Thundercat

From when I was a kid, I was always very quiet within myself, I was never attention-hungry.

I was playing bass when I was a kid; I play bass now. I used to draw pictures when I was a kid, and I draw pictures now. I talked backwards and weird when I was a kid, and I talk backwards now.

I don't play with toys anymore. I mean, I do play with toys, but not like when I was a kid. I don't crash cars into each other, but now I collect certain toys.

I'm kind of a simple guy. The best way you can describe it is, I'm the same person I was when I was a kid. Everyone's like, 'Of course you are,' but I'm like, 'No, seriously.' I liked 'ThunderCats' when I was a kid; I call myself Thundercat now.

My first reaction to playing at Coachella was like a kid who has no idea of the rules. I just wanted to go have a jam session with my friends. I didn't get that we couldn't just jump on one another's stages while they were performing!

I actually went to an arts middle school with Shia LaBeouf, but even there, I was one of the weirder kids.

The truth is hip hop has always complemented jazz and vice versa, but there's always been this communication barrier that exists based on music to lyrics.

I've grown up with jazz - the Joe Hendersons, Oliver Nelsons, Miles Davis and stuff - but I was also listening to, like, Slipknot, Korn, and Rage Against the Machine. There was all of that weaved - interweaved - in there, and being from L.A., you tend to know your musical history.

It feels nice to be able to call Brainfeeder my home. It's giving art the platform. That's what Brainfeeder has always been for me: hope for art.

I'm happy to have been around greatness like Kendrick Lamar.

It's a privilege to always be able to create.

I don't need to tell myself that I'm black or that I'm proud of being black. I just am, and it just doesn't matter.