Members Lil Eli, Angelwinter, Alice Gas, and more weigh in on the growing collective’s colorful past, present, and future
Pictured: Lil Eli and Angelwinter
There are five essential qualifications that must be fulfilled in order to join Young Bapestahs—an eclectic collective of 17 creators unified under a single forward-thinking umbrella. Perhaps the most important is being part of the “.000002% of the population that has the required swag.” Despite this highly selective admissions process, the group has managed to sprawl into the double digits as audio and visual creatives have been attracted by a computerized pull. Ranging from web designers and video editors to hip-hop and pop artists, there’s a breathtaking scope of art within Young Bapestahs to unpack, but their unifying principle is a kind of innovation that was originally mapped out in November of 2019.
Founded in the greater Dallas area by Lil Eli, Alice Gas, and Angelwinter, the physical form of Young Bapestahs is a rarity in a music community that’s unmistakably post-regional. Angelwinter initially blew off Lil Eli after Eli complimented her taste in vaporwave on the way to a party, but he “saw her outfit and couldn’t help but say something and became friends instantly.” but he “saw her outfit and couldn’t help but say something and became friends instantly.” The chance encounter led to Lil Eli’s first song under his current moniker—a collaboration with Angelwinter that was relegated to private mode on SoundCloud, but laid the foundation for “emo rap melodies [with] that crunchy kind of distorted sound.” As for Alice Gas entering the fold, she met Angelwinter at community college and began crossing paths with Lil Eli at a mutual friend’s house. Gas and Eli eventually began to record music together and discovered overwhelming artistic chemistry that led to their debut collaboration, “Signal”—a forward-thinking pop cut with an unexpectedly positive reception.
As the Bapestah CEOs continued to bond, Angelwinter explains how they would spend time together “just reminiscing about Soulja Boy and Bratz Dolls,” making Bapestahs “a subconscious thing we all had indulged in.” As the concept began to take shape, Lil Eli originally pictured Young Bapestahs as “a vibe or a fashion style…kinda like anybody could be that” before realizing “a solid collective is a lot more controllable, so a lot less stressful.” From there, all founding members point toward “Ga$pack” as the first official release under the Young Bapestahs banner—a song four months in the making that interspersed the collective’s influences with an identifiable production stamp. Alice Gas describes the single’s beat as “Soulja Boy-esque…but more poppy and modern sounding,” while Angelwinter calls it “very hedonistic, unapologetic pop music” and “the definitive Bapestahs sound.” Their perspectives offer keen insight: “Ga$pack” is intensely catchy yet laced with lines like, “One day I’ll have ice on my chain/one day I won’t feel all this pain,” offering a conscious contrast in melodramatic lyrics with sugary sweet production sounds.
Pictured: Alice Gas
A month later in December of 2019, Alice Gas released her debut album Sorry 4 Being Famous, which featured her Bapestahs breakout single, “Ferrari.” While quick to be pigeonholed as hyperpop by those outside of the collective, the track is best viewed through the lens of the “old happy hardcore [and] rave” music that informs much of Gas’ solo material. Angelwinter adds that Alice Gas “just really liked fucking happy hardcore from the late ‘90s and early 2000s…she wanted to make a happy hardcore song and that’s what ‘Ferrari’ is… it’s not really a bubblegum bass song, like PC Music…but it’s moreso this heartfelt passion for the past that all three of us have.” As Alice Gas continued to gain momentum, Lil Eli’s sound was simultaneously becoming more singular with sweet, yet deceptively pop standout singles like “One Time” and “Krazy Glue.” Angelwinter experienced notable evolution during this period as well, moving beyond her plunderphonics roots and exploring the more abrasive side of the pop spectrum with cuts like “Discord” and “Heather Mason,” which characterize her self-described role as the most unapologetic, outspoken member of the crew.
As the three founders staked their claims within the burgeoning electronic era, their ranks began to naturally expand. It’s an exercise in futility to describe every single member at length, but scroll through their official roster and you’ll find blissed out glitch-pop from Luvox, bubblegum rap from Kid Trash, stunning animations from NEPTUNEPRINCE, and intense electronic from Harlyyn all in the same breath. Search a bit further and you’ll discover the sweet pop-rap of Lil Onsen, experimental production of ANDREW GOES TO HELL, spastic electronics from Maple, rave nostalgics from Kevinhilfiger, and charming atmospherics from Mental. Finish the broad overview and you’re greeted by left-field production from Techno Allah, genre-bending work from blackwinterwells, syrupy sounds from Boofbby, quirky visuals from Sativa, and blown-out bass from eek1x. Across their extensive membership, the process of adding to Young Bapestahs is an organic one. Lil Eli explains, “if someone has the swag, if we think that they would get along with us, have the same kind of vision and outlook on music,” then they’re a likely fit.
