A few days ago, a friend of mine sent me a music video by an artist I had never heard of. Nevertheless, I was absolutely thrilled to watch such a work. Despite the fact that currently, most Persian rap songs are released with a music video, this work was clearly different from others in this music scene at the very first glance. The creativity and genius hidden in his works promised the emergence of a creative and tasteful artist in Iranian music. “Vayne” is a 21-year-old Iranian rapper who has released only three songs: “SIMP,” “VILLAIN,” and “REAL.” His most important distinguishing feature is his noticeable attention to visual aspects and his unique point of view, in addition to his musical creations. This issue largely stems from his field of study: animation. In this interview, we tried to get to know different features of Vayne’s artistic attitude, focusing on his latest work, “REAL,” which was very well received by the music audience.
I feel that this style of music gives me a much greater ability to create visions and images in my mind. When I’m trying to make a song, everything is often visually defined for me. So, I draw inspiration from images, and I think this applies much better to rap music and its subgenres. I will by no means limit myself to this style of music, and I am more interested in experimental works.
What is the concept of the song “REAL,” and how did you develop your ideas in the process of creating this work?
The song “REAL” has a deeply personal nature, and its concept revolves around “family.” This theme is prominently featured in the chorus section:
“Your bitch has broken your heart, but mine broke by my family.”
This narrative profoundly affects me; my heart is shattered by this story. While many artists receive support and encouragement from their families, including numerous Iranian rappers whose families are aware of and endorse their endeavors, I find myself in a different situation. My family remains unaware of my artistic and musical pursuits, which has been a source of frustration for me. It seems impossible for them to accept such efforts. I believe that if my circumstances were different, my artistic career would have flourished, and my path would have taken a different trajectory. Thus far, Shahin has overseen the production of all my works. Upon completing the lyrics for this piece, Shahin and I meticulously reviewed various versions of the music until arriving at the final rendition. Our aim was to convey the essence of the piece musically while also incorporating marketable elements.
The strong point of “REAL” is its music video, which is completely different from other music videos produced in Persian rap. What inspired you, and how did you implement your ideas?
When the final version of this work was ready, I wanted to create a completely different visual effect that I would be able to perform as well. Meanwhile, on YouTube, I saw the music video of the song “HEADSPACE/BENT” by an artist named Benjamin Earl Turner and directed by Abteen Bagheri, in which a strange animal-like character was used. The placement of that artist next to this character was visually very interesting to me. As soon as I watched this music video, I was very inspired to create such a character. However, after seeing the behind-the-scenes of this music video, I realized that under no circumstances could such a thing be created with the available facilities because the character was completely real and had its face controlled with 27 keys by a remote, which was considered a very expensive project. Nevertheless, I was still very interested in the idea and determined to create such a frame consisting of a real character and a fictional character in this music video and to create an interesting narrative centered on these two characters. So, relying on my animation skills, I created a character called “Whelve,” which means “to bury something deep (to hide): a creature who presents the deepest and darkest parts of the Vayne character.” In many shots of the “REAL” music video, he is seen with me; from the first scene driving in a car to watching the burning house with a gallon of gas in his hand. The character Whelve is derived from the deeper side of Vayne. In other words, the two are a single character. The house that is burning in this music video is Vayne’s own house, which he set on fire because of his anger and hatred towards his family. All these events are done in the presence of Vayne but by Whelve. Whelve is approximately 2.5 meters tall, and his size is a sign of Vayne’s childhood complexes.
You have taken a completely different and new path in Persian rap by relying on symbolization and characterization. What is the reason for this unique approach of yours?
In general, I like to connect with my audience visually in addition to the music, and in that way, everything has a unique story. For example, my short video “VAYNE PROJECT,” tells the story of a person who commits suicide due to depression in 2002 (the year of my birth), and then in 2023, a doctor recovers his damaged memory from it to build a fully human-like robot to create profound works in music and art creation. This shows that I am always interested in everything having its concept and story, and from the beginning of my career, I tried to make Vayne known among the audience in this way, completely different from other artists.
Why did you decide to include behind-the-scenes at the end of the music video?
The reason for showing behind-the-scenes footage in the middle of the music video was to preserve its fun aspect and to demonstrate that the entire production was created with minimal resources. At the beginning of the project, I told myself that if I had the ability to execute a plan, I would proceed with the project. Implementing the initial plan took only two weeks to achieve the desired level of quality. Therefore, the behind-the-scenes footage serves as a reminder that art can be created in various ways and with limited resources, without the need to spend large amounts of money.
Did you expect such positive feedback from the artists and audience during the production of this work?
When the music video was released, I was completely amazed by the audience’s reaction. I expected this kind of feedback because the work was different, but I could never have imagined this amount of positive reaction. I have to thank Ashkan Kagan and Isam for sharing this music video, which undoubtedly led to my motivation and thirst to create much better works in the future. Even before the release of the music video, I thought that some audiences would not connect with such a narrative due to its complexity and their initial experience, but I never expected such a positive response.
If you do not receive a positive reaction from the audience in the continuation of your artistic career, will you continue to stick to this approach or will you produce your works based on the dominant formula of this scene?
Even if such an effort on my part does not receive any positive feedback from the Persian rap audience, I will never stop doing this because I have so many ideas in my mind that I am interested in creating them gradually. What has kept me alive to this day is “art”, and in this song, I also mention this: “Cash is in my hard drive, not my credit card,” emphasizing the indescribable importance of art over everything else in my life.
