The Art of Diversion: A Bloglin Interview w/ Cities Aviv
Wednesday, May 23rd, 2012Last year my friend Spencer told me about an album he loved called Digital Lows by a rapper from Memphis named Cities Aviv. And I remember thinking “Cities Aviv is a rapper?” The name “Cities Aviv” was in my mind because I had seen his album on Pitchfork. The cover art and the name “Cities Aviv” made me think it was pretty far from rap. I just completely judged its genre by the cover.
Luckily, I took Spencer’s advice and gave Digital Lows a listen it really amazed me. Cities a.k.a Gavin Mays has a unique voice and sound and the album addresses all kinds of ideas from the very positive stuff to the very negative with a lot of skill and creativity. I talked with Cities Aviv via phone about his upcoming album, The Illuminati, Kickin People through walls, “Surfing,” and more…
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Nick Vogt: You were doing punk and hardcore before you started rapping, right? How did you make that transition from doing different music into rapping and into the “hip hop world?”
Cities Aviv: I feel like it was a pretty easy transition just because with punk and harcore you can be just as like “seemingly talentless” as you can be in rap [laughs] so, as opposed to yelling over crunchy guitars I’m now yelling over crunchy beats.
Is any of your pre-rap music online? No one ever links to it when they write about you. They just say you used to be in punk bands. So, I’m curious…Maybe it’s “secret?”
CA: It’s ultra secret. Ultra rare…no, I feel like it’s not talked about on purpose because it sucks [laughs]. Everyone fucks around with music in their younger years and shit. I just feel like it’s one of those things that hasn’t really influenced what I’ve done much except gear me to play. It hasn’t influenced my music much except for the performance aspect.
Yeah that makes sense. When you were in bands did you play instruments and do vocals? Or was it just vocals?
CA: No, I just did vocals. I tried to stay away from any instruments. I’m really bad at them.
But, you make beats, right? I mean computer music is pretty different than playing instruments, but it’s not so different…
CA: I make beats here and there. I try not to consider myself a producer much. I think I’m very novice at it. I just pick random sounds and try to mash them to how I’d wanna hear it sound. It is very computer based. I have some gear, but not much. I try to keep it very minimal.
How much production did you do for Digital Lows?
CA: I didn’t produce much. I didn’t even do it under my name. I put them on there under a different name. That way if people thought it sucked they wouldn’t think I suck. They’d just think “this producer I don’t even know really sucks!” [Laughs] But, yeah I did a few beats on Digital Lows. I think I’m gonna produce more for my new stuff, though. A lot of people have been sending me beats, but I feel like that’s just their interpretation of what Cities Aviv is. Which, nine times out of ten, is wrong [Laughs].
You’ve had like two singles since Digital Lows, right? “Flex Yr Gold” and “Normal Immortal.” Are those both your beats?
CA: Yeah I did the beats for those two. For those tracks I already had the idea for how I wanted them to sound… It’s so fucking hard to describe a “produced beat” [laughs] but, yeah I’m glad I put “Normal Immortal” out. I initially wasn’t gonna put it out, but then I threw it on the internet. I laughed when I saw people saying “This is like Death Grips noise rap” which is just hilarious to me.
I think the Pitchfork write-up for “Normal Immortal” described your vocals as “Blown Out” which is a pretty good description. It’s hard to make out anything you say on that and on “Flex Yr Gold,” too. What was your intention behind doing such “Blown Out” vocals?
CA: When we recorded “Flex Yr Gold” I recorded with a KOAS pad into a Karaoke machine that we put a mic up to. I wanted to do it that way because it’s not just about me rapping over a beat. It’s about the whole body of work. A lot of times I like to throw the vocals in there amongst the other shit that’s going on. You have to listen harder to hear them. A lot of people are saying “I don’t like the vocals. I think that sounds bad.” Those are the people don’t want listening to my music. It just kinda weeds out what I like are “lazy listeners,” people who I feel are just tryna jump onto “wave rap” or whatever’s popular now. It’s kinda the “art of diversion” [laughs]
I think that Digital Lows does have some similarities to “wave rap,” and what a lot of people are doing now, but it’s unique for sure. That’s why I like it. I think the album kind of has an old soul, dude. I feel like it’s very connected to what I might call “Traditional Hip Hop.”
CA: Yeah, everything about that album was gearing around nostalgia, but also moving forward. But, when I was writing it I didn’t intend for anyone to hear it how it was heard. I didn’t think it would leave Memphis or leave a very small circle of people on the Internet. A lot of people have latched onto it. But, I’m over Digital Lows. I can’t bear to even listen to it. But, I think that “nostalgic feel” is why people have liked it and can connect to it.
Something else I really like about Digital Lows is your lyrics. I think your lyrics also really set you apart from other rappers in this generation I think. Your lyrics are very insightful and thoughtful at a time when a lot of rappers aren’t going for that. I don’t wanna use the word “Lyrical” to describe your stuff, but—
CA: Yeah, I hate the word “lyrical.” I feel like people think “Oh, that’s a good word! That’s five syllables!” [Laughs] I feel like the lyrics on Digital Lows are pretty amateur. I think I’ve grown as a writer. But, at the same time, when I made the album I wanted it to have it’s own sound. I wanted it to be “sloppy” in a way. There’s this new wave where everyone’s going toward the “Trap” direction. Everyone wants to be a “Southern Rapper” even though their from different parts of the world. I don’t wanna be one of these rappers vomiting out a mixtape every week that sounds the same as everything else. I wanted to be different than those guys [laughs]
And that’s funny because you’re actually from The South. Not only that, but you’re from Memphis. I love Spaceghost, so I don’t mean to knock him by saying this, but most of his sound is bringing back the classic Memphis rap…Three Six to be specific. Memphis as a “hip hop city” is almost bigger now that it ever was.
CA: It’s everywhere now. I like to call it “Memphis Fetish Rap.” A lot of people are all about Memphis, but they’ve never been here in their lives. I wonder how long it’s gonna go before people are over it? To be honest the old Memphis rap shit is amazing. And it’s very influential. There isn’t other music that sounds like that. Memphis is a very dark place. It’s like this weird, alternate dimension that people kind of forgot about. But, now, everyone’s remembered Memphis exists for some reason.
That being said, you have a lot of things that…well, that almost fabricate the Memphis sound. A lot of the time it’s contrived when people throw out “Yeah I’m so into the occult shit! I’m so into the Memphis shit!” I’m like “Get the fuck outta here.” I’m not even gonna front like I’m carrying a torch for Memphis or anything. I personally don’t care. But, at the same time, it’s cool people appreciate Memphis. I just want people to appreciate it for the right reasons. It’s not cool when people say “oh, this is a new wave thing I’m gonna jump on it.” And they have no idea about Memphis rap at all.
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