Based in Los Angeles but with his heart in Japan, rising artist Original God has found a way to do what he loves in a way that is completely his own. By incorporating elements of manga and anime into his art, the 21-year-old has created a distinct sound that has started to capture the attention of many. Being influenced by various genres such as hip-hop, pop, metal, and many others, it is easy to understand where Original God’s versatility stems from.
After releasing a two full-length albums, playing several shows, and putting out visuals, it feels as though he’s gotten almost no time to breathe, yet the rigor persists. As Original God comes off the release of All Men Are Evil, works on his next few music videos, makes merch, and creates his next album, we spoke with him about his sound, travels, and Midnight Society.
So you’re from Philadelphia, which begs the question: how’d you get out to Hawaii?
I’m currently living in California studying film and design, but yes my family is in Hawaii and I spent my high school years there. My dad is an immigrant from Chile and left to America when the country was overrun by a dictator. He worked his ass off to make it here and eventually started engineering work and it was so good he was offered a job in Hawaii to help build their first transit system
Hawaii — as much as I hate it — gave me the opportunity to study abroad in Japan, and that’s when I truly fell in love with Japanese culture. Although how I got into anime is a very different story [laughs].
How did you get into anime? It’s clearly a very prominent theme in your art.
Well aside from my family showing me Pokemon and Totoro as a kid, I went to a “Teacher Reads a Book” event at Barnes and Noble. My friends and I explored the other sections, and came across the manga section.
I’m about 6-years-old at the time, and we open up the first book on display, which was Naruto, and I saw him use the sexy jutsu. First time I was sexually aroused ever. Loved manga ever since. It lead me to reading Death Note and actual shit after, but that’s where it all started [laughs].
Do you have any anime or manga you’d recommend?
My current anime recommendations are Neon Genesis Evangelion (of course), Devilman Crybaby, Angel’s Egg, the Monogatari series, Aoi Bungaku, and anything by Satoshi Kon. I personally read a lot more manga than watch anime now so if you get the chance I’d recommend reading Oyasumi Punpun, Berserk, A Girl on the Shore, MPD Psycho, and Homunculus.
So you got into anime at a young age, but how did you get into music?
The first album I ever bought was Kanye West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. That was when I truly got into music, art, and even fashion as a whole, kinda sucks his politics have been off the wall lately. I played piano and guitar when I was a kid, and was constantly sketching in a notebook. I never knew how to truly let out my emotions and narrow down my love for art and creating.
I used to get asked to freestyle at parties all the time in high school and people were like, “You should rap, bro.” My initial response was like, “Hell no!” Even though I did end up recording some songs I didn’t want my pale skinny ass to be that one rapper kid in school you feel, so I kept making music just between my close friends (shout out “Bitch I Look Like Gabin” and “Robbie Klein the Ganja Man”).
But then my friend showed me Yung Lean, and I started doing vaporwave edits and graphic design for other rappers like Yung Shiva (Kay P) and Johnny Gee. Eventually other artists and my friends started really pushing me to pursue making music and not just sticking to making album art. It’s funny, cause at first everyone hated when I screamed on tracks and thought I was tweaking like, “Yeah, maybe this dude shouldn’t have started making music.” But eventually between all the weird experimental metal shit and anime rap and autotune pop, I started to find enjoyment in making music — creating new sounds, making new friends, finding an outlet for my mind in writing lyrics.
Absolutely. Music is a powerful emotional outlet.
It is such a powerful tool to turn suffering into beauty.
So how did you link with Midnight Society?
[Laughs] I just went on a crazy trip looking through old SoundCloud messages to get the exact answer for you. I hit up The Virus and Antidote to lease a beat, and saw he just added Midnight Society in his bio. At the time I was doing music solo, so I was pretty interested to find a group to make music with. I didn’t know how the underground worked at that point, and would just hit up artists like, “Lets work” [laughs]. But Kamiyada+ was one of the only dudes to reply and see something in me. He told me about Midnight and said I’d fit perfectly
I’ve been in other collectives before, but nothing really worked out. Once I met everyone in Midnight Society in person, we just hit it off and I knew immediately this was where I belonged.
What has being with Midnight Society been like?
They’re deadass the nicest guys, and I’ve always felt welcomed and I can be myself around them. It’s one big family and I think that’s what makes us stand out. The only time we’ve gotten into any shit is from defending each other if we see one member getting disrespected the whole team pulls up [laughs]. It literally feels like a family reunion every time we meet up for shows though.
