Noah Genesis Talks Creativity, Growth, and the Sound of Becoming [Interview]
From the rainy streets of Seattle to the sun-soaked sprawl of Los Angeles, Noah Genesis has navigated a musical journey shaped as much by geography as by curiosity. A self-taught producer and musician, he first picked up Ableton out of a desire to do justice to a friend’s lyrics, only to discover a world of sound that felt deeply personal and wholly his own. His music, blending lo-fi hip-hop, folk, ambient textures, and more, reflects an ongoing search for the songs he’s been missing in his own life, while the new album, another hornet didn’t make it to spring, marks a moment of intentionality, growth, and artistic clarity at the threshold of adulthood. In conversation, he reveals the influences, moments, and processes that have shaped a sound both restless and undeniably authentic. He sat down with us to discuss his creative process, musical evolution, and the experiences that continue to shape his work.
You grew up in Seattle but are now based in L.A.- how have those two cities influenced your music differently, if at all?
I think the weather in the Pacific Northwest, being mostly gloomy and rainy and stormy and dark all the time, until a glorious and perfect summer eventually came, played a large role in the music I was making.
I look outside and it’s raining and cloudy and sad, so I naturally make Vitamin-D deficient music I guess.
I’m in Los Angeles now so maybe my music will get happier.
You’re a self-taught producer and musician. What first drew you into making music, and how did you start learning everything on your own?
My best friend since middle school, Ezra (known as ZRA), was rapping since I met him. He started recording his raps over pretty basic or cliche youtube lofi beats and I wasn’t having it because he was really good at writing.
So part of me was like, “okay he is doing this so I want to do it too,” and another part of me was like, “I want his beats to do him justice and be as good as his raps.”
I got the Ableton demo and started watching youtube tutorials and spending every waking hour not in school just pressing buttons until sound was created.
Also listening to Some Rap Songs for the first time changed me and I wanted to copy that.
Was there a specific moment or song early on where you realized, “Okay, this is what I want to do seriously”?
I remember Ezra and I made a song called “Tabernacle” something… we were in the car during lunch at school, he rapped it to me and I spiritually transcended past anything happening on my current plane of existence. I don’t know how to explain it but I felt something I hadn’t before just by hearing my best friend rap over a JPEGMAFIA type beat that I made.
I still strive for that feeling today.
Your sound blends genres in really fluid ways, from lo-fi hip-hop to folk to ambient textures. Did that come naturally, or was it a conscious effort to avoid being boxed in?
I just make what I am consuming and have been molded to make. Nothing comes from me, as much as I am conscious now of trying to make something game-changing, I really just try to make whatever I want to hear. With this project that meant ambient lofi folk indie rock hiphop whatever you want to call it.
I don’t know what it is but I know it’s exactly the music I was missing personally. I love it and am so grateful.
You released ‘another hornet didn’t make it to spring’ on your 20th birthday. Does this album feel like a new chapter for you creatively or personally?
It feels closer to something I want to embody as an artist in its integrity and freshness. I want to proceed with more intention and mindfulness in everything I do artistically and regularly. It is weird being twenty. I am not a kid anymore.
The title is evocative. What’s the meaning behind ‘another hornet didn’t make it to spring’, and how did that phrase come to represent the album?
I was a student at Sac State and we were the hornets. I dropped out before the Spring semester. Also some hornets die before spring time.
Let’s talk process- when you’re building a track, what comes first: lyrics, melody, production, or mood? Or is it always changing?
Typically production comes first and I write as I produce. For this album a lot of the lyrics were written on their own as poetry while on the train ride from Sacramento, CA to Tacoma, WA then I created something to put it over.
You’re still early in your career, but your sound is already very defined. Where do you see yourself going next- musically, emotionally, or even just as a person?
I hope to become a healthier and better person with better habits. I don’t feel like my sound is defined at all though. I might drop another rap album or I might drop a folk album. I am also in a emo/punk band called All Of A Sudden. I want to do everything but it gets really hard to hone in on one thing. I will figure it out with time, I just have to show up and do the work.
Listen to Noah Genesis’ latest album another hornet didn’t make it to spring here now:
Listen to more of Noah Genesis’ music here:
