Flosef Loc and Vintage Ty are the creators of the YouTube series Not Most People, a weekly show that sheds light on the arts and subcultures throughout Seattle. Over 20,000 subscribers tune in for new content, posted every Friday, that is gritty, funny, and humbling, featuring creatives based in and passing through Seattle. As the show grows in popularity, Not Most People just keeps getting more interesting.

In brief, who are you guys?

Flosef Loc: My name is Flosef Loc, I am from Seattle, the host. In my professional life, I am a freelance writer. I’ve lived in other cities, but I have been back since 2013.

Vintage Ty: I am Vintage Ty the producer, co-host, and the guy behind the camera sometimes. I am a vintage dealer by trade. That’s kinda my main thing.

How do you describe Not Most People?

Flosef Loc: It’s like early Vice magazine meets Mr. Rogers Neighborhood. Back when Vice was cool, and if Mr. Rogers Neighborhood wasn’t for kids.

Vintage Ty: We try to find interesting subcultures, creatives, and go into their world and talk to them. There aren’t enough videos like that, and we wanted to see that. Like the Mr. Rogers thing, I just saw the documentary on him, and his whole deal with his show was that “I don’t like the stuff that is on TV, so I want to shake it up and do it my way.”

Flosef Loc: On Youtube, I would see it; the platform was super interesting and while there was a lot that I liked, I wasn’t the demographic for it. But I knew there was a lot of people like me, and then I realized that there were only about four channels that did what I liked. But from a grassroots perspective, there wasn’t a lot of content that was what I wanted. I wanted to make a channel where I gave a window into the “cool guy, streetwear, rap music, street art” world. Giving a closer look at these communities, giving that kid in Idaho that might be into this culture a closer view, while the rest of his town might not be into it. Giving them the view that there are creative people who live their lives and support themselves through creative endeavors, and making interesting work without compromising their values.

When did the channel start and how did you to meet?

Flosef Loc: I worked for a company called Art Primo, which is a great place to get art supplies. I was helping them make videos, and it was a very exciting time, but it wasn’t something I was passionate about. I saw how having a channel could be beneficial just through working there, and nothing was stopping me from doing it.

So, I just picked up my iPhone and started talking into the camera, because all the advice you hear about starting a channel is just to start, then everything will come together. I made that for five months, very vlog style. I would go to art galleries. I rode in a wraith with Macklemore, got my haircut, and, you know, just did weird things. Very vlogger style—day in the life. It got a small following, but then came a point where my personal life was falling apart and I was going to stop doing it.

At this point, Ty was already my friend, and he liked what I was doing, and he wouldn’t let me stop. It was at a point where I was still in my feelings for a girl. I lost my job. My living situation left a lot to be desired. There was a lot of self-pity, and I wasn’t in the right headspace. This dude, made me go out and shoot and not care about how I felt.

Ty sells vintage and had a DSLR camera, that he used to take pictures of the clothes, and that’s when I had the lightbulb turn on, like a cartoon over my head. “Yo, that things shoot video right?” So I kidnapped him.

Not actually.

Vintage Ty: We had already been friends for a while and I was there when he had already started making videos. Then, when he called me about the camera, Flosef was going through some issue with his roommates, that almost left him homeless, so he wanted to do a video on the homeless in Seattle. That’s when we went and spoke with people on the streets, and ask about their life and what that it’s like. It was from this moment that we decided to do a weekly video. So, we tried to capture those near us, and see the subcultures, and explore them.

Flosef Loc: It kind of just evolved from there. Because once we did an interview with one person, that opened the door to their network and led us to do more interviews, so on and so forth.

Can you tell us more about how you find these creative people?

Flosef Loc: It started with what I had access to, which fortunately was a lot. I have a huge network that came from growing up in Seattle, and being involved in a lot of different things and getting to meet a lot of artistic people. Since these are people who I already knew, it was easy for me to reach out and ask to do a video. Once we did that, it opened the doors to those who didn’t know me but who saw the interviews I was doing with their creative friends. And not to gas myself, but I find that people open up to me, so that led to some great interviews where they open up and feel comfortable with me.

