He’d not even hit middle school before knowing and declaring that his life was going to be more than ordinary, and I applaud that because for the longest time I too fought the 9-5 mentality because when you’re young and creative, nothing feels as constricting as the expected. So from an early age, R0AMDxD focused on making everything he did anything but boring and has stuck to that, focusing his music on everything from mental health to road trips and everything in between. We talked about all of the above as well as his latest, ‘Posh Living.’

Kendra: Has music always been the path you wanted to travel down in terms of a career? 

R0AMDxD: Music definitely wasn’t my career plan growing up. I always knew I wanted to change the world and I also knew I wanted to impact as many people as I could. I told my parents when I was about 9 years old that “I’ll never work a 9-5 job because that’s regular and boring.” Nothing against people who work regular jobs, I just have always had this image of doing things on a grand scale. I use whatever platform I create or that society gives me to just leave the biggest impact I can on as many people as I can. Music kind of just found me and I’ve been doing it ever since.

Kendra: You definitely fall into the rap realm with your style. What made you want to incorporate the lofi element into your sound? 

R0AMDxD: I’m actually obsessed with Lofi to be completely honest. I listen to it mostly all day and every day. When I was about 15 I discovered it when I was in a really bad place and I’ll be the first to tell you it feels like it saved my life. So my thought process was really just “What if I combine my two favorite genres” and then that lofi-rap style was born. I wanted to maintain the storytelling of rap and then tone down the aggressiveness of it to fit the calmer vibes of Lofi. The purpose of that was to create a safe space that I felt comfortable enough in to tell my stories and that other people would feel comfortable enough in to listen and possibly share their own. The lofi community is very accepting, inviting, and tight-knit and I want to bring that energy over to as many people as I can.

Kendra: You dropped two records this year, the first being an LP, ‘Basement Therapy,’ back in April. That is a song that definitely catches the eye (and ear), and that’s “comatose dreams.” I got to know, was it based on a true story? 

R0AMDxD: So “comatose dreams” is 100% based on a true story. I went through that experience about a week before my 17th birthday. The craziest part about the whole story to me is that my 11th-grade English teacher saved my life completely unknowingly. She emailed my mom to tell her I had missed a pretty big assignment (I hadn’t done it intentionally) and she was worried because that was very unlike me. 

That’s when my mom started getting suspicious of things. So HUGE shoutout to Ms. Eaton. In the song, I added present-day reflection while still talking about those in-the-moment feelings I was having as it was all happening. I also used those present-day feelings to relate to that older version of myself and to show how something like that never leaves you and how I’ll always carry the aftermath of that on my back.

Kendra: That song, and the idea of therapy, it’s all so relevant right now as I’d say a majority of the people in this country are living with depression and/or anxiety. Music is obviously a creative outlet for you, but do you also consider it therapeutic? 

R0AMDxD: I absolutely consider music therapeutic. All my life it seems like music has always been playing out loud or in my head and it became a comfort for me as I grew up. It was a running joke with my friends for a while that you couldn’t catch me without an earbud in when I was in High School. 

I started actually making music during quarantine. I struggle with various mental illnesses so the lockdown was extremely hard on me. I was also going through so much in my life at the time that I needed to find an outlet or else I feared for myself. I remember sitting in the basement of my parents’ home and just thinking, “Well I like to write and I’ve always listened to music. What if I tried making it?” It was the most natural thing I’ve ever done and it made me feel so much better. It became my therapy.

Kendra: Not too long after that LP, you dropped an EP, ‘Posh Living.’ This one features half a dozen tracks, all of which are cities in the US. What was the significance of the road trip aspect? 

R0AMDxD: ‘Posh Living’ is sort of a follow-up to ‘Basement Therapy.’ ‘Basement Therapy’ was me processing everything and really sitting with my emotions and the work as a whole reflects that. ‘Posh Living’ is more representative of the freedom feeling you get once you get everything out. 

I also had just gone through a big change in my life and I took an impromptu road trip to Florida. So every city on the EP is a city I drove through during that road trip in the order I passed through them. Each song also has different tones and vibes because I was feeling different things in each city. I was trying to process the big change I’d just gone through and you can hear the progression of those feelings in each song.

Kendra: Now it’s time for a side note – with it being September AKA Self Improvement Month, I’m asking everyone to give us a song they like to put on when they are in self-care mode…

R0AMDxD: My favorite self-care song is “Isaiah’s Unsung Love Song” by A L E X. It’s been my favorite song since I was 16 and it always puts me in a good space mentally. Whenever I’m ready to chill and relax or take care of myself, that’s definitely my go-to.

Kendra: And lastly, with two records out now, what else do y’all have planned as we head into fall? 

R0AMDxD: As we go into fall I’m really just focused on expanding my reach. I love meeting new people and making new friends and I want to use my music as a medium to do that. The way I see it, the more people I can get to hear my music the more friends I can make. Plus making both the projects I put out this year took a lot and I’m very proud of them so I want to get more ears on them.