INTERVIEW: FEARDORIAN
TALKING SHOP WITH THE ATL WUNDERKIND
The last interview conducted on John’s Music Blog was with the 47-year-old breakcore producer Doormouse. This week, in the name of cross-generational impartiality, it’s only right that we chat with someone three full decades younger.
FearDorian is a 17-year-old Atlanta-based rapper and producer who has been going crazy online for years now. He came up dancing on the video app Triller, where his energy caught the attention of members of GothBoiClique and Surf Gang. Since the end of 2019, he’s made music in a slippery mode, one that builds on the past decade of various SoundCloud-driven microgenres. This is full-on internet music, no doubt, but in spirit—and occasionally in sound—both his production and eclectic sampling style remind me of the dome-warping electronic records I was fed at Doormouse’s store when I was a teenager.
FearDorian’s beats run across state lines. He’s laced AyooLii and friends with plenty of Milwaukee-style shmackers; he’s collaborated with Surf Gang’s EvilGiane and Polo Perks and internet legend quinn. The producer’s output, like many in the SoundCloud scene, adheres to the three C’s. It’s chaotic, collaborative, and completely nonstop. I’m excited to see where he goes from here.
What are some of your earliest memories of listening to rap music on the internet, specifically?
When I was growing up, my sister was playing—my older sister, because she's about nine years older than me, she was playing a lot of music around me. I'd say it was definitely Drake, Nicki Minaj. And she started playing Corbin around me.
For real?
I was probably eight or seven, somewhere around that. She showed me, well, she didn't show it to me, but she was playing it around me. And then “Ginseng Strip” by Yung Lean. Eventually she had this Kindle and I started using it and I got SoundCloud. So, this is where I'm discovering it myself. And I was listening to a lot of old Yachty—really old Yachty, because I'm in Atlanta or whatever. So, old Yachty, 21 Savage, you know, all the Atlanta artists. I started trying to peep the Corbin stuff.
Was that when he was called Spooky Black?
He was called Spooky Black, when he had a do-rag and everything. The way he presented himself and the music was totally different. You wouldn't even expect him to even be making that music.
I remember the first time I saw that video, it was hard to figure out what his intentions were.
Right, because the image and then the music—it’s like, what are you going for? He was very ahead of his time.
You ever fuck with Issue?
Is that an artist?
Yeah, It was one of E-40's sons. And he was making crazy internet rap that actually, I think, low-key influenced Yung Lean.
What? No, OK, now I got to tap in, because Yung Lean was super ahead of his time. So, people that inspired him had to be even more ahead of their time.
Issue’s whole thing was, like, tea.
Yo, so he started that.
I feel like he did. I don't know. I would like to hear Yung Lean talk about it, about Issue, because I think they did work together briefly early in his career. I don't know what Issue’s doing now, but it was always crazy that he was E-40's son.
That's crazy. Really everything in music is connected in some way. I love finding out stuff like that because everything really is connected if you really start breaking it down.
And Atlanta's insanely connected.
Yo, bro, this is why I tell everybody about Atlanta: You know one person, you know seven people, like, already just because you know that one person. People may think Atlanta is big, but in terms of social connections, it's really small. It just is. Everybody knows everybody, it's really weird. But yeah, it's crazy at the same time. It’s super cool.
At this point, there's so many generations of Atlanta rappers, too—I'm sure a lot of you know, there's people that have kids now…
Exactly, I feel like a good example of that is, you know I-20?
Yeah.
That's Destroy Lonely’s father. Atlanta lore—the lore is deep.
It runs so deep. I know you had a bit of a moment doing stuff on Triller.
Thank god you know about that.
We don't have to go deep into that.
No, no, no, I want to. But I'm glad that you know that, because a lot of people don't know that, which is kind of good. When I was transitioning from doing that to making music, a lot of people hated it. They just wanted me to keep doing the videos and stuff.
I see that a lot with younger people who do shit on the internet—they come in through some non-musical channel and then they kind of pivot. That's not my experience with music. But you started rapping before you started making beats.
