Spotlight: XayRoZay’s Ascension is Just Beginning With Debut EP ‘FRESHMEAT’
XAYROZAY IS MEANT TO INSPIRE PEOPLE — Of this, the Georgia-based queer rap artist has always been certain, even if he didn’t initially do it through music. Xavier Alexander Grullon began performing as a spoken word artist, competing in poetry slams all over the country. Videos of his performances have amassed over 15K views online, and XayRoZay’s time in the slam community helped him hone his identity as a performer.
He shares that spoken word appeared to him in divine timing. “That was my life for a while,” he reflects, “it was the core of my existence!”
But during this time, XayRoZay was dreaming of taking the stage in a different way. “Rap’s actually been something I’ve wanted to do since I was in middle school,” he confesses, “but it was something that I believed that I couldn’t do.”
He describes the process of uprooting this belief as jumping over “multiple spiritual hurdles,” so it’s appropriate that the result — FRESHMEAT, XayRoZay’s debut EP — feels almost like an enlightenment.
XayRoZay explains that, to him, making music is his attempt not only at imagining a new reality, but at inspiring his listeners to do the same. “When I create things other people understand, it’s like, ‘Oh shit, I’ve been through that too, so maybe I can create my own world too.’”
The universe of FRESHMEAT is a captivating one. A six-track project that clocks in at 15 minutes and 55 seconds might not seem like enough space to take listeners on a voyage through self-doubt and audacity, through both oppression and joy, but XayRoZay makes it all possible without ever sacrificing dangerously catchy beats and a smooth flow. With a cutting sense of humor and a penchant for wordplay and incisive pop culture references, FRESHMEAT is a timely portrait of a queer artist discovering the power of his voice with all the euphoria and mayhem of a Saturday morning cartoon.
This playful aesthetic carries over into the music video for “222,” one of FRESHMEAT’s most unapologetically braggadocious tracks. The video, directed and edited by Olivia Caillet-Filin and shot by Mark Williams, showcases the playful nature of XayRoZay’s work as we watch him frolic around in a set that feels like something out of a Lisa Frank fever dream. (The use of the “Bliss” image from Microsoft XP’s default wallpaper is especially clever.)
From his intricate nail art to his bold outfits, the video — produced by Sunbeam Media, founded by Moses Adams, and managed by Soul.TyCreative, founded by Tyra Bertrand — establishes XayRoZay not only as one of the most intriguing new artists in the game right now, but also as a fashion icon in the making.
“Releasing music is scary as fuck because it’s like a spiritual warfare of self … having the audacity to say what you want,” XayRoZay reflects. “But FRESHMEAT is literally the world I created for my middle school self. The project is, ‘This is what he would have wanted to listen to.’”
This commitment to authenticity is what cements XayRoZay as a powerful storyteller, and what’s sure to make this EP resonate with listeners everywhere. In “222,” a song all about ascension, he asks, “Just dropped the single, now what’s the next move?” When pondering this question in the context of his career, XayRoZay is nearly moved to tears.
