{"id":1872556,"date":"2026-04-08T15:36:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T12:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1872556"},"modified":"2026-04-08T15:36:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T12:36:00","slug":"2slimey-isnt-here-to-be-a-meme-artist-i-want-a-fucking-grammy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1872556","title":{"rendered":"2Slimey isn\u2019t here to be a meme artist: \u2018I want a fucking Grammy\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[analyse_image type=&#8221;featured&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/445\/0-70-445-296\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/3\/1443103.jpeg&#8221;]<\/p>\n<article class=\"main-article longread\">\n<div class=\"article-main-content article-wrapper has-media-but-its-an-image\" data-status=\"loaded\" data-primary-article=\"true\" data-url=\"\/music\/article\/70059\/1\/2slimey-meme-artist-i-want-a-fucking-grammy-la-underground-rap-interview\" data-article-id=\"70059\">\n<header class=\"article-header has-portrait-image no-media\">\n<div class=\"wrapper dg-max-width\">\n<div class=\"inner\">\n<figure class=\"main-img no-figcaption\" data-img-aspect-ratio-type=\"portrait\" data-img-aspect-ratio=\"0.7\" data-template=\"Longread Article\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"portrait\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"ab6761670000ecd4c4b63578d6e32441b58c01a0\" class=\"img\" height=\"640\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/445\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/3\/1443103.jpeg\" width=\"445\"><\/span><\/span><\/figure>\n<aside class=\"meta\">\n<div class=\"inner\"><time datetime=\"2026-04-08T15:36:00+00:00\" class=\"timestamp\" title=\"08 April 2026\"><span class=\"month\">DateInMeta<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"day\" data-day=\"8\">8,<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"year\">2026<\/span><\/time><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<div class=\"titles\">\n<div class=\"tags\">\n<div class=\"sections\"><a class=\"category vertical vertical - music\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/music\">Music<\/a><br \/>\n\/<br \/>\n<a class=\"series\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/q-and-a\">Q+A<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h1 class=\"title\"><span>2Slimey isn\u2019t here to be a meme artist: \u2018I want a <span class=\"nowrap\">fucking Grammy\u2019<\/span><\/span><\/h1>\n<div class=\"standfirst\">\n<h2>The controversial \u2018controlled chaos\u2019 rapper breaks down how jazz and childhood struggles with anxiety have shaped his <span class=\"nowrap\">maximalist sound<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<p><time datetime=\"2026-04-08T15:36:00+00:00\" class=\"timestamp\" title=\"08 April 2026\"><span class=\"month\">April<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"day\" data-day=\"8\">8,<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"year\">2026<\/span><\/time><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tags\">\n<div class=\"sections\"><a class=\"category vertical - music\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/music\">Music<\/a><a class=\"series\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/q-and-a\">Q+A<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><time datetime=\"2026-04-08T15:36:00+00:00\" class=\"timestamp\" title=\"08 April 2026\"><span class=\"month\">April<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"day\" data-day=\"8\">8,<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"year\">2026<\/span><\/time><\/p>\n<div class=\"providers\">\n<div class=\"contributors\"><span class=\"contributor\" data-contributor-role=\"Text\"><span class=\"contributor-role\">Text<\/span><a class=\"contributor-name\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/user\/solomonpacemccarrick\">Solomon Pace-McCarrick<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"article-body-container\">\n<div class=\"article-body wrapper\">\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>Earlier this year, I stumbled across a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=tv6c2YbmA84\">guide to mixing underground rap<\/a> on YouTube. The entire video was dedicated to recreating the sort of clipped distortion that most people would consider bad practice. But this is no accident. Music sounding like an Italian brainrot meme is now a highly sought-after aesthetic, with speaker-shattering distortion becoming pretty much the only defining trait of the UK and US\u2019 emerging Ug (read: underground) rap scenes today. And taking this musical maximalism further than anyone is one artist in particular: Oakland-born, LA-based rapper 2Slimey.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>You\u2019ve likely heard his name already \u2013 Lil Uzi Vert called him his <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/music\/article\/69753\/1\/lil-uzi-vert-spring-2026-issue-interview-steampunk\"><span>favourite underground artist at the moment<\/span><\/a><span>, Frost Children\u2019s Lulu urged us to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/music\/article\/69870\/1\/frost-children-ninajirachi-hyperpop-interview-post-skrillex-world-sisters\"><span>burn his music with fire<\/span><\/a><span>, and Pitchfork ran an entire <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/pitchfork.com\/thepitch\/the-2slimey-roundtable\/\"><span>staff roundtable<\/span><\/a><span> about his sound. Suffice to say, 2Slimey\u2019s music is controversial: he boosts his bass beyond distortion, his sugar-coated melody lines clatter like coins in an arcade, and, aside from the odd expletive, his lyrics are unintelligible. It\u2019s like Young Thug meets <\/span><em><span>Candy Crush Saga<\/span><\/em><span> or, more bluntly, the heat death of the universe, but 2Slimey isn\u2019t here to be pigeonholed as a meme artist.