In Conversation With Anysia Kym and Tony Seltzer

When Anysia Kym and Tony Seltzer pulled up to the Hypebeast office, it was immediately evident that the two artists were actually friends, and not solely confined to the “creative collaborators” label. Kym was, in fact, once a Hypebeast employee, so walking back into the Chinatown office is a true full-circle moment.

Now one of the independent record label and publishing company 10k’s leading ladies, Kym has carved out her own lane in the New York City music industry, melding a myriad of genre influences to create an utterly captivating, celestial, and entirely self-produced sound.

Fellow B10k affiliate producer Seltzer is similarly well-travelled in his genre escapades, and the two connected over a shared drumming background – something that’s incredibly apparent on their collaborative mixtape, Purity.

On Purity, the pair jumps between genres in tandem, crafting an alluringly abstract atmosphere of spellbinding sonics. Used to being in the production driver’s seat, Kym gets into her songwriting bag on Purity, leaving nearly all of the production on the project up to Seltzer. “Afterparty” was the only song they produced together. When they first met during – of course, via 10k’s founder MIKE – in the final Pinball recording sessions, Kym and Seltzer had no expectations.

“We had no intentions at all,” said Kym. “Tony didn’t pull up beats until the third or fourth time we hung out.”

Clocking in at 17 minutes in length across its 12 songs, the duo knew they wanted to deliver a short project; initially, they limited themselves to just eight songs, then extended it to 10, and finally extended it to 12.

“We didn’t want it to feel like an album. It is an album, but it’s also a mixtape,” explains Kym. “The practice of it was like creating a mixtape.”

The raw, real, and unpolished yet highly intentional art form is fitting for the Brooklyn artists, who repeatedly circle back to the genuine and real connections at the core of 10k.

“No one cares about industry moves or industry politics,” said Seltzer. “When they get in the studio, no one is trying to make a hit. No one is looking for references. No one is thinking about what’s hot right now or what’ll be hot in the future [...] Everyone is just doing what they want to do, and you can hear it.”

Kym and Seltzer sat down with Hypebeast to share more about the mixtape and 10k at large in the context of the current soundscape.

Take me back to the beginning. How did you guys first meet?

Anysia Kym: I had known MIKE was working on Pinball with some elusive man named Tony Seltzer. [laughs] I came to one of the final recording sessions – I’m definitely skipping steps – but that was when we met.

Tony Seltzer: The first interaction was when you played the unreleased Pinball song on your phone. Then we followed each other on Instagram, and once I got a chance to check out your music, I was like, “This is sick.” Obviously, anyone 10k or related to MIKE is. We kept chatting from there, and eventually I said, “We should make music,” but we really had nothing specific in mind.

AK: We had no set intentions. Even the first time we got in the studio together, we still didn’t really know what the vibe would be. I told you I was getting more into singing and songwriting, and you played me some beats, but we quickly realized it wasn’t the vibe.

TS: We made a couple of tracks where I would play a beat I had, and Anysia would sing on it. It would be cool, but it wasn’t quite the right flow.

“The 10k family is one of the hardest-working, most experimental, most risk-taking groups of people [...] We are all such different artists, but it’s our shared passion that connects us. The art of rap is so beautiful, and being surrounded by such wordsmiths is so inspiring.” – Anysia Kym

When and how did you guys find that flow?

AK: It was when you were like, “Do you want to produce something together?” and I was like, “I want to write.”

TS: So we started totally from scratch. I’d make a beat from the beginning with Anysia in the room. We were always in the same room.

AK: We never sent anything remotely.

TS: We did it all in person together. That’s my philosophy for everything.

AK: Same. I haven’t done many collaborations, but those I have done were done fully in person with the artist [...] Even after the first really good song Tony and I made, we still weren’t decided on, “We’re gonna make a project.” We just kept making songs, and then by the fourth or fifth one, we got a flow down.

So you guys have a lot of songs together. How did you decide which songs made it onto the tracklist?

AK: It wasn’t too hard. All of the songs were so different, and from the beginning, we knew we wanted to make this project short. We didn’t want to make a 15 or 17-track project. We cut ourselves off at 12.

TS: At one point, it was eight.

Why did you want it to be short?

AK: We didn’t want it to feel like an album. It is an album, but it’s also a mixtape. The practice of it was like creating a mixtape. Once we got to 12 songs, it became about pacing and how we could move our listeners along. I wanted it to be loopable; you get to the end of the project, and you immediately want to press start again.

