*LEAKED XCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH Z.A.Y. | XCLUZIVEKORNER.COM TALKS ABOUT IF HE WOULD SIGN WITH KANYE, LEARNING FROM RUSSELL W. HOWARD & CRAWLING BACKWARDS

Who is Z.A.Y?
Where did the name come from?

Haha you know my boy always calls me Zealous and Young, but I think that's just his way of saying that I'm an enthusiast, and I have an eager for cause. I never really cared for fame, just recognition, I think going to the moon and marking your steps with craters would be an accomplishment, that's definitely why we named our crew AviatorGangg, seeking Higher Elevation, it’s about being above the bullshit you go through in life, finding balance, and off course being fly, and that's who Z.A.Y. is he doesn't have one title that's sums it up, but I have additives that makes me different from other artist, like giving, listening, and risk taking. So I guess I can say that I'm complicated, I crawled backwards when I was kid, but that's also how I've always thought. I can't really give you anything definite, but I can tell you that my music is a reflection of myself and that's the best answer I can give you. Far as the name, no gimmicks, my middle name is Isaiah, named after the prophet in the Hebrew bible, I just added the dots, to stand out and plus there were other artist with the name Zay, ill let fans define it, whatever it means to them.

How did you know, at the age of 5, that you wanted to be a musical artist?

Whoever wrote my bio got it wrong haha, I didn't know I wanted to do music until my senior year in high school, my parents kind of bugged me and told me I had to do something with my life, but my mother knew at the age of 5 that I would be a musician. My grandmother had this bench behind her garage at her home; there's a certain theory out there about children that stated if you want to know what a child will be when they "grow up" watch them and listen, so when my mother found me on that bench rapping at the age of 5 and using that bench as my stage, I think it gave her vision toward my profession, it just happen by chance that her vision and my coping process became one.

Tell us about Aaddict, how is it to work with him?

Haha he would definitely kill me, if I addressed him as Aaddict, but Russell W. Howard is hard to please going in, soft to please going out. Meaning that as a producer he's the coolest person to work with, he gives an artist total freedom, and he's the detection dog of music, he can sniff out the elements to make a solid hit record, his passion goes beyond him, but it's almost impossible to produce for a producer, and that's why he's never had a Z.A.Y. track, I'm a little more open but I did adopt his obsession to raise up the decibels on a tracks potential. I’m very proud of him, he has a scoring company named Signature Tracks, and they produce most of the music you hear on TV shows. All in all in person Russ is a great dude and I will forever look up to him as a great. I mean Jay fucked with him when he was 15, that's got to say something, there's not too many that Jay fucks with production wise.

If you could pick a artist to work with whom would it be? Why?

Michael Jackson. But I guess that isn't fair to the living, I'm actually prone to working more with indie artist because I love the texture it adds to the soul, so I guess I would say, guitarist/singer Dallas Green, aka City and Colour, I hope it isn't a crime to think that I could possible save the human race, if I got that guy on a track ha. Other than that I love working with the people around me, J.L.A., B.E.N., and even my boy Darion tries to give me advice on music ha, I take that back haha, shout out to big baby D.


Name the top 5 hottest lyrical artist out now.

hmmm haha I haven't had my ear wander to much in the hip hop genre lately, but then again you didn't stamp a genre sticker on the question. Anyone who has listened to my song Confidence should already know that I start with myself, but that's easy who else can relate more, since my music is an open page from my own memoir, music started as a coping process for me and it will always be, I won’t quit rapping until im 99 years old, I figure when I’m a 100, my hearing won’t be as good because of the shows I rocked ha, but all I can say is get ready for “the flood”. Lyrically from the top of my head, Janelle Monáe, is why people say that women are from Venus, her concepts, melodies, and words are sweet poetry, she's the Lauryn Hill of our time, and not to many people give her the commendation that she truly deserves, but she opened with Sincerely, Jane and I feel that one day I have to write her back. 3 stacks old stuff kills majority of peoples new stuff today haha, enough said, Andre drop an album soon, real soon. I definitely believe that Kanye West is a voice, it’s not really what you say, but it’s the emotional turmoil that sets on the people’s mind. I believe as artist we try way too hard to create the hardest bars that locks fans in, but I’m amaze at Kanye’s duende, you know music can drive you forward, that’s dangerous and mind accelerating at the same time, if we can move dust with sound waves, how far can we move the heart? Last but not least I would say my boy B.E.N., is a another mode right now, when I first started working with him, I thought he was a great artist, now I just listen to all the unreleased stuff he has on my computer and I’m just at awe of how far he has grown even more, so I want to push him even more for his mixtape that I’m hosting, Weekend by The Ocean, and just see how far he takes it.

Have you worked with any DJs?
If so whom?

Dj Brit Brat ha that’s an insider, but you guys will get it later. Dj Roc was the third dj I ever really came in contact with, back when he was with Gibbs, I would send him my songs and ask him what he thought, and they were mostly positive for the most part, any criticism coming from his end I took to the heart, him and Gibbs we’re doing it. Dj Pharris broke Confidence, so I will always pay homage to a great; he has given me honorable mentions in spins, so I think that Pharris and I could possibly work on something in the future. Dj All Style also supported the movement; he broke the remix with Louie, just a lot of love from Chicago in general, seriously. 

How was your first experience being an opening act at a major event?

It was great the collective feeling makes you feel like a God. There is no energy in the world like it; I understand what gives President Barack the confidence to rap Young Jeezy in a room full of conservative Anglo-Saxon white Americans.

If you had an option to sign with any label who would you choose?

Money will come soon, I want it, but I’m not worried, hopefully I sign under someone who reminds me to be Z.A.Y., and helps me better define Z.A.Y.  I have confidence that I can do it on my own, so if Universal came to me today, with a contract, I wouldn’t turn it down, but it’s good to be under someone who can pour water on you, and make sure you’re getting enough sun, and my research points to Kanye, Pusha isn’t the most pronounce on G.O.O.D., but I appreciate him because at the end of the day, he’s Pusha not to mention his album was musically refreshing, but for right now I run an indie label myself, The Band of Aviators, it’s just my producer I closely work with J.L.A., I know a lot of dots, and I. I believe I can go farther than Richard Branson with it, so I’m just doing a lot of running.

Where can your music be heard?

Everywhere ha, I was pretty excited when someone told me that they could Google me, Teyana Taylor old song came to mind, but you can listen to all my songs on my personal website, z-a-y.com. Also I have older songs on youtube and a few new ones, but in a few weeks I’m about to do a series call #AviatorFridays, where I drop a song every Friday and the songs will be place on my web page.