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Contrary to the chaotic impression I\u2019d got from his music, 2Slimey is surprisingly lucid in conversation. He\u2019s not a minute late to our 9am interview slot (apparently, he\u2019s \u201calways up early\u201d), and tells me that he writes his lyrics while listening to Italian jazz and hiking through the mountains around LA. His controversial sound, meanwhile, has been the product of a series of careful innovations. \u201cI used to rap on that lyrical boom bap, Joey Badass, Pro Era-type shit,\u201d the 20-year-old rapper explains, laughing. But it was the murky sounds of late SoundCloud star <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/tag\/xxxtentacion\">XXXTentacion<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/tag\/playboi-carti\">Playboi Carti<\/a>\u2019s 2018 rage rap manifesto <em>Die Lit<\/em> that<\/span><span> inspired 2Slimey to begin his own experiments with the dark arts of distortion. \u201cIt was more of a gradual transition, but <\/span><em><span>Die Lit<\/span><\/em><span> was one of the points that really shifted my sound.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"src-youtube video-container embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"media-youtube\" data-id=\"katM-7ZmGuM\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" allowfullscreen frameborder height=\"900\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/katM-7ZmGuM\" webkitallowfullscreen width=\"1600\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>While Carti might have been the departure point for a lot of underground artists today, rage started to undergo a metamorphosis in the hands of 2Slimey and fellow US rappers Che, Osamason and Slayr. Songs like 2Slimey\u2019s explosively hyperactive \u201cLegion\u201d or Che\u2019s outright demonic-sounding \u201cPromoting Violence\u201d sit far closer to noise music and now make Carti seem tame by comparison. \u201cI feel like rage is too bland of a description for my sound, to be honest,\u201d 2Slimey reflects, grasping for an adjective more emotional than \u2018rage\u2019. \u201cI consider my music more \u2018controlled chaos\u2019, if that makes sense.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>2Slimey is aware of the heated discourse his music has stirred up in recent months, but he\u2019s trying to not let it distract from his vision. \u201cI<\/span><span> be peeping the love, but I tend to stay away from the internet and especially Twitter nowadays,\u201d he tells me. \u201cThere\u2019s a whole lot of hate, and the more you read, the more you fall into the fucking void. <\/span><span>I know there are haters out there that consider me a quote-unquote \u2018meme artist\u2019, which I\u2019m obviously not.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Below, breakout Ug rap star 2Slimey unpacks the unlikely origins of his controversial sound, from childhood struggles with anxiety to mountain hikes listening to jazz music.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"src-youtube video-container embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"media-youtube\" data-id=\"UeBQzYSkK7k\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" allowfullscreen frameborder height=\"900\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/UeBQzYSkK7k\" webkitallowfullscreen width=\"1600\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><strong>Where did the name 2Slimey come from?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>2Slimey:<\/strong><span> My first rap name was GGS and that literally had no meaning. So, I had to rebrand. I had a big group of friends and, you know how it goes, not everyone\u2019s a friend. I had to cut some people. I had to get <\/span><em><span>too<\/span><\/em><span> slimey, if that makes sense.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>What attracted you to these more maximalist and distorted sounds?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>2Slimey: <\/strong><span>For me, it\u2019s the raw energy. It\u2019s just like the hardcore punk, fast-paced shit. It\u2019s like an adrenaline rush. Some shit that makes me feel free.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>How do you go about finding beats?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>2Slimey: <\/strong><span>I have a few trusted producers. One\u2019s from Belgium, vlor, and the two are from overseas. I forget where they\u2019re from. I have people in the circle who I fuck with specifically. Vlor\u2019s the main one, and he reached out to me. <\/span><span>I feel like he knew what I was going for and just took it to the next level. We fuse together really well.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Much of this new Ug rap wave has taken form on the internet. Did you grow up spending a lot of time online?