All photos by Atoosa Moinzadeh

You maybe know Goya Gumbani from his NTS Radio show running for the past 4-5 years, or maybe you know him from the many fashion brands’ lookbooks he’s modeled for. Or maybe he’s in your creative constellation in Brooklyn or London, his dual homes.

If you don’t know him, now’s the perfect time to get familiar, with his proper debut album Warlord of the Weejuns having just dropped on Ghostly, a 2025 continuation of the jazz rap of the ‘90s that was swirling when he was a kid. After years of one-off songs, guest features, and collaborating on joint projects with other artists, this is his own vision of smooth, Negroni-sipping, loafer-wearing hip-hop.

We chatted at CWW Radio Shop record store/event space in Crown Heights about his new album, which features a cast of friends, like Ya Ya Bey, Joe Armon-Jones, Swarvy, lojii, Franky Bones, and hella others, and also about loafers and how they affect they way you move through the world, and the concept of embodying one's art.

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I was just saying, we’re at a bar right now, and you’re drinking liquor. Can you think of a few times alcohol shows up on the album?

Aight. Yeah. On “Lizards/Dancing With the Devil,” one of the lines is like “I need the elixir, and a mixer, and a twist of fruit.”

You got a skit in there where they’re talking about “top shelf” something or other.

Negroni. They’re talking about Negroni. That’s my drink. I’m in my 30s now, i’m not drinking for sport, I’m drinking for leisure at the end of a crazy day or week. And I like something that you’re not gonna drink mad quick. With each sip, it hits a little different than the last one. Powerful drink. Not for the faint hearted.

Congrats on the album, we’re talking on album release day. It’s a very collaborative album, although the spotlight is on you and it’s your proper debut. How many people was the core group who worked on the album?

There was a lot of collaborations on the album. When I was starting, I was like it’s my first one on Ghostly, I was like if i could ever do anything I wanted, I could do it now. But then I started to realize, there was no connection between me and some of these people I wanted to work with. There was no musical connection. I feel like, with music, you meet artists that understand that we serve music. And then you meet artists where, this is about me, or about something that’s not really about the music. So, when I started I was like I wanna work with all these people, but I wasn’t getting the love for the music.

You had some missed connections?

It was more like, now wasn’t the time. They had their vision and I had mine. But I wanted people who really cared about making something that would stand the test of time, and be as motivational and inspirational in 100 years as it is now. And the first few people I reached out, that wasn’t really their vibe. It was more like, this is my fee, to even think about this. And I was like, bruh, I don’t even know you. I wanna sit down with you for six hours, and like…

It was too industry.

It was quite industry. So I went with the type of collaboration I did because of the sense of community around me. I worked with the people who really fucked with me. I was like, I wanna work with you but I’m directing this whole thing, and they were like we wanna get on board. We wanna help you get your vision out. We wanna lend our creative vision to yours. In a way that’s about more than streaming, or plays, but more like us serving the music.

It sounds to me like you went looking for something, and then when it didn’t work out, you let it come to you. Is that true?

Yeah. I let it come to me. And I looked more inwards than outwards. I was like, I’m really grateful for what’s going on around me. When you’re in a world, it’s sometimes difficult to appreciate it. You go looking far and wide, and it’s right on your doorstep.

Would you say everyone on the album is the homie?

Every single person. We’ve all sat for 8 hours, made music, ate food, and watched YouTube, and Netflix, and Tubi…

Not Tubi.

Or I could go as far back as Limewire.

Did you come to everyone with a vision?

What I did was, I got into this practice. I got this from D’Angelo, where he would go to the studio and listen to music and watch videos.

Oh like with Questlove, watching Prince videos.

Exactly, the Prince shit. So I was going to mad people’s houses and studios and the first thing we would talk about is, have you heard this? What you been listening to? I would be like, this is the vibe. I was playing people, Brown Sugar, Voodoo, LIke Water for Chocolate, the Last Poets’ first album, Gil Scott Heron and Brian Jackson’s album, and Miles Davis – Miles Ahead, On the Corner, Shades of Blue and Sketches of Spain. Before I would start the session that’s what we would listen to.

Was it like a test? Like if you fuck with this music, you’re worthy?

No, because they knew all that music. They already made jazz, and love hip-hop, and love reggae. And there was a lot of understanding of music – I’m kind of new to that.

