On a recent spring afternoon in Chinatown, passerby’s watched ZAYD film a music video amongst an alleyway lined with graffiti and neon chinese characters. This is ZAYD’s natural habitat where the “free flowing” artist is likely to be found. With an aura that is reminiscent of Michael Jackson, he is a man on a mission to make the world groove again.

He told me, while eating a bowl of penne pasta with his signature mix of alfredo and marinara sauce, “I try to be as free as possible. I think that music is you channeling just a certain energy. So I don’t try to put too much thought into it, especially if it’s just coming to me.” Instead of reaching outward to find his sound or inspiration, he pulls inward. He often talks of our current society giving artists of all kinds specific confines to create and build in. In a world where we are all trying to find our place, and may even compromise some of our authentic self because of that, ZAYD not only tells listeners, but shows us we don’t have to play by the rules. 

Rules are made up in ZAYD’s eyes. Freedom to create is within the mind and spirit, which is why when trying to put him into a box he refuses, saying “A true artist is just one who is being themselves.” His refusal to call his process a “freestyle,” but rather a “free flow” is just the tip of the iceberg of how dedicated he is to staying in his true self. Being in free flow isn’t always easy for the rest of the world, however, it may be essential to our survival. In our current state of the world, artists like ZAYD set examples of how we can morph society and culture into a place better suited for the people who think outside of the box. 

The city of “Drivegaze,” his exclusive subgenre under Shoegaze, has a population of 1: ZAYD. “Drivegaze” is created for the late night vibe – driving at 1am reflecting on the best parts of your life with the windows down in 70 degree weather. “Drivegaze” was coined by himself when he struggled to define his genre in a word. He said, “I would always try to say a combination of things – indie, hip-hop, rock, and these words never could define my sound so it would change everytime I told someone” – a problem every artist has to face when asked, “What kind of music do you make?” He found the solution – to create one of his own.

“Saturday Night,” his debut single, shows us exactly how Drivegaze is captured both sonically and visually. He begins with only a bass and drum kit that has plenty of room to breathe and is reminiscent of an early 2000’s energy. As the track progresses, the dreamiest guitar and bright synthesizers shock an energetic charge through the song. But then, right as I think I know what is coming next, enters an unexpected bridge that sends the track into outer space. This break, arguably the most iconic part of the whole song, takes us underwater, phased out, and untethered before spitting us out again to the catchy hook. This wasn’t a planned event, but merely fate. When I asked him about it, he told me “I had to just mix and master the song with the original MP3 that we ripped. So that whole middle part of the section is a new version of the song that we created with the stems from the original producer that we kind of had to turn into something special. And it ended up making this magical interlude that turned out really well, in my opinion.” Even though its release dates back 2 years ago, ZAYD feels it still hasn’t gotten its proper recognition yet. Maybe this is because his combination of sounds is other-worldy, but this 

may also give way to an explanation as to why he hasn’t released publicly since then. It is definitely hard to tell with his natural elusiveness. 

When I asked him what was next for him musically or creatively, he really couldn’t tell me. “I have so much music that I need to get out. Just release. ‘Mr. Saturday Night’ was an era when I was modeling and really in that scene, but I feel like such a grandpa now.” His loafers and his vintage English cap tells the same tale. “I’ve been really trying to get in touch with who I am. Who is ZAYD? Really just creating from the soul.”

Being born in Harlem, he carries that soul with mystery and confidence. He remembers that time of his life as the good times. “Early 2000’s was just a different time in New York. A different energy.”

In hopes of a glimpse of that same energy, we took a rare excursion outside of his studio that doesn’t include the downtown A train. On our walk I couldn’t help but notice his larger-than-life personality and charm, intriguing strangers to approach him, and prompting many obvious stares. We kept walking down the street, which he turns into a runway, where we walked past a few billboards of his face. “This been up for 4 years,” he said, “and this is the first time I’m seeing this in person. I’m speechless. It’s just been so long since I came up here.” Despite being one of the highest sought after models, filmmakers and musicians, it is impossible to catch him outside of his humbleness. Coming out of the store where his life-size billboard is, 2 aunties approached him just striking up a conversation. 

His soul flows freely and through the lens in which he engages in the world, and through the more time we spent talking, this was apparent. He told me after many moments of silence his secret recipe to achieving free flow, “My soul wants to get things out, and I might not even realize till a week or a month after I make the song that ‘oh, this is about this event that happened, this story that happened in my life,’ that I was getting out in this moment. It starts out by just expressing whatever I’m feeling. And from the lens of my eyes and from the lens of the stories that we experience as humans, I think that I’m able to create just a story that resonates with people because we all go through similar stories.” 

Free flowing is how we will be able to achieve a world we can finally take a breath in again. Achieving a state of creation from our inner being that just displays externally, brings us together in this human experience. Mindfulness comes when we have a pressure to conform into a genre, into a style, into a body-image that we don’t fit the mold of, but breaking the mental shackles to say “I am in a free flow, not freestyle. I know my style, but I flow within it,” as ZAYD teaches through his free flow.

Author: Betty Q.
Published: April 20, 2026, 3:26PM CST