The Break Presents: Duckwrth

One of the more refreshing projects of the year is rapper Duckwrth's project I'm Uugly, a wonderful mix of hip-hop and funk. In every moment, there comes a key point when a clear cut ascension comes. For Duckwrth, I'm Uugly is it.

The South Central, Los Angeles native isn't something you normally find in the notorious neighborhood. He's a skater kid that grew up on classical, jazz and gospel music. However, this 28-year-old MC stayed true to himself and birthed a project that just makes you want to move. He uses his environment as inspiration.

"It was so much happening, as far as like… I was in very juxtaposition with having this crazy Hollywood sessions with all these artists and celebrities," he said to XXL. "Like they have runners in the studio making cookies and stuff like that. Just people listening to your music and adoring you and stuff. Then I had to take the bus back to South Central to the hood. As I’m on the bus, I’m watching it go from Hollywood but as you go deeper in the blocks, the environment started to change and the people. Everything changes."

For Duckwrth, the experience was fuel to create his album. "That shit was taking a toll in my brain," the rapper shares. "It would flip from hot to cold. I feel like those textures took a toll on my brain. I feel like those textures in that experience made this whole next level vibe on the album. I don’t want to be in a comfortable environment and make crappy music. I definitely feel like this is a pivotal moment for my career because this is the truest me. I can stamp this as this is Duckwrth sound, truly."

Now with his newfound success, Duckwrth is ready to share his talents with the world.

Name: Duckwrth

Age: 28

Hometown: South Central, L.A.

I grew up listening to: “Gospel and classical music, jazz and my dad got me into reggae super heavy. My mom listened to gospel and classical music a lot. My dad listen to jazz. In junior high, my sister was listening to hip-hop a lot but lowkey. My mom wouldn’t let us listen to it. I just be like trying to sneak into her room and take her tapes. I really got into rock super heavy and psychedelic rock and punk into high school too. There was one emo band that I like, I didn’t like that whole emo shit but there was one emo band that I fucked with. Their called First to Last and they were pretty dope. I bumped them secretly because I didn’t want people to know [laughs].

"I was in the choir when I was younger but I stopped after a while and started to get into other shit. In junior high, I wasn’t that popular so the way I communicated or related to other people was through hip-hop. So I used to battle other dudes and everything and I got pretty good at it.I started officially doing music in college. My boy would make music on his garage band. I just said it was dope, let me get on this and kind of just got the bug and didn’t stop. The more I [made music] the more it became a less of an option. We came up with a group back in the day called Tokyo 24. We were on some futureTokyo Lupe shit. I kind of got out of that realm but still kept the color waves and shit and I just started going solo."

Most people don’t know: “I really just do music so I can be in the upper echelon on classes so I can get to space. I know if you get to a certain realm on celebrity, you go to Mars [laughs]."

My style’s been compared to: “I’ve been compared to a lot of interesting people. I got compared to Frank Ocean recently; Tyler The Creator, Andre 3000. [My sound is] funk. Not just your general scope of Parliament-Funkadelic or George Clinton funk. It’s like a feeling. A feeling in your stomach that just makes you move."

My standout records or moments to date have been: “The next one I guess. Everything has been leading up to. I can say my favorite song right now is 'Run' or 'Blow My Mind,' the first song and last song on the last album."

My goal in hip-hop is: “To make people feel. That’s good art to me. Whether you love it or hate it, if it’s pulling out something. That’s what I want people to get. I’m on this journey to like make people experience music in a different way."

I’m gonna be the next: “Every generation needs a Pharrell or a Kanye or a 3000 or a Malcolm X or Frida Kahlo. People need that, especially this generation, the Xanaxed out, zombie generation. They kind of need that, 'Yo, I feel what you feel but you don’t have to go that way to experience a high.'"

Follow Duckwrth on Twitter and SoundCloud.

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