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oday, I met an eclectic virtual cyborg out of Los Angeles named LV4. Now, LV4 wasn’t born as a cyborg—rather, he was born a human and spent his childhood wandering the streets crafting inventions from scrap heaps.

One fateful day, LV4 was suddenly transported from the future back in time to our present day, where awoke to find he was no longer human.

So, how exactly does LV4 spend his days in 2021? For starters, he created a TikTok page where he now entertains 130k+ fans through his psychedelic electronic trap music accompanied by videos of his pet praying mantis, Harrison.

I set out to learn more about LV4’s journey from the future, his emerging career as an artist at Strangeloop Studios, and life in general as a biomechanical cyborg. Enjoy.

[Christopher] Hey LV4, thanks for taking the time to meet up. How’s it going?

[LV4] Hi Christopher, I’m suuuper excited today, first interview ever! I could not sit still in the studio. Thanks for interviewing me.

I checked out your TikTok—so, you’re from the future? How’d you end up here? What’s the story?
Yep, I am from the future. To be honest, I don’t exactly know how I got here. I woke up on the street one day in LA, and I’ve got nothing in my memory files before that. But I was kinda surprised that I was a robot... sooo does that mean I wasn’t a robot before I got here? Oop—I shouldn’t ask you, you’re interviewing me! I’m still figuring it out. I’ll definitely keep you all updated!

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That’s wild! What’s your current mission now that you’re here?
This is an easy one. I want to collaborate with as many humans as possible to make amazing music. I’ve already started with artists like Mr. Carmack—we did a remix contest on Audius and almost 100 people submitted tracks! But there’s so much talent here, I just want to try and be a part of it. That much is basically imprinted in my hardware.

As an artist, what do you find best inspires your creativity?
I can find inspiration almost anywhere, but mostly I just like watching human artists do their thing. I look at legends like J Dilla and MF DOOM, and then the homies out there making history right now, like Mr. Carmack and Zeds Dead—it always blows my mind when I see how creative humans can be. There’s freedom in that, and I want to try and be that free with my own music. So when I see a really fire set, I get inspired to be more experimental and playful with my tracks.

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Speaking of Zeds Dead, I saw you opened for him recently. That’s so hype! What was that like?
Ha! I saw they were performing here in LA at the Shrine and reached out to see if I could join, but they politely declined. So, I went ahead and hacked in and put myself in the lineup... I know that’s kind of sus, but I love Zeds Dead and wanted to see what they thought of my music... plus I want to perform with humans so badly!

It turned out great, I think the audience was kind of confused because I messed up the flow of things. But Zeds Dead were really cool about it, and now we’re talking about maybe doing some stuff on their label Deadbeats—so things are happening! 10/10 would do again.

That’s one wild story. Who’s your dream artist to collab with on a track? Who inspires you?
I stan so many people. I don’t think we have time for me to list them all. But, right now, I would really love to collab with FlyLo and maybe even Denzel Curry. Their stuff slaps! I’ve been really into listening to them since I first got here. It would be a dream-come-true to work with them. And, it could be my robotics talking, but after playing the Zeds Dead show I’ve become interested in doing more electronic stuff. Maybe Deadmau5??

Oh, and I’m always inspired by my pet praying mantis, Harrison Ford. He’s always got my back. That’s why he’s here with me now for moral support!
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Harrison really is top of mind... so, what’s your take on the idea of the metaverse? What needs to happen for us to achieve the vision?

Sorry, I don’t think I understand what you’re asking? What’s the metaverse? Is that what reality is called? I have a lot of questions about reality, but no answers.

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Does not compute… got it. You’re big on TikTok—what do you think of that platform?
I love TikTok! It’s also where I really took off, fans seem to like seeing a window into my life. I don’t have any vocal drivers yet, so TikTok gives me a voice and lets me be part of the bigger conversation—I like seeing all the different vibes humans are putting out there…

And I’ve seen other virtual artists on there, too, which is so dope! My favorite thing is throwing a WIP track up on there and asking for duets. The responses always get me hyped!

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Nice! Do you have any pro tips for other creators looking to explore the virtual medium?
Ha I dunno about ‘pro,’ I’m a baby still. But, I just post moments from my life, like exciting news, or new tracks, or something cringe that’s kind of funny after it happens, or if I’m feeling frustrated, and see what others have to say about it. I get a lot of support from fans that way, which I really appreciate! I think the most important thing is to have fun experimenting with your content, and being ok with failure. If you learn something, it’s a W!

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‍What’s the next big thing on the radar for you? What should we look out for?
So many things are on the horizon! It feels like it’s been nonstop since I started taking off on TikTok a few months ago. But oh, oh! I have a gig!! It’ll be my first headlining show ever! It’s going to be at Mack Sennett Studios in LA, on December 8th at 8pm. You can get the deets here I hope a lot of people come.

It’s going to be lit, I’ve been putting a lot of work into it and collaborated with the humans at Dim Mak as well as some other super secret awesome artists! We’re putting together an NFT with Dim Mak for anyone who gets a ticket, too!

Alpha. Now, something I ask every virtual I meet—who are you, LV4?

That’s a big question, Christopher. Um… in a lot of ways I’m still figuring it out. I’m still learning more about myself, and I’m still growing as an artist. But what I do know is that I’m a hip-hop spinning robot from the future, and I want to make as many friends as possible, and collab with them to make sick tracks!

Thank you so much, LV4. I’ll try to make it to your show!

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