FNGR FOOD

The world is an odd place right now due to the rising cases in the COVID-19 virus that’s currently impacting over 2 million people. The domino effect of the mass amount of cases has led to a shelter in place order that is keeping everyone inside indefinitely. A lot of the individuals who were affected by the impact of this virus are trying to pick up the pieces, and do their best to adapt. To be able to get insight on how an affected member of the creative community here in Austin is coping, I decided to check in with a very prominent local multidisciplinary artist, Adrian Armstrong. I wanted to see how he’s been handling the outbreak, how it’s affected his work ethic, and what his plans are for the unforeseen future. We also were able to speak on other subjects such as religion, anime, food, and of course, music.

Adrian writes, produces, and raps his own original music along with the help of many other talented locals. He considers himself as a “lo-fi” producer, who often writes about struggles with family, mental illness, and what it’s like to live as a black man in America.

It’s 9am on a Saturday morning, and I have a FaceTime call scheduled with Adrian. This form of interaction to have meaningful conversations with your friends appears to now be the new normal. I give Adrian a ring, and he answers while in the comfort of his home in East Austin. Eager to catch up with my good friend, I started out by asking Adrian how he’s been doing, and how he feels about the state of the world.

BW: So I wanted to ask how you’re doing, and what you’ve been up to. How have you been handling the pandemic and everything?

AA: I mean, I’ve pretty much been good. The funny thing about it, though, is that with or without the pandemic, this is pretty much my everyday life [laughs]. I’ve been trying to get a routine down, but it’s not working. I’m really trying to just do something everyday. Even if it’s like, the minimum, I still wanna do something. I’m just trying to figure things out day by day.

BW: What do you think about the way people have been acting [here in Texas]?

AA: I think that people need to take it more seriously so we can get the fuck out of this, because I just heard Texas is supposed to be the next hotspot after New York. I’m banking on them lifting this on the 30th [of April] like they said, but with cases going up, I doubt that’s going to happen.

News broke earlier this week that the stay-at-home order in Austin has been extended until May 8th.

After briefly talking about the ongoing pandemic, I asked Adrian about what exactly he has been up to in order to stay busy during these times. He responded by telling me he’s been going on walks that he eventually wants to turn into jogs. He laughed when talking about the likelihood of that happening. Adrian went on to explain more about what he’s been doing to progress in his musical productivity. As far as creating art goes, Adrian knows that’s a skill he doesn’t always necessarily have to keep at when the need for him to produce work has been slow. Instead, he’s been focusing on how to sharpen his production, and songwriting skills with all his free time.

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AA: Everyday, I’ll go on walks and kind of listen to music that inspires me. I’ll kind of write along to them. I won’t necessarily write full verses, but really just ideas. I’m not wanting to always write from scratch when I’m trying to write a verse to something. Sometimes, I’ll freestyle to a beat and forget to write it down. I’ve been trying to get the lines down immediately. As far as art, I’ve been feeling a little stagnant, and I’m trying to break that wall so I can grow my artwork. But at the same time, I know that shit is solid [laughs]. I’m not trying to sound cocky, but most people like my work, so I’m not so worried about that falling off. I’m just focusing on growing with how I make my art, and trying new things.

BW: So you put out the single “Don’t Cry” recently, and you also put out your very first ever music video for this track, right?

AA: Yup! Shout out to Barry, because I know I’m hard to work with [laughs]. I kept telling him we needed to re-do and re-shoot things. At some point, I just told him: ‘Let me see the computer!’ [laughs]. I didn’t think I would get like that, but I just wanted it to be as perfect as possible. I have a lot more ideas, so expect future videos to be more ambitious.

BW: What made you decide to make this your first accommodating music video to a song?

AA: When I got this beat from Chevious, I started writing to it, and was like: ‘This is hot! I need this in my life!’ [Laughs]. I kept writing and writing, and everything kind of just flowed out. It was really easy for me to write. I really just wanted to tell a story about myself and the people around me. This ended up being my favorite song I’ve made so far. I felt like this song represents who I am right now, so that’s why I chose to make a video for it.

BW: Your roots are in art, but of course you’ve been dabbling more in rapping and producing under the name Njune. What have been some of your struggles and rewards with furthering yourself in making music and further developing this moniker you’ve created?

AA: To be blunt, the struggle is that I’m starting from square one [laughs]. I mean, I’m still young- but society makes you feel like 29 going on 30 is “super old”. I feel like I’m starting from the beginning, and I’m literally having to learn everything. There are people who have been doing this for years, or even decades. I feel like I have to rush…that’s the most difficult thing. Music is so deep; there’s so much to learn. There’s mixing, there’s mastering. I don’t even know the fundamentals of music theory. It’s a lot, but at the same time, it’s fun. It brings me joy and excitement to be able to figure things out. It’s fun because, now I can create this world that surrounds Njune. The next video is going to be all in claymation. It’s fun to figure out something completely different. With who I am as “Adrian the artist”, people know me for my portraits and artwork. With Njune – and with music- I can take it to a whole new place. I can take it wherever I want it to go.

