Thursday, 04 June 2020 15:28

Toussaint Lorenz: Unplugging, Angel Numbers, & Dad Hats

Written by
VSW VSW Toussaint Lorenz

Toussaint Lorenz is a busy man. Between juggling his entertainment company I.B.O.H, “I’ll Be Over Here”, a fresh clothing brand, “222”, and creating music I was excited to grab a few moments of his time for this socially distanced interview via email. 

 

 

I first discovered Mr. Lorenz in the April 28th edition of Westword magazine. After reading, I did what most millennials do to see what someone is really about. I followed him on Instagram. To my surprise, I received a DM soon after from the music man himself. He humbly thanked me for supporting his craft and asked me to listen to his latest musical releases expertly listed in order of crowd favorites and popular videos. From only watching a few of Lorenz’s captivating music videos I was hooked and all the more curious about the Colorado native’s secret to maintaining industry success.

 

FK: Thank you for agreeing to do this interview, I know things are probably incredibly busy at the moment. Speaking of, what project are you busiest with right now at the current moment?

 

TL: At the current moment I'd say learning how to engineer music takes up the majority of my time and research. I started learning how to do it last August because as much as I've gotten a great product with other engineers, I just never fully felt like I was hearing these records like how I hear them in my head, so I decided to dive in and thus far it's been both extremely difficult, and rewarding. As far as music projects go though, I've been working on various singles and my next full project which is to be titled W.I.P. (Work In Progress). I have no release date at this time.

 

FK: After watching a few of your music videos I got some strong Blink-182 vibes in terms of creativity and imagination featured in the videos. From the imaginative characters of “Venetian Sweater Weather” to the pops in color in “Fast Car”. Do you draw inspiration from specific artists when creating music videos? If so, who?

 

TL: What an awesome comparison! I love Blink-182. I actually saw them a few years back in concert. The inspiration is definitely from videos in the 90's. I used to watch plenty of MTV and MTV2 and would watch videos for hours and hours just being heavily entertained. My favorite ones were similar to those Blink-182 ones as they always had something extra going on, or a story or something that just popped out. I always loved Eminem's videos, along with ones like the Smooth Criminal cover by Alien Ant Farm. Even today ones like "Humble" by Kendrick Lamar, with its striking imagery, get me inspired.

 

FK: To piggyback off of that previous question, do you have a step by step process in creating a music video or does the entire concept come to you all at once? 

 

TL: Sort of. A lot of the time I'm writing the video as I'm writing the record. The imagery that I see mentally helps me come up with the next line the same way the line after can provide some imagery. They work in tandem really. Generally, I only have a few scenes figured out though. Once I've got them and the record is ready I'll bring it to my regular videographer, Shaun Asakura, who's done all of my videos thus far, and we'll brainstorm. So I can't take all the credit. Shaun has an amazing talent and way of bringing my ideas to life, and also in compounding them and making them more solid rather than just random sliced scenes. Along with that my good friend and hype man aQuop Stokes has helped in writing as well. Venetian Sweater Weather was inspired by Wes Anderson films more than anything though. I just couldn't get the thought of what it would look like if Wes Anderson shot a video for this record. I brought the idea to Shaun and he loved it so we ran with it.

 

FK: Your clothing line, “222” features an array of items from ski masks to women’s shorts to t-shirts. Can you walk me through the origin of the clothing line and what your favorite piece of apparel is at the moment? 

 

TL: 222 is actually my newest venture so to speak, but I've had the idea for over a year. The number 2 has always been a personal number to me. I was born April 2nd, 1992, my nickname growing up was 2c, I went by the stage name Mr. Deuces for some time in my career, along with several more personal reasons as well, it has just kind of always been there. At the beginning of last year, a friend of mine had encouraged me to look into Angel numbers and what the number 222 represented. I'd discovered that it stood for rebalancing and placing faith and trust into goals/dreams that one may be losing energy for. Something like a beacon to let you know where you're at if you see that number. It also represented new beginnings and getting rid of negative energy, along with love and new relationships, and being truthful and faithful to one's beliefs. When I'd found this all out it resonated with me deeply as that was an extension and furthering in what my goals were with the idea that formed my entertainment company and a phrase I commonly use and created called "IBOH" which stands for "I'll Be Over Here". From there I came up with the logo and tattooed it on myself, so I figured I could share it with people as well. My favorite Item is the 222 dad hat. I like the shirt with the small printed 222 on it as well as it's crazy comfortable since comfortability is a big thing for me, but the hat is definitely a must-have.

 

FK: To tie it all together, how do you juggle all that you do? An app? A calendar? When you are not juggling all of these pieces what do you enjoy doing for fun?

 

TL: Honestly an app or calendar would be great, but I haven't found an app that I like, and I don't pay enough attention to my calendar to use it properly. I kinda just do things as I feel the need to do them. It's not the best method I think, but I have a hard time following rigid rules when it comes to creativity. If I feel creative I get to it, if I don't then I try to do something more business-oriented, file docs that need filling, organize stuff, etc.. As for fun, I spend time with my family. More recently I've needed to unplug and just live in the moment better as I find myself scattered with the heartbreaking murder of George Floyd, so we've been going up to the mountains to just decompress and take a second to breathe and get away from everyone and everything.

 

FK: Thank you so much for allowing me to talk to you today, it was a fantastic conversation. Final note, what are you listening to right now and who should our readers be on the lookout for?

 

TL: I've been on a pretty big rock kick lately, namely My Chemical Romance, and this one song called "Think About Things" by Daoi Freyr that I absolutely love, but I have a rock mix playlist along with several other playlists I've curated on Apple Music. I do one every year and add the songs that I find that I enjoy the most from that year to share with followers and friends. You can find it under Toussaint Lorenz, and can find my personal artist page on there the same way. As far as people to be on the lookout for I gotta make note of the artists in my State who really have some talent, aQuop Stokes, Yo Soy Riaga, Mc Uriah, TheyCallHimAP, Cyfe, Rob4Real, Da-CO, Keenan Coke, Dramatone, Vision Tha BroknChild, Ray Reed, WAY, Jay Triiiple, Trey Triple A, Ransteez, and so so many more. All of these artists are incredibly talented, unique and worth looking into. Thank you so much for your time! It's been an absolute pleasure talking with you.

 

Last modified on Thursday, 04 June 2020 16:16