BTN: How tough is it to maintain that integrity within your music; when it is so many people not on that same vibe?
ZV: You know it is difficult, you look at everything you do; if it’s at a show, or after a show when you want to turn up with some females. Just living everyday life, ain’t nothing wrong with living life. We just get caught up in it sometimes. For me, I have had so much pain associated with that. Like the feds kicking the door in and me feeling the handcuffs. I know how that feels, so it is tough sometimes, but not really. Like my best friend being in the fed joint; I’m just blessed to be here and to be alive.
BTN: What song do you give me if I want to feel that pain?
ZV: Let me see, I would give you a song called “World So Bad”; in the hook it says: it’s hard to be good/ in a world so bad. In the video you see the kid that comes up in the hood and it’s like he is going to school and he is trying. But at the end of the day it’s like he has a disconnect. His Pops ain’t there, ain’t that much food to eat in the crib.
They baskin, we robbin/ hoping in this class they’ll teach problem solving.
Because he going through real problems. He don’t see the science and the math; nothing realistic. The subject matter just don’t touch him, it just doesn’t inspires him. What inspires him is the struggle in which he lives outside that school and also inside that school. The clothes he be wearing aint up to par, because he ain’t got it like that.
BTN: Do you go in the studio with a plan on what subject matter that you want to speak on in your music; or do you just do what you feel?
ZV: I probably haven’t told anyone this before in an interview. But you know about the whole ‘bopping’ movement? I am the reason it is where is at. Like I took boppin when they was just doing it in the hood and they just started; I’m the one who took to where it is now. Like paid Wala to play it and doing boppin contests. Lil Kemo, that’s how he got on, you know. He got on from those contests.
BTN: Really? Never knew that was you
ZV: I started the whole movement, I ushered it in and took it and put it on. Everybody was like that’s cool, but we not boppin like that. But I took it and said this where it is going, because the lil homies in the hood was like Verse ‘we boppin now, this our new dance.’ Then I gave it legs and that’s what gave Kemo, D Low, and the rest of them a chance to use it. I say that to say this; I care about making music that people love. That they want to turn up to and express themselves productively. And I do everything I can to promote it and to help it. The reason I took the original boppin video down is because I want people to focus their attention right now to the Antidote. Because that what matters right now. I don’t care that you want to turn up right now. I want to turn up once they stop killing us. We can celebrate something once we got something to celebrate. But what are celebrating when we still dying at a massive rate. What are we celebrating when still broke, poor, stuck in the hood selling drugs and uneducated. Let’s change that and let’s live.
BTN: Those are some noble words. I was wondering why do you feel it is necessary for you to take up this role? You could very easily take the road everyone else is going and become more popular. Why take this stand?
ZV: When I was young I was a child prodigy. I spent a year in Africa when I was eight years old and I came back home and people talked about me like I was crazy. They talked about my name. They just treated me horrible you know. I remember we did the state test and I was like the smartest kid in the school and they jumped on me. I always felt like I fought being that guy, knowing that I’m that positive person and knowing I have a good heart. I knew I was that guy because those same dudes that were in those spots, come up to me and be like this how I feeling. And I don’t know why they opening up and tell me how they feeling or why they coming to me and saying it’s messed up out here. Or coming to me and saying my mama did this bro. But they telling me and I can’t ignore that, I can’t pretend that didn’t happen. Because when we on the block everybody acting like we in the moment but deep down I know yall hurting. And I’m feeling that same pain, you know what I’m saying. And I don’t necessarily got to be that guy that advocates for doing the right thing. Because it’s not always cool to be doing the right thing. But at the end of the day, I just feel like that what I was born to do.
BTN: Tell the people where we can find some of your material?
ZV: You know on every social media site, you can follow and search for the hash tag ZVERSE. Soundcloud.com/ZVERSE and on Youtube you can search ZVERSE and find my videos.