Meet MC Zappa

Today we’d like to introduce you to MC Zappa.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I always had a love for retro gaming since I was a small child, and I was raised on old-school hip hop, but it wasn’t until 2016 that I started to create my own music after seeing “Straight Outta Compton” with my mother. I was absolutely fascinated by the depiction of the music creation process, and I decided I wanted to try my hand at it. I took my love of 8bit music and combined it with my repertoire of funk, soul and golden age hip hop to create my own unique genre. Both my lyrics and instruments were very rough and unpolished at first, but I continued to hone my craft over the coming years until I developed my polished signature sound.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Absolutely not. For one thing, when I first started creating Bit-Hop, I was a 16-year-old kid living with my mom. I had no job, no vehicle, little to no knowledge of marketing, and hardly any equipment. As time went on, my mother, a talented poet and musician herself, graciously lent me her equipment, but at first, pretty much all I had was an old Samsung tablet that my auntie had gave me and a couple of old cell phones. I made it work as far as capturing ideas and recording demos, but back then I had none of the musical knowledge or equipment that I have now, so it was nigh impossible to create decent-quality recordings. In addition, I lived with my mother at the time, so my recording time was confined to when she left the house, which was something limiting. I also didn’t really have a strong concept of SEO, marketing or demographics, so I didn’t really know how to make myself heard or seen.

One of my greatest struggles, quite frankly, has been my mental health. I have survived abuse, assaults and rape, and suffer from major depressive disorder and PTSD. These conditions have severely derailed my music career at times. I can’t tell you how many hours, weeks, and months that I’ve lost to depression. I like to use the concept of Maslow’s pyramid as an example. Yes, music is much more than a hobby to me, it’s a need just like food and water; at the same time, it can be very difficult to achieve self-fulfillment when you’re struggling to get past that first rung—simply surviving. Depression is quite an insidious disease; it literally rewrites your brain and your thought patterns like a malicious virus. Its malicious influence led me to believe that my music had no value and that nobody cared about it, and for that matter, my life had no value and nobody cared whether I lived or died. These things are obviously false, but in moments of weakness, I’ve believed them, and it’s robbed me of precious time and energy that I can never recover. Unfortunately, my greatest enemy has always been my own mind.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am a musician and clothing designer. I am best known for inventing Bit-Hop, a musical subgenre combining Golden Age hip-hop with 8-bit video game music.

The thing that I am most proud of is having helped and inspired other people, whether it be through my music or simply having conversations with them.

Besides having invented Bit-Hop, what sets me apart from others is my highly unusual creative process. In addition to having a rather unconventional writing technique, my studio setup incorporates technology in unusual ways, such as having two computers, four old cell phones, etc.

What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
The thing I love the best about Atlanta is the sheer chaos. See, the wonderful thing about chaos is that it allows you to step in and create order. There is SO much going on at any given time, and there is a lot of opportunity. It doesn’t matter who you are or what you do, there’s a community. Musicians, fashion designers, chefs, actors, athletes, you name it. Also, being an autistic LGBTQ person who never quite fit in, I absolutely love the Bohemian and eclectic atmosphere. You’ve got all kinds of people running around; businessmen, bikers, hippies, soccer moms, street cats, metalheads, drag queens and other assorted colorful characters, and nobody bats an eye. It’s a good place to be whoever you are.

I’m not sure which I dislike the most—the gang violence, the homelessness problem, the gentrification, or the prevalence of HIV. I understand that all of these things are somewhat inherent risks when living in a major city, but at the same time, I feel like these things take away from the wonders of Atlanta. Something about seeing that all these people are forced to sleep in the street in the middle of such of beautiful city doesn’t sit right with me at all. If nothing else, Atlanta is a city of opulence and excess. Why should anyone have to go without? Why is there more focus being put on putting up expensive-ass exclusive housing than making sure people don’t have to sleep on the sidewalk? I also have a serious problem with the gentrification of Atlanta. Maybe I’m paranoid, but it seems to me that more and more of our landmarks are disappearing, and eventually many of the black residents along with them. I fear that in a decade, I will no longer recognize my beloved city.

Pricing:

• Infinity Breaks – $100

Contact Info:

• Website: realmczappa.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/realmczappa?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
• Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/mc_zappa
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/channel/UCmXBHjYP3BHYtznQ6Yt5Mfg
• SoundCloud: https://m.soundcloud.com/mc_zappa