WORDSPJ Some
COUVERTURE STAR - Prettyboy DO
DIRECTEURS DE LA CRÉATION - Derrick Odafi & Jessica Rushforth
PRODUCTEURS CRÉATIFS - Jessica Rushforth & Derrick Odafi
PHOTOGRAPHE - Barbara Premo
DIRECTEUR VISUEL - John Serunjogi
STYLISTE - Malcolm Yaeng
ASSISTANTE STYLISTE - Gloria Iyare
SCÉNARISTE - Jessica Rushforth
MUA - Bénédiction Kambanga
STUDIO - Prendre plus de photos Studio
Destroy Lonely doesn’t give a f*ck whether you like him or not. He doesn’t care whether you hate the music he makes and he doesn’t care if he’s not on your top five rappers of all time list. At the end of the day, all he wants is to be a vessel for his raw vulnerability. His jagged and spectral sonics feed into horror, like claws to flesh scraping through a brash lifestyle that he follows unapologetically, with the music bleeding through him into the world, seeking out those who ache in the same places who crave beauty laced with chaos.
Born from the shadows of Opium, the cult label formed by innovator Playboi Carti, Destroy Lonely exists within a new order of rap, trap, punk and hyperpop where peril reigns champion. Alongside his labelmates Ken Carson and HOMIXIDE GANG, he rides the edge between fantasy and fear, feeding his fanbase obsessed with destruction, gore and thrill. Together, a gothic underworld is formed where there are no rules and no order.
With his rise shaped by moments and experiences that he’s had through his life, he was given the chance to walk in Milan for Matthew Williams’ brand 1017 ALYX 9SM after the designer discovered his song ‘1017 ALYX’ from being friends with mutuals. Since then, the two have remained close and an abundance of opportunities have come Lonely’s way such as being inspired to create motorsport-style merch that reflects his strong connection with Alpinestars, collaborations with Marc Jacobs and making music with some of music’s biggest names right now. He cherishes every collaboration and every chance to extend his world into a new medium. Whilst surrounding himself with people who move like him in a quiet, focused and magnetic way, he shapes his identity into something deeper and darker that allows him to live out every fantasy that flickers in the back of his mind.
La célébrité de Prettyboy DO se propage
Comme 'Wildfire' sur le numéro IX
WORDS Shenead Poroosotum
« La musique a fait de moi un homme. J'ai toujours été amoureux de la musique, même enfant, mais plus encore du côté mode de la musique. Biggie, Mase, Tupac… »
Quelle est votre opinion sur Londres ?
P : Je suis souvent venu ici, cette fois c'est différent à cause de la musique et nous sommes debout maintenant. J'aime Londres, j'aime les gens, cela me semble très africain. Cela ressemble à la maison d'une certaine manière.
Londres et Lagos ont une excellente connexion, qu'en pensez-vous ?
P : Premièrement, nous avons beaucoup de nos propres gens ici, beaucoup d'Africains ici. Il y a toute une ambiance ici qui ressemble à Lagos car c'est très occupé, très animé. Mais c'est un niveau supérieur ici, il y a encore du mal. J'aime Londres, mais en même temps, la lutte ici est folle parce qu'ils ne disent rien ici, c'est juste interne.
Tu as de l'expérience à New York aussi, et c'est aussi un endroit où il faut vraiment se bousculer pour s'en sortir.
P : Je pense que la vie que j'ai vécue, une chose que j'ai apprise, c'est qu'on ne peut pas vraiment regretter. Et si j'ai une sorte de poste, je ne peux pas le perdre. Londres est occupé, comme le métro, vous n'avez vraiment pas d'espace et New York est juste comme ça, et c'est comme x2 pas propre, c'est plus graveleux que Londres.
Et pour en revenir à la musique aussi, diriez-vous que la musique vous a trouvé ou que vous avez trouvé la musique ?
