nick

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The 1010benja Interview

I did a lot of stuff in 2025 that I really wanted to do in 2024, or maybe the ideas of what I wanted to accomplish started brewing then. Either way as this year winds down, I can firmly say I ended up on the positive side of my middle aged psychosocial developmental goal of generativity vs stagnation. Shout out me, shout out Finals, shout out this years’s contributors kimdollars1, Nick Viagas, Atoosa Moinzadeh, CB Rucker, Tyler Burston, and Jaiyn, and shout out our interview subjects and coconspirators at the live events. 

**Use film photos in blog posts**

Atoosa came through on Goya Gumbani and Theravada stories this year, and the homie CB did too shooting his first photo mission of 1Alkebulan. The film-on-blog aesthetic is something I love, and have done prior on Finals with Enumclaw and JWords stories, where I gave them disposables. I think it looks cool, emphasizes the “moment in time,” and creates a future nostalgic impact with some analog flavor in an otherwise digital realm.

**Buy SAS shoes**

San Antonio Shoemakers, which I believe manufacture in New Orleans, make Medicare diabetes type shoes that I can’t get enough of. They’re like American Mephistos. Sort of. This year I bought the first Body Of Work collab (grails), the Ambassador, the Amigo, and the Journey velcro. I even bought an SAS hat. All used, mind you. 

**Buy fitteds**

Bought a navy Braves fitted, the first fitted in about 20 years, and then bought Cardinals and Orioles 80s deadstock ones. Forgot how hot they are. Good winter hats. 

**Not-write (more in editor role these days)**

Like half Finals stories were written by someone else this year, while I guided things, connected dots, crossed Ts and dotted Is. I find less and less reason to inflict my taste and opinion as I get older, and more opportunities to pass the mic. This is developing naturally, and sometimes, makes it so when I do write, I enjoy it more. 

**Make music**

Dropped a solo EP with Tomu DJ producing and a grip of edits on the Finals bandcamp, plus three collab beats with Laron. 

**Start a new night with Laron**

What started as “Let The Music Play” morphed into “Generator” as I teamed up with Laron for lineups that draw from our existing and expanding worlds, while giving us a cozy record store back room to DJ in. It’s all real organic and we’ve had legends like kimdollars1, Elise, Tomu DJ, MIKE, and Niontay perform, and the next one 12/14 has Jaiyn and Tony Seltzer. It’s free for the culture and so far, so fun. 

**Wear Eighteen East more as a shirt brand than pants brand** 

This is something I noticed. I sold like four pairs of 18 East pants this year and bought a couple shirts. One of the two brands I buy new besides shoes and hats.

**Continue wearing Earth\Studies pants**

They keep getting better. Best pants since Errolson did ACG.

**Watching music videos on my bigass TV**

I love me some YouTube. A lot of artists in NY like Shawny Binladen seem to only drop there, or drop there first, so there’s always something to watch. This years music video of the year was a two way tie between the NTS Oklou ice skating live EP, and MIKE’s Tiny Desk. Speaking of, 2026 goals: interview Savannah Harris. 
 


Trends of my year, things I did heavy 

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The Nondi_ Interview

Tony Adamopoulos

LIRR

nickayres

k33g

rosstwotwo

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*Photos by Atoosa Moinzadeh*

After years of knowing him through my headphones as someone in the New York rap underground who killed guest verses, I first encountered Theravada IRL this summer, real name Xenophon (he pronounces it Zen-a-fin) at one of my Generator events with Laron. He was facing joints outside, and then inside, I remember he was like solemnly nodding his head and absorbing Laron’s set.

I also remember they were both outside at another point, smoking 100 joints and having a semi confidential conversation on the sidewalk on President Street about upcoming Earl Sweatshirt music. Xen under his breath mentioned to me he was involved, and that a serious project was on its way. I remember thinking damn I gotta tap in with the solo music and production and DJing…it was the Earl cosign that made me think this was a heavy artist I had been sleeping on. 

![IMG_7383.jpeg](https://finals.blog/api/uploads/IMG_7383_db96bfa505.jpeg)

And I was, but I’ve been fixing that. Recently we all found out he produced about half of Earl’s Live Laugh Love (shout out Chastity Belt), which is Earl as a relatively young dad alternately puffing his chest and letting lullabies creep into his technical, clever raps, with lyrics melting into Theravada’s samples. Theravada’s “[Tourmaline](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=q_nwxIIUVAw)” is the standout, the single, with a slo mo video by Devlin Claro Resetar, the best to do it since Kahlil Joseph. (Shout out Laron too, who isn’t on the album but produced the SoundCloud-only warning shot which preceded it.)

And then Theravada put out his own album, [The Years We Have](https://its2000.bandcamp.com/album/the-years-we-have), which is on the same level and in the same ballpark, and which I see as a companion the same way Baby and Swag are companions, I guess making Earl Justin Bieber and Theravada Dijon?

