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Rapper Gizmo Discusses His Album “The Rise of Negatron” and Other Blerd Issues

Gizmo is a 31-year-old nerdcore hip-hop rapper from the Caribbean who migrated to the United States before moving to Japan. His most recent album, The Rise of Negatron, tells the story of the rise of the supervillian Negatron and the perks of being a supervillian. BGN recently spoke to Gizmo about the project and his music career so far.

BGN: How long have you been rapping and how did you get into nerdcore hip-hop?
Gizmo: Well, I’ve never been a stranger to rhyming. As far as seriously rapping and making music, I’ve been doing that for about 4 years now. Nerdcore came about naturally.. You know.. Being a nerd and all (lol). A lot of my concepts, similes and analogies are based on video games, comics, anime and Sci-fi in general. All of which I was crazy about growing up and all of which I still love to this day!

BGN: What are the major influences for your most recent album, The Rise of Negatron?
Gizmo: There’s a lot of influences to the project as a whole so I’ll just name the main ones. Star Wars, Thanos, Darkseid and Star Fox. I can see you all being like “wth?! How does that even mesh?!” Lol.

BGN: The Rise of Negatron is unique because it is told from the point of view of supervillians. Why did you decide to tell a story from a supervillain’s point of view rather than a superhero?

Gizmo: I may catch some flack for this butttttt superheroes bore me. There.. I said it. Not all of them though, but most of them do. It’s pretty straight forward with most heroes. “I’m the good guy, I stand up for those weaker, yadda yadda yadda justice.” The villains however, always have some outlandish creative way to attain power, financial gain or whatever they desire. “I’ll use a antigravity device to pull a meteor into a populated city!” That’s a bit old school, but it still seems more interesting to me. Villains can be complex psychologically and completely delusional in believing what they are doing is the “right thing.” They can become good guys for personal interest and revert back to their agenda later. They just seem more dynamic and diverse to me. That’s why I chose to write from that perspective.

Read More from Latonya Pennington from Black Girl Nerds

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Sean Mack: Creating Art All Black People Can Relate To

This year has been very heartbreaking for the Black community, and it’s imperative that we not only support the Black artists who continue to use their work to make their and our lives better, but who also want to contribute to the resurgence of our community. Those who want to share light. Those who want to tell stories with their talent, to open the eyes of the masses.
So support we shall!

Name, Age, Hometown:

Sean Mack, 27, Saginaw, Michigan

When did you start drawing (or when did you begin to take drawing more seriously)? What made you start drawing, and why do you continue?

I’ve been drawing since I could pick up crayons, really. I’m not sure what started it really. I just loved to draw things as a kid. Ghostbusters. Ninja Turtles. I drew in notebooks, walls, all that. My folks told me they think I got the creative side from my grandmother because she was into arts and crafts so that may be where it stemmed from. I continued because it was something I loved to do. I wasn’t really into much of anything else like sports and all that jazz. I just loved to draw.

How would you describe your main (if you have many) drawing style?

I’d say it’s a melting pot of a lot of things that influenced me as I was growing up. Comics, animation – both American and Japanese — and life mostly. It’s not based on realism, but I try to keep a feel of it at least in my art somewhere.

Do you practice discipline, where you draw even when you don’t feel like it, versus drawing when you want?

Yeah definitely. There’s plenty of times I’ve basically forced myself to draw when I didn’t have the energy to. I may not draw every day but it’ll be enough time for me to not get rusty and lazy with things.

What are some of your favorite pieces you’ve created? Your least favorite?

My favorite so has to be the work I did with C.J. Johnson on his graphic novel KOBK (Killed Or Be Killed). I think I love it because it was basically challenged me to get out of my comfort zone and because I never really did a full graphic novel before. My least favorite? I’d had to say one of the first freelance jobs I had. It was for the producer duo from England and it just didn’t go down great at all, haha.

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Read more from Cynthia Franciillon at Black Girl Nerds