Nosaj Thing – Saturn’s Return

Underground producer Nosaj Thing dabbles in various genres, having worked with everyone from Kendrick Lamar to Toro Y Moi over the span of his decade-long music career. The Los Angeles-based artist is working on a new album, Home, which is a follow-up to his 2009 genre-blurring release, Drift. The artist sat down with HYPETRAK for an exclusive interview about his love for hip-hop, working with designer Daito Manabe, and the roller coaster that is being in one’s 20s. An altogether humanizing interview for a lofty talent, the conversation surely generates attention for Home, which releases on January 22. Choice excerpts from the interview can be read below while the interview is available in its entirety here.

Let’s talk about early beginnings, how did you get started with music?

I got into DJing through older friends when I was 12, but I started producing freshman year of high school. I was 13 and a friend of mine gave me some production software and I installed it on my dad’s computer and since then I was just kind of hooked.

What was the music like in the beginning?

The guys that I was DJing with, they were doing hip-hop so it started with that. But then my homie that gave me the production software also liked house music. So it was cool that I had friends that were into different types of music at a young age that influenced me to actually try different styles from the start.

Speaking of style, your sound is very unique. Is that something you can put into words?

Ha, I don’t know, man. Well for Nosaj Thing it’s hip-hop, it’s electronic music. It’s experimental.

Photography: 13th Witness