Maxo: Redefining Self-Expression From Every Angle
Photo courtesy of the talented @garrettclare
Deeper Than Music
The introspective world-building exhibited in Maxo’s work has been a long-standing pillar of the California native’s medium-defying artistic expression that seeps far beyond the WAV file into feature-film-esque visuals, immersive performances, and even physical art that builds upon one another, creating an expansive eco-system of self-expression. Maxo uses this collection of mediums to channel and then articulate his vast array of emotions and experiences like a collection of candid diary entries, all written with a white-knuckled grip. After a long hiatus, Maxo has returned this year with two inspired albums that delve deep into unearthing identity, resolving trauma, and unraveling moments of bliss from tragedy.
Doing What Others Can’t
Maxo’s discography presents such a unique and refreshing dichotomy, as his interpretation of self and the surrounding world is profound yet self-effacing and unpretentious. His storytelling puts indescribable feelings into context and articulates them in a way that is authentic to him. He does this by trusting his will over anything and everything, which at times brings powerful moments of revelation while also humbly generating more questions of himself. Maxo’s music doesn’t read like a self-help book, nor does he present it in that way, yet for many – me included – his music and the art surrounding it has changed their perspective on life and challenged them to look deeper within. Because of this, I, like many, have found it so easy to feel connected to him and his story, which offers an incomparable – and at times overwhelming – resonance of feelings and emotion as my inner dialogue meets his.
The Recipe
Although Maxo’s purpose-driven lyrics and spirited delivery appear front and center in the mix, the eclectic production of his records offer a compelling backbone that structures his meandering flows. It’d be so easy to just name-drop the legendary team of producers he’s worked with across his discography with the likes of The Alchemist, Madlib, Alexander Spit, and Lastnamedavid, and we could just end the conversation there. Yet, it’s so much deeper than that, as it’s the cohesion of his curation that really stands above all. The production will cleverly leap from chopped sample-based arrangements to live instrumentation, seamlessly presenting the listener with rich texture to latch onto behind the vocals. Furthermore, the production is incredibly dynamic as the beats build anxiety then release tension, while trekking across genres traversing soul, jazz, and hip hop, forming a beautiful cocktail of sound that sets the tone for Maxo’s performances. In some ways, the production acts as an adhesive, holding the pieces of colorful stories and detail-abundant experiences together in cohesion that – upon stepping back – reveal a mosaic of Maxo’s journey that he’s carefully built while reflecting and thumbing through old photo albums.
Staging Something Bigger
All these components culminate into a beautiful product set for stages in its original form, yet somehow Maxo still finds a way to deconstruct the music and take the art to even greater heights, while touring. Accompanied by Alexander Spit as a DJ and supported by Sideshow, the trio lit up North America, hitting stages with a reimagined set defined by mind-bending vocal emulation, torn apart and reassembled production (courtesy of Alexander Spit), and passionate performances by Maxo, who’s backed by a compilation of childhood photos that informed the creation of the album shuffling in the background. The set is a session of catharsis for the audience as they echo their favorite bars back at Maxo in a moving performance that borders psychedelic. This is self-expression. This is art. Thank you, Maxo.
The following is a written excerpt from our interview with Maxo conducted by Malx:
Maxo on creativity, his approach to creation, & what’s next:
When I listen to your music, it’s like damn, I kinda need to look in the mirror and really look back at myself. It makes me reflect on a lot of shit. So how has trusting your own will guided you in the right direction when you make music?
“I mean it’s really in authenticity, so I gotta trust that everyday. And it’s just like with music and art or anything you’re creating it’s just a lot of blind faith. So 90% it’s just trusting [the vision]… Like it’s hard because you gotta block out so many things to do what you want to do.”
For real man. Also I’m not going to lie you got feature of the year on that “Both Handed” with Liv.e, like y’all slid!
“AHHHHHH YUHHHHHHH! I thought you were going to say somebody else’s shit haha. You want to know how that song got made? For that song specifically, we was in the studio and she wrote that hook and then she said it one time then she left, she said she had to go do something, and then I wrote to that shit for a week, with tthe beat and everything then pulled up and recorded it. Karriem [Riggins], Dom, and I arranged it, and it was just the perfect hook like it all kind of just happened off the rip.”
In an interesting way like, just by how life has been going that song is.. I’m all over the place but I like songs that just continue to teach you and don’t have a timeframe. You know? I feel like this is one of those.”
That’s one of them one’s bruh I showed my momma that song she was like, “oh yea this hard!”
“I swear to god, I got a lot of momma fans off of that album.”
Even on Debbie’s Son, I showed my mom “#3” that’s our favorite number, and she was like “oh yeah i like this guy!”
“That’s fire! #3 when I recorded that song it was definitely one of them ones I revisited, took shrooms to, and cried my heart out for. That’s definitely a tear-jerker. That’s one of them ones that’s like I couldn’t have made that song before the day I made it.”
I feel you and even like going from that to the visuals too, bro. I ain’t going to lie like you be shooting real films on the low like I seen “free!” and I’m like damn – and even on “Playdis!” that you just dropped with Zelooperz. Like you really lowkey a director bro like you gotta make a movie or something!
“On god bro! Give me all my credit! That’s how I feel! Like I be partially directing, like I swear I be in the trenches with the edits, all of that. I work with some great directors, like Vincent Hangcock; who really became the homie too like he helped me with the shit we doing in Berlin too! We going to take that shit around the world too. I’m blessed to be around some great creatives and ******* that love this shit like I do.”
Alright, so coming up were you always on come creative shit? I know you used to hoop, but were you always making art – not even just music – just like into arts growing up?
“You know, like my momma let me do whatever I had a passion for, but I wasn’t really always comfortable with being expressive of myself. And then when it comes to art, it’s like it took me a while to even claim it, like I barely started claiming this shit until like two years ago. I feel like I seen glimpses of the creative vessel within myself when I would write essays where I could choose my topic. It was rare in school where I had the opportunity to use my imagination, but I noticed in times when I was able to, it was like something was opening up. I was like hold on, I’m actually having fun in school, this is crazy!”
What other creative outlets do you want to explore beyond music?
“I mean for one, I really want to dive into the film shit, I’m definitely going to make a film one day and I have this idea that I been plotting on. But I also want to get into something not related to music too. Like as time goes on I just find more things I’m interested in. I feel like I’m a super late bloomer in a lot of realms. Film for sure I can say off rip, but after I make I movie I feel like I’ll know what the next move is. I feel like I’m already doing what I’ve been wanting to pursue, so I’m in the middle of that so when things start to change in a real noticeable way, then like i can parlay it. Like I’m really at the point where I got the resources to create want I want to, from directors I’m working with to producers or just to people I’m around that are like-minded. In real time I can see foundation assembling and forming. I’m paying more attention than ever now with that.”
Yeah man it’s like that time, I’ve noticed in getting older you gotta realise how important having a team is, like someone that you’re with that’s going to hold it down. Even in some cases where you experience the same thing but they see it in a different way that you wouldn’t have looked at it in that sense.
“Facts! Nah, I feel that - it’s interesting man. Like I just want everything to hit, that’s all. I just gotta spend the right amount of time on it.”
Yeah, time is of the essence.
“mmmhhhmmm!”
Sincerely,
Two genuine perspectives
