Photos taken by Solomon Kafele
I would wake up at 7 am and leave for class by 7:55. Gray mornings, caffeine, and the occasional PopTart accompanied by Taylor Swift’s “Shake it Off” makes you appreciate the little things. I’d enter the courtyard haunted by Swift’s words “I stay out too late, got nothing in my brain.” Maybe she’s right.
I joked with my friends that these overly joyous songs in comparison to the mornings we trenched through, were dystopian. Art school was draining us of one of the most universal arts using a playlist of maybe 15 songs. I, a musician myself, said to my roommate “They gotta put me on the radio!” To which he responded with, “Yeah you’d think they’d like – play student artists like they do on the screen?” We stared out our window looking at our gorgeous view of Palate and an animation.
Choopz has something to say.
Miami Native, rpgChoopz, “It’s not troops,” he whispers. He mixes brain itching melodies, with heavy drowning 808s, and rapid kicks. His voice inflection is infectious; a hypnotic symphony of his natural soft spokenness, pure emotional expression, and an Elf Bar throat scratch. Raul loves music like so many of us, and his father taught him what he knows. Hailing from a rocker, Choopz was taught, “Drums, guitar, mixing, just like basic music-,” the camera clicks, “-knowledge – all that.” He made beats first and now, his most recent show was Saturday March 30th.
“Talk about that.” I invite.
Well yeah it was cool. It’s always scary going on stage, for sure. It’s like, intimidating. I’m sure the more you do it the more comfortable you get with it. Once you get to the point where people are going to your show for you it’s different. Versus being like, one of those opening artists, y’know they don’ ‘een know yo name they’re just they’re for the bigger artist… But it went well I think. It was fun. We rocked out. People were jumping. People came up… this manager lady… she managed Bear(1)Boss… yeah I got a little exposure.
I did a show in January that Choopz attended, the headline artist was Bear1Boss. Raul references it and I change the topic.
“When do you have time to make music, how are you balancing that with [school] work?”
It’s hard. When you ask about how I balance them? I don’t. It’s just a lot… Instead of rotting in bed I try to make a lil song. Write it down or something, pick beats. And then when I get home for the breaks, I just lock in… The other day in class I was like, mixing one of my songs on the computer.
“Do you think you would benefit? If the school had offered a music major would you be taking that?”
I think I most definitely would. It’s definitely a passion. I knew what classes we had and didn’t have when I got into art school, but I thought they would at least have some like, cool opportunities for this type of music. ‘Cause they got a club but it’s not really like – it’s different type of music. It’s not the digital sound, it’s real instruments. Which is cool. But it’s not me. I mean I can play the drums but that’s about it.
We return to how I got the idea to write this article. I joke “they play the same four songs.” “What would you do, what would you want the school to incorporate musically?”
I think a big part of film and television… It needs cool music to go behind it. You need music… I think there should be more opportunities to, not distribute things but just, put it out there, y’know? It’s a lot of musicians on campus. Have you seen the guy on campus who’s always playing traditional Chinese instruments, he rocks out, he’s cool.
I reminisce on my musical journey a little and we return to the show I did in January, “That s***’s like” I make an explosion noise “life changing. Even just one person in the crowd…”
Once you get a taste of what it could be. The fact that you can, I don’t know, evoke an emotion through music is so crazy to me. Not even two months ago [I was] sent this sweet paragraph, it was one of the nicest things and so encouraging. The fact that I can make someone feel just like… (Raul fumbles for a word to grasp the intensity of what he is explaining.) anything. Through music? It’s crazy.
“Is music as freeing as it gets? For you?”
It’s freeing but it’s frustrating. Sometimes you gotta put your mind into it. Honestly it just flows out… I would love to be able to make my own beats, make my own mix, that’s where true creative freedom is. There’s so much to learn.
“You ever get intimidated by how much there is to learn, yet still wanting “it” at such a young age?”
That’s a good question. It’s scary but there’s an infinite amount to learn no matter what. You’re never done, that’s with everything in life.
I asked rpgChoopz for a final statement and advice.
Just stick to it. Stick to yo’ sound. If you like it, stick to it. Closing statement… um, follow your dreams, always. It’s corny but like if you stick to it? Put your all in your dream? It’ll go up. You have to believe it’s gon’ work… and put the work in.