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>2Slimey: <\/strong><span>Yeah, I was chronically online growing up, especially during that 2016 era, [Playboi] Carti, [Lil] Peep, X[XXTentacion] era.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"src-youtube video-container embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"media-youtube\" data-id=\"7Cvxck2RSHc\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" allowfullscreen frameborder height=\"900\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/7Cvxck2RSHc\" webkitallowfullscreen width=\"1600\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><strong>What do you think is special about this new wave of artists?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>2Slimey: <\/strong><span>Back then, people were hating on what Uzi and Carti were doing; they considered it \u2018mumble rap\u2019. Now, we\u2019re like ten times that. If you showed someone in 2016 this type of music, they\u2019d lose their mind, because they were already losing their mind over that, you know what I mean? What\u2019s going on now is a big movement. People gonna look back and remember this era for sure.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>How would you explain your music to someone of an older generation?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>2Slimey: <\/strong><span>I\u2019d say it\u2019s like concert music. It\u2019s meant for the show. It\u2019s meant for performance. It\u2019s a mix of EDM, punk and rap.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Your last two albums are named <\/strong><strong><em>High Anxiety <\/em><\/strong><strong>and <\/strong><strong><em>More Anxiety<\/em><\/strong><strong>. What do these names mean to you?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>2Slimey: <\/strong><span>I still deal with anxiety sometimes. Growing up, I had anxiety. Funnily enough, even during school, I never liked presenting to classes, but now I\u2019m out here doing shows in front of thousands of people. But, with <\/span><em><span>High Anxiety<\/span><\/em><span>, or when you put 2Slimey on, you never know what to expect. It\u2019s like you\u2019re on the edge, anxiety. That\u2019s the concept of the name.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>But it also ties back to my personal issues. On <\/span><em><span>More Anxiety<\/span><\/em><span>, it ends with \u2018Legion\u2019, which is like my realisation of the anxiety I\u2019ve been dealing with, and I\u2019m on the comedown. That\u2019s why there\u2019s the orchestra at the end, it\u2019s a lot more quote, unquote dumbed down, more digestible. If you compare <\/span><em><span>More Anxiety <\/span><\/em><span>to <\/span><em><span>High Anxiety,<\/span><\/em><span> it\u2019s definitely more digestible than the original project.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><span>If you got anxiety, throw on <\/span><em><span>High Anxiety<\/span><\/em><span>, you\u2019re gonna release all them emotions out.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>Do you think music has helped with your anxiety?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>2Slimey: <\/strong><span>Damn, it\u2019s 50-50. I feel like sometimes I\u2019ll be catching myself getting anxious, but then I turn it into adrenaline, like at a show. Nowadays, I use my anxiety for positive things.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>I don\u2019t think a doctor would recommend your music to a patient with anxiety. Does your music help you calm down?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>2Slimey: <\/strong><span>Hell yeah. If you got anxiety, throw on <\/span><em><span>High Anxiety<\/span><\/em><span>, you\u2019re gonna release all them emotions out. By the time you\u2019re done with the full project, you\u2019ll be feeling good. The juices are flowing.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Was being a rapper always your goal?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>2Slimey: <\/strong><span>Music was always my first passion. I took a break for two years and it felt like an empty void. My mom played the saxophone and I used to play the piano, the trumpet and the guitar. It\u2019s been a while, though.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Where do you take inspiration from?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>2Slimey: <\/strong><span>Lately, I\u2019ve been going to the mountains in LA just to look at the views. I\u2019ve been playing a lot of jazz, Italian jazz. I\u2019ll be vibing and have a clear mind. It helps new thoughts spark up. Just some really calm shit.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Do you think there\u2019s any connection between your music and jazz?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>2Slimey: <\/strong><span>Mainly,<\/span><span> the creativity. They might be the complete opposite, but you find peace in both. Yeah, my music is chaos, but you listen to it to escape from the world. There\u2019s so much shit going on nowadays and, when you throw on 2Slimey, you forget about everything. You feel free.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>What\u2019s your end goal in music?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>2Slimey: <\/strong><span>My end goal is to go really mainstream. Like selling out arenas, awesome shit like that. I want a fucking Grammy. Dead ass.