It’s crazy that a lot of the first artists I ever listened to on SoundCloud like Xela, trippythakid, and Kay P ended up getting added to Midnight later on. The first time we ever met up in LA was almost 3 years ago and to this day is one of my favorite memories. We completely ran the first Midnight Society show and so much shit went wrong but we had the time of our lives and that’s where it truly all began.
Midnight as whole has grown almost exponentially recently.
Everyone in the group has been putting in so much work. You can tell from our music how much has changed in not only the sound but us growing as people too. It’s really crazy how much making music has changed my mental health too alongside others in the group. I’ve been in and out of so many therapists and psych care stuffing me with meds and nothing worked. It really wasn’t until I lost everything that I was able to appreciate what I have.
Being able to get on stage and have people sing my songs and tell me my words have changed their lives, how could I be ungrateful for that?
Do you feel like your style is different than the rest of Midnight Society?
I’ve experimented with my sound and have so many different influences from all over I’d say it’s hard to give my music just one genre. I’d say that honestly applies for a lot of Midnight as well. We definitely started with our own dark ambient hip-hop grunge sound, but I’d say we all listen to different music, and come from different places. When many of us started to grow and find our own sound, it only expanded the versatility of Midnight.
My music ranges from sad lo-fi melodies to pop punk with trap 808s and even death metal with a nightcore breakdown at the end (listen to my latest album I Died in Tokyo if you don’t believe me [laughs]). While I can rap, I never let hip-hop be my sole genre since I grew up listening to more metal, pop, and indie music like the Gorillaz, Lady Gaga, and Slayer (as well as top 10 anime openings on YouTube, I’ve always been weeb trash). But my dad would always bump rap in the car when I was growing up (Fat Joe, Lil Wayne, Gucci Mane, The Game) and if it wasn’t for him I may have never even liked hip-hop until I bought that Kanye album.
How would you describe your sound yourself?
My sound is just me. I don’t know how to describe it. There’s no way I could label it with just one genre, I have so many influences and experiences that helped shape my music into what it is now, and it’s definitely come a long way. I have so much to grow as an artist and person and the more I learn, the more I’ll be able to perfect my own sound. I was even in an acapella group in highschool, but doing vocals for a post-hardcore band for a little (don’t yell at me) had me broaden my horizons with groups that fused multiple genres together.
Especially bands like Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Asking Alexandria, Bring Me The Horizon, Attack Attack, and We Butter The Bread With Butter that would mesh electronic and metal together had a huge impact on me. Even beyond music there are so many filmmakers like David Lynch and Pablo Pasolini, or authors like Murakami and Osamu Dazai that also influence my sound. I’m constantly learning so my art is constantly changing.
How have you felt about the backlash surrounding the name of your album All Men Are Evil and the ensuing social media bans on your accounts?
I mean to me it more than anything else made me realize how dangerous of a political climate we’re in. I wouldn’t even say there’s a political message in the album it just speaks out against misogyny and hate. Its a practice of morality and decency that sadly gets confused as political due to how ignorant our society is becoming again.
Also, the line “all men are evil” is literally from the Bible, and I’ve used it as a commentary on mankind’ capacity for evil. Misgendering people, racist comments, and saying women are hoes is all over social media, but god forbid someone says, “all men are evil” as an album title, right?
It also sucked I couldn’t use Instagram at all [laughs].
Is there a message you want to bring alongside your music?
In terms of the actual message I’m bringing with music, I want to illustrate getting through pain and how important mental health is. Trying to take my life multiple times and seeing how hopeful the future is now makes me want to ensure nobody else makes the same mistake. It’s not as simple as talking to a therapist, taking meds, or finding someone to talk to. It’s painful, it can feel embarrassing. I let years of abuse eat me away inside and it wasn’t until I let it out and sought help that I was able to live without looking over my shoulder for my own demons. I promise it gets better, as difficult as it is to open up to others, I want to be someone who’s there for people to talk to no matter what. Even if they don’t like my music I could care less.
My final advice is stay true to yourself. Keep an open mind. Don’t let other people’s negativity bring you down. Don’t be an asshole unless defending yourself or a loved one. Stay away from hard drugs. Not everyone can be a rapper. And don’t take life too seriously. There’s so much evil in the world and I think it can be used to paint an image of hope.
Original God has yet another album on the way in early 2019. In the meantime, stream to All Men Are Evil down below.