I don't look at my instrument as having one specific role; I was raised to go as far as you can. But Raphael Saadiq hated my bass. He told me to throw it away. And playing in Snoop's band, there was a time when my bass was more annoying to everyone than helpful. They would get on my case: 'Can you make your bass sound like more of a bass?'

Thundercat

Categorized in : You Me Look Time

Tokyo style is so specific. And I'm a very big fan of their history. It's pretty simple. A lot of the time, people expect to see the wild style that comes out of Japan, but I think, traditionally, the style is very simple.

Thundercat

style simple time history

I've never been called the black sheep. Everybody in my family had something weird about them, like, 'What's wrong with you?!' We all were black sheep.

Thundercat

weird you family black

I'm left-handed.

Thundercat

left-handed

If you can fart in front of somebody, you know that they love you.

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know you fart love

I remember, with Kendrick on 'To Pimp a Butterfly,' I was in tears. I literally was because it had pulled me and pushed me and stretched me and crushed me and expanded me. It was like I didn't know which way was up. By the end of it, I felt like I was floating in the ocean like a carcass.

Thundercat

me butterfly ocean tears

I do enjoy a bit of the fantasy world that anime provides, but at the same time, I need the reality in it. I'm very much a stickler about the actual animation. I'm not into the cutesy, stereotypical animation with big eyes and a small chin. That annoys the hell out of me.

Thundercat

eyes me time world

A lot of joking stems from a very dark place a bit.

Thundercat

dark-place joking place dark

Driving around with my dad, growing up, he would play everything: Philip Bailey, Manhattan Transfer, Frank Zappa, Cream. I'd be like, 'Dad, cut this stuff off!' And he'd say, 'No, you're gonna listen to it.' I didn't understand why he liked it so much. In my mind, I would be thinking about the theme song to 'Sonic the Hedgehog.'

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you mind song thinking

I can fall asleep in the shower without drowning.

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shower without i-can fall

The world is sick.

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sick world

When you put a top on something and try to bottle it, that's when it dies.

Thundercat

something top try you

I don't play with toys anymore. I mean, I do play with toys, but not like when I was a kid. I don't crash cars into each other, but now I collect certain toys.

Thundercat

kid like toys play

I'm so tired of cell phones.

Thundercat

cell cell-phones tired phones

I try not to think too hard about music. I like to see where it goes. I try not to give it a direction. I figure out what it is as it's forming. I don't have any goal in mind other than to make the best music I can.

Thundercat

best think music mind

Sometimes you gotta get stupid with yourself, and you gotta enjoy your own company some time.

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yourself you stupid time

My family is all musicians - my dad plays drums, my mom plays flute, my older brother plays drums, my little brother plays drums and piano. For some reason, I didn't get the memo, so I just play bass.

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dad family mom brother

I remember playing Billy Cobham's 'Total Eclipse' for Snoop Dogg. I also played him Frank Zappa, 'Apostrophe.' And I played him 'Saint Alfonzo's Pancake Breakfast.'

Thundercat

playing i-remember remember breakfast

That's always what I've tried to do. I've tried to communicate. But at the end of the day, it's still for you to understand something. Understand that the world is bigger than you.

Thundercat

end-of-the-day day you world

I actually went to an arts middle school with Shia LaBeouf, but even there, I was one of the weirder kids.

Thundercat

even middle kids school

I went to Locke High School in Watts towards the end of the super gangbanging era.

Thundercat

high end high-school school