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About seven years ago, stories about "Bob Dylan's grandson" flooded the Internet. Pablo Dylan – the child of Bob's eldest son, Jesse – was only 15 years old at the time and he was trying to promote his new mixtape. "My grandfather, I consider him the Jay-Z of his time," he said, in comments that ricocheted on the Web. "I love him to die." It was a rare violation of the unofficial code of silence of the Dylan family, and the first time that a clan member had been trying to get into the music industry since his uncle Jakob two decades ago earlier. Pablo was a complete novice at the time and was in no way preparing for the scrutiny that he would have received as the grandson of the greatest 20th-century songwriter, who would have had the same name as one of the greatest artists of the century.
"I did not think anyone would care about my music at the time," he says. "The first month nobody listened. Then a blog wrote about it and suddenly, it was: "Ah!" It was weird to be a 15 year old kid and people were tweeting me like, "You should die." There was no way to get ready for that, but it was great because now I am very mentally strong because I have lived this experience very early. "
Right now, he's sitting in a Subway sandwich shop in Midtown Manhattan with an acoustic guitar case by his side. He's in town to promote his new EP The best Somersault. His rapper days are behind him, at least for now, and he's now interested in folk-rock. This change will inevitably lead to even more comparisons with his grandfather, but Pablo learned that it was something he could never avoid. He told us about his musical background and how he feels about coming from such a well-known family before showing a shocking level of interest for historical figures like Homer, Edgar Allan Poe, Hank Williams, Charley Patton and Ulysses S. Grant.
Tell me your first memories of connecting to music. What did you gravitate to in the beginning?
Shock. I loved them when I was a kid and it was also my dad's favorite band. My cousins and my little sister and I grew up listening to "London Calling", "Train in Vain", Jimmy Jazz. All these songs really mattered to me, while I was a kid.
They were really good at merging genres.
When I started making hip-hop music, the Clash really made sense to me, because when you sample songs, you do a little bit like the Clash. It's like, "OK, let's get all these things together and make a unique piece together."
When were you born?
1995.
So you listen to this kind of music in the early 2000s?
Yeah. I think I've been listening to the Clash since my birth. I grew up in a house with music all the time. It would be the Clash, then Robert Johnson and Charley Patton. There were a lot of folk songs. And then, at six, I heard Eminem for the first time and it completely upset me. It was so aggressive. I have never seen the difference between genres. It never really made sense to me. And now, people call me a folk artist because I play acoustic guitar. You know, Shakespeare wrote plays and sonnets and it was exactly the same for him. It does not matter.
Is your birth name Pablo?
Yeah. I was named after Pablo Neruda.
I bet most people think it's Picbado.
More often than that, people think it's Escobar.
When you were little, your father directed movies like How high and American pie 3. Have you spent time on these movie sets?
Yeah. I spent time on my father's movie sets and my grandfather's concerts. I saw a ton when I was small.
What have you absorbed in watching your father work?
What I learned from my family is that the only thing worth doing is the best product possible and you have to work until you get there.
Have you always wanted to be a musician?
I wanted to be a basketball player first. And then I had a pretty serious injury, but I was obviously not athletic enough to be able to do it in the NBA. I'm not big enough either. But I knew very young that I wanted to make music. I was very lucky to be able to work for hip-hop, R & B and pop artists.
You started by posting music on the Internet. Why did you decide that it was time to share your creations?
I had been playing music for a while on a laptop and a keyboard. I also played guitar since my childhood with the piano. I knew all the agreements. What really inspired me, is Kanye.
How did you learn to make beats?
By myself. In my room. It was hours and hours every day, focused on that as a laser beam, trying to make every part perfect. I was very lucky to meet David Banner and he learned a lot from me. He is always a friend and an incredible mentor. What I really learned is to spend days remaking the rhythm of others. I remember doing it again [Kanye West’s] "All the lights." And that is all I have done for two months. I was just trying to get every note, every sound perfect. And by doing that, I was able to deconstruct it and learn how to do it myself. Once I learned enough about the production, I started producing for other people.
j & # 39; imagine My beautiful dark fantasy twisted was a huge influence beyond "All lights".
It's my favorite Kanye album. And, again, this album fits very well with the rock & roll songs that I grew up with. You know, "All lights" and "London Calling" are just two variations of the same rhythm.[[[[He hums them both.]I find that people often ask me how I went from rap to the creation of this music. At the end of the day, the music is composed of chords, melody, rhythm and lyrics.
