What’s your lasting memory of Alice?

Damn... I haven’t even thought about the last time I saw her. It’s starting to fade. She was a very generous person, especially when I told her I was interested in creating. You had to work for it. She made you earn it.

Less is written about your other family members: your grandmother Marilyn McLeod wrote for Motown, your cousins Ravi and Oran Coltrane…

My cousins were very influential. I’d see them onstage in shows. Seeing people do it as a kid was huge. Oran was the one I was around all the time. He had a Sega Genesis. I would go round to his house, he’d make music on a computer, show me how to make beats. I owe it all to him.

A theme of isolation runs through your albums. Did you feel alone in your own universe growing up?

Absolutely. I always wanted a big brother. The closest thing I got was Nintendo. I started gravitating towards anti-social things: movies, drawing. I needed to be doing something I could do on my own. That’s how I wound up getting into making beats.

What was your favourite game?

Wow! I didn’t really love video games ’til Sonic the Hedgehog on Sega. They started doing 16-bit graphics; everything felt fast and intense. There was jazz music. It was revolutionary.

When you were growing up, did you feel unrepresented in the gaming world as a black kid?

You know, representation is huge now. It’s a big part of the conversation. But I never grew up thinking about that stuff. The only thing I remember was going to fancy-dress stores and trying to buy a mask for Halloween. I’d be thinking, ‘Where are all the black characters?’

You experienced a lot of death and didn’t have a relationship with your father. Was music like a parent, almost?

A bit. I had the Coltranes. My mom had boyfriends. Music was an escape. I was in love with music. I could create sonic worlds and I was all about it.

How much did spirituality connect to music in the beginning? It didn’t. I didn’t know I was meditating as I was creating, that I was channelling things, trying to understand my feelings through music. I became conscious later. When I was in high school, I was trying to make sense of everything. I was digging into my aunt’s work. I heard something in it. She had a lasting impact on the world. She didn’t create to be trendy. She did it because she was trying to make sense of this existence or the next existence. That’s what I wanted. I wanna help people search within themselves for the answers.

Can you explain the meditative experience of being in the creative zone a bit more?

You’ll be working on something and 45 minutes later you’re like, ‘How the hell?’ You snap out of this trance. Like, whoa. When you’re really in it, you’re not even thinking. You’re a vessel for the idea. The fence is open and all the stuff is coming through. I’ve noticed that I feel better when I’m working. Any anxieties, any strangeness, it fades away. That’s the prime.

What were you like in high school?

I was a C student... just trying to get by, not bother anybody. Just get out. I had friends but it was a diverse social stratosphere. I didn’t have a core. I wasn’t one of the super popular cats. But I wasn’t the kid who hung out in the library all the fucking time either.

Did you have an idea of what life would look like without a creative outlet?

Yeah, I had regular jobs. I worked at a videogame store. But I felt like I was gonna work in the arts even if I wasn’t creating. I’d work in films holding up a light if I had to. I was gonna be on set, gonna be in it. I was determined.

You started out interning at LA label Stones Throw. Were you already idolising the likes of [founder] Peanut Butter Wolf?

Definitely. I was at the Academy of Art [San Francisco]. Stones Throw was blowing my mind. I thought, ‘Fuck living in San Francisco, I’m moving back to LA.’ I had to get in the mix with those people. I started bopping around and met Wolf. I was like, “I’ll work for free.” He goes, “Really?!” I met all these likeminded new people. That’s when I felt I was part of something.

You’re open about weed consumption. How about psychedelics? Do they influence your music?

I was always making off-kilter stuff. When I started taking psychs, it didn’t change my music but it changed my outlook. It made me ask more questions about the world, this life, reality. It helped my development as a person. The music was a result of that growth.

So you don’t create while on psychedelics?

No! I’ll hang with a close friend, look at trippy stuff, draw pictures, go outside for 10 minutes, laugh, that’s it. Last time I micro-dosed was a year ago. I had a bad trip one time but I’ve never had demons chasing after me. Thank God. My only problems have been physical reactions. I’ll get the dry heaves for six hours.

You’ve lived all over LA. Is it connected to your creative decisions? Could you imagine yourself leaving?

I’ve been thinking about it lately: if it’s possible for me to leave. There are a few things that keep me here. First is Thundercat. He’s my best friend and we have a crazy music chemistry. We work on everything together. It would be weird to disrupt that. But I think about that shit more lately. I’m excited about going somewhere else.

Are you and Thundercat still enlightened by each other?

Even more so now because he’s one of my music teachers. I won’t see him for a week and I’ll be chipping away. Then I play him shit and he helps me. He loves to ‘son’ me on that shit. We’re pretty fucking close.

Has he given any advice that you live by, outside music?

[Thinks] I’m a shoe collector. So’s he. He’s the most fashionable person on the planet. There’s some shoes I got that are really dope. I love these shoes. I got mad shoes…

But you’re not wearing any shoes…

Not right now. Anyway I got these Dragon Ball Z Adidas Goku shoes. Super limited. He got ’em too. On day one, he’s wearing them in the street doing his thing. “Yeah, fuck it.” I’m like, “How you gonna wear the Gokus today? We’re not doing shit! We’re just chilling at the crib!” He says, “You gotta treat every day like a special occasion.” You end up waiting around forever and never wear your favourite sneakers. I’m that guy – waiting for the right time. I have to keep that in my mind. Just put on the fucking Pharrell shoes. Buy another pair next week.