4ria ©

Meet 4ria ©

A terrific NYC rapper 4ria © captures the chaos that is the human mind. Their songs chart the rapid pace of thoughts and feelings that are constantly flying through our heads. In our latest interview we talk about collaborations, bandcamp, and fans.

They also have an all new release “QUARANTINE LOCKDOWN SESSION VOL. 1” Which you can check out below.

Would you rather…

your skin flash like a fast strobe light, or be incredibly slippery? Why?

Well, that’s a specifically odd question, but I suppose I’ll do my best answer to it. The first thought that crossed my mind was, “Is there a right answer or an answer that this guy would find satisfactory?”, but maybe my answer is just a reflection of the type of person I am, so here goes. 

I’d rather be incredibly slippery mostly because that seems less hazardous to the people around me. Fast strobe lights tend to induce seizures in some epileptic people and that’s the last thing I want to worry about. If I was just incredibly slippery, I’d probably spend a lot of the day gliding around the floors of my house or something, sort of one of those really cool kids who owned a pair of Heelys in middle school.

Some questions with 4ria ©

Do you think there is a divide between Bandcamp and Soundcloud musicians?

Well, distinguishing between those two platforms is like comparing apples to oranges. Bandcamp & Soundcloud both have a lot of cool features and have had much success & impact in the past decade with their own dedicated users & followers. From an artist’s perspective, I think it depends on how you would like to present yourself & your music. When I dropped my first tape in 2016, I released it strictly on Bandcamp because I didn’t want to be associated with the whole underground hip hop SoundCloud scene. That’s not to say that I thought I was better or above them, I just felt that even at that time, the underground hip hop scene on SoundCloud was becoming oversaturated. I was also just insecure about it & wanted to distinguish myself from most internet rappers. On Soundcloud, users also have access to the number of streams, likes & comments each track has, so as someone who was just starting out, I was self-conscious. I didn’t want a profile with a clump of songs that had an average of 50 streams per song. I think from a business standpoint, you have to ask yourself, “how many people are going to be more intrigued & willing to stream a track that has 30 streams and 5 likes versus a song with 100k streams and 2000 likes?”. People also tend to hop on bandwagons & become fans of artists just because they already have a cult following and maybe an alluring image attached to them. I didn’t make a SoundCloud profile until 2017, but it was definitely beneficial in terms of helping spread my music. Listeners reposting my tracks on their profiles & adding it to their personal playlists was a way for their all their friends & followers to listen to my music, which lead to this slow, but organic & progressive growth in true fans.

Who would be your dream collaborator?

Probably either Dev Hynes or Julian Casablancas. I admire both of them so much & spent most of high school & college listening to Lightspeed Champion & the Strokes. I just think Dev Hynes is a musical genius & I’d love to see him venture more into rap, especially. in terms of production. I was also an avid listener of his old band Test Icicles and his current side project Blood Orange. I admire their willingness to try new sounds & try some out of the box type shit and so I do my best to emulate that in ways. The Voidz’ “Human Sadness” was probably one of my favorite songs of the 2010s.

What three items do you never leave the house without?

I rarely leave the house lol, but usually just my cell phone, a fully charged juul & a generous amount of anxiety ensuring that all social interactions I partake in end up with a hue of awkwardness.

Having put out music for the better part of four years have you noticed any changes in your workflow/creative process?

I’ve found myself in a constant state of urgency/anxiety in the past year or so due to the fact that I feel my time frame to achieve success in terms of financial stability from making music & landing a “big break” is dwindling. I attribute that to the fact that I’m getting older with a slightly fading optimism that I barely had to begin with. I usually write everyday, whether it’s an array of verses triggered by a surge in creativity or a hefty dose of Adderall, I don’t think I experience the notion of writer’s block very often. However, I do find myself burdened with never feeling completely content with songs I’ve recorded. There’s always something I wish I could have changed listening back or some faint regret that I didn’t spend more time on a particular track instead of impulsively releasing it on Soundcloud or Bandcamp because I was too impatient or worried that I wasn’t delivering enough consistent content to fans. I think depending on which tape you listen to, it becomes apparent where my focus was during the process of the writing & recording the track. For instance, the majority of my first tape, ADULT, I wanted to display my lyrical capabilities and ability to formulate songs with fully realized & cohesive concepts, as opposed to just spitting random bars on a beat that don’t really have a clear cut focused topic. imstillhere wasn’t about witty lyrics or anything like that. It was just unfiltered emotion & at times borderline psychosis. It was the closest thing I could’ve done to kill myself without doing any actual self harm. There’s been times in the past two years where I’ve felt embarrassed about some of the things I say on that record just because I didn’t want people to assume that’s the person I am all the time. With that being said, it’s still a brutally honest collection of songs from a low point in my life.

What is the best interaction you have ever had with a fan?

That’s a real tough one. To be honest, all my interactions have been online, since I’ve yet to play a show & I rarely show my face online, but I respond to every message in my inboxes. I have formed several genuine friendships with a lot of my listeners, which has been super gratifying. One of the best interactions I’ve had was with this one guy who wrote an essay describing how much my music meant to him going as far as quoting multiple lyrics from random songs and giving his interpretation of each of my projects. The fact that he put so much time & dedication to not only sending the message, but listening & analyzing my music almost made me shed a tear no lie.

What would the title of your memoir/biography be?

I Only Wrote This So You Would Think I Was Smart & Someone Important: a memoir by Aria Sedehi

Do you ever play drinking games? Do you have a favorite?

I don’t really drink that much anymore these days. I really just dabble in different psychedelics & stimulants & maybe downers from time to time, but I swear I’m not addicted.  

Any final comments? (This is your electronic soapbox for one last answer.)

I’d just like to say thanks again Sean for the interview and for featuring me on your blog. I’d like to thank all my loyal listeners who have stuck with me these past couple of years. I hope everyone sticks around as my sound and skills continue to evolve. I appreciate all the love and support.