EQUATE Meets midwxst
"I’m just making a lot of music and I'm having fun, above everything else."
midwxst aka E3 is consistently topping the lists surrounding the new hyper-pop sound. At 18, the anime obsessed and bright-eyed college freshman has experienced more culture than many of us will in our lifetime. Moving around the world as a child, staying in various countries for short periods of time, before finally settling in Indiana, United States, so much of E3’s cultural influences have come from outside the land of the free. And it shows in his music and personality. With over 288K+ monthly Spotify listeners, and appraisals from other key tastemakers such as Clash, The Fader, Dazed and Lyrical Lemonade, he is one to watch as a bubbling-breakout from the hyper-pop and digicore soundscape. Combining hip-hop and other genre-bending sounds with the scene he helped create, midwxst is set to release his ‘BACK IN ACTION’ EP this September, featuring a whole host of underground hip-hop mainstays.
Read the full interview below..
Words by Oliver-James Campbell
EQ: Nice to meet you E3. I know that you moved around a lot. How does this affect how you’ve grown up, and do you think it has given you a more diverse set of creative influences than your peers?
M: It has given me a chance to look at a lot of the international cultures. From a young age I have been really accepting of anything that anybody wants to do and I think it stems from that. It was cool because I went to so many locations in such a small span of time. As a kid, it was really memorable to live in Belgium. Because when I say I’m from Indiana, I say that because I’ve lived there the longest out of any of the locations that I’ve ever lived at. It feels like I’ve been able to mature and grow and learn about the state itself and the, and like all the precincts, all like the places around it. That’s why it’s such a big part of my identity because it’s the only place where I truly felt like I’ve been able to truly understand where I stand with the culture there. So it definitely had a big impact on me, but not to the point where it’s like a burden and it’s like, oh my God, I hated moving around. ‘Cause I didn’t, it was super, super sick because every time I moved around, there was a whole different aspect to wherever I stayed at.
I even went to London at one point, and we did all the tourist things like the changing of the guard, like the London Bridge, and going to Legoland up in Windsor. I don’t think that people understand how big the world like the earth is until you start visiting all these places and start even living there. Like Belgium was one of the most unique locations I’ve ever lived in because it borders so many countries - you have the Dutch on one side, and the French and German on another.
I also went to an international school. So I had a lot of friends who were not even from Belgium. I had one South Korean friend. I had one friend who was from Ethiopia, one friend who was from London.
EQ: I’ve read that you have ADHD - how do you feel this affects your artistry? Do you feel your energy manifesting itself in your music?
M: I’d say it definitely gives me a creative edge because it’s allowed me to get used to all the energy that I have, and it translates into music and all those other fields that I want to go into. I also feel liberated because I used to take ADHD medicine up until sophomore year, and we made the decision to stop because it didn’t make me feel like myself. I barely ate, I would just go to lunch and get a drink. I was really, really bad. Having something like music that I can put all of my newfound energy into, it really helps. I try to use it as an advantage because it allows me to just do one song after another with ease.
EQ: You’re so well travelled, but it was an incident in Indianapolis that affected you so deeply, and caused you to write ‘Wonder’. Can you talk about the topic of police brutality and Sean Reed?
M: Sean Reed was a 21 year old Black guy who was shot in Indianapolis. It really made me feel a sort of way towards the police because growing up I’d always thought that the police were like our protectors, but at the same time, it’s like when events like this happen it makes you question your own beliefs and it makes you question everything that you used to believe. So when I saw a 21 year old man get killed, literally over Facebook live, right in front of my eyes it’s definitely gonna make me feel a sort of distance towards the police.
People have a problem of telling Black people how to feel towards situations, when they don’t understand how it feels at all to be in those shoes, and see these incidents occur in a country that constantly claims that it’s the land of the free. It’s a stigma – if you’re a Black man with pierced ears, dreads, or any sort of menacing appearance, the chances of getting any sort of job is zero to none. So, I was like, you know what, I’m going to actually try and use my platform for something [good]. I’m actually going to literally talk about a topic that needs to be talked about, especially among Black youth.
