An interview with osquinn

osquinn aka quinn was one of the breakout stars of the 2020 “hyperpop” scene. Unlike some of her peers, she chose to pursue an independent path, disowning the hyperpop genre tag and pivoting to soulful hip-hop with her 2022 debut album quinn.

In this rare interview with osquinn, Mano Sundaresan talked to her during her trip to New York about her recent run of mixtapes, rejoining the collective Novagang, friendships old and new, graffiti, leaving deadAir Records, her collaborative tape with dazegxd ‘dSX.fm’ and more.

At her show at Brooklyn’s Market Hotel alongside her collective Novagang, quinn performed new material from tapes like ‘interstate185’ and revisited some of her classic hyperpop singles like “i don’t want that many friends in the first place” and “ok im cool.” quinn talked to Mano about her relationship to those older songs and the high-energy sound she’s been exploring more recently, inspired heavily by the rapper 454.

They ended their conversation discussing underground artists like xaviersobased and the 1c crew, who are in a similar place to where quinn and her peers were just a few years ago: on the precipice of stardom. quinn offered some advice to them and ruminated on the direction in which hip-hop is going.

Host: Mano Sundaresan (https://www.instagram.com/manosundare...)
Cameras: Srikar Poruri (https://www.instagram.com/srikar.work...)
Anusha Allamsetty (https://www.instagram.com/anushallams...)
Editor: Srikar Poruri

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Quinn / No Bells DJ mix: https://www.nts.live/shows/no-bells/e...
Feardorian / No Bells DJ mix: https://www.nts.live/shows/no-bells/e...

TIMESTAMPS:

0:00 - intro
0:51 - quinn on her “summer of growing up”
1:44 - quinn’s New York trip, working with Moh Baretta and more
2:57 - Rejoining Novagang
4:32 - Life on a military base, making new friends after graduating high school
6:30 - quinn and Mano reminisce on going to a forest rave in Atlanta
7:40 - What friendship means to quinn
10:00 - Novagang concert in Brooklyn, performing old “hyperpop” songs
11:21 - Novagang’s favorite snacks
12:00 - Mano and quinn talk about their Camrys
12:55 - quinn drew inspiration from 454 for recent tapes
14:00 - Crazy encounters around Fort Moore that inspired quinn’s lyrics
15:23 - quinn’s upcoming album
16:25 - quinn on leaving deadAir Records, whether she’d ever return
17:24 - quinn loves Duwap Kaine’s music
19:05 - Some artists quinn wants to work with
21:00 - quinn’s perspective on the rise of xaviersobased and 1c
25:27 - How quinn approaches the art of graffiti
27:51 - How dazegxd and quinn’s tape ‘dSX.fm’ came together
31:00 - What quinn hopes for the next 50 years of hip-hop