How did you balance all that with your school work? Was it hard to focus, I do not know, on the chemistry clbad when you wanted to make music?
Chemistry was never for me. Once I started having sessions every day, I was not very attentive to school. I did not go to university because I said to myself, "I will work in the field in which I want to be. Why am I going to school to get a different job? "I was very lucky to be able to work. with Erykah Badu and A $ AP Rocky and DRAM and Goody Grace and Brent Faiyaz.
The trolls really took you wrong when you started publishing rap songs. Does it hurt?
He did it at this age. Nowadays, I laugh so loud, man. I like my detractors. And I do not care what they say. I play music because it's something very deep inside me. It was in my soul. It was in my blood. It's something I have to do. There is no choice. Everything I faced at the time made me want to become the best of all time. It also made me aware of the work I had to do to accomplish it. That's why I started producing, because I realized that this is where I could learn the skills without the constraint of having to respond to the public as an artist.
Did your family care not to go to university?
They knew I had to do what I had to do. They knew that there was nothing for me at school. But I finished high school. That's what interested them. They said, "You can not have a high school diploma." I do not really remember much of my high school education. I have not met any friend I know in high school. And I feel very little connected to this place. I had a great English teacher who taught me about Homer. And it's an obsession that I carry with me to this day. I constantly check with Homer.
It is difficult to obtain more old school than Homer.
Yeah. Our whole world is built on those old things that people sometimes forget. Alexander the Great wanted to be like Achilles, then literally he became Achilles and died young. Lincoln learned from Shakespeare and John Wilkes Booth learned exactly the same place as Lincoln.
What brought you to relaunch the music?
I started working with a lot of amazing people, but often, as a producer, you work randomly on labels every day. Many labels sign artists who do not write their own songs and do not know what they want to do. Executives will have someone responsible for making sure the song is marketable. A guy like me who just wants to do the biggest thing ever done, it was a bit difficult for me to handle that. It started to annoy me.
And then Trump becomes president and everyone loses, even the Republicans I know. They lost their heads in front of the Democrats. All the Democrats I knew were losing their minds in front of the Republicans. I felt just like there was important work to be done. I just wanted to play the guitar and write the exact songs I wanted to write.
I also realized that the Beatles went to Hamburg. Robert Johnson learned to play guitar in the cemetery. I had to make a version of that. I have therefore tried to book as many shows as possible. I went to a bar with my guitar and said, "Can I play?" Sometimes they said, "Sure." Other times, they said "No" and I was just playing outside.
You just played in the street?
Yeah. Sometimes homeless people came to see me and watched me play. People were walking near me and saying, "What's that crazy-haired kid doing with a guitar?" And I'm sitting there until four or five in the morning, under the rain, to play.
The shortcut for all this is: "The rapper becomes a folkie."
People like to simplify things. It's part of the human being, but I want the songs to speak for themselves. This is something I discuss a lot. Does an artist really matter? Is Edgar Allan Poe important? Is Shakespeare important? Is Homer important? Or is it just the job that they did? I think it's probably just work.
You have an EP out. Are you going to drop an entire album?
I work on the whole length. I want to publish it around June, but it may be a little later. We will see.
Are you going to visit the country?
Shit, yeah, man. I will play everywhere.
Have you ever thought about changing your last name? He carries so much luggage.
No, it's my last name. Here's the thing – my lineage is just my lineage at this point. I will not run away. I love my grandfather like any grandson loves his grandfather. I am incredibly proud of the work he has done. But I'm doing my own thing. I will definitely not be someone that I am not. And it's my own destiny with which I was born. I did not really think it was my right to change the name given to me. Some people feel they can change their name. They do it for all kinds of reasons, but it's not something I can do.
Are you already suspicious of new people when you meet them? Do you worry that they are just trying to approach you because of your family?
I am really very suspicious of people. I have the same group of friends since I was a kid. I do not really tend to meet new people. I am a very private person, as is my whole family.
But you are an individual who does interviews and seeks to attract the attention of your music.
I have been doing interviews for so long that I know what they look like. And not all the interviewers are as nice as you.
Some people only have to worry about your grandfather.
If it's too bad, I'm going out. You know, I would never sell my family for the press, money, or anything. It's like Michael Flynn sold his country for money [Turkish president Recep Tayyip] Erdoğan. Scumbag. I mean, he's a traitor!
