I actually went to high school with Jay Rock.
— Thundercat
Comedy is a coping mechanism, and it helps us stay alive.
I feel like music itself is inspirational enough. Especially with the Internet. Not to sound like a shut-in.
My whole being sonically comes from my dad's understanding of music.
Yeah, I'd like to collaborate with God. Do a collaboration with God!
Heartbreak is a real thing.
A lot of joking stems from a very dark place a bit.
I really love my cat.
I'm a guy where my perfect pitch has been altered by the fact that I usually tune up to what's going on. When I was a kid, it was horrible! If two notes were playing right next to each other, and they were dissonant, it would drive me nuts. If it was something that sounded like it was in between notes, it'd make me cringe.
A lot of the time, people think rappers just live inside this bubble. No, the reality is there is conversation that happens. It's not this one-dimensional thing. There's reality that takes place.
That will be on my tombstone: He lived five minutes away from Flying Lotus.
Tokyo style is so specific. And I'm a very big fan of their history. It's pretty simple. A lot of the time, people expect to see the wild style that comes out of Japan, but I think, traditionally, the style is very simple.
If somebody can make a joke about you on TV, that's so beautiful. You've affected pop culture to that degree.
I'll look at superheroes and comics and stuff and wonder, 'Why wouldn't you dress like that if you could?' With fashion, I look at it as a way to express that. I don't really pull any punches on it; otherwise, you get caught up in this nexus of dressing like everyone else.
I try not to think too hard about music. I like to see where it goes. I try not to give it a direction. I figure out what it is as it's forming. I don't have any goal in mind other than to make the best music I can.
I don't need to tell myself that I'm black or that I'm proud of being black. I just am, and it just doesn't matter.
I treat my cat like she's my therapist or something, because I talk to her all the time, and as she's gotten older, she talks back. It's pretty funny.
I can tell when one of my songs is played on the radio because everybody just starts calling and texting me. It gets overwhelming because if you don't answer the right ones, they think you hate them, or you're ignoring them and are not friends anymore. It's all kind of crazy.
Growing up, I always loved working with people. I love playing with people and having that moment of discovering something different. I believe in the magic of what music is.
It feels nice to be able to call Brainfeeder my home. It's giving art the platform. That's what Brainfeeder has always been for me: hope for art.
Brainfeeder makes me want to keep generating better music.
I listen to Kenny Loggins, like - I want to be Kenny Loggins.
I feel like I try to write from an honest of a place as I can - without scaring people off too much, I guess.
When I'm at home creating music, I usually wind up laughing. It's always, like, funny - like, what the hell did I just write?
My theory is if Tony Williams can sing, and if Kanye West can sing, so can I! So I try!
As a working musician, your first instinct is to try and do your job. It wasn't always my aspiration to sing; I just wanted to be a great working musician. But then Flying Lotus suggested I try, and nothing has ever been the same since.
I remember playing Billy Cobham's 'Total Eclipse' for Snoop Dogg. I also played him Frank Zappa, 'Apostrophe.' And I played him 'Saint Alfonzo's Pancake Breakfast.'
My family is all musicians - my dad plays drums, my mom plays flute, my older brother plays drums, my little brother plays drums and piano. For some reason, I didn't get the memo, so I just play bass.
You can find humor in most things, and even terrible things.
I'm very much into everything when it comes to music.
Kenny Loggins pours his heart and soul into the music he makes. He'll take you with him through everything he's going through, which is not easy.
I'm so tired of cell phones.
It doesn't even feel like racism is real. It just feels like the weirdest ploy, like we're just being had on so many levels. It's even kind of funny when you think about it. A reason not to like someone is 'because you're black.' C'mon, man. How dumb is that?
Money comes and goes. But when you look back on your career, you have be able to answer to yourself, 'Did I make the most of my time on earth?'
I've always worked with other people. As a musician, it's your role to basically share with other people.
I feel like there are things that inspire the music, and then there's the music itself. I don't feel like I always need to force them together.
I love being involved with Brainfeeder. I would have never thought that it would have been such an intense involvement.
I'm happy to have been around greatness like Kendrick Lamar.
You know what? Drake is one of my favorite artists, not just because it's, like, the cool thing to say.
I kind of find humor in everything, even to the point where it's awkward - like, the worst scenarios are the funniest things ever.
It's a privilege to always be able to create.
I started taking the bass more seriously when I heard Jaco Pastorius.
That's always what I've tried to do. I've tried to communicate. But at the end of the day, it's still for you to understand something. Understand that the world is bigger than you.
My high school teacher, Reggie Andrews, was a huge factor in my learning my instrument. He didn't play bass, but it was the part where he gave me a knowledgeable perspective of what it was that I was doing.
I grew up in Compton: 116th and Wilmington.
I love Gino Vannelli! I love every one of his albums. He's one of my favourite songwriters - straight up.
Sometimes you gotta get stupid with yourself, and you gotta enjoy your own company some time.
Hall & Oates is everything.
I always wanted to be involved with music that would stand the test of time, being on one of those definitive things that you have to have listened to at some point.
From when I was a kid, I was always very quiet within myself, I was never attention-hungry.
