What’s your stage name and where are you from?
My stage name is Zander, an American. I am from the Twin Cities, Minnesota, in the good ol’ US of A (raised in St. Paul, based in Minneapolis for those who care).
What’s the story behind your stage name?
- I wanted to use my real name in some way.
- I liked the format of Tyler, The Creator.
- I saw other “Zander” stage names, so I wanted one descriptor that captured the most about me and set me apart. I landed on “an American” pretty quickly. I am “an” American because I don’t think “the” American exists.
Describe your musical journey in three sentences.
Writing rhymes since high school (2010), back when all I posted were paragraphs under rap music videos (the origin story of Across The Culture). I started performing and recording in the fall/winter of 2014-2015 in college. I dropped my first song on SoundCloud in 2017, started making my own beats in 2020, and began releasing music as Zander, an American soon after.
Share an interesting experience you had while creating your latest track.
I shot the video for “My Fellow Americans” in North Minneapolis while it was still a demo. A woman pulled over and sat on the hood of her SUV to watch and listen, rocking with the bars heavy. People passing by showed love, but a man in a Chevy Tahoe pulled up, cursed me out, and accused me of disrespecting the area by shooting in front of the Bell Lofts, an apartment destroyed by water damage that displaced 50+ low-income families in the winter of 2022-23.
Once he learned I was a local, he asked why I was shooting the music video. I told him it was a rap video, and he called me “Goofy” and peeled off. This interaction, where “rap” carried an unserious connotation to a Black man despite my socially conscious intentions, deeply affected me. It pushed me to include deeper context about the location in the final cut of the video.
This experience taught me that pushing a message through music takes time and isn’t guaranteed to resonate with everyone. It also reinforced how crucial branding and marketing are for independent artists. One of my goals is to build a big enough audience so the music can speak for itself, without me being a full-time marketing strategist and artist.
What message do you want to convey through your music?
I am not an escapist artist. I don’t make music for you to get away from it all. I make music that empowers you to deal with real life and make it better.
Everyone is responsible for the kind of world we live in. We all have the power of choice — some more than others — and I challenge you to claim that power. Sometimes it’s about survival, other times it’s about enjoyment, and ultimately it’s about setting yourself free, whatever that may mean to you.
Tell us about a challenge you faced during production and how you overcame it.
“My Fellow Americans” has a very sparse instrumental. I sat on a skeletal draft of the beat for months before deciding on a guitar-like sound to fill the space and evoke emotion (an Omnisphere keyboard synth distorted to sound like a guitar).
I learned the key of the “Star-Spangled Banner” (which is more debatable than I knew) and played around with notes until I found the melody for the end of the song, especially the “and the home of the brave” part. In production, my lyrics and themes guide my arrangements and sounds. I don’t play music until I feel something — I feel something first, and then I play music.
If you could collaborate with any artist, who would it be and why?
Too many to name, but here’s an interesting choice: Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connor (if we can count them as a duo). They are masters of subtlety, and Billie’s voice is incredible. Her cultural background feels very hip-hop influenced, and I think she has the potential to be a great rapper. Some of her cadences and vocal tones when she’s not singing make me think she’d excel at rapping.
Where do you see your music taking you in the next year?
I see it beginning to attract people into my larger Across The Culture brand of pop culture journalism and indie music development.
What’s the next big step for you as an artist?
As an artist: getting enough buzz around my music to warrant dropping a project.
As an artist-entrepreneur: monetizing my YouTube channel.
Where can we hear/watch your most recent work?
ATC Sound channel on YouTube.
What is the best way to contact you if fans want to give feedback or if other artists/producers want to collaborate?
Email: zander@acrosstheculture.com
Instagram: @zanderanamerican
TikTok/Lemon8: @zanderanamerican
YouTube: Leave a comment on Zander, an American topic channel or ATC Sound channel.
Looking to get on Bluesky soon.
