HYPETRAK Interview UZi and Discuss Their Lo-Fi Style

Los Angeles-based group UZi have experienced relative success in 2014, making their move into the music realm via lo-fi music releases on their SoundCloud (click here to listen), which for the most part have been well-received. For those unfamiliar with the duo, who go by the names Gabe and Mike, they made a name for themselves by conceptualizing and producing VHS-inspired videos for the likes of Wiz Khalifa, KiD CuDi, RiFF RAFF and more. Recently, our compadres over at HYPETRAK had the chance to sit down with UZi in Los Angeles to talk about their roots, the dynamic between their visual and audio craft, and their view on today’s music industry. Read through the snippet below and head over to HYPETRAK for the full Q&A interview.

It’s hard to find some solid information on you guys. When did you decide to move from video to audio?

We actually started to do music before we were shooting music videos. However, the thing was that every director was basically flaking on us while shooting our music videos. So we just went ahead and bought a camera and started playing around with that. Once we saw the potential of growing as videographers and growing into the culture as artists, we decided together that we would not drop any music until the timing was right and we would actually be seen by people.

Your video style is very VHS-infused. Your music kind of sounds like that too.

Gabe: Our sound is pop. We try to make pop music for cool people, not pop for kids or soccer moms. We want to make music for kids that know what’s up.

How would you define pop music?

Gabe: That’s a really good question. It is a certain type of sound, just like trap music or country music are certain types of sound. With our songs, we take a lot of the same textures that you hear in Top 40 songs, and then Mike arranges them in a way…

Mike: We try to use the same structures that you can find in a standard pop song.

Gabe: We try to make it more sophisticated and cool.