uMaNg Interview

Check out our exclusive interview with uMaNg.

I2G is here with uMaNg, how’s it going?

Hello, I’m doing well, thank you. How about yourself?

As an artist, I guess you could say I got my start when I first started writing as a teenager. Although, I’ve always been an avid listener, since before I could remember. Whatever my family was playing around the house, whether it would be Bollywood, hip-hop, pop music, jazz, religious etc., those sounds shaped an aspect of me, & was woven into the fabric of my being. As far as influences in my chosen medium that made me want to pick up a pen, Nas would be first & foremost. IWW was my introduction to him, and it was the thought-provoking lyrics, his demeanor & the way he carries himself that made me gravitate to his music directly. Then you have the Em’s, Jay’s, Mos & Kweli, Monch, Wu, Del, Royce, Common, Phonte, Elzhi, Ransom, amongst the many who steered me from that point on & continue to inspire me to sharpen my craft.

Melvin Junko is an established & well-respected Producer/Emcee. I’ve known & have been a fan of his brand for more than a decade, even though we hadn’t formally met or worked on anything up until recently, although I’ve always wanted to. The opportunity never really came up organically. So basically, I had just dropped an album in late 2023, & was looking for beats to spark me creatively to continue working. I asked people over social media what was their favorite instrumentals? Most of them posted their favorite beats made by other producers, then Junko posted a link to his beats lol. In there I found an endless gold mine of inspiration, as well as his live streams he does regularly where he crafts beats from scratch. I have a lot of respect for him, his talent, and especially his work ethic. So from there, Not For The Faint of Art was born.

 Do you have any more upcoming videos or singles?

 We have “Bug” circulating right now. There are some ideas, but nothing concrete as of yet.

 I don’t have too much of an opinion on things I don’t pay attention to. I just try to focus on my own lane & stick to that. I will say there’s too much hate going around, and not enough love. Also, artists don’t get paid nearly enough for their streams that big corporations capitalize on.

I’m obviously bumping a lot of Not For The Faint of Art right now.

No shows planned as of yet, I’m working on quite a bit of music.

 You can cop the Vinyl for Not For The Faint of Art here: