Expanding the sparse scene of female rappers is an obvious plus, and Emma Bastolich is bringing a whole new dimension to the local rap selection of St. Paul, Minnesota.
In her words, “I love female rappers and I love music that makes me feel far away. However, I’ve never found a combination of the two, locally or anywhere, so I thought there would be some room for me to be it.”
This music endeavor came as a surprise to a lot of people, what brought you to become Zinnia?
“So, I always thought I was an artist. I think that’s something we can all identify within ourselves if it’s there. The trouble is, sometimes, we don’t know how to express it, we don’t necessarily know what our art is.. Then we’re stuck with this artist’s soul, but no idea what to do with it. Zinnia is a result of being determined to find an answer. I’d tried everything and fully connected with nothing. I always liked to write, but I could never convey it how I wanted to by simply typing it out. Then one day a friend wanted me to rap for him just to see what it’d sound like, so I wrote a little something on the spot and id it over a beat he’d made. My words suddenly made more sense over music and although it seemed unfamiliar on the surface, on the inside it felt anything but. I took it as a sign and have been working on it ever since.
Do you have anything –specific topics, ideas, feelings– that you want to express with this project?
“Zinnia isn’t me, she observes me. She observes everyone and everything and sees into the heart of it all. Zinnia will not only help you get to know me, but help you get to know yourself. It’s really just a feelings fusion, I want people to feel emotion, feel their bodies, feel connected and feel each other.”
What are your hopes and goals for the future of Zinnia?
“Expand, meet other artists, ones who know their art and ones who may not be there yet. Meet anyone and everyone, artist or not, just whoever is willing to feel something. Experience it with them. Provide them with something that they may not be getting elsewhere. Give. Receive. I’d also like to travel at some point. Seeing more of the world through Zinnia’s eyes sounds pretty nice.”
I think this struggle to find ourselves as artists is so relatable, within myself and in general. It takes constant reminder to not give up in the midst of the struggle, and inspiration from artists like Zinnia that give me the motivation to keep trying.
You can listen to her music on Soundcloud and find her on various social media:
theartofmadeline
yousharknotpass
