Awfbeat, On Time
shot by David Feigelson.
This year, Gov Ball traveled a short distance from Citi Field to make its first appearance in Flushing Meadows’ Corona Park, a welcome new home for the weekend. A sunny Friday made for pink trees and high spirits as the crowd made its way into the festival for day one. There to greet them with a fiery first set was Awfbeat, a duo consisting of Grant Glazier and Uni Hunte, Berklee based musicians who incorporate a wide range of hip hop, R&B, and pop stylings in their music. I got the chance to speak with Awfbeat after their set and asked them about their artistic influences and ambitions. Turns out, in addition to being talented musicians and captivating performers, the duo are wonderful conversationalists. Please read our conversation below and be sure to check out what the group has been up to.
David Feigelson: I'm curious how you guys met and how this started. I know you go to Berklee together, but I heard you knew each other before?
Uni Hunte: Yeah, so we actually met at a pre-college program at Carnegie Mellon, where we went initially, but it was just a six week summer thing. We connected based on a general love of music and had a group called Five Below; we did talent shows and open mics, but when you leave, it's like, “Bro, I'm never gonna see you again. Don't even worry about it.”
Grant Glazier: And that's really how we treated it. We spent two years finishing high school and just doing our own thing. Then we get to Carnegie Mellon, already in our own majors, and everybody on campus from our pre-college program is like, “Yo, Grant, have you [seen] universal yet?” So he gets to his room…
UH: Yeah, and one of my roommates was actually somebody who went to pre-college with us. So I pull up, and bro’s like “Yo, you know Grants here.” I'm like, Grant Glaser? You’re bullshitting me. That's cap. So I look at my phone, and his contact is still there. So I call him and ask, “Yo, bro, [did] you get into Carnegie Mellon?”
GG: I said I did indeed.
UH: I was like what dorm are you in?
GG: I said bro I’m in Stever.
UH: I'm like, dawg, I'm in Stever, what floor are you on?
GG: Fourth.
UH: I'm like, bro, I'm on three. So I said goodbye to my parents, dapped them up, and ran upstairs and freaked out that this nigga was there. Then we coined the name Awfbeat, made a song, and dropped it on SoundCloud that day.
GG: So we were really rocking as Awfbeat and introducing ourselves that way since the first day of college. It's been five years and we’re still going strong.
UH: Yeah man, it’s a beautiful thing. And now we’re at Gov Ball!
DF: Yeah dude! So when you guys started making music when you reconvened, was it similar to what you were doing before?
UH: No, I feel like it was completely different. Before, it was us two, two background singers, and another rapper. We were really just trying to make something that the crowd would be entertained by. This was a different playing field, like how do we, as individuals and as a group, want to represent ourselves in the music space? Because the thing is, we want to do this, we want this to be our jobs. So the approach was figuring out how to bring out our individuality and find a magic chemistry that expresses what we want. It’s really just trying it over and over again, with different references, different elements of our taste, and just seeing what happens. That's what we've been doing since.
GG: Yeah, it's really about just being honest enough with each other, to be honest with ourselves, to be honest to the world. We're trying to keep it going.
DF: Do you have different inspirations that the two of you pull from and bring together?
GG: Oh, so many. From the past, from the present, in all genres. I just gave some quick shoutouts earlier, so I'm gonna switch it up for this one. Let me say, Bill Evans is crazy. Shout out Michael Jackson. And today, SABA is here. He's fucking crazy.
UH: Alright, I'm gonna do the same and mix it up. So again, for a combination of old and new, let me get Jill Scott, the legend herself. Let me get Q-Tip. A Tribe Called Quest. And let me get Joey Bada$$.
DF: Awesome. So when you have all these different things, different impulses, things you've listened to, how do you carve your own identity?
GG: That's a really good question. I would say the most important thing is always telling the truth. The reason that it’s our identity is because it's us. We're talking about things that happen in real life. Musically, it's about paying attention to the tricks. I'm really not trying to steal anyone's song, but when they do something cool, and I'm like, “Oh, shit, that's crazy,” I'm taking that and I'm seeing how I can apply it in a new context that people haven't seen before. I think that's how you carry the love of the past while still creating something new.
UH: Absolutely. It's like any other art form. If you talk to a painter about what brought them to the point where they made a painting, they're gonna mention other artists that they reference. We treat it the exact same way. We don't bite people; we pay homage and we acknowledge that we could not have made what we made if this stuff didn't come beforehand. You apply your own lived experience, and you tell the truth, so that no matter what references you're using, it is never not authentically you.
DF: Yeah definitely. I know you guys have been releasing a number of songs recently. I'm curious, have you been more focused in the past few years on recording studio stuff or performing, and how does Gov Ball fit into that?
GG: That's a good question. The pandemic definitely threw things off, you know, shout out pandemic, that shit seems like it’s almost in the past. But we had this huge music video planned, we had a tour planned, and it really just shut it all down. So we focused all our energy on music. We have three albums coming, it's been three years since we've released so we want to make it up to y'all.
DF: What can we expect in these albums?
GG: You can expect a fucking banger of a single soon. We've got a mixtape from Uni. We’ve got a mixtape from Grant. And then what the duo looks like together.
DF: So will the individual ones drop first, and then the culmination?
UH: Yeah, we want to give people a taste of what our individual references are. But also, we teach each other things. You're not going to hear anything from him that doesn't have little notes and essences from me, and you're not going to hear anything from me that doesn't have an instrumental touch from him.
DF: Cool. Last question, if you had a time machine and you could go anywhere and do anything, what would you do?
GG: Jesus, no question. I'm going straight to Jesus.
UH: Damn. I can't go back very far because I’m black. I think sometimes I wish I was born five years earlier. I wanted to be around for ASAP Mob, just like little moments in time. I feel like an old soul.
GG: Nah dawg give me Jesus. Listen, playing Gov Ball or getting a role in the Bible, there’s levels.
UH: Or writing a section of the Bible? Cause that’s all it is, just his homies talking.
GG: That’s just the source for me. Of course I gotta go.
DF: Thank you so much guys.
UH: Of course, appreciate it.
GG: Yeah great to meet you guys.
edited by Kristen Wallace.
