Matt Ox
January 9th 2024
Words Samuel Husk | Photography Ralf Hersborg | Creative Direction Noah Riecansky
Matt OX is evolving. His new form features wind-tunnel hair, a special ability for making waves, and a speed stat capable of building a musical legacy without stopping for breaks. Supported by producer collective Working on Dying, Matt first broke out with his massive track Overwhelming at the ridiculously young age of twelve. Before reaching fifteen, Matt had gone platinum for his feature on XXXTentacion’s $$$, and released his first album, OX, which included a feature from Chief Keef on Jetlag. Now eighteen-year-old Matt is defined by an unflinching self-belief, a passion for his craft, and a creative process so fast and vibes-based it would leave a tortoise in the dust. For him, slow and steady loses the race and doesn’t make good music. I was invited to Virus London for an interview.
When I think of Matt OX, I can’t help but picture the 12 year old boy from the Overwhelming music video: a kid at a corner store dual-wielding fidget spinners behind the counter, flexing bags of Cheetos and spicy Funyuns in the non-perishables aisle. At the time, it would have been easy to write Matt off as the US equivalent of viral child rappers like Little T and Smiffy boy. The difference, though, was that Overwhelming actually went hard. Looking past the surface-level comedy of a child making trap, Matt’s delivery displayed a remarkable talent for his age. With vocals gliding atop Oogie Mane’s innovative production, Overwhelming was without doubt an earworm which encapsulated its era of trap, and a glaring testament to Matt’s musical potential.
As I wait for his arrival amongst the bustle of the pre-shoot at the Virus office, I consider the kind of person I’d be if I had gone through my teenagehood as a celebrity. A teenagehood defined by swathes of hate and public scrutiny before my first crush; where I'd dropped a track with Sosa before taking my GCSEs.
“that was crazy, he sent me a video - he was like ‘how the fuck you rapping like this?’. I was like, damn that’s crazy, because he just sent me this video out of nowhere you feel me? So after that we went to his crib, and we cooked up some shit. We actually cooked up some other stuff as well, but that shit got lost”
How old were you at the time, fourteen?
“fourteen, yeah… it was insane”
If that’d been my experience, I’d beyond doubt be aloof, entitled, and lazy. The Matt OX I met was none of those things. Matt enters the studio with a slumpish swag; toting a long, messy mane of hair that a small bird could comfortably settle in. He moves quickly to put on the shoot’s first look - stopping only to greet everyone in the roomindividually, and blast music at about twice the volume I’d worry was too loud. Truthfully, I didn’t have too strong an idea of what Matt would be like. With sparse intimate media coverage since he was sixteen, I was very aware of how much a person can change over those formative years. Having half-expected to interview someone vacant and uninterested, I find myself surprised at Matt’s demeanour. He strikes me as remarkably down to earth, and as he sits across the desk from me in the shoot’s first look, he is happy to engage in mundane conversation about his stay in England. At this moment, the only thing that reminds me I am talking to Matt OX, rather than having a chat with a stranger on the tube, is his Philly drawl and slang coated speech.
A large part of Matt’s amiability might be to do with the people he surrounds himself with. As opposed to the clout sharks you’d imagine attaching themselves to someone with his story, Matt was backed by some of the underground’s most respected producers from the moment he entered the scene. Initially, he collaborated closely with Working on Dying - a Philadelphia-based collective composed of some of the most influential producers of the decade. With titan members like F1lthy, Oogie Mane & BNYX, WOD are responsible for defining Tread as a sub-genre, as well trend-shaping work on tracks with Drake, Yeat, Bladee, and Carti. More recently, Matt produced work with Surf Gang: bound by a producer core Evilgiane, HARRISON and EERA, the collective have shaped New York’s new sound - perhaps best described as minimalist drill. Matt also has a heartwarmingly close relationship with his Mother, who is as much a backbone of his success as any of his collaborators. Divorced from any label, he is instead managed by his mum.
“I made my momma my manager because she's the only one I can really trust in this shit, you know? Of course, I met other people along the way that definitely helped me and kept it real, but in the beginning I went through a lot of weird, fake shit: people trying to tell me I couldn’t read my own contract, shit like that.”
How did you deal with that?
“I fired everybody. Then I built my own team from scratch, went independent - all that shit, you know?”
So it’s been your mum since?
“Yeah. It’s just me and her, literally.”
When the team is ready to shoot, we move down to their studio space: an open, glossy black-tiled room . As I take a seat by a window, someone moves to the decks and starts blasting random shit. The room is suddenly alive with sound and colour as the screens light up and people pace the floor, shouting instructions to each other. Matt stands against a wall as the screens shift behind him - phasing between dream-like images that intersperse scenes of sublime apocalypse amongst others which evoke the unplaceable ennui of corecore edits: ice formations, basalt columns, gothic crosses, opium birds, flooded cities. Matt’s silhouette is a shadow laid atop of these visions, lit up momentarily by camera flashes like rolling lightning.
