Today we had an exclusive chance to interview KUNAL:
ARN: What is your name, age and origins, and where are you based?
KUNAL: Kunal Singh Nischal, 26. I’m an East Coast Kid, but I spent a lot of childhood in the UK, I’ve been in LA for the last 5 years and am blessed to have found a home here.
ARN: Why did you first start making music?
KUNAL: Honestly it all started with my father Beyond his innate expressive demeanor, he was one hell of an artist, Being such a connoisseur of music, we would always have Bob Marely, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye and all types of music playing. But my dad and my uncle both loved Ghazals, Qawalli & Punjabi folk music. Which is very melodic, spiritual and poetic. They both would explain the Farsi, Punjabi & Urdu translations, and I was just enamored, I would just write all the time, I thought nothing of it, my notebooks would be confiscated in school all the time haha. Its funny, because I found out recently that I come from a long line of poets, But eventually my cousin Sach, noticed my love for Hip-Hop & writing when I was like 11 and he was 23. He had a massive collection of all the great Hip-Hop albums and would play a new record for me every week. My other cousin/bro Rav bumped 2Pacalypse and I I was hooked! Sach challenged me to spit Eminem’s hook off of Dre’s Forgot About Dre off of 2001 and gave me like a minute, to spit it without hesitating, and I did it! It was on from there!
ARN: Who would you say inspired you the most, as an artist?
KUNAL: So aside from my very personal experiences and interactions. All of the greats, Eminem, Nas, Ye, Andre 3000, Jay, Big, Pac, and everyone that they influenced, and everyone who influenced them. I am honored to be able say their names, and I don’t take it lightly – Like we are carrying the legacy of a culture & craft they have built. But there’s so many other artists & rappers to me – Lupe Fiasco, Atmosphere, Run The Jewels, Marvin Gaye, Bob Marely, I can go on forever.
ARN: Have you heard the theory that some musicians write their best music while they’re depressed or going through a bad time?
KUNAL: Hahaa 100%, I draw from a lot of different energies but my first official release was written when we went into lock down, and I had all this time in my apartment to just reflect on a lot of the trauma that I experienced, Before the pandemic I was able to conveniently ignore it through the construct of every day life. When we went into lock down, I had no choice to face those experiences and sit with them one on one, and I created art as I dealt with it.
ARN: What’s the best advice you ever received?
KUNAL: My pops always told me a great chef with average ingredients will make a great meal – A bad chef with the best ingredients will make a bad meal. That, and the recipe for clarity, is understanding the difference between what it is, what you want it to be & what it might need to be, the last two are not mutually exclusive.
ARN: How would you describe the music that you typically create? KUNAL: Always reflective of sentiments front and center in my life in that moment, and more often than not something I have subconsciously immersed myself in, so the composition, lyrics, and cadence harmonize to articulate those emotions.
ARN: What’s your latest release?
KUNAL: Blessings, which was a hell of an experience. There was a real vulnerability that my producers were able to bring out of me that felt scary but really exciting too, I feel like it also is reflective of the potential of a dynamic range, as far as my sound goes and my evolution as an artist.
ARN: What’s the best part about being an artist?
KUNAL: When someone who I may have never had the opportunity to meet or connect with, becomes a connection and they feel heard or understood just by your music. Whether someone is driving or has their headphones on – When they are playing our music they are inviting us into their lives and space in the most intimate way, and I find that to be so humbling and powerful.
ARN: What’s your best advice for handling criticism?
KUNAL: I like to listen to it with an open mind, especially when there isn’t any malice or bad vibes, I like to give it the space and time to see if there is something I can take, but if it doesn’t resonate with me I move on and I feel like I an do that with ease. Like Jay-Z says they can tell you how to do it but they never did it.
ARN: What will your next album sound like?
KUNAL: GUMBO! Hahaa, I like being diverse but also having an identity, so even though its corny – Gumbo is delicious and there is so much that goes into it, but we all know about Gumbo, I just gotta make the best pot of it that I can.