Xaviersobased, photographed by Demetri Demetropoulos.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
If future cultural archeologists wonder how hip-hop turned into a distorted Soundcloud party in the 2020s, they should start with Upper West Side\u2019s Xaviersobased<\/a>. His debut album, <\/span>Xavier<\/span><\/i><\/a>, came out in January, the culmination of three years of underground work that turned millennials into the old heads that they swore they would never become. For every pristine melody the 22-year old churns out, there\u2019s another moment where he\u2019s determined to confuse, or even repel. <\/span>To hell with the old heads, though. More than his underground aesthetics, Xavier\u2019s ambition is obvious. The blockbuster potential jumps out on grandiose tracks like \u201ciPhone 16\u201d and \u201cWrk Wrk.\u201d He\u2019s also the total rejection of the hyper-capitalist, overly controlled, loner personas that once defined a rap star in the 2000s. In many ways, Xavier feels like the cool New York rap star that we haven\u2019t had since the murder of Pop Smoke and losing A$AP Rocky to A24. He\u2019s laconic, curious, community driven, but also aware of what it means to be a star. A few weeks ago, I met Xavier at a salon and we talked about his latest record, underground hip-hop, and what makes his music different from what came before.<\/span><\/p>\n \u2014\u2014\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n BUFORD: One of the coolest things so far about your music for me is that it feels like a new movement, but it\u2019s without the toxicity of a lot of the stuff that has gotten older in hip-hop. Would you agree with that?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n XAVIERSOBASED: I agree with that, but I feel like every movement comes with toxicity. Obviously not as much as other movements, but I definitely agree with what you\u2019re saying.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n BUFORD: Where does that come from?<\/span><\/p>\n XAVIERSOBASED: Probably me feeling like I wasn\u2019t accepted when I was younger, and that in turn made me want to make others feel accepted.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n BUFORD: Maybe toxicity was the wrong term, but it feels like your movement is ambitious, but also grounded in community. And that\u2019s legitimately inspired me in a lot of ways. I became a little bit disillusioned with the hip hop scene in general. I think around 2023 I discovered your music, and it\u2019s really brought me back in a lot of ways.<\/span><\/p>\n XAVIERSOBASED: Appreciate you. Yeah, that\u2019s a great way to describe it though.<\/span><\/p>\n BUFORD: I think hip hop is a combination of a lot of different things. It\u2019s both a really transgressive art, but it\u2019s also rooted in love and community and peace. It also has a lot of different identity groups though. How have you added to that lineage?<\/span><\/p>\n XAVIERSOBASED: Just combining all the things I fuck with in my own way. Me and you probably both like totally different things about rap music. So I take the things that I like and form it into my thing. If you do the same thing, it\u2019ll come my way differently. You know what I mean? I just take it from the things that I like and put it into my craft.<\/span><\/p>\n BUFORD: Yeah, absolutely. What do you think has made you so popular with the youth? Your music really just feels like it\u2019s for them. But also, a lot of old heads don\u2019t give you enough credit for the fact that your music is conceptual. I think they think your music is just for kids.<\/span><\/p>\n XAVIERSOBASED: One thing about that is a lot of my influences are very internet. A lot of people that aren\u2019t internet heavy, like the old heads, don\u2019t really get it. But once COVID hit and TikTok started popping, Bladee and all the underground shit started getting super popular because everybody was on the internet to find it so quick. So now more people understand where I\u2019m coming from with my influences.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n BUFORD: Yeah, I think your music is definitely rooted in the internet scenes, but also I think your stuff always has a vignette style songwriting to it, and it\u2019s really honest. I think about \u201cPediatrician\u201d, which kind of reminded me of being at a dentist office on the Upper East Side when I was a kid.<\/span><\/p>\n XAVIERSOBASED: That\u2019s so fire that you just said that though, because that\u2019s literally the type of vibe we\u2019re trying to invoke. I used to go to the pediatrician on the Upper West Side, on 96th and it was definitely a similar experience.