Luvox, for example, was the first person to buy beats from Alice Gas. “I listened to Alice’s music a lot before she knew who I was…through making music together & social media we became really good friends,” he recalls. “[We] started getting on Discord calls and co-producing songs together.” Gas states how “every time he would buy a beat from me, the songs would get crazier and crazier,” prompting Lil Eli to invite him to join Bapestahs. His sound is an impeccable fit for the collective as his visceral, maximalist fusion of electronic and rap rapidly veers between genres on tracks like the dazzling “For A Rainy Day” and silly, swag-laden “Just Sparked A Penis.” Luvox says the chemistry with the rest of Young Bapestahs has only continued to evolve. “The music keeps us unified because we all share the same common goal and we’re working together to achieve it.”
As for production standout ANDREW GOES TO HELL, his entrance into Young Bapestahs was a microcosm of the internet age. An anonymous individual posing as Alice Gas on 4chan’s /mu/ board shared her music, which prompted him to invite her to perform at a show alongside Laura Les of 100 Gecs. ANDREW GOES TO HELL and Alice Gas would quickly become close collaborators with an intuitive understanding of one another’s strengths as they combine experimental approaches and pop perspectives. Gas explains, “He’ll just send me half a beat and I’ll flip it all crazy, I’ll send him half a beat and he’ll just make the most insane shit out of it. We’ll send each other the most barebones, shittiest beats and then they’ll just turn into the craziest songs.”
Building upon visuals from the likes of Sativa, who provides in-house video editing, and Lil Eli, who frequently designs artwork for the Bapestahs, the addition of NEPTUNEPRINCE solidified the group’s expansion into other artistic mediums. The Bapestahs and she met through a mutual friend, Blackwinterwells, explaining, “I joined the collective on a whim basically, Lil Eli and Alice Gas asked me if I wanted to be on ‘Ga$pack’ and I wanted to say no but I eventually said yes!” Her creations are stunning 3D-rendered pieces that conjure up the intersection between humanity and technology. Exaggerated body proportions, glowing eyes, and perfect skin can all exist within one frame. As for her visual work’s fit with a collective mostly composed of musicians, she adds, “There’s a level of hyper futurism with respect to the past in Young Bapestahs, and I think I embody that just as well as the other members.” Whether informed by living inspirations à la SZA or created inside the perimeter of a self-conceptualized world, NEPTUNEPRINCE’s work pushes the unit’s visual presence to the cutting edge.
Compared to other contemporary collectives, who may have upwards of 30 members, the Young Bapestahs have a roster that is relatively small—a fact that Lil Eli attributes to a slower pace in production and an overarching emphasis on friendship first. When asked about their relationships, he laughs and calls his colleagues “goofballs, all of ‘em…we just goof off, it’s actually bad, it’s actually kind of counterproductive…you’d never think being around this many musicians could be so counterproductive in making music.” Angelwinter piggybacks on his description, describing the collective as “fourth-graders meeting on a playground with Pokémon cards and shit talking about Halo 3 after school.” With their freewheeling friendships, you’ll see Alice Gas trading tongue-in-cheek barbs with Luvox or cranking out memes about the current zeitgeist (“glitchore? erm, you’re acting kind of bitchcore”).
But, their relationships run deeper than Discord chats and Twitter timelines. Eli explains their intense support of one another: “We regularly vent to each other and I would never let somebody join who’s going to be judgmental…a lot of us deal with mental health issues or a lot of homophobia and all that kind of stuff…we like to have each other’s backs ‘cause gosh, [the music scene] can just be kind of daunting sometimes and feels really big and can be really anxiety producing…it’s good to just have people who have your back.”
Looking into the future of the collective, all three founding members point toward a painstakingly developed Young Bapestahs mixtape called Bape University. Lil Eli explains the project in detail, saying “It’s definitely going to be a concept tape. It’s gonna be pretty theatrical. There are going to be skits…basically, it’s just gonna teach you how to be a Bapestah.” Featuring contributions from all 17 members, Bape University promises to not only be a breakout moment for the collective but take them one step closer toward Angelwinter’s beautifully stated vision for the future: “Personally, I see me Eli and Alice and other affiliates in this really nice comfy place–pink couch, pink pillows, abstract paintings on the wall—and we’re just out creating, not worrying about the financial stability or the emotional stability of a country that we have to carry on our shoulders…I think [what] the future holds is us three, and hopefully the rest of the Bapestahs, too…being very closely intertwined, just like [in] the beginning.”
While Angelwinter’s ambitions for the collective continue to materialize, revisit the Young Bapestahs single that started it all: