FSD Feature: Every 4 Bars: The Alex Wiley Interview

Interview by Holiday Kirk (@HolidayKirk)

Despite the active bong in the corner of the Soundscape Recording Studio’s mixing room, Alex Wiley was alert — vivid even. If Wiley was high, it wasn’t showing. Over the next hour, Wiley sputtered out ideas, concepts, plans, and jokes with a clarity that most sober folk don’t possess. We talked a lot about music, discussed Kid Cudi, argued Get Rich or Die Tryin’s classic status, and talked in-depth about his forthcoming project, Village Party, which is due out this summer. Just going back and forth with Wiley was so engaging I almost forgot to do the interview at all. Thankfully, I got back on track and proceeded to get the rundown on the state of Alex Wiley.

FSD: Did you start rapping and singing at the same time?

Alex Wiley: No. I started rapping first and then I started singing because I was trying to figure out how to make my raps cooler.

FSD: Who are your biggest singing influences?

Alex Wiley: Florence & the Machine, Cee-Lo Green in Gnarls Barkley.

FSD: Not as The Soul Machine?

Alex Wiley: No, not as much. I feel like he has a different melody palate with Gnarls Barkley and it’s really, really awesome. Um, man, I’m forgetting so many people. Oh! Little Dragon and Kid Cudi because Kid Cudi is like one of my favorite artists.

FSD: Do you still want to launch your own clothing line?

Alex Wiley: Yes, but it’s going to be like my merch. Basically, it’s going to be cool artist merch but that’ll be the outlet for that, yeah.

FSD: You and Kembe X seem really close. How did you two meet?

Alex Wiley: We were dropout buddies together on Facebook and we had a mutual friend, my friend Wes Freeman that made the “Spaceship II” beat. He knew Kembe because they went to this school, Hales Franciscan, together. It was a summer day, we were meeting some girls downtown and I was getting up with my boy Wes and he was meeting this dude Kembe. Kembe drew and I was interning at Akira at the time with this dude who makes those cool socks with Cam’ron on ’em and shit.

I was working with Eric and we were working on some goofy clothing line and Kembe drew illustrations and a week later he was in Hyde Park and he just hit my line seeing what was up and I was like “Man, you can just come through the crib and we can work on some shit.” And that night we ended up going to a party in the burbs and I ended up crashing at his place because I got too wasted for me to try and make a move back to the city and shit. He told me he rapped, and I fucked with it, and that was that basically.

FSD: As someone who was caught in the Chance the Rapper updraft of 2013, do you feel like you have to field comparisons to him a lot?

Alex Wiley: Yeah. Yes, is the short answer. I don’t even know how to elaborate on that yeah I do.

FSD: Do you feel like it’s kind of stifling to you?

Alex Wiley: It’s not stifling because I don’t let it stifle me. The reason I think I have it is because I didn’t have a project out, and my project came out shortly after Acid Rap. But I think with this upcoming project it doesn’t sound like anything really. Other than my shit. So I think with my second project I’m just going to kind of firmly establish my own style.

[Click Below For Next Page]