<\/span><\/p>\n BUFORD: Mine was actually around the corner. I remember when I listened to \u201cPediatrician,\u201d it brought me back to those days, like reading Sports Illustrated for kids, being bored and wishing I could get out of here. Some things don\u2019t change, but also everything changes, right?<\/span><\/p>\n XAVIERSOBASED: Exactly. A lot of it is rooted in memories too, or rooted in personal experience and definitely a bunch of things that I used to listen to. Because obviously I\u2019m from the streets, but a nigga wasn\u2019t in the streets like that. So obviously a lot of songwriting is more about things I listen to, things I\u2019ve seen, things I\u2019ve been around.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n BUFORD: The record Xavier is really interesting because it really showcases your rap nerd intellect. And on \u201cWrk Wrk,\u201d there\u2019s kind of a little bit of Shawty Redd in there.<\/span><\/p>\n XAVIERSOBASED: Yeah, I can see what you\u2019re saying. I definitely listened to a lot of Gucci [Mane] growing up and older artists like that, and I feel like a lot of it just seeps out when I rap. It\u2019s not like an inherent like, \u201cI\u2019m going to be on this,\u201d but I\u2019ll damn near sing a bar from a song that I used to listen to years ago and not even realize, you know what I mean?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n BUFORD: Your opening line on the record is one of my favorite bars from you: \u201cYeah, this rap shit stress me out, but nigga, I don\u2019t hate it.\u201d It reminded me of something that an early Drake or early Lil B would say like, \u201cI\u2019m becoming a star, but I\u2019m also emotionally intelligent enough to understand that with this comes a lot of stress and a lot of pressure.\u201d What pressures come with that for you?<\/span><\/p>\n XAVIERSOBASED: It\u2019s down to the little shit, like watching how I got to act around certain people because I know people trying to read me, trying to figure out what I got going on or like what I\u2019m thinking in the exact moment. I try not to, but you tend to watch the things you post. You tend to over analyze your whole life. Because other people are over analyzing, so it\u2019s like you try to compensate for that. That\u2019s one of the biggest stresses.<\/span><\/p>\n BUFORD: I know what you mean. Because it\u2019s like, \u201cOkay, all eyes are on me now and that puts a kind of pressure on what you\u2019re saying to the public.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n XAVIERSOBASED: Not even just to the public, but it goes all the way down to even day-to-day with family or with homies. I don\u2019t know, like I might not get back to somebody and now niggas is like, \u201cMan, what happened?\u201d It\u2019s like, \u201cMy bad. I was busy.\u201d And I tend to overthink things like that too, because I don\u2019t want people to think I\u2019m on some fool shit.<\/span><\/p>\n BUFORD: Something that I can\u2019t stand about detractors of New Gen SoundCloud, is that people talk about it as if it\u2019s so different from some of the stuff that they grew up on, right?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n XAVIERSOBASED: I do feel like it\u2019s different though, because the music reflects the state of the world, and the state of the world is different. It is the same concept of we just rapping about what we go through, though. But what we go through is way different than what they went through. You know what I mean? It\u2019s the same idea of just different lived experiences.<\/span><\/p>\n BUFORD: You have a line on \u201ciPhone 16,\u201d where you say, \u201cBeing smart is hard, and ignorance is bliss.\u201d What does that line mean to you?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n XAVIERSOBASED: I mean, I still got homies that\u2019s on block type shit. Niggas that\u2019s not into what I\u2019m into. A lot of people are good at masking shit too though. It\u2019s kind of like, when you\u2019re not worried about it, you don\u2019t know about it, then what is it you think about?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n BUFORD: I think when people have eclectic taste, when people have tastes that go just beyond whatever\u2019s on the radio, I think also it can tend to become something that \u2026 I\u2019m trying to say this in a way that\u2019s diplomatic, but sometimes it becomes easier for these fucking white kids from the suburbs to enjoy it.<\/span><\/p>\n XAVIERSOBASED: These are facts. I mean, I keep all types of different people around me. So people see that and that I embrace all types of different people. Being with Ren, he\u2019s Peruvian and Italian, and then you got fucking all the homies. We\u2019ve got Ecuadorian, Dominican, Black, right? None of that ever mattered though. That\u2019s what keeps all kinds of different people fucking with us though.