It’s a very live band-y album. Who’s performing on Tuesday in New York?

This kid Buzz on drums, Clint on piano, and a bass player named Evan, played a lot of stuff with Ya Ya Bey. All New York people. Evan is from Queens, Clint and Buzz live in Brooklyn.

What iterations have you done on stage?

I’ve done three piece band, four piece band, five piece band. I’ve done me and a DJ. And me solo, me, and SP, and a Kaos pad. Kind of an artistic thing. A little more than a rap show. With this album, I knew I wanted to do more of a band thing. And I wanted to go outside the box, and make it from scratch. And any band, I wanted them to be able to musically read it, and also feel the groove.

So when you play in London, will you play with the people you wrote it with?

Some of them, there’s a guy who helped me weave it together. Franky Bones. He produced the second song, the second to last song, and the song right in the middle. So when you listen to those three songs, the same chord progression runs through all of them. “Beautiful BLACK,” “Uptown Mami Skit,” and “Mind, Body, Spirit” with Seafood Sam.

“Uptown Mami Skit” she’s like what the fuck is a Weejun?

She’s from uptown, ha ha. Shout out Liz.

They wear loafers in Harlem though.

They do, they do. Her pops got loafers, I’ll tell you that much.

How crazy is that, you named your album after a loafer. Are you wearing them right now?

I am indeed, I would be so off-brand if I wasn’t.

Are those Gucci?

No Maharishi with GH Bass, army camo embossed. Under the right light, it’s a movie.

Is it a corporate sponsorship?

Hell no.

That’s so much free press.

I mean, fuck them. Ha ha. But the Weejun, is pretty much the penny loafer.

They invented it?

Nah they didn’t invent it. The Weejun was called the Weejun on some, it was like a fisherman’s shoe. A Norwegian fisherman’s shoe. The guy who cleaned the boats would wear like, a moccasin. And they (GH Bass) spoke to some guy and were like, can you turn it into a leather version? For like college n&&&as? It was like for n&&&as who went to Yale. It was made out of rubber before. It was a rubber loafer. It was super comfortable.

They should retro the rubber loafer and put you as the creative director.

I’m about to do my own loafer soon. I’m gonna make one loafer. And kind of wrap up this whole album. At like the end. One of my homies got a loafer brand, they’re called Horatio, Horatio London. And they kind of put me onto loafers. The first pair of loafers they gave me, I’m trying to do a version of that, it’s a croc skin horsebit.

So you can’t put the penny in it.

You can’t put the penny in it, but they made these versions with the leather strap and then the buckle over it. But we’ll see. It’s probably dropping in summertime, at the end of this album campaign.

You gotta drop at the end of summer, for back to school. Back to college.

Facts!

I used to want to be a shoe designer when I was a kid. Did you ever go to fashion school?

No, but one of my ex ex ex ex girlfriends was a shoe designer and she put me onto how a shoe is made. It’s not easy. It’s a lot of moving parts. She lowkey put me on. She was making shoes when I was just getting into loafers. I was like, this is crazy. She does music shit now. But she was making shoes from scratch. So I learned about lasts, the thing that shapes the shoe, everything. She’s a don for that. She had amazing taste in shoes. I mean, her sneaker game was trash, no disrespect. But she could make a good women’s shoe. And she made a few loafers, too.

Are you from Flatbush?

I’m from Canarsie.

And how old are you?

Thirty-four.

So you grew up mostly in the ‘90s. What’s like a classic Brooklyn shoe to you?

Those Nike boots. Goadome.

They’re hard. And they speak to the fact that in New York, you’re often urban hiking. The loafer, on the other hand, screams to me “indoor spaces.”

Yeah, or like, I’m reckless. I do the most in my loafers. I do the extra shit. At a festival for four days camping.

Do you have special calluses on your foot?

No. I have every type of loafer, for one. The hiking type, the lug sole, the Vibram sole. But nah I just, I wear good socks…I believe in good socks. And never really rushing, bro. Any time I fuck my feet up in loafers, it’s because I’m running crazy, OD running.

Do you think the loafer changes the speed you move through life?

You just move a little more like, light. Light on your feet, but elegantly cruising.