I left my interview with Raul inspired, but now I had a question greater than how this article formed: What can we, the students, do? And not just a club, what could we truly create?
What Alparr hears.
This brought me to one of the most interesting musical acts I have ever had the luxury of knowing, Alparr. The South Carolina born enigma has been making music since he was 11, credits to “SuperDuperMusicLooper.” At 12 he cracked FL, 13 he graduated to Ableton and has been there since. A young man from the school of Burial and Arca, Alparr creates noise music to its purest form. Unreleased phonk adjacent mixes of Ice Spice, samples of construction sites; Alparr has grown from a kid with a niche in music, to performing shows in Colorado in sub-zero temperatures for cults.
“How’d you end up doing the show?”
That was the first legit show I’ve done, outside of like playing music for my friends. Basically my friend Uza a’amo, shoutout Onika, they just hit me up one day like “Will you do a show for Faith Changes the World?” Which is this really cool group of kids that operates out in Denver…borderline a cult… I don’t wanna call them that but they know it’s true. It was f****** freezing…-12 at the lowest.
“How do you balance a passion with… game development?”
Doing shows and school is hard. You gotta be in and out…Well I’m not in my major classes yet so I don’t even know how I’ll balance that. The reason I came here was “Well, I’ll either do art school or music school,” and I just did not want to do music school. My parents would be like, “Do you want to do music school?” and I’d be like “No.” SCAD gave me a decent scholarship for Alparr actually and I think the sound design department fucked with me. Which is funny cause we’re on the Atlanta campus we don’t have a sound design thing… I just wanted something new and different. I just thought that if I went to art school and got my visual game up I could just do anything… You kinda have to do everything yourself… you gotta be your own artist.
“Are you a big comparer, or do you just stay pure to yourself and keep making your music?”
As soon as you recognize you’re doing that you can shut it off. I used to definitely compare myself a lot… but as soon as I had my first kid on instagram DM me and be like, “I really love your music you’re an inspiration to me.” I couldn’t do it anymore. That’s not right. Once you realize who you’re comparing yourself to? My main mentality over the past couple years has been just do what I want. Oftentimes when you make music you can imagine other people listening to it. I don’t imagine other people listening to the song. You just go.
“What do you want SCAD to do more for music?
They have uh, the beyond the dot program? I would like a beyond the dot for sound stuff. But that requires a board of people that know music and I feel like that’s a bit more subjective than a painting… even though that’s not really true but
“You can look at painting and go damn-”
“-there’s technical skill here.” Honestly musicians at SCAD need to band together a little more. We’re a little disjointed. I didn’t even know you made music. As a musician, especially a solo artist, we all have this idea that you have to do everything yourself. And I wish I had gotten over that sooner.
“What do you think the music community needs?”
The “underground” in general needs to get over themselves. A lot of people are very focused on being avant garde and to an extent I am too. We need to just, especially in America… we just need to work together more.
“What makes you come back to it? Through musical drought, and you don’t touch Ableton, there’s always something that makes you come back to “it” [music] and what is it for you?
Dude sometimes I’ll just be outside and I’ll hear a noise and I’m like “F***. I gotta open up Ableton.” There’s this construction site that’s been going on right by 1430… sometimes I carry this thing in my bag.
Alparr removes an audio recorder from his bag.
The little crackles in my songs… they’re me outside just playing with s***.
He plays sounds of jackhammers and unintelligible orders, footsteps barely shuffle and a car might’ve passed in the background.
If you want inspiration go outside.
We talk loosely on a few topics before Alparr asks if he can open Ableton. He grabs a drive off his desk and welcomes me into his domain. Alparr displays his ability. He jumps all around the DAW. It is his own musical playground and he is the king of the park. He plays thuds and glass shattering, water trickling and chatter pitch shifted, EQd, distorted or reversed whichever way the sound can be altered Alparr has done it and you will either stand in awe or bounce with it.
It’s really important to… make a lot of stupid s***. I made a Boyfriend Big Time Rush remix last night.
“Can we hear that?”
You wanna hear it?
“I do wanna hear that?”