<\/span><\/p>\n BUFORD: It reminds me of a time in New York that felt different than what it is now. My high school had a lot of Black and Brown kids and a few Italian and Irish sprinkled here and there. It was like a genuine, diverse coalition in a way. So what is it about New York for you that has helped you become Xaviersobased?<\/span><\/p>\n XAVIERSOBASED: The diversity. Like you said, my school was the exact same way and it\u2019s like everyone was into all types of different things. I feel like I was kind of growing up in the start of the scam era, and the early drill era for New York, like 2017, 2018. So it\u2019s a lot of different shit going on, you feel me? Having a Spanish family and then just being on the internet.<\/span><\/p>\n BUFORD: Yeah. I feel like it\u2019s cliche at this point to bring up your mom and your brother, but I know they were very influential with you in terms of music. Being in a musical home like that, what\u2019s the greatest memory of them helping you?<\/span><\/p>\n XAVIERSOBASED: Definitely just me and my brother, scrolling on the internet, scrolling on YouTube, watching shit. And my mom playing music in the house. These are my favorite memories for sure, as far as that goes.<\/span><\/p>\n BUFORD: What was some of the hip hop she was playing in the house, if anything?<\/span><\/p>\n XAVIERSOBASED: Just like regular shit, you feel me? Like 50 Cent, niggas like that. Who else though? Like fucking Kris Kross. There\u2019s more people though.<\/span><\/p>\n BUFORD: Yeah. Kris Kross has a youthful energy that I think you have a little bit of.<\/span><\/p>\n XAVIERSOBASED: I fucked with them when they came out. Whenever my mom was playing it, they were snapping for sure.<\/span><\/p>\n BUFORD: When it comes to fashion, what have you been on lately? What is the best Xaviersobased fit?<\/span><\/p>\n XAVIERSOBASED: I mean shit, they see it. I\u2019ve just been on a bunch of extreme sports vibes. I\u2019ve been on the designer, but don\u2019t get me wrong, I haven\u2019t been too focused on the designer. But I\u2019ve just been more against shit that I used to look at as a kid. I used to watch Danny & The Dingo and shit like that, like fuel TV shit and just things like that when I was growing up. That\u2019s more of the type of vibe I\u2019ve been on with fashion.<\/span><\/p>\n BUFORD: Facts. Growing up, was there a rapper whose fashion you were inspired by?<\/span><\/p>\n XAVIERSOBASED: The earliest ones were probably like A$AP [Rocky], Mac [Miller], Tyler [the Creator]. The Supreme came out. I mean when they was rocking the HBA, niggas was rocking. Just like that blog era type of swag. That was my first introduction to fashion.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Xaviersobased, photographed by Jayson Buford.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n BUFORD: I love the way [Chief] Keef looked because to me, he looked cool, but it was away from high end fashion stuff at the time. He was just in True Religion jeans.<\/span><\/p>\n XAVIERSOBASED: Somebody that was on that in their own way was Bladee. The way Bladee used to be swagging and dripping, and just the whole Drain Gang. And then it came more to Slay World and them. They were the first ones that I seen really doing the archive drip. Carti and them, and Ian [Connor] and all that was on them before that. But when I started looking at Weiland and Summrs, they was really rocking. Number Nine Mickey and Undercover Pants and shit like that.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n BUFORD: Hell yeah. I have crazy ADD, and I\u2019m wondering how much of your music is based on the new generation and attention span?<\/span><\/p>\n XAVIERSOBASED: I\u2019ve never been diagnosed, but I could say I\u2019ve just always struggled with paying attention. Always just doing what I wanted to do. I couldn\u2019t even fathom doing something I wouldn\u2019t want to do, whether it\u2019s going to school or just doing an assignment. It used to be a problem like, bro. I used to be crying when my parents would be helping me do the homework and shit. Everything was always an issue, but that definitely plays a big role in my music too, because you could hear it, bro. I got songs that really scratch that brain itch of just, shit is overly sped up and overly bass heavy for no reason.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n![\"Xaviersobased\"](\"https:\/\/www.interviewmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/DSC03047-scaled.png\")
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