Danny Brown, Skywlkr, one of their friends and myself were walking next to train tracks through the East Side of Austin, the part of town that dumb cider company named its expensive spiked apple juice after. Brown is a rapper, Skywlkr is his go-to producer and DJ and it’s still unclear to me who their friend was. I think I heard her say that she worked in porn, like maybe filming or advertising or something. I don’t remember and I didn’t hear clearly and I was also 19 and too intimidated to ask anyone clarifying questions. The whole thing was very surreal — she was like 5’2 but kept giving Skywlkr, who I remember being at least 5’10, piggyback rides.
We were on our way to find a chicken and waffle taco truck that Brown had eaten at before somewhere in that part of the city. We had just been at Stubbs in Austin, where he had opened for Childish Gambino to a crowd that thoroughly did not care about Danny Brown or his music. He weaved through the crowd (no one stopped to talk to him, no one seemed to care) after his set to the back of the venue where I happened to be standing, I stopped him and said I had an interview scheduled with him. He nodded and waved for me to follow and we ducked out of a side exit, waited for Skywlkr and headed to the East Side.
I just listened to them talk and asked questions, but Brown seemed irritated. I think he said he was coming down off Adderall or Molly. Don’t worry, if I’m misremembering, this isn’t libel. He literally calls himself the “Adderall Admiral” and made a song called “Molly Ringwald” which is not about Molly Ringwald.
When we sat down with our tacos, I asked if we should start the interview. “I think we should have started it back on the walk,” Brown said, which was fair. Again, I was 19 and barely knew what I was doing, so I just went with it.
The rest of the interview went fine. I’m not going to post it, because I was much younger and very much not developed as a journalist or interviewer, but I was stoked about it at the time, especially since it was for a fashion and culture blog that I liked a lot.
I paid attention more to Skywlkr after that. He produces a lot for Brown and also does independent projects and stuff for other rappers. Here are some of his instrumentals.
Hit My DMs (compilation featuring Skywlkr) - 46 minutes, Spotify | Apple
Strawberry Cough - 41 minutes, Bandcamp (skip track 2, LA Confidential, if you’re trying to focus. It will not help, it’s got a fun but abrasive synth line).