P : C'est profond. La musique a fait de moi un homme. J'ai toujours été amoureux de la musique, même enfant, mais plus encore du côté mode de la musique. Biggie, Mase, Tupac… J'adore Tupac, j'ai même un tatouage comme lui. La mode a toujours été très présente dans ma tête, en même temps c'était la musique, mais je ne me suis jamais vu comme un rappeur, je le vois comme un style de vie donc partout je danse, vibre, mime. Sa culture, sa mode en particulier. Quand j'étais plus jeune, je voulais probablement être designer. Le truc, c'est qu'au lycée j'avais l'habitude d'écrire beaucoup de poèmes, etc, des trucs ringards mais ça a toujours marché. À l'université, ils m'ont dit d'écrire un poème en anglais et je l'ai fait si vite qu'ils m'ont dit de le lire et c'était si long et tout le monde était comme wow. A cette époque, je n'avais pas vraiment de musique en tête, mais à ce moment-là Drake sort, Rocky sort. Je n'allais pas bien à l'école, je viens de perdre ma fille et le chagrin. Ensuite, j'ai commencé à aller en studio mais je n'ai rien sorti jusqu'à ce que je sente que c'était bien et c'était en 2012 et je n'ai pas regardé en arrière.
C'était en quelque sorte destiné, c'était un processus mais vous ne savez pas quel était le processus.
P : Ouais, tu ne sais pas ce que tu trouverais en rencontrant des gens. La chose grossit. C'est Dieu. C'est Dieu et le travail.
Quelles autres choses créatives faites-vous en dehors de la musique ?
P : Film, je réalise beaucoup de mes clips. J'irai probablement dans le cinéma en fonction de mon ambition et de ma volonté d'y aller. Je veux vraiment commencer maintenant.
Avez-vous un styliste? Si non, d'où vient-il ?
P : Je suis juste sur Instagram, je sauvegarde des choses, puis je les mélange.
L'un de nos projets préférés est votre projet 2018, quels ont été vos moments préférés pour le créer.
P : Quand je suis revenu à Lagos, j'étais allé à Birmingham et LA, et cette fois j'ai décidé que j'allais abandonner un projet. Ensuite, j'ai eu une conversation avec mon cousin qui m'a dit "tu dois laisser tomber un projet, laisser tomber quelque chose et connaître ton son, comme si tes singles éclataient, tu es dope mais tu dois connaître ton son". Alors boum, une fois qu'il a dit que j'étais cool, allons-y, allons-y. J'avais un tas de musique que j'avais déjà enregistré, je me rends à Londres pour enregistrer 2 chansons. Allez à Lagos, commencez à enregistrer avec mes garçons, Hugo, puis nous en avons 2 dans le sac. Maintenant, nous pouvons avoir un spectacle… un mec me fait chier, je déteste la politique de l'industrie, si nous travaillons dur, vous êtes capable de travailler dur, allons-y, profitons de cette opportunité. Je vais chercher un n****s de l'industrie du spectacle qui essaie de baiser avec moi, je suis énervé comme l'enfer. Mais après le spectacle, je suis énervé, je vais dans son studio et je lui dis de me jouer quelque chose et ce rythme m'a rendu le plus heureux que j'aie ressenti. Remonter
With Love Lasts Forever and since the release of the big singles like ‘No Stylist’ and ‘If Looks Could Kill’, how do you feel like you’ve grown musically and in general?
Just by telling my story and getting deeper into who I am. I feel like I’m sharpening my pen a bit and I feel like I can explain things a lot better than I could have in the past, or even word it differently. Like with what I was saying earlier; convey a different emotion, translate it in better ways… Just really even becoming more transparent with my fans through the audio of it, whether it be on the internet or trying to talk on the phone, Tweets or Instagram or whatever, just really trying to share more of who I know I am as a person and how I want people to understand me through the music and just making sure that, as I was telling you earlier, every time I make a song, I’m always putting a real piece of me in it so people can take that and do whatever.
