My name’s Jacob ZL, and I’m a senior in high school.

I live in Brooklyn, New York, specifically Flatbush.

Man, right now I just go to school and make music. It’s dumb annoying: I’m trying to apply to college, manage my school schoolwork and make music all at once. School’s always been overwhelming, but I’ve found it extra difficult this year to find the time to create.

I been writing music since 6th grade, but I really got into it in 8th grade when me and my homie would write lyrics in a notebook during class. It’s some real cliché shit—and we were *so* bad—but doing that was what really made me realize that music was my true passion.

That shit was dry, to be honest. My friend asked me to perform for the release of his tape, and he gassed it up saying at least 100 people would pull up, but in the end there were less than 50 heads there. I also had my SATs the morning after, so while everyone was fucked up, I was sober as hell and ended up leaving before 10. It was kinda disappointing how it all worked out, but in the end it was still a good experience ‘cause after my set people were coming up to me and genuinely saying that they fucked with my music.

Making a living off it would be ideal.

I just hope people listen to my music and think, “Damn, this shit goes hard.”

Robb Bank$, King Krule and John Coltrane are currently, and have been for quite some time, my three favorite artists. Their stuff just stands out so much more than other musicians, and this inspires me to keep crafting my sound. I want people to look at me the way I look at them.

I’ve had people I don’t know come up to me at parties and tell me how much they fuck with my music. That’s always wild flattering and makes me feel like my music’s actually affecting people, and that I have a real chance to be successful with this.

I’m just gonna keep creating. I have to figure out how to balance school with music, and decide if I’m going to go to college or not. It really all depends how this music stuff pans out.