So, yeah. I’m Alexander Spit. A rapper from San Francisco, living in Los Angeles. I work hard at writing and producing loud Rap music that sounds like music you’ve never heard before.
One thing I know a lot of people are curious about is how you got your name.
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When I was 15, I went by ATG, short for Alexander The Great. I never really fucked with that name and I was always lightweight embarrassed to use it; but I used it one too many times to abandon it, so I got stuck running with it for a while. Around that time I wrote a verse that had something like, “SupercalifragilisticexpiAlexanderSpit” in it. When I’d perform, that was the ONLY line people actually knew of mine. It was the ONE line I knew all the homies and people who followed my music would yell out when I spit that verse. After about a year of noticing that, I started running with the name Alexander Spit. It felt natural when I wrote it in my black book.
So you ran with it.
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The name just felt right. I always liked how contrasting the words “Alexander” and “Spit” seemed next to each other. I always considered that to encompass a lot about the music itself. I’m really big on contrast and juxtaposition. The idea of mixing ideas and concepts that don’t normally mix, and making something sound illy out of that. I’ve sort of ran with that mission statement in my own mind for almost the last 10 years.
What or who else inspired you to get into music in those early years..
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I had a few mentors that got me really into the art of Hip Hop. I’m hella appreciative of those folks. They gave me an OG perspective on what really matters in the game, and how to see through the sucka shit. I’m only 23 now, but I think too many artists don’t understand the history of all this. And I’m not talking about “Hip Hop History”, mainly just the idea that hella new jacks front like they the first to run with the gimmick they got. That’s a whole other discussion I guess..
Aside from that, growing up I ran with the kids that were fuckin’ up. We were those idiots who tried drugs first, ditched class, tagged in the hallways, etc. I’m not sure why it is, but Rap music fit into that equation perfectly. And because we weren’t trying to get along with the rest of our school and be caught up in the same social fuckery they were in, it only made sense to separate ourselves and do something that felt like substance… Even if it was just getting high and writing verses with hella negative things to say
Throughout that transitional period, what kind of music was in your headphones?
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Man… When it came to music I was always changing what ended up in my discman. I always liked the idea of knowing the perfect song for every type of moment, so as a result I exposed myself to a pretty wide array of music.
When it came to rap, I’ve just always been big on the beats. I’m a huge fan of lyrics and all, but if the beat couldn’t stick out on its own I probably wasn’t fuckin’ with it. I liked rappers that could accentuate a beat by knowing how to ride it correctly; So obviously I fucked with Tupac a bunch. For my generation I think he was the pinnacle of how this rap shit should be done. Through Pac I got into a lot of Bay rap. Bay rap got me into South shit. Both of those got me into Soul. Soul somehow got me into old Punk. Punk got me into Rock steady. And now I just look for anything in between that’s good.
Now that you’re making your own music, what genre would you place it in, if any?
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Rap. Actually, nah. Whiskey Make-out Rap Music
Fair enough. What do you think inspires that kind of view?
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I guess it’s something that’s been a lifetime in the making. I’ve spent a good portion of my life learning everything I know from living in San Francisco; and that’s a city full of contrast and juxtaposition. Yet there’s a harmony to it all. The circle of kids I ran with were usually bound by music and partying. But in SF, I think there’s an overall open-mindedness and interests that resulted in some crazy mixes. The skaters mobbin’ around with the artsy kids. South City coke dealers runnin’ wit the rich USF chicks. Fillmore OGs takin’ shots with Mission kids. Rich neighborhoods with bums sleeping outside of homes type shit.
I like to think that San Francisco made me the artist I am today. Even though the bay area has an overall open mind-set, the standards for quality are high too. Not even on some elitist shit, but I feel like bay kids can see through anything that falls short of being timeless. When it comes to the sound of my music, I try hard to showcase that idea.
I now live in Los Angeles and I hold onto that mind-set. Especially with LA being a city thriving off of passing trends, the bay’s view on music keeps my head on straight.
It seems like you naturally feed off of the city’s energy.
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There’s a weird harmony in the bay. Living in San Francisco drilled in the idea that as long as the energy and craft in my music was there, EVERYBODY is capable of fuckin’ with it. So nowadays, when there are folks with something ugly to say about what I do, it’s clear to me that they on some narrow-minded, boring shit.
So it’s safe to say living in the bay area heavily inspired the making of your first project, Open 24 Hours. What songs on that project best capture your inspirations of contrast and juxtapose in the city?
