Meet Sun Zu | LA based psychedelic jazz, avant-soul, and experimental hip hop artist.

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

Hi Sun, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?
Ultimately, I want to be apart of the wave of creativity that can make an impact on young spirits, and anyone at any age really, to reflect on themselves and why we all go through the things we go through. My music is pretty dark, especially this record I’m working on. But at least speaking for myself, I know music is one of the only things that can help people meditate on these feelings, and tune in to these thoughts that seem to come out of nowhere. Because that’s the one thing that keeps us grounded, the reminder that “oh damn, we really are all connected through these feelings.”

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I call my music psychedelic jazz, avant-soul, and experimental hip hop. I’m a huge nerd for hip hop and all the roots that come from it, and through my love of sampling and discovering new sounds, it naturally led me to my love for jazz and anything within that realm. I love Kamasi Wasington, Flying Lotus, Hiatus Kaiyote, Erykah Baduh, Kendrick Lamar, Sun Ra, Roy Ayers, High Pulp, etc, all huge influences. The art of sampling taught me how to compose too. Chopping different sounds up into new melodies worked a part of my brain that eventually developed an ear to compose things myself. Right now, I work with an 11-piece jazz band by the name of The Eternal Students, and I bring all my written ideas, lyrics, and any vibe overall, and we flesh them out through rehearsals and build an entire world live which translates really well in the studio. Working on an album that’s coming late next year too, it’s gonna be dope… Again, it’s all a huge blessing. I started getting into music as a kid. My parents were DJs, but it didn’t work out in the long run unfortunately. It still never stopped me from being introduced to music as a whole, and eventually breaching into my own knowledge. I would participate in school jazz band and stuff too, but I never had enough time and direction to be able to go all the way as a live musician, but in a sense that contributed to my drive. I always loved jazz band, and I would always freak out at the wicked musicians around me, especially the cats in LA. So I’d work the muscle any day I could after school. I would kick it in the practice rooms, locker rooms, wherever, and I would just record. I’d try to track drums with 1 mic too; silly in retrospect but it was also really healthy for developing my ears and why things sound the way they do. I would record keys, vocals, other horn players, anything I could to put together my vision. I always loved people artists like Kendrick, Nas, and Tribe fusing jazz and hip hop together, but I never really heard anyone take it ALL the way in hip hop. I wanna take it ALL the way there. I mean like Sun Ra meets Playboi Carti, meets Kamasi Washington and Kendrick, all the way to some Outkast meets Hiatus Kaiyote shit; I really wanna challenge this new wave. Leading up to this point though, I grew up around a lot of hardship. Nothing I’m ready to fully tap into yet, I wanna explore that story when I feel I’m matured enough to do it justice. But I grew up surrounded by a lot of drug abuse, poverty, violence, and just a lot of dark shit in general. But I swear it’s all necessary because I don’t know where my heart would be at without these experiences, and I don’t want it no other way. Even though it’s all still behind the scenes, I’m very thankful to see how the lyrics and music translate with the people. Whether that be at shows, just showing people what I’m working on, I just want to inspire people. Especially being a white man in the culture of Jazz and Hip Hop, the last thing I’m here to do is mess around with it and make a mockery. I have so much love for the culture that brought me here, and I want to breathe these emotions through music, shed light on the pain and beauty behind it all.

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 would definitely show people Leimert Park. It’s a neighborhood in South Central Los Angeles full of so much beautiful music, art, and so many beautiful people. I would grab a smoothie from the Hot and Cool Cafe, grab you some food from any of the crazy Caribbean restaurants they got around the corner, and then I’d catch you a jam or any dope jazz event at the world stage. Lotta super dope events too. They got a huge event for Juneteenth, celebrating black owned businesses, black music, love, they got jazz festivals, Caribbean history events on Easter, so many beautiful things to see. And it’s one of the most popping areas for upcoming talent too. All of South Central LA, so much talent. It’s unfortunate to see so much of it get overlooked because of people’s perception, but I promise you it’s life at its finest and most precious. I wanna see more light shed, it’s so dope.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I would personally give a shoutout to my school LACM. They’ve been pivotal in terms of giving me the space to grow and express who I am as a person. Recognizing how much pain and life had to be lived to get to this point, and I am so thankful they allow me this opportunity to grow and bring my vision to life. I’m always overwhelmed with how thankful I am, because it could all be gone and circumstances could be different at any moment, so I cherish as many blessings as I get, and I hope to spread it to as many people as I can reach.

Instagram: sun_zu_official

Other: Don’t miss the new wave. Follow the insta and watch it all spill.

Image Credits
Damian Lemar Hudson, Finlay Mathias, Kim Garcia