We were lucky to catch up with Zig Luve recently and have shared our conversation below.
Zig, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?
Since I was a child, I knew that pursuing a creative path would be a major life goal of mine. My first distinct memory was listening to Usher’s ‘U Remind Me’ in first grade, and at that time my mother had just bought the Windows dial up computer for the house. I remember listening to the song over and over somewhere on the internet, and typing an entire cover to the song over the actual lyrics. I stayed up all night doing it and then took the song to school and handed out copies to all my friends. I think that was the first time I knew I wanted to be an artist.
Fast forward 20 years, I got fired from my corporate recruiting job in Manhattan in December 2019, partially due to performance, partially due to my boss wanting me to give more effort and make the job my life. A few months prior to that, I met a stranger named Qung Xav at a production gig, and we ended up hitting it off immediately. He makes music, shoots and edits videos, produces, does the entire gambit. So I would stay at his house all night in Brooklyn & then go straight to work in the city off of no sleep. Prior to that point, I hadn’t been recording music, but through me being at his crib in the studio I ended up writing and recording every single day. Fast forward a few months, I had a premonition that a car was going to hit me one night and ultimately, that happened. I took that experience and recorded my first single, entitled ‘I Should Be Dead’, which released on my 25th birthday. One month later, I got fired from my job and I was begging for a sign that what I was doing was the right thing. I remember being on the bus telling myself ‘this is about to be the beginning of my story as an artist’. Since that day, I never looked back.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
In simplest terms, I’m a creative. Obviously the big calling card is being a rapper and a singer, but I also do so much more. I create all concepts for every single thing I do, from writing all my music videos, to writing short stories and producing content. I started off this journey more as a poet, representing Montclair State University at the College Union Poetry Slam Invitational in Virginia back in 2015. We went against 70 other schools, ending up 6th I believe. That experience reintroduced myself to being a creative artist, and then led to me doing much more work as a music writer, script writer, and overall storyteller. Ultimately, stories are what fuels the world and I feel a major connection to a well defined story. My artist name is Zig Luve, and so far I’ve been releasing music for 3 years. I think my ability to create any idea that i have is what sets me apart from others. Whether it be by creating merch, telling a story through content, putting on a live show, producing a short film, etc., I’ve come to understand that my ability to take anything and turn it into a creative vessel is my biggest asset.
I’m probably most proud of the fact that everything I’ve ever put out to the world has been real. I don’t make things up just to get famous, I don’t have a desire to be anything other than myself. I got the opportunity to open up for Lil Durk in 2021 and that was a humbling experience because it showed me how close I am to the next level, but I also felt like I belonged and never doubted that. The Zig Luve brand is built on the message of not being able to love anyone else before you love the you in the mirror. That’s a big part of why I took the O out of Love and replaced it with a U. My cousin birthed the Luve name as Let Us Value Everyone and I took it on to be a life of its own in a sense. I put my real life in my content and my music is my therapy for real, which has always given me an outlet and a space to be myself and to speak my truth. So far I’ve dropped a few projects, one entitled ‘Luve is Patience’ which entailed the beginning of my journey as an upcoming artist and my trials and tribulations. A few months later I followed that with a short project called ‘Luve & Drugs’ which had a different outline to it. That was basically outlining points and spaces in my life where I used and abused particular vices to help me deal with the journey of my own life. I’m very transparent in my work and I think that’s what I take pride in the most.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
I always knew how important it was to prevail through everything that you go through, so even through tough obstacles I found a way to keep my wits about me. But with that said, it didn’t always come easy nor pleasant. When I was 13 my mother sent me to military school, partially due to my lack of discipline along with a little bit of overreacting on her end. Now that I’m a parent though I understand where she was coming from in a sense. But I remember being stuck in that school for two years out in Pennsylvania with no family, no friends, living with gangbangers, kids sent there by the courts, foreign kids who spoke zero English and all types of folks. I remember that being the first time in my life that I experienced true true sadness, and I would be in my room for hours on end just crying like I would never get out of there. Looking back at it, I’m thankful for it because I wrote so much music, so many stories, and I guess that showed me how much creativity I had in my head. But it also gave me the perspective and understanding that even through tough situations in life, we have no choice but to endure them. I was way too young to resonate with those feelings, but it built a transparency in my relationship with creativity, and it created a lane for me to learn to create from real feelings and not from what other people were doing.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
The most rewarding aspect is definitely knowing that I do have the power to reach people. I take all this very seriously, but I’m also extremely humble. I don’t create so I can goo viral and then act as if I was never a regular person. I don’t portray an irregular lifestyle, and I know I’m equal to everyone out here. So normally I don’t even take compliments well forreal, I appreciate the love and I always show gratitude, but I don’t feel like I deserve for anyone to tell me how “good” I am because that isn’t how I feel. But the rewarding aspect of all this is when people listen to my music and really digest the message. When I speak about not enjoying my life, or having moments where I was in a seemingly insurmountable emotional space, it means something for others to share how the art helped them look in the mirror. The art that comes from the struggle damn near makes the struggle worth it, because life is inevitably a struggle until our last moments. So knowing that I genuinely have timeless work that can be revisited and that was last forever in the minds and hearts of people keeps me going every day.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.zigluve.com
- Instagram: zigluve
- Twitter: zigluve
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC365rfc94fjYoVyfZAIJKRA