Yeah. I feel like I tell this story a lot, but I had these homies who were making music in my school—this is middle school, so I'm in seventh grade. In middle school, obviously, there’s popular kids. There's clicks and stuff. So, I happen to be friends with these people that were already rapping. They had this music video shoot and I decided to stay over at their crib and then go to the shoot the next day, but the night before they were recording.
At first, I only did adlibs on one of the songs, and then I decided I might make my own song. But I was really sick that day. I don't know what was going on, but I posted on my story and I was like, Yo, my producer homies, send me some beats. So I wasn't making beats at this time, and EvilGiane sent me a beat.
How were you linked with EvilGiane at that point?
It was from the Trillers, yeah, it was from the Trillers. Because I was dancing to a lot of Surf Gang, that's just what I was into. For sure. So, yeah, he sent me a beat. Nobody's gonna ever hear that song. It's really bad. It's really, really bad because mind you, I'm really sick. It's a freestyle. I didn't write anything. It wasn't mixed. And I was 12. So just all factors.
I mean, I don't know. Sounds kind of good to me.
I feel like people would find it cool now because it's kind of legendary. But it's also like, I hate it. That song is trash. So I was like, What if I did like the next best thing and I just started making beats, because most of my homies were producers. I feel like I knew more producers than I knew rappers. So yeah, that's actually how I started. I was like, I should start making beats first and then maybe I'll start rapping and that's eventually what I started doing. So yeah, it all played out how it was supposed to, but that's how I started producing. It was 2019, November 2019.
What kind of stuff were you influenced by when you started making beats?
I was mainly influenced by a lot of Lucki, specifically Marcusbasquiat and Cortdot. There's this collective that I'm in. It's not really as active anymore, but it's called Work Department. It was me, Sadbalmain, Cortdot, Grandfero, Keyblade, Lul Rose, Celly, Utrippin, and I feel like I'm missing somebody. David Shawty was in it. There’s probably someone else I'm missing, but I can't think of it. But yeah, those people influenced me a lot, really early on. I was listening to a lot of Lucki.
Surf Gang, of course, they're inspiring me heavy. In terms of beats, I wasn't really listening to any super weird music yet. So it was just kind of like the, I'm not going to say basic because it's not basic, but, you know, the surface level stuff—surface level underground stuff, but it's not even surface level. But you know what I'm trying to say.
For sure. It was a pretty focused kind of thing.
Exactly.
Were you grabbing a lot of loops early on? What program were you using?
I'm a real FL soldier, man. I don't use Ableton. I'm strictly FL. Ableton looks like rocket science to me, but FL did look like rocket science to me, too, when I first started. So I mean, it's the same type of thing. But yeah, I use FL. I was kind of using loops, but I was really doing a lot of flips. When I first started, I was taking people's vocals. Like I did a lot of Comethazine flips—I was taking Comethazine's vocals and putting it over a beat. I had to test what it would sound like if someone rapped on my beat. So yeah, that's what I was doing at first.
And then it seems like you really kind of expanded from that, you know, your sample selection is crazy.
I’ll be trying to tell people, bro. Like, I don't mean to like to my own horn, but I got like crazy pockets with the samples.
Where are you grabbing these from? I hear a lot of weird guitar music, and it’s treated so I can't fully identify it.
Recently, this year has been a lot of different stuff. Like, of course, the Midwest emo, you got the Midwest emo, you got the skramz.
It's crazy, I play music occasionally with a member of that band The Promise Ring.
Really?
Yeah. I feel like I got to relay this information to him because people still trip out when they hear that kids are flipping emo shit.
That's crazy. I have a list of like every emo band ever. Like, I'm not even joking, bro. I'll show you right now. I'll never run out of sauce ever.
FearDorian places his phone, which displays a long text list of emo bands, directly into the camera.
Like, I go through every band, and every time I've completed the discography, I put a check by it. But I've not even… I'm nowhere near close.
Yo, I mean those are all the bigger bands, too. There’s layers with this emo shit.
Yeah. Like it gets deep, bro. Like it gets so deep. So yeah, it's recently, it's like a lot of emo, skramz… We got the Japanese shoegaze. Recently, like super duper recently, it's been a lot of Dean Blunt, James Ferraro.
Oh, cool.
A lot of OPN. I was just watching an OPN documentary, just before we hopped on the call. Bro, I did not know OPN was, like—I didn't know he did games. I didn't know he did Sunset Corp. I didn't know he did Eccojams. Like, I didn't know he started that. It's just what I'm saying, bro. Like, the pipelines, bro.
It's funny you say that because when I first heard Certified Trapper, I was like, This shit sounds like James Ferraro Far Side Virtual.
Yo, exactly. It's just crazy. Because, obviously, I don't think Certified Tapper listened to James Ferraro, but there's some like parallels there. You know what I'm saying? If he did, I wouldn't be super surprised.
And you've connected with some Milwaukee people too, right? On beats.
Definitely.
Is your approach different when you're working with artists that are doing a different regional sound?
Yeah. For example, like the Milwaukee stuff, it all started because Xaviersobassed made a song with Maz G, Ayoolii’s brother, called “Back From The Dead.” I heard that song and I was like, this is so crazy. But it's crazy because I didn't realize that I had seen AyooLii before. Before I heard about his music, I heard about him through this Milwaukee documentary on YouTube. I had known about him, then I heard that Maz G song and then I went down the rabbit hole. So I was like, I got to get beats to these people. You feel me? So the first Milwaukee beat I did sampled an Amy Winehouse song, but it was really bad because I was experimenting with these styles. I was experimenting with the Milwaukee beats.
And that's another thing—my sister played Amy Winehouse a lot like when she was growing up, like that's her GOAT. So I sampled that and I made a Milwaukee beat and that was the first one, but then my second one was “Andele.” So, I got pretty good at it pretty fast I'd say.
So when you're making these tracks, you're just like plowing through shit—like, you're going fast.
Yeah, for sure. Honestly bro, those beats take me like 10 minutes, maybe.
For sure.
I work pretty fast, I'd say. It’s a pretty fast process, like find the sample I like, throw it into FL, and just, you know, get it done.
I feel like the flow of music with you and your broader scene is so fast—I’m curious about your personal listening habits. How are you listening to music on SoundCloud? There's so much—are you just doing 30 seconds of a song, and then next, and then next, or are there cuts you got on repeat? Do you ever actually listen to records?
I have a The Garden album on vinyl. I have the Feet Of Clay album by Earl Sweatshirt—that's like my favorite rapper. And I have this Solange album on vinyl. I just went to a record store and I picked one because I thought the cover looked cool. I don't even remember what it's called, but I have a record player. I play it sometimes but not not really often.
In terms of SoundCloud: honestly bro, sometimes if I see a producer's name in the title, I'll just like it before I listen to it, because I rock with the producer so heavy and it's usually my homie. But if I'm actually listening, like if I really like someone, I'll go through the full discography. I’ll listen to every song on their SoundCloud and just like every one. So that's why I have 30,000 liked songs on SoundCloud—it's not that I don't listen to it, I really do listen to all this music, but that's how I find so much at one time.
It feels overwhelming, but the music just kind of keeps coming…
It's never over. It really feels like I'm collecting, it really feels like a game almost, sometimes—I look at it like it's gonna be super rare, looking back at all this music in a couple years. It’s super fun, too, going back on people that I have just found out about, but have been around for a long time. Going back to see how they used to sound. It’s literally just collecting. I love it.
Are you ever ripping shit to MP3 or trying to get more permanent digital copies?
If I notice a pattern and an artist keeps deleting stuff—like, they'll delete a song after they drop it a week later—I definitely will try to keep it. I'll try to download it so I can have it, because I feel like I know you're going to delete this. So let me just grab it so I have it. But I don't do it super often. Even if I don't grab it, I'll keep it in mind so I can cherish the song.
What’s the status of SoundCloud right now? Are you psyched about what's going on on the platform?