I don’t think you want to hear it.
“No I promise you I want to hear that.”
The song we heard in our childhood had its vocals isolated and the production was a “wall of noise”. It seems that almost no sound is repeated in Alparr’s music, what we hear as random is just an alternate interpretation of the sound we standardly hear. The natural rhythms and beats we hear in life are metamorphosed into a different sound of music but still pure. Still music. What he calls “stupid s***” is a wonderful display of artistic ability and freedom.
“What’s the process of abstracting something”, say heartbreak, “and turning it into a song?
A song is being previewed in the background as Alparr says,
This is a good example. A lot of the ambient sections in my song are just, when I write them I think a lot about my home in South Carolina. The way it looks there when you’re out in middle of kinda no where. I was thinking back on this time where I was listening to Frank Ocean and I was driving it was night time. And I wrote this when I was coping with something. It was Frank Ocean and 3005 by Childish Gambino, you just stretch them and…
The sound fills the room like a running tub in an echo chamber, or a waterfall in still woods. It sounds like a summer night and the crickets are giving you a concert. You can feel each random chill that hits your back in the soothing night summer heat. We let the entire track play, the room is solemn. The cars outside are no longer audible and the water fills the room. We are submerged in the noise that Alparr hears and we are enamored.
“Who are your peoples you make music with?”
The circle, shoutout Ghozt, shoutout Neir, shoutout Lung, shoutout JHL, shoutout BloodofAza, and Meezow, those are the ones who have got me through like all of this. Oh another more thing about music. If you just hang out with people that make music like you nothing is going to happen. If they’re all doing the same thing it’s just going to be stagnate. If you don’t surround yourself with people-
“-that are different.”
Alparr spoke with clarity and authenticity. A 19 year old with a clear goal isn’t a common find. Again inspired, I had found an answer that suited me. We could make whatever. There was nothing “traditional” about these artists and that pattern seemed to be continuing. The want for community and collaboration to create something that progresses the medium. We are independent artists but that does not mean we need to be reclusive. To my last interview I went, high hopes and open mind.
Authenticity with Tyler.
Tyler Shuler is a sophomore who hasn’t taken failure as an option. The classic story of being reared in the church and inspired by the instruments. Another South Carolina native making sound his own. He founded 3229 Collective, is an active creative director, producer, and singer, Tyler holds wisdom and a clear vision. The soul of James Brown, the bounce of Zaytoven, and a voice that would’ve prevailed in the blues, Tyler is multifaceted and honest.
“What have you been doing musically”
In 2020 I released an album that I executive produced… and that’s when I realized I truly need to start producing… It’s called “Around the Broken World”, a collection I started with my friends back at home called Bossuer, which is hardworking in Swedish… I’m working on the second album for that Bossuer thing… but this time I’m producing everything myself. I’m just about done with that. 2024… it’s just been a really expressive state for me.
“You’ve learned how to do it, how do you juggle school and music?”
I do it in my freetime…
A call comes through, one of Tyler’s music friends, he accepts and keeps it brief.
My apologies gang… It’s something I use to decompress, to express myself in. In a form that doesn’t feel too much. When I’m making music there’s nothing tied to it… I don’t have an obligation to make it. With school there’s an obligation you’re paying money to be here if you don’t do your work your grades are plummeting. I think the best way to do it is just stay on top of your work. The further ahead you are, the more freetime you have… it’s based off your time management.
“I know you have your collective and a couple people you make music with on campus, what’s that like?”
Yeah it’s called 3229 collective. It’s a multimedia company… I wanted to… express more out to the world. I wanted to take art seriously. I also wanted to involve other people in it. I feel like it’s wrong to involve people in a brand of Tyler Shuler, that sounds a bit selfish to me. So I would rather have it as an entity where none of our names are tied to it. We manage artists… Palace Foor, Supreme Tony, Jimmy Plant… In terms of on campus there’s an artist named S1 or Die we started last year recording sessions here in my dorm. Sometimes we would be pulling all nighters over the weekend just to make stuff. We haven’t done it as much, but I still really appreciate that time. We was all hanging out. Making art.
“Are the people you’re working with your [current] biggest inspirations?”