That’s a bad metaphor maybe, but The Years We Have is the same vibe but chiller than LLL, self produced, starring a Queens Greek American playing basketball “in Maharishi sweats,” shooting at a rim that “looks mad small” and making shots. There is nothing haphazard about TYWH: it’s made of methodical stimulating loops and surgical cuts that display a real ear for how to “let the sample speak to me,” as Cash Cobain once told me, with low voiced raps that convey wit, folk wisdom, reflections on disability, flexing, double meanings, earnest directness…and lots more that I am still interpreting. At one point I thought Theravada was talking about SI meaning suicidal ideation, but he was rapping about Stone Island. Shows where my head’s at maybe. 

![IMG_7379.jpeg](https://finals.blog/api/uploads/IMG_7379_c5355715a4.jpeg)

Off meeting me at Generator, he invited me to the TYWH listening party at a secret weed den in Manhattan, with branded pre rolls. I took the train in and ended up sitting in an oval with YL, Starker, VIP Skylark, and Laron. We listened to the album in a daze. YL asked me what I was listening to lately and I couldn’t even think. Starker rolled a Dutch Master. Old school. People had crazy concentrates, were feeling each others shirt material (there was a fashion bro contingent, Xen works at Undefeated), and someone offered me mixed up codeine and soda (I declined). I randomly went home with a gifted Carti Preme tee, chalking up the convo, experience and the merch as part of being in Xen’s orbit in the city. Everyone’s high, streetwear falls out of the sky, everyone is an artist. 

A few days later Xen and I met up at CWW Radio Shop in Crown Heights, where Laron and I throw Generator, and the homie Atoosa snapped photos on film. We chatted in his dented Scion as he drove Atoosa to the train (generous), wearing Action Bronson wraparound shades and talking about how cool it is that DJ Red Alert still has a show on WBLS. Then we went back to my place and shot the shit for 90 minutes on my stoop before he went to a bbq in Bed Stuy. On my stoop I got to know Xen better, hearing about his parents’ immigration story (Greece, Philly, Queens), his assessment of where he grew up on Long Island (“I didn’t jack my high school”), and his experience going to Queens College as a star teaching student, whose videotaped practice classroom demonstration is currently part of the permanent archive of the program, because professors thought it was so good they wanted to show future students. 

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I learned how he doesn’t make beat packs for rappers, except Roc Marci, how weird it felt when he and Earl Sweatshirt locked themselves out of the house in LA that one time, and how he produces on Virtual DJ (I love that). I learned he has lately been vibing with his DJ uncle over ’80s music, and he counts as a formative experience hearing “Ether” when it dropped with his cousin, whose “sleek” Celica he coveted. 
I think Xen smoked through the whole recorded convo. Playback reveals an enthusiastic conversationalist with a digressive thought process that may be baseline or may have been influenced by the weed, and the fact he did two interviews the day before. 

Now is his time. I think that’s why I wanted to connect for the photos and a dedicated chat at this point in his career, aside from hey here’s a new person in my life and I’m interested to know more. He seemed completely aware of his newly higher profile but what is he gonna do differently? 

![IMG_7382.jpeg](https://finals.blog/api/uploads/IMG_7382_d2642fc3b8.jpeg)

I think what he does may be trendy or bankable at times, and may at other times be marginal or under regarded. It’s a steady job, today, and he rocks stages internationally, but it’s not a scheme or even a strategic endeavor in any way other than to be respected by elders (“that’s special, they’re the inventors”) and to make 100% organic moves while creating an enduring catalog. He’s been in the game for a long time and he comes off uncompromised, focused on the music and not the clout, still making solo beat cassettes for fun (a new one surfaced this summer), while producing on major albums and continuing his own arc of basically timeless music. What else is there to do but roll another one and proceed? 



Getting To Know Theravada

anonymous

wow, I love this interview! album of the year territory for me <3

Finals

The 1Alkebulan Interview

JBIRDGUY

HappyParts

I'm old and I say this is some slap drip floss 

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<iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=3706010832/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=2ebd35/tracklist=false/transparent=true/" seamless><a href="https://finals.bandcamp.com/album/finals-friends-rumored-to-be-among-the-best">Finals + Friends: Rumored To Be Among The Best by finals</a></iframe>

<iframe width="100%" height="450" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" allow="autoplay" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/playlists/2016066459%3Fsecret_token%3Ds-aYhG9B11yBY&color=%23ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true"></iframe><div style="font-size: 10px; color: #cccccc;line-break: anywhere;word-break: normal;overflow: hidden;white-space: nowrap;text-overflow: ellipsis; font-family: Interstate,Lucida Grande,Lucida Sans Unicode,Lucida Sans,Garuda,Verdana,Tahoma,sans-serif;font-weight: 100;">

FINALS.BLOG (2020-present) presents “Rumored To Be Among The Best” by Finals + Friends, a compilation of original exclusives by friends of the blog, out June 5, 2025. The single is out now on bandcamp, [soundcloud](https://soundcloud.com/friendsfinals/finals-friends-stas-thee-boss) and [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hcR-C4DCiU), "Pretty Boy In Spring Colors" by Stas THEE Boss. 