It comes out in the lyrics. You have a line that says, “This ain’t a lifestyle, this is just life”. What’s the difference to you between a lifestyle and just life?
Style changes, style is trends. Style could be today and not tomorrow. The style could be tomorrow and not today, but life is forever, until it ends. So, change is what we’re doing right now, what we’re doing for the fun of it, what we’re doing because it’s cool. This is who we are. N*ggas was doing this before and n*ggas gonna do it after. Like I was saying, I was trying to be this when I was 14 and I’m probably going to try and be this til I die. This is me.
How do you feel like you create balance? You’re a very stylish person and you’re in the know of what’s going on in style, culture and fashion. You have your own life and your own experiences, so how do you feel like you try to merge the two or bring both to the forefront?
I’m always just expressing a piece of me through everything, whether it’s sonically, whether it’s through the clothes I wear, a f*cking picture I want to take for social media, the way I’m talking to y’all, expressing myself through an interview. It just all comes down to just showing people who I am or who I even think I am at the time. We all go through motions and moments. I wouldn’t even call them phases because I feel like they’re all just different versions of myself, but phase is kind of like a style or a trend. But it’s just always, even with the clothes, just expressing that this is who I think I am, this is what I want to look like. And I don’t really give a f*ck what, what anybody thinks.
Setting trends rather than following them as well because you just live your life as well.
Yeah, definitely.
If there was a particular era or time frame that you are plugged into, what would that be? Would it be the past or would it be the future that resonates with you the most?
It would be right now. I’m always gonna be right now. Whether it’s in the past, in the future, I always existed, but I’m here right now.
What keeps you in the now all the time and not thinking about things you probably did before, or things you might be doing in the future?
I think that’s what keeps me here. I’m always constantly thinking about the past and the future. I don’t know how healthy that is, but those two thoughts remind me to always stay right now, because I can’t tell you what’s gonna happen in the future, and I can’t change the past so, I just got to stay right now.
You’ve previously said, in relation to the internet and the concept of the internet, that you don’t really understand it as much or anymore. If you could change one thing about the internet, what would it be?
You know, I wouldn’t change anything because the internet is right now. I feel like if I were to change it, it’d be a contradiction to how I just said I even feel about myself and I can even thank the internet for playing a part in some of my career. So, I can’t really act like, “Oh, f*ck the internet, everybody needs to put their phones down and everybody’s brainwashed” But I feel like people could use it a little healthier, even myself. [laughs]
You’ve said your creativity comes from real life so, what’s happening in your life right now that’s influencing what you’re creating, music or otherwise?
Just growing. Getting older. Becoming a real f*cking adult in this world but I’m still a f*cking kid. Learning from decisions I’ve made in my life and really getting a good feel for feeling like an underdog and being ready just to tell people what I’ve got to offer. I always feel like that. But right now, I feel like that’s a big focus of mine. I just want to continue to drop great music for people and continue to please my fans and just make everything about the music. I don’t even necessarily want to exist past my music anymore. I just want it to be DL and I’m just the audio.
You had an amazing show in London and the stage design was great. Talk to us about the stage design, how you put that together and what you were trying to convey to your audience with that.
Basically, my stage from my first leg was pretty much the same, it’s just a speaker tower. And the first leg I had LED lights around it with my video on behind it, but that wasn’t necessarily part of it. It was supposed to look more like how it looked in London at the European shows. Just minimalistic, how I was just saying about music. It’s just to portray and be looked at as just a great musical artist. I don’t even want it to go too far past that anymore. I just want it to be about music and eventually my stages will get crazier but this time I just wanted the speakers, myself and just the sound. Even with the DJ putting a backing track a little bit because I just wanted to simplify it and make it about throwing a really good show, and people having a good time. It feels like when you arrive at a rave or some sh*t.
