Meet MC Zappa | Musician

We had the good fortune of connecting with MC Zappa and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi MC, what are you inspired by?
Everything. Literally everything. I’m inspired and motivated by both love and hate. I am inspired by friendship, loneliness, joy, pain, beauty, ugliness and everything in between. But most of all, I’m inspired by myself.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I believe there are several things that set me apart as an artist and a person. There’s a lot to explain regarding that (etc. my hyperfocus on drum breaks, my odd composition process, my retro musical style etc.) but I believe it is deeply tied to my neurodivergence. As an autistic person, somehow or another I always end up not doing things the “right” way. But as you grow and learn, you realize that there is no “right” or “wrong”; there is simply what works and what doesn’t work.

The thing I am probably most proud of is my resilience and my unconventional thought processes. As I said, I hardly ever do things the “right” way, but my methods usually work, and even if they don’t, I have the will and the resilience needed to forge the path that I want to be on. I’ve made mistakes and suffered setbacks professionally (and will likely do so again in the future), but my music and my art is so important to me that the challenges are practically invisible to me.

I got to where I am because of several factors. A significant one is having a performing arts OG as a mother and mentor; she not only gave me her advice and wisdom, but she actually donated the equipment that I would use to make my first commercial recordings. Another significant factor, in my opinion, is the positive trajectory of my personal growth journey. The more true i am to myself, the better my music becomes, and the more people connect with me. When I first started making music with a tablet in my mom’s living room as a 16-year-old kid, I feel like I didn’t know who I was, and for that matter I never gave it much thought. I mean, I knew my name and some fundamental information about myself, but I still didn’t know who I *was*.

The journey to where I am today wasn’t easy at all, and quite frankly, I would say that the two biggest challenges were my mental health and my lack of love for myself. When you are going through the throes of mental health, it’s hard to perform basic everyday tasks, much less writing and recording music consistently. But I sought treatment for my issues, and now that no longer holds me back.

One of the most important lessons Ive learned thus far is something that could arguably considered one of the tenets of capitalism: there is a market for everything. In addition, everyone has a “tribe”, especially in the age of the internet. Sometimes I wondered if there was really a space for an MC/producer with a vintage style and a love for video games, but I would discover that there in fact was.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I’m something of a homebody, so I’m only really just now starting to have a semblance of a social life now haha.

I would definitely take them to Tassili’s Raw Reality in Atlanta; that’s my favorite restaurant of all time. I would also take them to the DeKalb Farmer’s Market; it’s the size of two football fields put together and it’s just filled with every kind of food you could think of.

But honestly, if someone was visiting me, we’d probably spend the whole week in the house, listening to music and playing games haha.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
That’s easy—I always gotta give mad props to my first (and best) mentor & teacher, my mother. She’s an OG in the spoken word and performing arts game, and she’s always been more than happy to not only share her wisdom and point me in the right direction, but to show support for my creative endeavors. I literally can’t overstate how crucial this woman was to the process of me getting to where I am now.

Website: realmczappa.com

Instagram: @realmczappa

Twitter: @MC_Zappa

Youtube: https://youtube.com/@mczappa4229

Image Credits
MC Zappa