Jams and all that when I was young too, so I guess music videos were a big influence as well.
Dami: Where do you grab inspiration from when making music?
imy: They are all about shit I have been through. People I’ve lost, relationships I’ve had, and just regular shit people go through.
Dami: How would you describe your sound?
imy: It started out as only hip hop but now I guess it’s more hyperpop/ alt R&B.
Dami: What’s your creative process like?
imy: I feel like I’m in discord with all my friends looking for beats all day. Once I find the beat, I play it over and over and work on the bridge first, chorus, and the verses. I mix and master everything myself on FL, so I punch in all my vocals and then rework everything at the end.
Dami: You dropped a track titled “Linux” sometime last month. Can you tell us more about it?
imy: That’s my one of my favorites so far and I usually don’t mess with songs right after but this one’s been on repeat for me. The song’s about old letters my dad sent to my mum when we broke up back before I was born.
Dami: What’s next for you after Linux?
imy: A few singles. Ichirou and I have an EP lined up and then I’m working towards another tape. I wanna get more features in. Videos for “Yellow”, “Cargo”, “Linux”, and “Lupin” are all on the way as well.
Dami: Can you tell us more about the EP on the way?
imy: Yeah it’s gonna be 6 songs, 2 pluggnb beats, either an indie beat like funeral or an R&B beat like vaile, and then the rest are hyperpop type beats. The first few projects I made were revolving around women and relationships. The next ones are about going as hard as possible. There’s not a lot of people where I’m from that make that type of music, and as of recently there’s a lot of people that never made anything other than West Coast or lyrical rap that, all of a sudden, are on a whole bunch of beats from producers I use. The project is gonna be called ‘Zeon’.
Dami: Any dream collabs?
imy: Tyler the Creator, Pharrell, Uzi, Kali Uchis and Uno.
Dami: How do you deal with feeling underappreciated as an artist?
imy: I don’t think I do. I think shit happens for a reason. When I pop off is when I pop off. The homie Haadi reminds me to keep being human. If I keep that shit with me, it’ll all work out.
Dami: What’s the most memorable thing you’ve experienced as an artist?
imy: Making Cargo. I started making music in 2016 but stopped cause of some bullshit at home. Cargo put life back into me. Me making Cargo showed all my friends that we should make music again. Now I got a team with me off that one song.
Listen to “OFF” by imyholly now:
ROUNDHOUSE MUSIC 