How was creating Purity different from creating an album?

AK: My solo album was treated the same, honestly – like a mixtape. When I think of an album, I think about a 45-minute project with three or four-minute-long songs. It’s something you have to expect people are gonna want to sit down and listen to. I just want to make my thing and keep it moving.

TS: We committed to the short songs right away. I’m a huge fan of short songs. We tried different things in every song, so we had to make sure the project still had a cohesive sound. While it’s “genre-jumping,” what makes it cohesive is our approach to the songs and the sound of us creating music together.

Could each of you share your favorite thing about working with the other?

AK: Tony is very open-minded musically. I love that he’s a weirdo. He listens to everything, and he can get into whatever bag. I love how he’s down to work with an artist like myself who produces and also songwrites, and is also at the beginning of her career, and is still willing to meet me halfway.

TS: Anysia is also open-minded, so I can try out weird shit, but she’s also not afraid to tell me when she doesn’t like something. That’s why I love making the beat while she’s with me, because if at any point I add something she doesn’t like, she’ll let me know. And that’s so helpful in shaping the final product.

If you had to pick one Purity song that epitomizes the Anysia x Tony collaborative language, which one would it be?

AK: This is really hard because, not even as a cop out answer, I feel like they all are. I think “Diamonds & Pearls” or “Afterparty.” We produced “Afterparty” together.

TS: I’m also gonna say “Diamonds & Pearls.” I also really like “Automatic.” It was a single for a reason. When Anysia started layering the harmonies on that, it was like, “Oh shit!”

AK: We stayed in the studio that night and just listened to it for another 20 minutes.

Were there any other tracks you both produced together?

TS: Just “Afterparty.”

AK: It was nice not to have to be in the driver’s seat. I could trust Tony to do his thing. I’ve done a project where I handled both the production and the singing, but this project, I really wanted to exercise the songwriting muscle.

How has the 10k family played a role in your career or artistry?

AK: The 10k family is one of the hardest-working, most experimental, most risk-taking groups of people. Maybe I’m biased, but it’s special. 10k is about playing the long game and staying true to ourselves. It’s about being willing to try new stuff. We are all such different artists, but it’s our shared passion that connects us. The art of rap is so beautiful, and being surrounded by such wordsmiths is [so inspiring].

TS: It’s genuine love and connection at the core of 10k. No one cares about industry moves or industry politics. When they get in the studio, no one is trying to make a hit. No one is looking for references. No one is thinking about what’s hot right now or what’ll be hot in the future. It’s about getting in the studio and creating something based on the feeling that day. No outside influences. That’s the art of 10k. There are no conversations about, “Are people gonna like this?” or “Maybe this won’t sound great…” Everyone is just doing what they want to do, and you can hear it.

How do you keep the outside noise to a minimal volume?

AK: Something Niontay says a lot is, “No one is bigger than the program. But the program is big.” What we’ve got going on in this moment in time, keeping up with the fact that this is the here and now, you start thinking about how things will look in five years. Although you should plan for your future, there is a balance. That can start to taint the organic thing that is happening right now. Being around people you trust and love helps with that. I’m very grateful for collaborations, but I think you should also have discernment with who you work with.

“We really built a friendship first. It sounds corny, but it’s going back to the 10k question, the same thing with everyone at 10k. Everyone wants to build relationships first. And then the music comes after that.” – Tony Seltzer

With that being said, why did you decide to work with Tony?

AK: Because our first time linking up, he never gave the vibe that he was trying to get something out of this friendship. I could let my hair down and kick it with him. [looks over to Tony] You didn’t pull up beats until the third or fourth time we hung out.

TS: We really built a friendship first. It sounds corny, but it’s going back to the 10k question, the same thing with everyone at 10k. Everyone wants to build relationships first. And then the music comes after that. I’d known MIKE for 10 years before we really locked in. I had a couple of beats on his first big album. His sound is very different than mine, so I was never pressed to get him to make music. But whether we’re making music or not, we’ve always maintained that solid friendship, and we’ve always shown each other love. With Pinball, we just came together and clicked.

And Tony, I’ll throw that question back to you – Why did you decide to work with Anysia?

TS: Just from listening to her music. Before we even met, I could tell she was just down to experiment. On a production level, she’s always doing different things. [looks over to Anysia] Your sound mixes jungle and, I hate to call it, Lo-fi, but more lo-fi stuff. You have a great, unique sound, and it’s obviously yours, and you can really experiment with it.