Curated by Finals, the comp is 11 tracks of unique/elite music from the American underground. 

Thank you to the artists for the music. Thank you Suspence for the idea. And thank you Suspence and Gabe Weisbuch for the cover art.

Questions or comments? Hit rumoredtobeamongthebest@gmail.com

Liner notes:

**Suspence - BEAT Nineteen**

Longtime Seattle-based DJ and producer Suspence came up with the name “Finals,” and contributed half our 2020 mag which we dropped when the blog launched. While musically active in PNW clubs and in rap groups for decades, he has recorded only one (1) mix, a masterful edition of KEXP’s Midnight in a Perfect World, and has almost no solo music out.

**Khris P - HUNNA ROUND prod Gary**

Originally from St. Louis and now living in Tacoma, WA, Khris P first came to my attention as a producer and rapper in the now broken-up Tacoma group ILLFIGHTYOU in the early 2010s. Lately he has been focused on rapping. I produced an EP with Khris and his IFY bandmate, Glenn, in 2022, called GIMME INDIE ROCK, and since then, Khris has been crazy prolific, dropping six albums largely produced by a local enigma known only as Gary. 

**Stas THEE Boss - Pretty Boy In Spring Colors** 

Stasia Irons does it all. She’s a producer, rapper, singer, organizer, writer, recently a movie scorer (dream hampton’s It Was All a Dream), and an all-time performer going back to the mid-2000s. Currently based in Portland, OR, you might know her from her involvement in the Black Constellation crew, her DJ collective Sway & Swoon, her party Latifah, or from the now defunct group THEESatisfaction.

**10.4 Rog - grownups** 

Hailing from Renton, WA, and now located in Los Angeles, the producer, multi instrumentalist, and video director 10.4 Rog has built a cult following for his Dilla-esque rap and R&B production, differentiating himself from everyone else in that lane with his superior feel, and skills as a piano player. 

**Laron - dance dance!** 

Brooklyn producer Laron is mind-blowingly good at a full range of styles, with a discography including albums with very different MCs Jay Critch and Jadasea, credits on projects by MIKE and maassai, and beat tapes that call to mind the experimentalism of artists like Madlib, and Laron’s close friend and collaborator Tony Seltzer. 

**zayALLCAPS - popshuvit!**

Producer, rapper, singer, and indie label entrepreneur zayALLCAPS makes songs about love, anxiety, manic episodes, being validated by the homies, and striving for excellence, from his adopted hometown of LA. We love the Sacramento area native’s creative chord progressions, camouflaged samples, distinct “newstalgia,” and writing from the heart.

**Tomu DJ and YoungLove Erix - no service (demo)** 

The Bay Area’s own Tomu DJ produces all types of  music for the club or the headphone, both solo and with other producers (like kimdollars1), as well as with vocalists who might talk or rap on the track (like YoungLove Erix). She also makes sublime R&B club edits, organizes the West Oakland Music Festival, and is an adventurous DJ in an open-format style, sometimes with a reckless disregard for what’s deemed cool or tasteful. She makes that shit work.

**kimdollars1 - the ecstasy of communication** 

After Finals interviewed West Manhattan born, Austin, TX based producer kimdollars1 aka DJ kimila a few years ago, she started writing and contributing DJ mixes to the Finals universe, flexing her deep knowledge of rap, and gaining skills as an interviewer. We are grateful to publish her work and remain massive fans of her beats and mixes. 

**Dear Nora - sinaloan restaurant (Finals remix)**

Dear Nora, the morphing solo and group project led by songwriter, guitarist, and singer Katy Davidson, perfected PNW indie rock around the turn of the millennium. Now splitting time between the California desert and Brooklyn, their guitar music has grown more elegant, and more gently transportive.

**fish narc and Winston Hightower - odd save - snip**

fish narc is a living bridge between 2010s DIY spaces and soundcloud rap, whose musical arc has gone from hyper-aware PNW rock to producing for Lil Peep (RIP) and now back again to his roots as a guitar player, singer, and bandleader. Winston Hightower is his label mate on K Records, aka the label Kurt Cobain had tatted.

**Matson - Tele**

I made this short instrumental with my Telecaster during the height of COVID quarantine times, which is when we launched Finals. Listening back reminds me that end times can also be beginning times, and especially when we are scared about the future it can be therapeutic to sit down and try to calm yourself by creating something. I am struck by how this song reflects none of the stress and anxiety that overwhelmed me when I made it. 



Finals and Friends: Rumored To Be Among The Best, Liner Notes