You pour so much energy into it and into your performances and your music. When you step away from that, how do you recharge or how do you get re-inspired?
I’m a very still person. I move around a lot, I travel a lot and I’m always working but there are lots of periods and times where I find myself just sitting in my house doing absolutely nothing for days on end or just downloading from the world. Just constantly teaching myself and learning from the world instead of riding my own d*ck all the time. Listening to new music or watching new movies or listening to a whole new artist for a week straight.
" Je me vois être l'un des GOATS à le faire musicalement au Nigeria, si je fais toujours de la musique ."
On vous voit avoir une très longue carrière et diriger une nouvelle charge d'artistes. Dans les 10 à 15 prochaines années, où vous voyez-vous et votre métier ?
P: Où est-ce que je veux être dans 10 ans… Bon sang, je serai vieux [Rires] Je vois des choses différentes mais je me vois être l'un des GOATS à le faire musicalement au Nigeria, si je fais toujours de la musique . Si je ne le suis pas, j'aurai un artiste mais je serai toujours l'un des plus grands à l'avoir jamais fait. Je ferai probablement des films dans 10 ans. Peut-être que dans ma tête je vais probablement essayer d'obtenir un oscar. Je me vois être un Titan à ce moment-là, un nom familier - Ce ne sera même pas mon nom de scène, ce sera mon vrai nom.
Incroyable, j'espère faire des films générationnels dont on se souvient dans le monde entier ?
P : Oui, juste pour être un titan du divertissement. Je ne me considère pas comme quelque chose du point de vue commercial, mais je vais y mettre la main et je sais que je vais me lancer dans des films. À ce stade, je ne pense pas que je serai sous les projecteurs, mais mes films le seront.
The collaboration you did with Alpinestars blends a lot of that energy with your own vibe. What drew you towards that silhouette and lane involving motorsports gear into your fits?
I pretty much had a real experience in my life. I went to a motorcycle trail, and we were just riding our bikes and I fell in love with it because I never really rode a four-wheeler dirt bike before. That sh*t kind of f*cked my head up because like I said, I’m really obsessive so I was just stuck on that for a while. I was wearing this sh*t as clothes. I recently just bought two bikes and I’m learning how to ride and wheelie and sh*t, going crazy. But like how I was saying earlier, that was something that came from a real part of my life that I just started expressing through the music. I just look at it like “F*ck, this sh*t hard!” I’m really good friends with Alpinestars.
The owner of the brand and his wife, Ms. Denise, they take care of me a lot. We always talk and chop it up about things that we could do together or what they could do with the brand. And they actually took me to F1 probably about a week or two ago. When I’m meeting or working with people or brands, it’s always stemming from another real part of my life. Whether it’s a relationship that I have with somebody or somebody that I truly believe in, or they truly believe in me, it’s always genuine and that’s important to me. Like, I don’t really f*ck with AI and that type of sh*t, I’m not into that.
Is there a particular reason why?
Specifically with AI. Computer generated art is cool, real people create that, but I don’t f*ck with AI because it’s not real art. Imagine if everybody’s like “wow, we really like this artist because they make all their music, this is real sh*t bro” and then the n*gga comes out one day and says “man, all these songs are AI”. That sh*t is fraud. It’s just disingenuous, I don’t f*ck with that.
You and the crew have been very successful with Love Lasts Forever, Music and MORE CHAOS. Do you guys feel like you’re changing the landscape of music?
Yeah, man. That’s why we’re here.
In this new era of music that you’re stepping into, you already have a lot of different aliases such as Look Killa, Top Floor Boss and Dark Lord. Which one are you channelling at this time for the next phase of your career?
I’m on some new Top Floor Boss sh*t, you know what I’m saying? I’m on some new Top Floor Boss sh*t! That’s all.
Dress, TRACY CUI.
Ring (Right Hand), KHIRY
Rings (Left Hand), AGMES
Nose Ring, ARTIST’S OWN.