People say in New York your coat is your car. But I think your shoes are your car. To the point where you move fast or slow, navigating the room, or the way you pivot when you turn a corner, whether it’s a loose ass Timberland, or a svelte loafer…you’re gonna take up space a lot differently in your environment. That’s what I like about style. How it’s about your vibe. I think fashion is for the birds, but style is eternal, and how you live with it. Fashion is for the birds, it’s fatbphobic, and antiblack, and wasteful, and run by white men.

Facts. When I think of fashion, I think of like, style is for leaders. Fashion is for those that don’t care that much and kind of go with the flow.

So true. Fashion is for people with “taste” but actually the people with the least taste who are the biggest partakers. I might edit this out, but I’m doing an event here Sunday, and the homie invited the other homie to come out, and he was like “nah, I don’t really like DJ sets, I like the algorithm.” And here we are at a record store, and some people, who ostensibly are people of taste, would never even come here.

There’s people that like, don’t really care about going and seeking out some shit. They just like, OK this is what’s current, I need to be in this mindframe. And there’s people who are like, fuck that.

And step outside the trend cycle, and to a degree the marketplace.

The box. That’s kind of what the album…it’s some shit I walk with anyway. It’s what I stand for. But when I was making it, I wasn’t thinking about connecting with any group of people. It’s beautiful that it does, and a reminder of what art can do, among people. When you put everything into it honestly and wholeheartedly, it can connect with the next individual.

I feel the stronger you express yourself, the more contagious your product is. And you express yourself through style, and music, and curation – overused word, and so is creative direction, but you do that. And compared to a lot of musicians, it’s in you. I can tell that, from how you made the album with friends, you can’t fake that, you made those friends based on your personality. You’re coming from a place of like, genuineness, consistently. You weren’t a different guy when we shot your photo for this interview. Same guy.

Right, you gotta get into character. Nah. It’s really am embodiment of self.

You should be so grateful for that, because a lot of people don’t have a personality.

Ha ha. Facts. And knowing all the people on the album, when I step back, I feel really grateful. We have a genuine relationship that’s not even musical…it’s like, what do you wanna eat? Are you hungry? Or speaking on some deeper shit. The music is the canvas, for after that, it’s an energy that you get from the people you admire and care for.

I want my daughter to have this quality. Putting out a vibe and people just want to get down with you. That’s dope. It’s probably what makes you have friends, in the place you were born, and in London, who helped you make your album. You have a quality that is prosocial. And I feel like America is so antisocial. So you gotta celebrate when people are open to what could happen between us, you know…maybe something good. Do you think you’re optimistic, as a person?**

I lead with positivity. I’m open-minded. And if you do that, you’ll always grow.

A lot of people don’t want to grow, though.

More the understanding of what growth is, gets misconstrued. It’s not always linear.

Maybe people do want to grow. Attitudes are changing around mental health. Maybe people want to turn inward and be learners.

Now is a different time. It’s easy to be antisocial, and a recluse. When I was growing up, you couldn’t really be that. There was no computer in your house. When I grew up Playstation 1 came out. Prior to that it was about mingling, outside. The computer was the family computer, playing solitaire. You weren’t really there. You wanted to be outside. I used to fiend for going outside. When I was grounded, I couldn’t go outside. You can’t do that, now. It’s not a punishment if the kid has everything they want in their bedroom. I’m gonna go on Discord.

Yo, I wanted so ask you. Do you listen to Digable Planets, Camp Lo, or Guru’s Jazzmatazz?

Yeah, I listened to Jazzmatazz a lot during the early makings of the album. Camp Lo I’ve been listening to all my life. Had no choice. Digable Planets, I love Digable Planets. Ladybug Mecca did a song with Pink Siifu, and I called him like how did you get her on this song? I was like bruh…

He’s similar to you, in that it’s in him. He’s musically like putting everything into it. Like you’re getting to know him by listening.

Me and him are from the same cloth. And same era, in terms of, we’re baby Miles Davises. And his shit is like, so many different bags. And it’s all still an extension of him. I really admire him, that’s my brother, he’s boundless. There’s no box you can fit him in. He redefines himself, constantly. It’s a weird concept, as an artist, that you can only do what you’re known for. I feel like art is more expression than it’s about giving people what they want.

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At this point the event space started blasting music, but it was a good place to end anyway. Thanks Goya!