What new music has really caught your attention in the past year?
Want to know what really captivated me? There is this video of Son House playing in a dark room. I had to watch it over a thousand times in the last two months. It's like you hear the sky.
What are your musical goals for the future?
I want to be the greatest artist in the world. I want to continue writing songs. The next project will be better than this one. It's about America.
Is it a record concept?
It's not a concept, it's just genuine. When I go out to all these bars and play songs, I hear a lot of stories. Playing in an agricultural city is so different from playing in a city. People do not have this perspective when they stay in the same place and I want to answer that.
Which albums are just breathtaking?
Well, I always listen to Robert Johnson. I'm crazy about how he sings and plays guitar. It's as if his voice melted into the guitar, becoming seemingly indistinguishable. And then Charley Patton. It had a rhythm that reminds me of the railroad here in New York. Wherever I go here, I say, "Oh my God, this is Charley Patton's rhythm." Every time I hear the train go by. I also love Hank Williams Sr. a lot.
I must say that these are exactly the same influences as your grandfather when he started.
Yeah. But he was not listening to Kanye or trap music.
Do you have a favorite song of your grandfather?
I think everyone is so incredible. I like all the records that he has made.
Who else do you admire?
Ulysses S. Grant.
Really?
Yeah. After his departure and they go to [Battle of the] Wilderness, he sends this letter to Lincoln and says to him, "Whatever happens, there is no turning back." And to free the slaves, it took this kind of relentless fighting that Grant did . And I mean obviously that's the most important thing ever done in this country.
And everyone told Lincoln that Grant was drunk and he should not trust him.
A reporter once told Lincoln: "Grant is a drunk man." And he told him, "Well, find out what kind of whiskey he drinks and I'll send a bottle to all my generals." And when Grant started Lee, no one had ever hit him like that before, Evert morning he just woke up and said to himself, "Yesterday we lost another general." And he said, "OK, eh Well, we'll do it again. "And finally, after all this time, he starts to win.I mean, Grant did not even really get in before Gettysburg.
He also wrote the best presidential memoir.
Of course. He did it with Mark Twain. I think he was writing Huckleberry Finn at the same time.
I must say that I do not know any 23-year-old who cares about these kinds of things: Homer, Charley Patton, Grant … How did you get to these things?
Once again, I had the eye to be one of them. For me, Edgar Allen Poe, Robert Johnson, Abraham Lincoln, it's really three sides of the same coin. It's the American canon. That's what our country is. I hope the Republic will last forever, but if it does not, we will be judged by future generations. Look, Lincoln was the first writer, Twain after him, to write in American as if the word was American. And I have studied a lot of Lincoln's writings. And the reason is that every line says something. Every line is important. There are never things that are not supposed to be there.
Are you excited about your tour?
There is no greater honor than being able to play in front of the American public. And I like it more than anything. I am excited to do more concerts outside of California and see what the rest of the country looks like. It's not what's happening on the Internet, nor how people write about it, but what people really like.
Are you worried that some people will show up because of your grandfather?
Well, it's really their problem if they come to see him and not me. This is not my problem. I had a rowdy at one of my shows. I told him, "You can shut up or you can leave."
What was he screaming?
All kinds of crazy things. "Play this song, play this song."
Songs from your grandfather?
Exactly.
Does it hurt?
Nobody. I mean, everyone in the room seemed to care about what I said. This guy was just there alone. It's like, why are you coming?
An incident like this is yours?
I'm walking with destiny, man. Not a guy like you, but a guy with the job you killed John Keats. They did not like Byron either. Here on this planet, in this country, we have a way to demolish our heroes, our prophets.
It often takes a few generations to discern what is really important to the art at a given time.
I mean, Poe died drunk in the gutter, dude, alone, not money. [F. Scott] Fitzgerald died without printed books. These are really sad things. I mean, these are our highest levels of Americans when the art really made sense.
Do you think that music is what you will spend the rest of your life?
Of course. It's something that goes so deep inside me. I can not even explain the importance I attach to it. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night with songs, or I'm going to do something and a song comes and you just have to stop and focus on it. I do not think an artist knows why he creates. And as we discussed earlier, many artists do not even know the impact they've had, because that's largely what happens after they die. It is therefore a question of making the quality of work as high as possible.
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