Who’s Up Next? - Quaran Ahmad
Also known by his music pseudonym Vynni, this multitalented creative visionary sits with us to discuss his ongoing work in various art spaces.
Joho: Hi Quaran. Thank you for joining us. What can you tell us about how your music career got started?
Quaran: Hey Goodie! Thanks for having me! I really appreciate the opportunity. My music career got started around middle school. I was interested in being a producer before anything. I remember making so many beats on my mom's old Macbook computer and showing my friends at lunch! The beats were so trash but it didn't matter, I was having a lot of fun exploring a new artform. I wasn't rapping or singing at all until 2018. I was inspired by the likes of Tyler the Creator and Kanye West to be a producer-rapper, and have every element of my music creation derived from my own mind. I learned later in life that collaboration really is a virtue that should be appreciated and sought after.
Joho: In your own words how would you describe your sound?
Quaran: I have a unique and experimental sound. I don't care about genre or sounding "professional". Music is the artform that I create for my own appreciation, so I just try to do the weirdest thing I can do at the time.With all these projects I make, they are created for an audience in mind, but for music, I really love making stuff for my personal enjoyment. In recent years, my output has slowed down to around one project a year, and I'm really loving that, because generally, I create new songs in the winter, develop them in the spring, play them on repeat in the summer, and release them in the fall. I like this cycle, because it allows me to really grow with my music. For example, I was bumping Drake's Honestly Nevermind album ALL SUMMER last year, and it inspired me to pursue club/house music, which led to tracks like Worst Person in the World* and Free, from my last project Vessel. My sound is really whatever I'm feeling at the moment.
Joho: When we last spoke, you were in the midst of several creative projects, from music to photography, to architecture. Now it seems that you’re making a documentary. What can you tell us about the Burn Project?
Quaran: BURN is a documentary I created in January of this year. It stemmed from a journal entry I jotted down after a bike ride. I desired to create a project that captures the aspirations of young creatives in the DC/Maryland/Virginia (DMV) area. Season One of BURN recently ended in May, where we interviewed 10 people in January/February and asked them their goals for the rest of the year. Season Two, which will debut in September, will provide updates on some of the people we originally interviewed, while also providing new stories from more young creatives. This has been a joyous experience because it really helped me understand the different perspectives of Black creatives in this world. There's this African philosophical concept called "ubuntu", which translates to "I am because we are". That statement is the thesis of the BURN documentary.
Joho: I’ve been enjoying a lot of your recent photo series, like “This is Real Life” , “Currently”, “Golden Summer” and others. I believe each project you work on is completed with intention so would you be able to elaborate on the essences you’re capturing and the feelings and meanings each project is attempting to display?
Quaran: These photo collections I've been releasing are all going to be part of a photo book I'm releasing later this year called "Golden Summer" and it will contain most of the photos you've been seeing on my Instagram feed this summer. All of these collections seek to capture intimate moments of life, and as with all my work, I look to make people "feel" the photo as if they were physically present when it was taken. A big inspiration for my photography is Frank Ocean's Boys Don't Cry zine that he released in 2016 alongside Blond. I believe some of the photography in that book is the best I've ever seen. I really love my Instagram page, I post art on my stories daily, so whenever you visit my page, you're exposed to a barrage of pop culture, sculptures, and artworks. I'm always thinking about art and my application of it in my everyday life. Everything I post comes from my heart.
Joho: I know you’ve got some new Vynni in the works. When can we expect to see the album drop?
Quaran: I'm looking to drop the album in September. That's not a hard deadline, though. It really depends on how I'm feeling at the time. That's the beautiful thing about being a small artist and never looking to be signed by a label, I can do whatever I want, whenever I want.
Joho: I really love “Don’t Waste My Time”. With each project you release I feel like your hooks and singing get stronger and stronger.How did this song come together?
Quaran: "Don't Waste My Time!" was a track made in June 2022 for the early drafts of Vessel. The song was essentially completed, and ready to be mixed/mastered, but I decided to take the album in a new direction and scrapped the song. It was earlier this year where I recognized a lot of the unreleased music I made last summer was amazing and really needed to be released. A lot of the music on this new project is compiled of scrapped stuff that didn't make the last album. In a sense, Vessel and the new album are two halves of the same whole. Vessel was a pretty dark album that was rooted in fear, and this new one is a lot more pleasant and rooted in love.
Joho: “The Betrayal” was a new sound for you. As a producer how do you find new ideas to explore to continue to expand your sound and differentiate your discography?
Quaran: "The Betrayal!" is personally in my top 5 songs I've ever made. This was another track I created in Summer 2022 that I ended up scrapping. The dancehall-esque sound of this track came from an exposure to tracks like "Action" by Terror Fabulous & "Freaks" by Doug E. Fresh. I was working at Home Depot that summer and I met a lot of people who played this type of music while we were working. That really put me on to this type of music again. I wanted to make a dramatic dancehall R&B love song.
Joho: Who are you drawing inspiration from musically these days? Have you heard anything in the last year or some that has put the battery in your back to get in the studio and continue perfecting the craft?
Quaran: Honestly, I've been listening to everything and anything these days. Like, I find myself listening to Bossanova, 2000's Southern Hip-Hop, Reggaeton, Trap, Michael Jackson, everything really. Just because I'm obnoxious, I'm gonna list my top songs of the summer now:
Come Home to God - Amaarae
Don't Die - Birdman & Lil Wayne
Baby - Quinteto Ternura
Endless Love - Piero Piccioni
Thank Allah - Niontay
Making The Band - Earl Sweatshirt
Kawasaki - Khal!l
Obomi Nga - Moonshine, MC REDBUL, & Uproot Andy
Money & Sex - Destroy Lonely & Ken Carson
Concrete - MIKE
Rip Clayco - Zaminzo
In The Meantime - Spacehog
Joho: I know you’re still in school studying architecture. How is what you learn there applicable to your artistry?
Quaran: Virgil Abloh earned his degrees in Civil Engineering and Architecture, although he never designed one building in his career. He has a quote that says he majored in architecture to pursue fashion. The architectural mind is very knowledgeable, and can be utilized in different career paths. My favorite architect of all time is Isamu Noguchi, and he designed sculptures and a playground in Atlanta. I have never desired to follow the conventional path of what success is, in any field. I don't think BURN would exist if I wasn't an architecture major. It truly restructured my brain to think more genius.
Joho: What’s next for Quaran Ahmad? Any upcoming shows or exciting projects we should be looking out for?
Quaran: Great question, the premiere of BURN Season 2 will be in Washington DC on September 15th. Tickets will go live sometime next month. My album, titled "Light, in its Purest Form" will be released in September. Finally, my photo book, "Golden Summer" will likely be released sometime this fall as well.