There's so many different scenes, there's just so much that I haven't heard yet. And that makes me really excited, just to find all these new pockets of SoundCloud, you know, I mean it's never gonna die. I feel like there's a discussion of like, SoundCloud is dying or whatever—it's never gonna die in my opinion because there’s always new people coming up and innovating all these different sounds.
Is dealing with your local scene and playing shows around Atlanta, is that more manageable? You've been playing a few shows, right?
Yeah, I’ve played maybe two or three shows in Atlanta. I don't really get booked out here as much. But I have played a couple shows out of state. Playing shows in Atlanta is really fun, though, because, you know, it's home. It feels right in a sense. But at the same time, Atlanta is kind of a weird place for shows. The crowd is very, like—a tough crowd sometimes. I will say Atlanta's more enclosed in what they like. It’s very specific. You definitely got to find the pocket. You got to seek out your audience in Atlanta, because people are very selective with what they like in Atlanta. But it's very fun to play shows out here.
The weirdest show I've ever played out here, bro—it was like maybe like a month or two ago. It's me, Polo and quinn and Mano from No Bells. We're in the middle of this forest because we're about to play this show for Stop Cop City, which is this movement out here in Atlanta. The Atlanta police are trying to build a police station out in these woods, which is crazy. So they throw shows to, you know, spread awareness about the cause. And I was supposed to have my own set, but it was kind of a weird day.
I didn't perform, but I did DJ for Polo. But, like, we're just in the middle of the woods. There's a train, not a MARTA train, but an actual train that transports goods, running over where we're performing. So it's very hectic and it's the 4th of July, almost. So there's fireworks in the background. It's a very hectic place. So we get there and we are supposed to go on in like 10 minutes, but the generator that they're powering all the equipment with runs out.
So we have to wait like 30 minutes for them to get gas for the generator. And then after me and Polo performed, basically there was this ambient set from this producer. I don't know who she was, but she was snapping, but it got very weird. Like, in a good way, but also in like, a scary way. I was like, OK, I think it's time to go home. It probably is one in the morning at this point, but there’s a dark ambient set in the woods. And it's like, OK, yeah, we should probably get out of here. But it was super fire though. That night was crazy.
You're straight edge, right?
I am.
That's sick. Do you ever consider sampling any straight edge hardcore music?
Bro, you know what's crazy? That's a whole other genre, I feel like—straight edge bands. It's crazy because I've never sampled any of them. But now that you bring it up, I got to, because that's a crazy idea. But yeah, I am straight edge, just because like, obviously my mom does not play that. But I also have chronic asthma. So, I don't really do anything. But no, I definitely got to sample some straight edge bands now. That's a fire idea. Thank you for that.
For sure. Gorilla Biscuits Start Today might be the entry.
After this, you have to link me some recommendations, please.
It's more aggro. It's less vibey than some of that Midwest emo shit, but you would probably be able to find a pocket in something. So, you're straight edge, what are you sipping on in the studio then? What's your studio bev of choice?
I feel like there's three main ones. It's Arizona. I like to have it half and half, like the Arnold Palmer, half tea and then half lemonade. That's my drink of choice. Then the pineapple mango lemonade from Wendy's, or water if I'm feeling like I need to cut back on juice.
Do you drink energy drinks?
I don't drink them anymore. I used to drink a lot of Monster when I was little, because my mom, as she was working, she would drink them and I would be like, can I get a sip of that? She would put a straw in for me because I was mad young. So Monster, Red Bull is fire, but it's very unhealthy. I wouldn't recommend drinking that to anyone, especially teenagers. You remember, there was like a wave in, like, 2021. Monster became an aesthetic almost.
Oh, for sure. Monster has definitely been a lifestyle.
It was crazy. People were making Monster guns—a gun out of Monster cans. That was extremely unhealthy. But I mean, shout to those people. It was kind of fire, but also at the same time, like, this is not healthy. I know some little kids that were drinking Monster. Not good. It's not good, but I cut back on a lot of that. I'm still trying to cut back on the juice. I drink way too much juice. Been trying to drink more water. But yeah, that's my drink of choice. I'm not really sipping anything crazy.
FearDorian on Instagram and SoundCloud and Twitter