By Josh Atlas
Finding friends as a freshman is never easy. For almost everyone, it begins with matching personalities and interests. I went through two friend groups before I finally found my current roommates: Driss Zaim-Sassi and Nick Bravate. I met Nick during the first week of school, and we instantly connected over his Kids See Ghosts t-shirt. But it wasn’t until three months later that I would meet him again and we would become friends. That was the same night I met Driss, and there they played me one of their first songs. Since then, I’ve been fortunate enough to see them both grow as artists.
Driss and Nick, who go by the stage names YallaDrizzy and MyBravo respectively, released their debut album A Ghost City on June 18th of this year, and have both recently released solo EPs. I sat down with them to talk about their recent work, creative process, and next steps as artists.
Josh: So, how did you guys meet each other?
Driss: Basically, we met last year as residents in Loyola Hall as neighbors in rooms 315 and 313. Somehow we just got put next to each other coincidentally, and we became friends soon after moving in. Crazy that two music artists just happened to be right next to each other.
Nick: Yeah, that’s where it all started.
Josh: When you first met each other, was it instantly like, “Let’s make a song together?”
Nick: Actually not really. It kinda started with the sentiment that we should work together at some point, but it took a little bit until we actually started working on music.
Driss: Technically, our first time making a song was over Discord after I made a melody in the first couple weeks of school, and Nick told me to send it to him.
Nick: It’s funny ‘cause one of the first times he asked to make music was when we both still hadn’t made many friends, and I completely denied him.
Driss: Yeah, he just flat-out said no.
Nick: Politely said no.
Driss: I even told my mom. *laughs*
Josh: So at what point did you guys decide, “We’re gonna make music together,” beyond just sharing things you worked on?
Driss: We made a song called “Fallacy.”
Nick: You’ll never hear it.
Driss: That was maybe in late October or November, and that was the first time we really put our minds together to make something.
Josh: Going off of that, where do you find the intersection between your styles?
Nick: It’s kind of hard to answer ‘cause there isn’t.
Driss: Yeah, I mean, we have two completely separate styles, but when we come together, we make a single sound that we both…it’s kind of like taking two different ideas and creating—forming something new.
Josh: I feel like on A Ghost City there had to be inspirations that you both had to make an album like that.
Nick: One of the five or six people that listened to it.
Driss: I think when we started to make that project we both wanted to make something.
Driss: I think when we started to make that project we both wanted to make something along the lines of “a grand but also digital-sounding project.” We had a reference board, and we definitely had Blade Runner on there.
Nick: Yeah, definitely, both the original and 2049. Also, Daft Punk, in general, and their work on Tron. There’s just something about all of those soundtracks that really inspired us, and the love for those movies brought us together in the beginning. They stand out not only as music in the movies but as something entirely on their own. When you listen to them, it creates a world in your head through their atmospheric electronic sounds.
Josh: Could you ever see yourselves wanting to score a movie?
Nick: Yeah, that’s a big dream of mine.
Driss: Definitely something I want to do later on.
Josh: So how does being at Fordham and being in NYC inspire the music you make?
Driss: I’ve definitely had teachers that have inspired me—even if it hasn’t really reflected on A Ghost City or the EP, that’s completely different. There’s definitely an inspiration in the things I hear and what we talk about in class on the music I make now.
Nick: Everything in the city inspires me. It’s part of the reason we’re here.
Driss: The environment, the people, the culture.
Nick: Going back to the earlier questions, we first bonded over that if nothing else. Coming to the city to get that experience, the reason we’re both here. Walking around any of the boroughs, seeing art, different people, and the experiences we’re having gives me ideas that I take back to my music.
Josh: How would you define your music, or is there no point in defining it?
Driss: I don’t like to define it ‘cause that limits you, but if I had to…
Nick: If he has to.
Driss: How about you take this question?
Nick: I couldn’t say a genre, that just doesn’t make sense to me. Definition is different than genre, and I don’t think genre matters. By definition, we can tie a lot of characteristics. We use a lot of electronics and synths, which create a specific sound.
Driss: When you put it in a box it’s hard to get out of that box.
Josh: What was the process behind your two recent EPs you both dropped when you got back to school? Was most of that worked on and inspired by the summer?
Nick: Something like that. Mine I made for fun; I made it all in one night and wanted to put it out before I got to school, and my entire workflow got messed up. When working on that stuff, it’s a very different process than the album. We’re not in person for any of those songs, so it changes how you work, making it easier and harder. The limitations of online work definitely makes it harder, but it causes you to get more creative.
Josh: How do you work online?
Driss: We use an online platform to send stuff back and forth. Online we kind of sample each other by sending melodies and stuff that we like, while in person you make that entire thing from scratch bouncing off each other’s ideas. It’s a completely different workflow.
Josh: Last question, what do you guys want to accomplish in the next year?
Driss: Ideally, I’d love to improve on my sound, really make something specific to me.
Nick: Personally I want to completely change it up, make something entirely new together. I also really want to feel like I’m building a real fanbase of people all brought together through my music. Also, maybe live shows.
Driss: New music soon.
Listen to A Ghost City, out now on all streaming services, and follow @MyBravo and @YallaDrizzy on Instagram to keep up with them.
A Ghost City Album Cover
