You've collaborated with Jay-Z and David Byrne. You cite influences ranging from Devo to Nina Simone. Critics say you draw from pop, ska, rap, punk, jazz, rock, soul, New Wave and Nigerian music, but above all see your work as genre busting. How do you see your music?
My music mashes up influences and may defy classification but it's not something that I think about a lot. It's not like I set out to take a little of this and a little of that. I draw from my musical history, which includes all the things I was exposed to as a kid. My dad took me to see James Brown and Nina Simone and Fela Kuti. My sister went to see Bad Brains and the Cure and would bring the concert home with her, coming back in combat boots, dripping sweat. From a young age I was exposed to all different kinds of music, and all that influences who I am musically. But making music is not something I do according to a formula – it's a natural process for me.
You've said that you got into the music industry backwards. Please explain.
I never – as a kid, a teenager or even as a young adult – ever wanted to be a performer. I've written lyrics since I was nine, but no part of me wanted to sing them on stage. I loved music and I loved making music. I took guitar lessons and I got some beat-making equipment and made my own beats. When I went to college, I started interning at record companies. And then I started writing songs for other people. The songs started coming out, but not like I wanted them to sound, so I thought I'd just record them myself. Once I did that I was drawn up on stage. So I slowly became a performer, and now it feels right – it feels like what I was supposed to do all along...........
http://thebrowser.com/interviews/santigold-on-musical-influences
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