How would you describe your style?
“I feel like my style’s always evolving but it's like, I just pick it up as I go along. Whatever I fuck with, I fuck with. One day I might pop out some colourful ass shit, the next day it’s some black and white - like, it's just always changing”
The shoot reflects this. Matt changes through a wide variety of looks, brought together by an overarching surreal religious-utopianism. Two of the shoot’s best are marked by pieces from burgeoning designer Lily Teiger: a full body, hand knitted, cricket-esque jumper reminiscent of Doric Chiton, and a shoulder piece composed of feather-like frayed organza alluding to angel wings. Towards the end of the shoot, we move down to one of the recording studios to get some final shots. Whilst there, one of the team tells me how Matt works. “He’s quick. He hops in, and just - bar for bar for bar, done. Wrap it, record the video and get it out”.
What’s your writing process like?
“I freestyle all my tracks. $$$ - freestyle, Jetlag - freestyle, all that shit freestyle. Overwhelming I wrote, but after that I just freestyle everything.”
You just come in on these songs with no idea what you're gonna say?
“Just hop on the track, it’s already there.”
Do you have a main source of inspiration?
“My inspiration is life. Real, organic creativity - that’s where it comes from. ‘Cause, like, when you influenced by so many things, you can’t tell the source - inspiration comes from everything.”
From style to music, Matt's attitude towards art is completely fluid and seems almost involuntary. Ruled by his gut, justification doesn’t deserve to ride shotgun: it belongs in the back-seat. After all, if Matt knows a song is cold -who cares why? Although some critics might call this blaisee, I’d argue that a lot of creatives could benefit from a leaf out of his book. Matt OX is the antithesis of the hesitant artist whose work is never quite good enough to put into the world - whose project is forever nearly done. For Matt, if something is lit, it's lit. It doesn’t need pondering or categorisation: if it's fire then put it out: it’ll be cool until it isn’t. Matt’s 2023 project with Surf Gang, OXygen, was recorded in a single week.
“We booked out all the sessions that week, and we just locked in. I wanted to show that this is what I can do in a moment - fuck everything else. Everything else was just practice.”
After the shoot, we move out to the street to do the interview while Matt smokes up. Having arrived on a placid winter afternoon, I find myself shocked to step out into a bitterly cold and dark evening. Matt sways from side to side to stay warm as he speaks, answering questions through sharp exhales. His responses reveal a self-assuredness I couldn’t’ve dreamed of at 18.
Is there anything you’d say to 12 year old Matt?
“I mean, shit, I don’t wanna say nothing, I feel like that would contradict shit, you feel me?”
He knows what he’s doing - he doesn’t need it?
“FR”
But Matt also seems (pretty reasonably) to perceive himself as much changed from the viral 12-year-old some still think of him as.
What do you feel is the biggest misconception people have about you?
“I don't know, I feel like now people know me. But before, everyone thought I was some random ass little kid. Everyone can take it how they want, but I feel like some people still think I’m the old me.”
You’ve mentioned in the past that you don’t care about clout, you are money motivated. Is that still how you feel?
“Both I don’t give a fuck about, you know what i’m saying? Both aren’t the reason I do this shit: I do this shit because I love music. When I was a kid I would say that because motherfuckers weren’t getting no money and they was hating, but I realised none of that shit matters. It’s really about doing what you love and putting out the art that you want to put out - not trying to fit in with everybody and do what they’re doing. Make your own wave - that’s what’s really influential, that’s how you revolutionise that shit.”
So it’s your passion that drives you?
“Yeah, this is about the music, it’s about the legacy I'm leaving. That’s the biggest thing. Fuck the money and clout. Of course, it helps bring the legacy to life, but it’s not the main purpose.”
Looking at Matt OX’s achievements so far - with more than a quarter of a billion plays, 5 full albums, and a long list of features with prominent artists - You likely imagine an artist deep into their career. It’s easy to forget that Matt is yet to turn nineteen: compared to most with his resume, he’s only just getting started. With his dynamic, intuitive approach to creation, it’s no stretch of the imagination to anticipate his work moving to new places, with Matt continuing to collaborate with the best of the underground as new artists arise.
He was recognised for his potential back in 2017, and he still has heaps of it today.
How do you feel you are different now from when you came up?
“I’m always changing, you know, like, there's always a new sound coming about. I feel like a snake shedding it’s skin, or like a caterpillar turned to a -”
You were the caterpillar and now you’re a butterfl-
“Now I'm ‘bout to turn into a motherfucking dragon.”
Wardrobe and styling provided courtesy of Lily Teiger & Avidan Setareh. Production courtesy of Anaïs Setareh & Tom Burkitt. ©2024 Virus London. All Rights Reserved.