Everyone around me is better at one or two things than me. That pushes me to become a better creative in general. Literally my roommate he’s one of the best song writers I’ve ever seen… My melodies are good but then I realize my lyrics are lacking. It pushes me further.
“Where do you find yourself in the realm of comparisons?”
I wouldn’t say I compare myself in terms of skill. I compare myself in terms of stepping out of my own ego or my own self. That’s how I see comparison in a way. I don’t see it in a negative way like “oh I’m not making music”. Nah, it’s just like… they’re really strong in this one thing… It’s all relative to something.
He provides an analogy that the ukelele on the wall and the bass when compared; The uke is relatively small.
This situation is happening. This situation is happening. There’s a lot of factors. Get out your head. We go to art school a lot of us overthink stuff… Think of it how… this is how I’m going to grow.
“How do you keep it pure?”
Keep people around you that are true to themselves as well. It’s okay sometimes to make stuff that seems “dumbed down.” Don’t see that as a failure to yourself. Failure is literally just the way that you grow from something.
“What do you think music is missing?”
Music is missing soul. Music is missing the James Brown in the middle of the studio where he’d scream and walk away from the track. And then he’d come back. And then he’d go crazy. We’re missing a lot of pioneers who truly know how to play instruments. And I don’t mean that in a way of like… it’s a digital age now. But the digital stuff is only just a tool. We need that knowledge cuz… lord knows. Even in underground music there’s nothing wrong with autotune, but like if you’re gonna use autotune use it as a tool. Know what you’re doing in some form. That’s that soul. The kids that truly truly grew up, listening to a whole lot of music.
“Do you think SCAD could do more to influence people in their musical paths?”
I think just open up the floor to more stuff. We don’t have a lot of sound stuff here but we have a really really passionate sound teacher, Professor Peoples… if you go up to him and you talk to him it’s always something you can learn. There’s the same four songs on the radio. I think SCAD should really step up in terms of promoting like “Hey, y’all know we have a playlist right?”
I did not know.
The way that it functions, cause I’ve looked at it, you have to get certain roles first like an RA role, a student housing role, that’s when you can contribute or add something. But I just think they need to open up the floor for everyone. Submit a song you like, we’ll go over it, let people listen to the music. You can filter out a lot of that. Imagine if we get 200 submissions there’s at least gonna be 15-20 better songs in that radio. Open up that floor for more people to contribute. Let people do other things. Opening up about that collaboration.
“Is there anything that offends you to your core as a musician, a generalization people may make?”
I hate when other styles of music come out… people try and talk down on it or belittle it. “Raps not how it was” it shouldn’t be. There’s always music that fits someone. As musicians we need to listen to all types and appreciate all types of music. Everyones put in some work to get there.
“You ever had something happen to you and in that moment you know you have to artistically express it?”
As of recently… I’ve just now begun writing. It’s not me s*** talking the girl or anybody involved in what I’m pissed off in. It’s a form of expression. It helps me positively. I don’t feel bad. I don’t feel like some type of envy towards the person I may have just made the song about because it’s not built up anymore. You don’t wanna yell at somebody else?
“F*** no.”
You yell into the microphone. All the art is connected. You express it in some other way, visually. It’s so much better than hurting other people. Yes, this person may have done bad, they may be frustrated… at least they expressed it in a way that wasn’t dangerous. A lot of people talk about “gangster rap”. At least the person that they were dissing, well, sometimes they did, but at least they didn’t go out and genuinely kill them at that very moment. Just understand the perspective of the music.
“Final advice and a closing statement.”
My advice to everyone is just create, create, create. Prince made a song a day for a majority of his career. When you feel it bubbling don’t just let it sit.
Osime, Tylers roommate, the aforementioned song writer, finishes Tyler’s sentence perfectly.
Let it s***.
The room of artistic black men erupts in laughter and snaps.
Closing statement…My great grandmother has a quote “Love. Love. Love.” Have love for everybody, understand that perspective is the biggest thing. Art is just all subjective. Love and create. Create and Love.
Regardless of what we have access to or don’t, regardless of what is played and what is shunned, musicians will create. A final thank you to rpgChoopz, Alparr, and Tyler Shuler for being so honest sitting with me and expressing their passion.
