Artist Interview: Iggykad
Iggykad’s music is a unique blend of gritty 90s Hip-Hop and haunting UK electronic textures, shaped by his move from the UK to rural Germany. His latest project, WINDY IN THE SMOKER ZONE, captures themes of isolation, imperfection, and introspection through slowed-down, atmospheric soundscapes. In this interview, he shares how changing environments, the spirit of New York rap, and his creative process come together to create music that feels both raw and deeply personal.
Tori: You’ve moved from the South of the UK to rural Germany. How has that shift in environment and physical "distance" influenced the scale and mood of your newer productions?
Iggy: I think since I’ve lived here for just under 7 years I’ve sort of just made do and my most recent projects have been something of a reflection of just that - basically justhaving gotten used to the whole process in “I’ve been here this long and integrated as well as I ever could so it is what it is”. I recently moved out into a bit of a bigger city so that’s also been a point of comparison to what I was really going through all these years.
Tori: How do you translate the energy of New York City, a city you aren't currently living in, into your soundscapes?
Iggy: The grittiness of the NY rap scene has always been something that has spoken to me on a deep level, especially the absolute coldness of artists like Mobb Deep’s samples have really stuck with me and aided me in deciding how I want to songwrite.
Tori: Looking back at your earlier work compared to WINDY IN THE SMOKER ZONE, what is the biggest change you hear in yourself?
Iggy: My early work was composed more of real instruments, each of which I was playing solo at home but trying to make sound like they were done by a band which just didn’t work. I’ve since embraced alone time and made it function properly for the atmosphere I feel fits the music.
Tori: How do you strike a balance between the hard, rhythmic grit of 90s Hip-Hop and the "nocturnal" textures of UK electronic music?
Iggy: I’ve always felt parallels between the desolation of night-time London and NY, it has always felt very natural and not like a thing I have to try hard at. There’s a very raw quality and general multiculturalism in both cities that mixing the features of both places’ seemingly vastly different music styles just feels right.
Tori: How does the concept of "slowing down" or "chopping" audio help you express emotional themes of isolation?
Iggy: I’ve always been really amazed by just how much the feeling of a song changes depending on what key or speed it’s played at and the slowing down of samples has always felt precisely like what I experience psychologically when isolating myself. I sort of trudge through my thoughts and elements like the deep shuffling drums of a slowed down sample feel exactly like that.
Tori: What is the weirdest or most unexpected sound you’ve ever sampled that actually made it into a final track?
Iggy: There’s this short EP I did called “music for lonely losers”; it has a song on which I sampled a drill or some kind of other worktool, and I think I produced the main beat with my speakers on mute which was super cool.
Tori: You write and produce alone, describing it as "escapism and articulation." Is there a specific time of day or a certain headspace you need to be in to start a new project?
Iggy: I wanna say night is the time I’m most productive at or at least the time I make the most projects that I actually finish. Other than that I really am thinking about music 23 hours of the day, it’s just that I’m constantly thinking of ideas that are fleeting and I have to grab the ones that feel the most fleshed out.
Tori: Many of your tracks carry a "lived-in" quality. Are you intentional about keeping "imperfections" or analog noise in your mixes to maintain that feeling?
Iggy: It’s kind of funny because originally when I started producing it was more just a result of laziness. I remember that I would often release tracks I knew I should’ve spent more time on but for some reason didn’t - over time I’ve sort of molded imperfections into little bits that actually work with the music and sort of represent a specific state of mind, be it numbness, sporadic thinking or otherwise.
Tori:When a track has no lyrics, how do you know when an "alternative texture" has successfully communicated the feeling you were aiming for?
Iggy: I don’t really think there’s a specific way for me to define it, it’s just super innate and sort of a “click” when I know something has been represented how I wanted it to be represented.
Tori: The title WINDY IN THE SMOKER ZONE feels very cinematic. What is the "Smoker Zone" to you—is it a physical place or a mental state?
Iggy: The name came from me standing in the smoker’s area of my old workplace and watching coworkers’ cigarettes being blown all around the place. I texted my girlfriend basically exactly that phrase and it immediately felt like something I would see either on a graffiti’d wall or in my case on an album cover. To me, it’s become this moment of isolation where you are faced with your thoughts and all you can do to detract from them is puff and puff away.
Tori: Does making music feel like you are talking to a past version of yourself, or a future one?
Iggy: I’m definitely talking a lot to myself in the present - goals for the future, what I miss about the past and what I’m better off without. A lot of my lyrics are also just intense wishes for the future that I seriously hope to achieve as well as the fear of not achieving them due to my current vices and problems.
Tori: Your music video for "farewell" is highlighted as a key piece of your current work. How does the visual component of iggykad expand on the "nocturnal" atmosphere of the audio?
Iggy: I think all of the music videos I’ve done thus far have been recorded at night and I’ve always tried to make the videos follow what I think the song sounds like as much as possible. Slow-moving streetlights and a general haze are two elements that I feel like I’ve successfully mirrored in the music and video especially for farewell.
Tori: What is one thing you want a listener to feel when they put on their headphones and press play on an iggykad track for the very first time?
Iggy: All I have ever really wanted to be is understandable - I put all the work I can into correctly displaying my mental state, what I’ve been thinking about, even the music I’ve been listening to in minor ways throughout all of my music. So really I would just say I hope a listener relates and they see an anchor in somebody who knows how they feel.
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