An Exclusive Interview with Rapper Xii.i.xiv.v

Today on our Hot Seat we have a talented rapper xii.i.xiv.v with us. Let’s have a chat with him.

Twist Online : First of all please introduce yourself to our readers.
Xii.i.xiv.v : I go by xii.i.xiv.v and I’m a rap artist specializing in deep, emotional, dark music. I was born in Flint, Michigan and currently live in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The name xii.i.xiv.v may be a bit confusing at first. Those Roman Numerals, when changed to numbers, are 12.1.14.5. Then when using numerology, it spells Lane, which is actually my birth name!
This is all meant to create a mystery, just as the darkness in one’s soul may confuse or mystify the people around them.

Twist Online : Who or what inspired you to get into music industry?
Xii.i.xiv.v : I started writing lyrics and poetry at the age of 13 and recording at 17. My biggest inspiration for writing was definitely my depression and the darkness I fight daily. Writing has always been an escape from that pain. A few of my friends told me I should try recording, so I did a few things on SoundCloud over the last few years. I just turned 22 and finally released my debut single on all major digital music platforms!

Twist Online : Tell us about your recent track ‘Scars‘?
Xii.i.xiv.v : Yeah! Scars is my debut single I mentioned in the previous question. It was released on September 12th, 2018 and was a really enjoyable song to work on. I actually wrote the song in about 15 minutes on my lunch break at work on a Thursday a few weeks ago just kind of spilling my thoughts out on paper and when I went back after work and looked at what I wrote I thought like dang this could be a pretty good song! I spent about 30 minutes checking online for a beat and I found one produced by Boyfifty that was a perfect fit for what I wrote, so I purchased the beat license and got right to it! On Saturday I got with my audio engineer, James Mykal, and recorded
the whole thing. He did all of the mixing and mastering for the track and we put it out there as soon as we possibly could do it was a really quick process!

Twist Online : We also gone through the music video of the track ‘scars’, that’s so cool.
Xii.i.xiv.v : The music video was actually really spontaneous too. I had just recorded Scars and I couldn’t fall asleep the night before I had to get up and go to my first day of class for my last semester of college. While I was laying there, I thought it would be really cool to record a music video for the song because I’d never done something like that before, but the only problem was that I didn’t know anyone who would be able to help with it. The next day in class, one of my professors was asking about our hobbies, and a student in my class, Curtis Duck (CD TAPES), raised his hand and said he made music videos. At that point I figured it was meant to happen. I hit him up after class and we recorded the video four days later! It was also pretty awesome to have my girlfriend feature in the video, since a good portion of the lyrics are speaking to her or reference her.

Twist Online : What kind of response you have received from the release?
Xii.i.xiv.v : I’ve had a great response! We got over 1000 views on the music video in the first 6 hours! I’m still waiting on the streaming stats from Spotify and Apple but I’ve gotten so much love for both the song and video from my family, friends and fans. I couldn’t be more thankful for the support I’ve received so far!

Twist Online : What attracts you more, performing on stage or working in studios?
Xii.i.xiv.v : xii.i.xiv.v : To be honest, I’ve never actually performed music live before but I do have experience performing spoken word and poetry and actually competing with that kind of stuff. Working in the studio is a great time, especially when I’m with my engineer or some friends, but my specialty is definitely writing and being able to read those lyrics and perform them in front of an audience really gives me an adrenaline rush. I’m looking into booking a venue soon in Pittsburgh to perform some music live!

Twist Online : What’s your favorite music genre?
Xii.i.xiv.v : Definitely rap! I love and appreciate all genres of music and I listen to literally everything from hip-hop to classical to country to metal. They all have their own appeal and uniqueness that I can learn from, but the hip-hop/rap genre is my favorite. Some of my inspirations are XXXTentacion, guccihighwaters, Witt Lowry, NF, Phora, and Trippie Redd.

Twist Online : Have you set some goals to achieve?
Xii.i.xiv.v : Absolutely. I’m very goal oriented and I never quit until I achieve them or until I’ve done everything I possibly can. One goal in particular I have is to get one million streams on a song. I want to reach that goal within the next year.

Twist Online : Are you working on any new project?
xii.i.xiv.v : Yeah! I’ve kept it quiet so far but I’m working on an album called ‘kotd’. I came up with the concept when I posted a snapchat story of my shoes, captioned “kotd” for kicks of the day. I got a response from someone asking if it meant something else, starting with the letters kotd, and I replied, “Nah I’m the king of the darkness,” referring to my motto and my indie label name. That sparked my creativity though, and I’m working on a whole album revolving around that, where every song title consists of words starting with k, o, t, and d. It’s a pretty cool concept and I’m working on writing a couple of those songs and recording a few of the others now.

Twist Online : What’s the best way to follow you online?
Xii.i.xiv.v : I’m really active on social media, especially Instagram (@xii.i.xiv.v) and Twitter (@xii_i_xiv_v), and in addition to those, I have a Facebook Page (@xii.i.xiv.v). My website (http://www.xii-i-xiv-v.com) is also a great place to learn more about me and find everything in once place!