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-series header article-series tags\"><span class=\"heading\">More on these topics:<\/span><a class=\"series\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/music\">Music<\/a><a class=\"series\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/q-and-a\">Q+A<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"image-navigation\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/news\/\" class=\"image-navigation__img one\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"image-navigation__wrapper\">\n<h3 class=\"image-navigation__title\">News<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/fashion\/\" class=\"image-navigation__img two\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"image-navigation__wrapper\">\n<h3 class=\"image-navigation__title\">Fashion<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/music\/\" class=\"image-navigation__img three\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"image-navigation__wrapper\">\n<h3 class=\"image-navigation__title\">Music<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/film-tv\/\" class=\"image-navigation__img four\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"image-navigation__wrapper\">\n<h3 class=\"image-navigation__title\">Film &amp; TV<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/music\/article\/70059\/1\/2slimey-meme-artist-i-want-a-fucking-grammy-la-underground-rap-interview#features\" class=\"image-navigation__img five\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"image-navigation__wrapper\">\n<h3 class=\"image-navigation__title\">Features<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/beauty\/\" class=\"image-navigation__img six\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"image-navigation__wrapper\">\n<h3 class=\"image-navigation__title\">Beauty<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/life-culture\/\" class=\"image-navigation__img seven\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"image-navigation__wrapper\">\n<h3 class=\"image-navigation__title\">Life &amp; Culture<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/art-photography\/\" class=\"image-navigation__img eight\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"image-navigation__wrapper\">\n<h3 class=\"image-navigation__title\">Art &amp; Photography<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/a><\/div>\n<\/article>\n<div class=\"article-body wrapper\">\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>Earlier this year, I stumbled across a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=tv6c2YbmA84\">guide to mixing underground rap<\/a> on YouTube. The entire video was dedicated to recreating the sort of clipped distortion that most people would consider bad practice. But this is no accident. Music sounding like an Italian brainrot meme is now a highly sought-after aesthetic, with speaker-shattering distortion becoming pretty much the only defining trait of the UK and US\u2019 emerging Ug (read: underground) rap scenes today. And taking this musical maximalism further than anyone is one artist in particular: Oakland-born, LA-based rapper 2Slimey.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>You\u2019ve likely heard his name already \u2013 Lil Uzi Vert called him his <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/music\/article\/69753\/1\/lil-uzi-vert-spring-2026-issue-interview-steampunk\"><span>favourite underground artist at the moment<\/span><\/a><span>, Frost Children\u2019s Lulu urged us to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/music\/article\/69870\/1\/frost-children-ninajirachi-hyperpop-interview-post-skrillex-world-sisters\"><span>burn his music with fire<\/span><\/a><span>, and Pitchfork ran an entire <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/pitchfork.com\/thepitch\/the-2slimey-roundtable\/\"><span>staff roundtable<\/span><\/a><span> about his sound. Suffice to say, 2Slimey\u2019s music is controversial: he boosts his bass beyond distortion, his sugar-coated melody lines clatter like coins in an arcade, and, aside from the odd expletive, his lyrics are unintelligible. It\u2019s like Young Thug meets <\/span><em><span>Candy Crush Saga<\/span><\/em><span> or, more bluntly, the heat death of the universe, but 2Slimey isn\u2019t here to be pigeonholed as a meme artist.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Contrary to the chaotic impression I\u2019d got from his music, 2Slimey is surprisingly lucid in conversation. He\u2019s not a minute late to our 9am interview slot (apparently, he\u2019s \u201calways up early\u201d), and tells me that he writes his lyrics while listening to Italian jazz and hiking through the mountains around LA. His controversial sound, meanwhile, has been the product of a series of careful innovations. \u201cI used to rap on that lyrical boom bap, Joey Badass, Pro Era-type shit,\u201d the 20-year-old rapper explains, laughing. But it was the murky sounds of late SoundCloud star <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/tag\/xxxtentacion\">XXXTentacion<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/tag\/playboi-carti\">Playboi Carti<\/a>\u2019s 2018 rage rap manifesto <em>Die Lit<\/em> that<\/span><span> inspired 2Slimey to begin his own experiments with the dark arts of distortion. \u201cIt was more of a gradual transition, but <\/span><em><span>Die Lit<\/span><\/em><span> was one of the points that really shifted my sound.