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BW: You’re wanting to be known more for your writing. I noticed that you write about real life shit. You speak on things that are so honest about your personal life in such an elegant way. Do you plan on making your future project pretty inimate and personal, as well?

AA: Yeah, I definitely want my penmanship to be respected [laughs]. You can expect me to get more personal. I definitely want to tell more of my story. I want people to be able digest my personal life better through my music. I think that makes people take it more serious. At the same time, I want to be able to talk about things that aren’t so serious, but also relatable. The future project will have a wide range of things I want to talk about. I have a song coming out with Midnight Navy. It’s super smooth, but also, really toxic [laughs]. It’s about being toxic after a breakup. You know, we’ve all been there. That’s a part of life, and I want to be able to talk about things like that, too.

BW: You and I have had some pretty funny conversations about how you describe your music. You were trying to figure out what your sub-genre was the other day.

AA: I mean, production-wise, I make lo-fi [laughs]. I can’t deny that. As far as the music I make with lyrics and everything— I really think I just make Christian music with cussing [laughs].

BW: How did I know you were going to say that! What even makes it Christian?

AA: I keep one foot in the church, and one foot in the streets [laughs]. A lot of the songs I chop up are actually gospel songs. I have a lot of religious references in my songs, because my Dad is a pastor. I’ve always had a weird relationship with religion. I was kind of forced to be religious growing up. It was a big part of my life. Now as an adult, I’m not comfortable denouncing religion, but I’m also not comfortable being fully invested in religion, either. I have a balance with that. So again, one foot in, one foot out [laughs].

BW: Do you care how you can potentially impact the industry with your “Christian Rap”? [Laughs] Do you care about being successful and having fame with your music?

AA: I don’t care about fame at all. I couldn’t handle that. I really just want to make cool things, and things that are new and exciting that people can connect with. I just want to work with the people that I want to work with. In an ideal situation, I want to actually cultivate a sound and create a lane for back home [Omaha, NE]. I want to be a front runner for people in Omaha to create dope things. There’s just no money or resources there, but there are so many talented people. I want to be a catalyst for them with my music.

BW: You mentioned earlier that you want to be able to work with more people on your music. Who are you wanting to work with in the future?

AA: I really want to work with more artists in Austin like Teeta. I’d even want to work with Black Pumas, and do like some background vocals for them or something. Ideally, I’d really like to work with Mick Jenkins, or Saba. I’m really into the Chicago rap scene right now. I really want to work with Kanye. I don’t care how crazy he is [laughs]. I really just want to work with whoever wants to work. It gives me the opportunity to expand. If I’m able to work with someone who is in a different genre, I want to be able to adapt to that and challenge myself.

BW: What about your short-term and long-term goals? What do you plan on trying to accomplish with life and with music and etc.?

AA: So, right now as far as artwork goes, I’m just trying to get into a routine. I want to try and figure out some different series that I can work on, and just do that. I have shows coming up in the future, so I’m just developing ideas for those. Medium-term, I want to get my artwork published in a magazine. Long-term, I want to have international gallery representation. I want to be in museums. I like the path Takashi Murakami took, and his influence on pop culture. I want to make my own original art that can have that kind of impact in pop culture without copying anyone else’s ideas. As far as music goes, I’m just trying to get more than 100 Spotify listeners [laughs]. I’ve been getting good feedback on “Don’t Cry”, but I have had people tell me I’m off beat on it. I know there’s a lot more work that needs to be done. I want to be able to get better and embrace using my regular voice, too, and not always try to pitch it up or down.

Before long, Adrian and I started to talk about food. Adrian is pretty simple in a lot of ways. He has a very relaxed, and casual style, he’s normally very calm, and level-headed, and he really enjoys his quiet time to play video games, and watch his favorite anime. Adrian also seems to like really simple dishes. He’s a rice or potato kind of man who will make simple dishes with these base ingredients with whatever else he happens to have around. Armstrong also enjoys a good gumbo when he’s got the extra cash to splurge on some good crab and sausage in order to put it all together himself. He enjoys cooking a lot, and has various recipes he likes to make at home.

To close, I asked Adrian if there were any closing notes he wanted to add for our readers.

AA: I really just want everyone to know that I plan on creating a world with my music. It’s going to be a full experience. The music is part of it, and the art is part of it. If you’re paying attention, I really just want you to expect all sorts of things in the future [laughs].

You can see more of Adrian’s work by clicking the images below.

Stream “Don’t Cry” here:

“Don’t Cry” video

Adrian’s art Instagram:

https://instagram.com/adrianarmstrongart?igshid=a22zxu7dwpbf