Interview: Duckwrth
It feels like West Coast multi-disciplinary creative and rapper, Duckwrth, has been one to watch for a while now. He’s been putting out various mixtapes, soundtracks and off the wall creative projects over the past ten years since dropping out from art school in the Bay Area to form various art and music collectives. We’re only now seeing him release his major label debut album ‘SuperGood’. Duckwrth is definitely feeling himself on this release and is blossoming in an age of mixed genre hip hop where it pays off to infuse more underground influences into the mainstream. “Yeah it’s going pretty good…SuperGood.” he reaffirms to me from his undoubtedly cool 70s dining room in east Los Angeles.
‘SuperGood’ saw multiple singles dropping in the run up to its release which have now been visualised into a series of acid soaked, sun bleached comic strip like video loops. They’re definitely worth checking out if you want to day dream about the summer you can have in 2021. It is clear that the album has been hard work and it coincides with what has obviously been such a difficult time for everyone feeling so much collective grief. “I’m happy it’s released and now the world can hear what I’ve been holding onto for five months…I want other people to feel SuperGood when they press play.”
There’s a definite lush and vibrant energy that exudes from this project and Duckwrth in general. His laid back but bold creative persona is allowed to shine through over warm rap flows on this release. ‘Coming Closer’ is a more confident bop with bubbly synths and it is clear Duckwrth is strutting his stuff. Apart from laying down vocals on this project, there is a huge array of obscured percussion, shining synths and all sorts of layered production going on which seem to be a vital part of his process.
“I don’t have favourite children. ‘Say What You Mean’ was most fun to make. Julia Romana and I put the mic in the live room and clapped our hands, slapped our thighs and banged on buckets to make the percussions of that song. I am involved in every single part the album, from clapping and knee slapping, all the way to keyboard progressions and stacking harmonies with the different singers on the project.” Duckwrth continues to tell me about his potential future features. “I’d love to feature Tyler, the Creator, everytime we see each other we go back to the memory of skating around the city in 2010 when Odd Future came to San Francisco. I’d also love to feature Rosalia and Solange.”
Duckwrth grew up as a bit of an outsider in a sheltered Christian household, he would break out on the weekends and borrow his sisters punk and rock records. He then arrived back at his more conventional hip hop influences through a passion for his art. As I pry for more influences Duckwrth explains. “I am the bridge between 70s and 80s soul funk and rock mixed with today’s pop and rap music. I was born in a time where there was no internet and now I very much rely on internet. It makes sense that I would be an amalgamation of all these sounds. At the moment of recording, I was listening to a lot of Quincy Jones, Michael Jackson, Earth Wind and Fire, and Blue Magic, so the sound came about pretty naturally. Before, I was trying to challenge traditional song composition by having random bridges and BPM changes throughout the songs.”
In LA and beyond there is an uprising of more progressive, experimental hip hop artists with the likes of Brockhampton and EarthGang receiving mainstream success in the recent past. Duckwrth is outspoken on issues such as gender, race and women’s rights. His following can be seen praising the portrayal of women in his videos, his refusal to conform to gender roles in fashion as well as for his refreshing representation of an alternative male stereotype in hip hop. “I’d describe my creativity as fluid. For me it important to talk about important issues in the music. When I was young I didn’t see enough examples of emotional black men. I saw Tupac spit at the camera and never understood where that fire came from. If I knew he was an emotional human being, I would have understood him better as well as myself. “
Duckwrth really is the embodiment of an artist, he’s constantly creative and innovative. He has always had his roots and growth in collaboration from all disciplines. “I think it’s important depending on what an artist wants to see for themselves. Some people just want to make music and that’s fine, some want to go outside of music and create clothing, movies, even furniture and that’s fine too. What I will say is, those who go outside of music find new colours, textures and sounds to inspire the music they create. When I can tour again, I would really like to explore new and innovative ways to perform. From the stage design to even the vocal performance, it has to be all the way brand new.” He sees his music as a small part of each creative endeavour and continues to tell me about future plans for ‘SuperGood’ “I would like to turn the SuperGood name into a brand. I’ve already started the process and the next step is making legitimate garments. I also would like to turn SuperGood into an animation studio, but that’s for later.”
Duckwrth leaves me dreaming into a rainbow splattered LA sky, “I wanted to make music that could stand the hands of time.” he says wistfully. ‘SuperGood’ is a blissful spectrum of pop ballads, lusty synths filled club bangers and funky guitar bops from a humble and open artist. It is certainly feels like something refreshingly positive to feel my headspace with.
‘SuperGood’ is out now on Republic Records. Available now on Spotify / Apple Music.
Words by Callum Ritchie