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I was definitely trying to capture those ideas with every track on that project; but the track Kinda Sorta Blues always sticks out in my mind the most. That was a track I wrote and produced with a bluesy, laid back, grimey steez, and had my good friend David Gardner sing on it. David Gardner happened to be a homeless, 60 something year old, heavyset black dude that I met on the block I lived on in SF. I met him coming home from a bar one night when I heard him singing for change on the corner. Homie had, and in my opinion, still has the illest voice. Long story short, I ended up hanging out with the dude and we worked on some music together; One of the songs was Kinda Sorta Blues. That song showed me what was possible when bringing together different ideas to create something great.
Open 24 Hours is a very soulful project, and you clearly put a lot of time and effort into it. What would be the most important thing that a person will learn about you as a person after listening?
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I like to think about OPEN 24 HOURS as a time when I wasn’t scared to try out a lot of ideas production wise. In addition, I was really into trying to capture a certain story through my verses about the life I live. One that’s not completely glamorous and flashy, but still one to be content with and rep proudly.
So I want listeners to really understand that I’m a rapper than makes good songs. Not just verse, hook, verse, hook shit. I’m a fan of tracks with strictly raps, but especially for me to capture the concept of that album, I knew I had to provide a bit more.
It all resulted in being an album most folks could relate to. Most Rap music is some real gangster shit or some “poppin’ bottles” shit. Most of these rappers ain’t ’bout it either, but they’re desperate to piggyback that lane because they see it working. The music I make is the alternative of that. No one else seems to want to provide that story, so I have no problem doing that.
Shortly after your move to L.A., you released Until Next Summer. Did the bay area still have an equal hand in shaping the sound of this project?-
Of course. Most of the content, stories, and people I wrote about on that project were inspired by my experiences in San Francisco. But, I definitely know that the move to Los Angeles influenced and evolved my sound. The things I noticed first when I moved to LA, was the weather and the women. So, when I was writing and making beats for Until Next Summer, I wanted it to capture that feel. That cool Los Angeles shit, but I wanted to spit some heavy noise over it.
What will people learn about you listening to Until Next Summer that they wouldn’t get from Open 24 Hours?
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Until Next Summer showcased my progression as an artist. The musical proof of my evolution as an artist and person.
After Open 24 Hours, I’d read around on reviews and what not, and catch kids trying to front like I had generic bars and shit. I never considered the songs on that album to be filled with killer verses in the sense of punchlines and shit. So when it came to writing Until Next Summer, I wanted to set that record straight. Show fools that I produce banging, exciting bangs, AND that I can murder verses.
So I guess to sum it up, I wanted to showcase more of a FEEL than a STORY or CONCEPT. I wanted folks to ride to my shit, windows down, subs loud, weed lit, while getting kicked on the side of the head with some shit you gotta rewind to catch. And the new-new I’m working on, will show that even more.
So, speaking of that new-new.. You’re setting up the release of your first mixtape, These Long Strange Nights this summer. What can the fans expect?
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Yea, in the past I’ve always put out albums. This go around I wanted to do some straight Rap shit but with that Alexander Spit twist. Imagine Gangsta Grillz on 3 shots of Jameson..
In regards to the title, I took it from a line of a song by Hunter S. Thompson called “Those Weird and Twisted Nights“. I guess it’s inspired by the fact that the last year or so I’ve been really hard on myself with this music shit. I low-key drove myself crazy this past year. Most of that takes place after Midnight when I’m by myself staring at my keyboard or notepad trying to write music and nothing is coming to me. So instead, I’d go out to some bar and drink away the idea that I can’t create. Ironically, the project is inspired by being uninspired, so I figured I could just write about that.
So although “These Long Strange Nights” is inspired by my loss of sanity this past year, it’s rooted with just straight raps and running the lane and telling the story I’ve been telling. There’s hella beats I always thought were ill and wanted to write to; and with this project I get to do that. I’m part of a game where people are getting famous overnight, and I have to watch it happen before me. I never started this music thing to become instantly famous so it kind of brings me back to what rap is for me. I like to do it.
Somewhere, right now, your biggest fan is reading this interview.
What would you say if one night, you happened to meet that person at the bar?
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Well it’s like this… Those situations have happened where I have met fans and all I’ve found myself be able to do is repeat “thank you”. But real gratitude is action, so I’d let them talk. I would like to hear what’s on their mind. They’ve heard what I have to say already.
I’ll drink to that.
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