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"src-youtube video-container embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"media-youtube\" data-id=\"katM-7ZmGuM\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" allowfullscreen frameborder height=\"900\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/katM-7ZmGuM\" webkitallowfullscreen width=\"1600\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>While Carti might have been the departure point for a lot of underground artists today, rage started to undergo a metamorphosis in the hands of 2Slimey and fellow US rappers Che, Osamason and Slayr. Songs like 2Slimey\u2019s explosively hyperactive \u201cLegion\u201d or Che\u2019s outright demonic-sounding \u201cPromoting Violence\u201d sit far closer to noise music and now make Carti seem tame by comparison. \u201cI feel like rage is too bland of a description for my sound, to be honest,\u201d 2Slimey reflects, grasping for an adjective more emotional than \u2018rage\u2019. \u201cI consider my music more \u2018controlled chaos\u2019, if that makes sense.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>2Slimey is aware of the heated discourse his music has stirred up in recent months, but he\u2019s trying to not let it distract from his vision. \u201cI<\/span><span> be peeping the love, but I tend to stay away from the internet and especially Twitter nowadays,\u201d he tells me. \u201cThere\u2019s a whole lot of hate, and the more you read, the more you fall into the fucking void. <\/span><span>I know there are haters out there that consider me a quote-unquote \u2018meme artist\u2019, which I\u2019m obviously not.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Below, breakout Ug rap star 2Slimey unpacks the unlikely origins of his controversial sound, from childhood struggles with anxiety to mountain hikes listening to jazz music.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"src-youtube video-container embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"media-youtube\" data-id=\"UeBQzYSkK7k\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" allowfullscreen frameborder height=\"900\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/UeBQzYSkK7k\" webkitallowfullscreen width=\"1600\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><strong>Where did the name 2Slimey come from?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>2Slimey:<\/strong><span> My first rap name was GGS and that literally had no meaning. So, I had to rebrand. I had a big group of friends and, you know how it goes, not everyone\u2019s a friend. I had to cut some people. I had to get <\/span><em><span>too<\/span><\/em><span> slimey, if that makes sense.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>What attracted you to these more maximalist and distorted sounds?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>2Slimey: <\/strong><span>For me, it\u2019s the raw energy. It\u2019s just like the hardcore punk, fast-paced shit. It\u2019s like an adrenaline rush. Some shit that makes me feel free.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>How do you go about finding beats?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>2Slimey: <\/strong><span>I have a few trusted producers. One\u2019s from Belgium, vlor, and the two are from overseas. I forget where they\u2019re from. I have people in the circle who I fuck with specifically. Vlor\u2019s the main one, and he reached out to me. <\/span><span>I feel like he knew what I was going for and just took it to the next level. We fuse together really well.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Much of this new Ug rap wave has taken form on the internet. Did you grow up spending a lot of time online?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>2Slimey: <\/strong><span>Yeah, I was chronically online growing up, especially during that 2016 era, [Playboi] Carti, [Lil] Peep, X[XXTentacion] era.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"src-youtube video-container embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"media-youtube\" data-id=\"7Cvxck2RSHc\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" allowfullscreen frameborder height=\"900\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/7Cvxck2RSHc\" webkitallowfullscreen width=\"1600\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><strong>What do you think is special about this new wave of artists?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>2Slimey: <\/strong><span>Back then, people were hating on what Uzi and Carti were doing; they considered it \u2018mumble rap\u2019. Now, we\u2019re like ten times that. If you showed someone in 2016 this type of music, they\u2019d lose their mind, because they were already losing their mind over that, you know what I mean? What\u2019s going on now is a big movement. People gonna look back and remember this era for sure.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>How would you explain your music to someone of an older generation?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>2Slimey: <\/strong><span>I\u2019d say it\u2019s like concert music. It\u2019s meant for the show. It\u2019s meant for performance. It\u2019s a mix of EDM, punk and rap.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Your last two albums are named <\/strong><strong><em>High Anxiety <\/em><\/strong><strong>and <\/strong><strong><em>More Anxiety<\/em><\/strong><strong>. What do these names mean to you?