24kGoldn is a voice for Gen-Z

“I feel like I’ve been running a marathon and now the finish line is in sight,” 24kGoldn says with a sigh of relief. It’s the day before his debut album El Dorado is set to release. Backed by the #1 single “Mood,” the stars could not be more aligned for the 20-year-old to succeed. 

Ahead of the album’s release, we chopped it up with 24kGoldn, discussing faith, feelings, Future and plenty more:

On El Dorado

“It’s incredible. No misses, 13 out of 13. I think it’s got something for every occasion and every emotion.”

On his upbringing

“My parents were models for like a decade before they had me and my little sister. Now, my mom is a waitress and my dad does catering stuff. 

“My dad is a Catholic and my mom is Jewish. So I got to see both sides. I got to do Passover, and I got to do Christmas. There was always more about the cultural aspect and the spirituality aspect of (religions), just having a relationship with God. There’s no right way to believe in God. It’s all about your personal relationship and being thankful and being grateful for the blessings that come into your life. I dropped out of Hebrew school. Maybe one day when I’m, like, 31 or something, we’ll run it back (with a Bar Mitzvah).”

On growing up in the Bay Area

“Growing up in the Bay was an incredible experience. I give the Bay a lot of credit for who I am. The Bay culturally is a melting pot, you have all different shapes and shades of people from all different backgrounds and walks of life, we put them all together. I think it just makes it a lot easier to understand each other as humans.

“I used to listen to that music a lot more when I was younger. The most exciting thing about those types of songs is just how high energy and how fun they were. E-40’s ‘Tell Me When to Go’ was my song in kindergarten!”

On collaborations

“With Future and Swae Lee, those came together in the last couple months. I remember going to Atlanta in January and seeing Future for the first time, just thinking in my head that I’ve been listening to this dude since I was in middle school! It’s a real honour to have him on my album, and same with Swae Lee. One of the first concerts I ever went to when I was in high school was Rae Sremmurd, so just being able to work with people that I’ve admired is a real blessing. Me and Swae Lee, lately we’re talking about doing maybe like a collab mixtape or something.”

On blowing up during a pandemic

“I say it’s a blessing and a curse. If I had to deal with all of this promo and that type of stuff at the same time that I was expected to be on the road and shit like that, I think I would have had a mental breakdown. At the same time, I would have loved, you know, doing all these big festivals.”

On the meaning of life

“I’m still trying to figure that out myself as a 20-year-old but I think I’m starting to understand what’s most important to me, and it’s having strong meaningful relationships with the people that I really love and care about, doing what you can to spread light in this world. I just feel that if everybody was out there being nice to each other and helping each other out as a human population, the world would be a lot better place.” ■

For more about 24KGoldn, please visit his website.

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