What’s your background? If someone asks you to give a few surface-level sentences about where you come from.

“I'm from Hempstead, NY, midway to be specific. Youngest on both mom and dad sides. . I'm the youngest and I have a bunch of honorary siblings but either way you cut it I'm the youngest.”

How do you feel growing up in your household shaped your artistry?

“My mom’s religious, my dad is not quite religious. Didn't particularly live with my father growing up. It gave me a lot of time to be with my thoughts and get into mad creative things like drawing. I just never really thought I was good at it. I just started doing things like designing cars odee on midnight club. Being the youngest allowed me a lot of time to be with myself and get comfortable with myself, my thoughts, and just being me. It developed my moral compass as a whole. Like as long as I'm good, that gave me certain confidence because I was always by myself anyway.” 

When did you know you chose art and art chose you?

That’s hard because I was in denial for a long time. I didn't start fully making music until I was in college. Even then, I saw music as something I did on the side, but the music process yoked me up, and one day I came to school and everyone was referring to me as the rap guy. Next thing I was surrounded by different artists with multiple art mediums and it took off. I can't point to one specific moment, it was many that helped me to choose art.”

 At 19, What made you take your music seriously at that specific time?

“It grabbed me, I was going through a lot of shit and it became my main coping mechanism at the time. My mom had just moved to the south, the homies were dying or on their way to college out of state. It was just me with an arraignment at that so all I could get lost in was the studio. Over time, the studio became more important and exciting to me than class. I would sit in class and be anxious about getting into the studio. It came to a point where I didn't like what I was doing in school. I like what I'm doing with this rap game, I got talent, and people are confirming it. Let me try to get this degree but I want to make it in this rap shit.” 

An artists’ name is as important a decision as to the work they create. What’s the story behind the Ace the Legynd name? 

“Ace has been my nickname since I was a kid. Brother gave it to me after playing NBA Ballers, the name stuck, and garnered several different meanings and variations. Reem (Alpha Rellix) googled my rap name at the time and tons of other artists popped up. I Didn’t want to change it but eventually settled on Ace the Legynd.” 

It’s common with a lot of artists to expel their demons through their mediums. Has music been a kind of therapeutic release for you and in what way? 

“1000%. My relationship w/ music has transformed into a living dynamic. My song Howlin at the Moon is a physical manifestation of my feelings. I go through the situation again over and over my head in order to turn it into art. It helps me get over something, get closure, turn these experiences into a song.” 

A lot of people know you as a rapper but you’re really a modern renaissance man, akin to the likes of a WSG? Tell me about your other ventures involving art.

“Art saved my life, shifted my perspective on the world. Art comes in every facet of your life: it’s in the way you walk, talk and in the fashion you choose. Anything I put out is going to be a representation of me.” 

A lot of artists, especially in rap, tend to see paying homage or influences as a stain on themselves. But you come across as someone who wears your influences on your sleeve. Do you have any prominent artistic influences? 

“Jay Z of course and more importantly his album Reasonable Doubt. The way he strung his words together to paint a picture made me fall in love with rap. Kanye West made me fall in love with music sonically and see the abstract ways to express things in music. Early 50 Cent and Max B are also big influences.”

Do you feel your skills evolve with every project created?

“I give every project my all. I’ll think “I can’t get much nicer than this” and then surpass that. Every time I make a project I feel I further develop my skills.”

What do you want people to have gained/experienced when they hear W.O.L.F. from Ace the Legynd?

“I could care less. I know what it is to me. I haven’t been active and this is the hardest I’ve ever worked on a project. For how difficult this album was to finish, it was therapeutic for me. I touched on many personal subjects and was able to tell my story.”