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Ab-Soul has a lot on his mind these days. Today, GQ debuts his new video for "Evil Genius," a sincere meditation on how to move forward after tragedy strikes. In the video, Ab-Soul not only visits his childhood home which recently burned down, but also visits the grave of his longtime girlfriend, Alori Joh, who committed suicide in 2012, for the first time since her funeral. Over the phone, we talked about how the video came together, the Women's March, and what's next for the TDE wordsmith.
So how did this video come together? Why this song at this moment?
It's just very sincere. You know, the record just matched the tone of my emotions at the time. The album is a woman-appreciation album, and I can't help but commemorate my lady. If I were to talk to her today, that would be the tone of my voice. If I had the opportunity, that's how I would get at her. If you can imagine something like that, I just tried to put that into words.
Unfortunately, the house really did burn down. That was a safe haven for all of my memorabilia of her. A lot of delicate things, fan art, a lot of things I can't replace.
That's really tragic.
Everyone was safe, we have insurance. But it's the little things. [I wish] there was just a handful of things I could've walked out of there with. When it happened, it was my boy's idea to just capture it there—me walking around, really seeing it. That really just struck a nerve with me.
I wanted people to see the silver lining in it too, though. It's a dark record of course, but I want my people to see the triumph, to see me moving forward. It's not something that I can forget, or get over, but I can be strong and live on, let her live through me.
The first part of the video is very dark, and then you emerge into the daylight. A lot of your videos occupy that dark space too, so it's great to see you out in the light.
Yeah, that was my first time visiting her since the ceremony. My idea was that I'd bring the world with me this time. She was the world to me. I've been told "You make the world better," and now I know what it feels like to have the world taken from me. I can attest to that. So that was an opportunity for me to come back and show her what we've done, what we've created. Everybody gets to experience that with me in a sense.
So this video is really about triumph, moving forward in the face of adversity.
Yeah. This is the way that I would wanna tell this story. I appreciate you guys, real journalists who really dig into it, who really want to get to the bottom of things.
It's very important these days.
Word.
You called this album a "woman-appreciation" record. Why did you feel like that message was important to tell at this time?
The album is based on The Book of the Law by Aleister Crowley. The famous quote is "Do what thou wilt." And a large point is "love is the law." I don't want to give all of the details of the book away, but it leans towards Egyptian Philosophy, the story of the goddesses and the gods, and that relationship. It leans towards God potentially being a female, as the first source of life and energy.
I really want the ladies to take head to this one, to listen to it in this time. There are a lot of men trying to come to a compromise, asking to work together in this particular time. I did this project, and then I saw the Women's March, and all of these other things happening. I don't take that as a coincidence. I really want to look towards opening up the dialogue with women, coming to some solutions. Did you see that mob? I'm want to be on their side!
Definitely! A lot of people who are starting to take a deeper look at the forces moving around us. There are more people taking to the streets, being critical about what's going on.
For sure, but I just want to make sure we do this responsibly. The term I like to use is "peaceful aggression." Defend yourself by any means, yes, but let's try to shake hands if we can, at this time. Hip hop is an intelligent movement, and us being more aware, more conscious, I think we can come to a safer solution, something that will be more beneficial to mankind, versus the 1 percent.
So now that you've put out this album, what is 2017 looking like for Ab-Soul?
The next step is putting the tour together. I wanna make sure I present live and in living color. We're still thinking about who will complement the tour, someone to roll out there with me. This is my most well received project, so I have a responsibility to deliver—I gotta bring it to life.
Do What Thou Wilt is available for purchase and streaming now. Watch the video for "Evil Genius," below.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
