Brent Faiyaz on Bad Habits, Zodiac Signs, and Scorsese
Listen to Brent Faiyaz’s music long enough, and his life starts to sound like a movie. He’s the director, screenwriter, and main character in an imaginary film born from late nights in big cities, hushed conversations with women at loud parties, and emotions felt without penitence. Faiyaz doesn’t see himself as a villain, even when he sings about sending those “You up?” texts that he probably shouldn’t, or upending a good thing to see if the grass is greener on the other side. But he isn’t all that sorry if you see him that way.
Why would he be? His catalog to date has earned a stunning 7.2 billion global on-demand streams, according to Luminate data. For his third studio album, Larger Than Life, out now, he stayed true to his vision. “This is how I see the world. This is my universe. This is what we do. This is what it feels like,” the Maryland native, 28, says over Zoom. “What I look like letting motherfuckers tell me what my world looks like?”
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You’ve been called a “toxic king” of R&B. Do you feel like that term is overused?
I think it’s all about what you’re used to. To some people, I might say some brutal, outrageous shit. But to motherfuckers who hear outrageous shit, I’m not really saying nothing that crazy. I grew up on Max B and Dipset. People who haven’t been exposed to certain environments will see shit for the first time and it’s outrageous to them.
What’s your biggest vice, and how do you break cycles of bad habits like the ones you explore on your recent single “WY@”?
I’m a procrastinator, I’m a frivolous spender, and I definitely spend a lot of time with a lot of different women. That record reflects having access and opportunity, and having to say no to certain shit — or the inability to say no to certain shit. That record is about addiction in a way, shape, or form, but more from the perspective of submitting to it versus fighting against it. It touches on addiction in a way that makes it a little more seductive. That’s on some, “Where you at?” That late-night text you send, you probably been drinking a little bit, been outside, know you shouldn’t do that shit — but fuck it. The access is always gonna be there, so I’m gonna pull up.
Do you know your birth chart?
I’m a Virgo sun, Cancer moon or some shit like that.
Do women ask you that question a lot?
Yeah, that’s like the number one conversation. “What’s your birthday? Do you know what time you were born?” Motherfuckers love talking that zodiac shit. I think it’s good conversation. It’s fun if you at a spot and you meet somebody — you want to chat to ’em, just ask them about some zodiac shit.
Does astrology hold any weight to you?
Sometimes I’m curious to know whether we truly are defined by our zodiac signs, or whether we all exhibit traits that everybody exhibits, and we learn our zodiac sign and we conform to whatever our sign is. There’s been times where a chick asks me, “What’s your sign?” And I’d lie and say I’m a fucking Gemini. And they’d be like, “I fucking knew it. You give Gemini vibes.”
When you’re touring, people always post online about being surprised that you actually sing at shows.
Shit was funny as hell. I was surprised that they were surprised. I’m like, “I came here to do a show. What the fuck y’all thought I was finna do?”
The bar for performance is so low!
You can’t cheat these people, man. On some level, when it comes to your creativity, you tell that story in whatever way you see fit. But when it comes to presentation, you for damn sure better give these people something to talk about. You gotta give these people something to make them feel full, to make them feel appreciated. It’s a double-edged sword, man. Yeah, you can do whatever the fuck you want to do and not do whatever the fuck you don’t want to do — but if you’re gonna step on that stage, you got to make sure that this shit is correct.
Your tour wraps soon in Paris. Have you seen the headlines about the bedbug outbreak over there?
This the first I’m hearing about it. I’m just getting over the flu, and you’re talking about some damn bedbugs? I’ve never even seen a bedbug. I’m not trying to see my first one on tour. If they finna be following me around, they need to buy some tickets or carry some merch. Make their little asses useful.
How do you move into the headspace of a new record while you’re on tour for the last one?
I definitely had the luxury of being able to space it out. After [Wasteland] dropped, I spent that next period of time giving people a portion of life that I’d already lived. I can’t give people shit in real time. So if I write records about certain experiences, that allows me to set the live show up in a way that reflects that experience. That allows me to shoot the music videos in a way that reflects that experience. In that time, while I’m working on new music, I’m also reflecting and finding some way to visually display the shit that already transpired. I keep the music and visuals real separate. I don’t do too much releasing music videos before a project. I always do it after. I like to create the world through the music, create the soundscape, and then find the visuals that reflect that.
Do you see parallels between the ways people tell stories in music and film?
I get inspired so much by movies. I’ll watch a movie, or I’ll peep a scenario in a TV show, and I’ll just start scoring it. I’ll be in a studio and I’ll just place it on mute, or I’ll watch cartoons on mute just because a certain scene that evokes a certain emotion will make a certain chord or a certain melody come out.
Who are your favorite film directors?
I’m a big fan of mob films. I like a lot of violence and shit like that, so I fuck with Scorsese. I like a lot of blood and colors and excitement, so I look at Tarantino films. I like stories and I like seeing Black people portrayed in a way onscreen that’s beautiful, so I also watch a lot of Spike Lee and John Singleton. And if I want to look at some shit that’s just visually appealing, I put on Wes Anderson.
Directors, and even screenwriters, kind of have it nice, because they can create these stories and present them without being positioned as the face of them. Musicians don’t have that same luxury.
I never focus too hard on the reception as much as I do just getting it out, telling the story that I want to tell. I think that’s the purest way to create, when I don’t really think about nothing other than “This looks good to me. This feels good to me. This sounds good to me.” I just let it fly.
Have you always had a strong instinct towards that?
Yeah. It’s ironic that it works, because the listeners — that perspective is the last thing I be thinking about. If we talking about customer service, I’m the fucking worst. That’s not how that’s supposed to go at all. But when it comes to art, that shit makes sense.
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