EQ: Where do you get your genre-bending sound from? Who instilled that within you, I read online that it was your Mom, your Dad and Tyler the Creator.
M: Yeah I had a conversation with Tyler in Santa Monica and he just told me to create the music I want to create. So I started to. Belgium was the first place that got me into EDM music, club and rave music. When I moved to the US I started listening to UK drill again, like Zone 2 and P.S. I’m a big fan of Skepta because he’s been able to bridge that new US/ UK audience gap. I started off listening to Minecraft parodies cause I was a really big video game nerd. I found a YouTube channel called Monstercat, which is all electronic and EDM songs.
EQ: Where do you think Hyper-pop goes from here? I constantly see your name popping up in lists about this new and emerging sound.
M: I know that a lot of things won’t stick around and be in the limelight forever. And I feel like that’s the case for the hyper-pop soundscape. But the community itself can survive and thrive on its own without any attachment to hyper-pop labels, because there’s just so much hidden talent there. There’s just so many people who created online friendships and online bonds that make it feel like real life friendships.
I’m starting to stray away from that sound to an extent. I just kept it on the low and I’ve been making a lot more polished, clean-cut sounding records with similar elements, but with my own twist on it. I’ve just been listening to a bunch of Kanye again, recently, and listening to a lot of artists who know how to make the music they want to make and create a unique sound for them.
Why can’t I at least attempt to do the same thing? Like Playboi Carti, he’s created his own sound. Tyler too, even though he constantly jumps around from what that sound is. It’s also talented to be able to produce stuff on your own, so I got back into self producing. I’m just making a lot of music and I’m having fun, above everything else.
“A lot of anime really inspired me, and I’m going to keep referencing them, paying homage to what I grew up on.”
- midwxst
EQ: Talk to me about the new project, ‘BACK IN ACTION’ out in September…
M: It was so surreal to create - the album itself is crazy. This is going to be definitely an underground tape. I’m just super excited to get back to self-producing and then executing all these videos as well and executing all this stuff I want to do because it’s truly going to be a moment for me. And it’s going to be something that I’m super excited for. Like regardless of how it was received, or the proceeds it generates, it doesn’t matter because I spent a lot of time on it and it’s just a good, solid body of work that I’m excited to put out.
EQ: Visually your videos are always impressive with the anime references and cartoon elements such as on Made it Back, Ruthless and Trying - is this something that’s important to your artistry?
M: Videos? Yeah, like for the overcast video, I was the one that wanted to do a complete 180 of someone on the guitar. I want people to feel like it’s an entirely different mood switch in between scenes. So that’s why you have such a bright, pretty beautiful contrast to dark gritty alleyways, all black outfits, demons coming at me and stuff like that. I’m a big cartoon nerd. You’re talking to a kid who used to watch boomerang religiously because every time I went to my grandma’s house, her TV would only have cartoon channels.
So I grew up watching the Jetsons, Yogi Bear, Flintstones and all that old stuff. Then I would watch cartoon network too with the likes of Ben Ten, Danny Phantom, Invader Zim and more. It’s been cool because I’ve been able to finally implement all of these influences in some sort of way, rather than just having them sit in my head. Me and my dad would watch Dragon Ball Z, and the first anime I ever got into was Akame Ga Kill! It’s a super sick show, and I started watching cartoons at a really young age.
From there I started watching Full Metal Alchemist, Initial D, Hunter x Hunter and loads more. A lot of anime really inspired me, and I’m going to keep referencing them, paying homage to what I grew up on.
Watch the visuals for ”Tic Tac Toe” below!
YouTube/midwxst
Stream ‘Tic Tac Toe‘ HERE
Keep up with midwxst on socials
Instagram: @midwxst