ASH
What activities/art-form did you pick up as a kid that shaped you into the artist you are today? In what way do YOU think it shaped you?
“As a kid, music was everything to me. I started making beats when I was around 7 or 8, and that grew into recording my friends and myself in my closet all through middle and high school. After emailing venues at 13 trying to book a their space (and failing every time lol). My sister Constance and I starting creating our own opportunities to perform. Pioneering a music scene where rappers and metal bands play the same crowd. Wild birthday bashes where I’d hang off the ceiling and crowd surf haha. Good times. Then came the basement shows back in Nashville — wild, grimy, real DIY energy. We’d come out of those basements blowing our noses and it’d be black from the soot in the air. It was magic. Later I got into theater, and that added a whole new layer. So really, it was music and theater that shaped me. I’ve always been obsessed with melody, rhythm, and how to, “feel and make others feel” that rhythm, I do in my body. Those early experiences taught me how to tell stories without over-explaining — how to move people through presence, energy, and intention. That’s the core of how I approach everything now — DJing, engineering, producing, acting. All of it is rooted in that same rhythm, emotional fluency, and ambition I found as a kid.”
Were you picked on as a child? If so how? How do you think that affected your life today as an artist?
“Yeah I was definitely picked on as a child. I was bullied from kindergarten all the way up through eighth grade— 8/9 years of doubt, isolation, and struggle. It got so bad, there were multiple points where I tried ending it. Those years had me in a really dark place. But they became foundation for who I am now. Growing up, I learned that your “weirdness” is what makes you special. What other people find weird or uncomfortable— what they bully you about— is more often than not just a projection of something unhealed in them. I didn’t fully realize that until I was about 12 or 13. Around then I started meditating and just breathing through things, being still. But the time I was 14 or 15, I got to this place where I could sit in complete silence and have no thoughts. That changed everything.I started learning how to find the peace inside of hard moments. If you can’t find peace in something, it usually means you’re either not looking hard enough, or there’s something inside you that’s blocking it. But if you can breathe through it, stay with it, and allow your body to just experience — you can get through anything. Because nothing is forever… so why can’t you last it for now? All of that made me into a more grounded, more aware, more resilient artist. I think more clearly now. I create from a deeper place. And I don’t let things shake me the way they used to. So yeah — I think that pain made me a better artist, a stronger human, and someone who knows how to turn survival into sound.”
What daily activity makes you feel most connected to your hands within your Art-form?
“Honestly? Opening up my MacBook. I know that might sound super first-worldy of me but the truth is, switching from Windows to Mac completely changed my sound and music experience. That upgrade was a turning point in my music journey. So now, every time I open that $3,000 MacBook I use to create, I feel grateful. Even the sensory feel of the curve in the lid when I lift it is so satisfying. *laughs*”
What do you appreciate most about how YOUR art makes you feel?
“My art makes me feel alive and aligned. Like I’m fully myself and also sourcing from powers way larger than me. It reconnects me to purpose, to presence, and sometimes to peace. It lets me explore, release, and rebuild— while equally doing the same thing for others.”
What pushes you to be a better artist today?
“Knowing that there are others coming after me. I think a lot about legacy and what kind of world/legend you leave behind for yourself when you ascend. My constant grind is in assuring my future kids & family have an unbreakable foundation. Also to inspire my community, peers, and friends. There aren’t a lot of artists in Savannah that are black and bisexual that do what I do— so I have to represent. In everything.”
BONUS QUESTIONS.
Do you have any tattoos ? If so, which is your favorite and why?
“Honestly, I have so many of them I don’t even have a favorite. BUT my standouts and favorites; are my Pleaidian Alien tattoo inside of my bicep (that I got in Italy), and any tattoo done by my artist Zay (@artbyzayworld)”
What’s a non-musical ritual that sharpens your music?
“A good run, bike ride, hike and/or workout followed by a joint. Maybe I do the joint before the exercise? I like to switch it up.”
What GROUNDS you?
“Nature and Amapiano music. Trees, grass, and dirt just does something to my spirit man. Being from Nashville I’d spend a lot of time at Bells Bend State Park meditating in the sun (sometimes sunbathing in my birthday suit) and trekking through the woods. It gives me some wonderful peace”
Favorite quote?
“Find a way to love it” - Marian Seldes.
If you have any advice to the world, what would you say?
“See question 4. Also, BE MINDFUL OF YOUR LEGACY!”