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>2Slimey: <\/strong><span>I still deal with anxiety sometimes. Growing up, I had anxiety. Funnily enough, even during school, I never liked presenting to classes, but now I\u2019m out here doing shows in front of thousands of people. But, with <\/span><em><span>High Anxiety<\/span><\/em><span>, or when you put 2Slimey on, you never know what to expect. It\u2019s like you\u2019re on the edge, anxiety. That\u2019s the concept of the name.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>But it also ties back to my personal issues. On <\/span><em><span>More Anxiety<\/span><\/em><span>, it ends with \u2018Legion\u2019, which is like my realisation of the anxiety I\u2019ve been dealing with, and I\u2019m on the comedown. That\u2019s why there\u2019s the orchestra at the end, it\u2019s a lot more quote, unquote dumbed down, more digestible. If you compare <\/span><em><span>More Anxiety <\/span><\/em><span>to <\/span><em><span>High Anxiety,<\/span><\/em><span> it\u2019s definitely more digestible than the original project.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><span>If you got anxiety, throw on <\/span><em><span>High Anxiety<\/span><\/em><span>, you\u2019re gonna release all them emotions out.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>Do you think music has helped with your anxiety?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>2Slimey: <\/strong><span>Damn, it\u2019s 50-50. I feel like sometimes I\u2019ll be catching myself getting anxious, but then I turn it into adrenaline, like at a show. Nowadays, I use my anxiety for positive things.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>I don\u2019t think a doctor would recommend your music to a patient with anxiety. Does your music help you calm down?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>2Slimey: <\/strong><span>Hell yeah. If you got anxiety, throw on <\/span><em><span>High Anxiety<\/span><\/em><span>, you\u2019re gonna release all them emotions out. By the time you\u2019re done with the full project, you\u2019ll be feeling good. The juices are flowing.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Was being a rapper always your goal?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>2Slimey: <\/strong><span>Music was always my first passion. I took a break for two years and it felt like an empty void. My mom played the saxophone and I used to play the piano, the trumpet and the guitar. It\u2019s been a while, though.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Where do you take inspiration from?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>2Slimey: <\/strong><span>Lately, I\u2019ve been going to the mountains in LA just to look at the views. I\u2019ve been playing a lot of jazz, Italian jazz. I\u2019ll be vibing and have a clear mind. It helps new thoughts spark up. Just some really calm shit.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Do you think there\u2019s any connection between your music and jazz?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>2Slimey: <\/strong><span>Mainly,<\/span><span> the creativity. They might be the complete opposite, but you find peace in both. Yeah, my music is chaos, but you listen to it to escape from the world. There\u2019s so much shit going on nowadays and, when you throw on 2Slimey, you forget about everything. You feel free.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>What\u2019s your end goal in music?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>2Slimey: <\/strong><span>My end goal is to go really mainstream. Like selling out arenas, awesome shit like that. I want a fucking Grammy. Dead ass.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-series header article-series tags\"><span class=\"heading\">More on these topics:<\/span><a class=\"series\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/music\">Music<\/a><a class=\"series\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/q-and-a\">Q+A<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>[analyse_source url=&#8221;https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/music\/article\/70059\/1\/2slimey-meme-artist-i-want-a-fucking-grammy-la-underground-rap-interview&#8221;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[analyse_image type=&#8221;featured&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/445\/0-70-445-296\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/3\/1443103.jpeg&#8221;] DateInMeta\u00a0 8,\u00a0 2026 Music \/ Q+A 2Slimey isn\u2019t here to be a meme artist: \u2018I want a fucking Grammy\u2019 The controversial \u2018controlled chaos\u2019 rapper breaks down how jazz and childhood struggles with anxiety have shaped his maximalist sound April\u00a0 8,\u00a0 2026 MusicQ+A April\u00a0 8,\u00a0 2026 TextSolomon Pace-McCarrick Earlier this year, I stumbled [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,76],"class_list":["post-1872556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-dazeddigital-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1872556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1872556"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1872556\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1872556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1872556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1872556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}