FSD: There’s a thick psychedelic influence that creeps into your visuals and music. Does this come from anything other than taking shitloads of drugs?
Alex Wiley: Yeah, but mainly my severe ass ADD. I just get so bored with things like I’m trying to make my music always interesting, like every four bars something new has to be happening. Or you know, just making sure that from point A to Z it’s interesting to me personally.
FSD: Like you want to give people a reason to listen to the whole song?
Alex Wiley: Yeah. All my favorite music is music where there’s a lot of attention to detail and like each aspect of the song — each section — was addressed and made hot.
FSD: How long does it take you to write a song?
Alex Wiley: Well, I’ll come in the studio and pull up a beat and in like 45 minutes I’ll write a verse. Then we’ll record it. Then I’ll write my second verse and we’ll record it. Then we’ll mess with the song and we’ll make bridges and do backgrounds and all that shit. But normally I’ll sit in here by myself for 30 minutes to an hour and write a verse.
FSD: Do you write every verse specifically to a beat?
Alex Wiley: 99% of verses are. There are a couple that I just make up when I hear a beat but 99% of my verses get written.
FSD: You and the Save Money crew often get pointed at as a counterpoint to drill music. Does this seem accurate to you or is it just the media trying to divide up the city?
Alex Wiley: I mean it’s a little bit of both, but there is merit to it. It is like an alternative to Drill music as like “Chicago music” but I mean, I don’t really see it as divisive. I think it’s like a different style of music and I think it’s cool they’re both getting shine out of the same city, but I don’t think it’s like a divisive thing. It’s only divisive because it’s different — we’re still people making music from Chicago.
FSD: Is it true you once rap battled a tiger into submission?
Alex Wiley: Yes.
FSD: As a noted fan of the Arctic Monkeys, do you hope to get Alex Turner on the hook someday?
Alex Wiley: That would be amazing! Yes. I would love to make music with them. I want to be on their album though, I want to do an “R U Mine?” remix cause that’s what “Earfucked” is. I’d come with it. I’d very much deliver on that.
FSD: I noticed you sampled Delorean (“Real Love”) on “K Swiss,” was that your idea?
Alex Wiley: I actually didn’t know that. Stefan Ponce made that beat. He made 3005 for Gambino and I watched him make it. I thought that was a Florence & the Machine sample I did not know who that was.
FSD: You’re about to hit the road for a tour, can you tell us a little about that?
Alex Wiley: It’s my first time on the west coast doing shows and I’m going to do a lot of THC related things in LA. Then in Denver. Then in Seattle. And it’s going to be amazing, and it’s really cool that people know my music outside of my city. It’s really cool when I go there and there’s like 30 people that just know all the words. And there might be 150 people there, and some are there for the local openers who came because it’s something to do. Seeing those 30 people who know all my shit, and they told their friends and they brought their friends? It’s a really cool thing to see.
FSD: Club Wiley came out last June. Your next project is coming this summer. Can we get any info on that? Collaborations? Producers?
Alex Wiley: It’s coming right before the summer, probably. No really big names, it’s just going to be like, best possible music I could put out that period. If you wanted to listen to something that you’ve never heard before and somehow still works, and it’s like catchy and cool and you wanna listen to it again, that’s what we’re on. I felt like I wanted to really own this project completely. Like, myself. Just really put this out as a statement of what I’m trying to accomplish as an artist. So the next project, I’mma do all the features and regular rap mixtape stuff, but like this one I just wanted to own more.
FSD: So you want to keep it in house?
Alex Wiley: Yeah. Especially since there’s such a particular sound I’m going for — no one sending beats to my email is going to send me some shit like this. Generally, I have to be there to make it. And when it’s like that, I make it with people that I know around town that are good with music.
Dope shit. Big ups to Wiley from Florida. Mother fuckers will catch on, they got no choice if they hop in my whip.