But we have had people turn us down. Some people who were too big, and just didn’t respond to our mesesages. Or just because of conflict issues. But we are just shooting shots in the dark. But yeah, pretty well-established musicians have driven their tour bus to Ty’s house and come in, and left their venue, just to talk with us.

Vintage Ty: Very surreal, cause you want the thing to work, but the people who are a big deal trip you out once they do come.

Flosef Loc: Especially with the music artist Wicca Phase. Someone who I really enjoy, especially when I was going through a breakup. Eight months later, Wicca Phase is sitting on this couch, and now we are all kinda homies. Almost every person we have interviewed we have maintained a relationship with. Even now that we are dropping merch, we met the merch guys through Wicca Phase and Mackned. And that’s also how we got some of these interviews. Yeah, there was this one time where Mackned was trying to bail on us, but we were lucky to have Macklemore call him and convince him to come to our show.

But yeah, we haven’t had a hard time getting people

Vintage Ty: The coolest thing for me, is that because we have this thing that happens weekly, we are able to go on these exciting adventures, that otherwise, we might not have the chance to do. It’s been mega cool having this rhythm of making a weekly video. Sometimes it sucks, but it has been highly rewarding.

A lot of people just see Seattle as a tech city. What is it that you want to share about the city of Seattle?

Flosef Loc: To think that tech is all Seattle has to offer is straight up ridiculous. We have given birth to Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain, and all these artistic movements. To think that these industries that have only really been here the last twenty years are the only thing Seattle has to offer says more about the people working for tech that it does about Seattleites.

That being said, I am also thankful that these tech companies have put Seattle on the national stage, and have made it a more metropolitan city, and put the spotlight on us.

In regards to what our role is in Seattle, I don’t want this to be a big thing for Seattle. I want this to be a big thing because it’s good. I want people in New York to think that what we are doing is cool. Now is Seattle a prominent character in our show that dictates the flavor? Absolutely. But we are not trying to be big fish in a small pond. We want to interview anyone that is interesting on a grander scale—not to be grandiose—but just to make the content that I want to see when I go on the internet. We just happen to be in Seattle, and that has made me who I am today, and I love Seattle to death.

Vintage Ty: It’s cool because a lot of people will comment “Damn, I didn’t know Seattle had some many cool characters and things going on”

What do you want people to take away from the show when they think about Seattle?

Flosef Loc: I never have given any thought to that. I def want people to respect Seattle. As a Seattleite, I have the provincial attitude, that we can do it too, or we have this. But I don’t know how I want Seattle to be perceived.

Vintage Ty: It’s complicated. Everything has changed so much. I think the message is to all the people who just get here, who are coming to our world—which is much different than it was ten years ago—and all those people who are still here. [We’re[ spreading the message that the culture and art that are happening in the city should be seen and should be preserved. There is a lot getting left behind

Flosef Loc: A lot of things are getting looked over. A lot of people are moving here, and I am not trying to be rude, but a lot of the tech workers—I also work in tech, by the way—for a lot of people moving here, it is almost an extension of the dorm life. They live in an apartment that has a yoga studio in the building and is two blocks from Trader Joes. It’s like they are treating Seattle like an extension of their college campus, while they are pursuing their careers. They are not experiencing what Seattle has to offer.

But at the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter. I grew up here, and if you look at the history of cities, London has reinvented itself so many times that if someone from their past saw it now, they would be shook. There must have been a point in New York when someone on a horse said: “Darn it not another brownstone!” You’ve got to live with it. Resentment isn’t going to get you anywhere. I just want people to see the cultural history, that has influenced the world, and that there are creative people in this city.

Vintage Ty: We get to put a lens on this world that not a lot people get to see.

What do you recommend for people who are in a quest for culture and meeting creative people?

Vintage Ty: Get creative to look for it. Don’t be afraid to try new things. Don’t just go to the fancy restaurants

Flosef Loc: Like, some of the best restaurants in Seattle might look like a shitty bar, in a really weird neighborhood that is next to an airport. I don’t feel like I am the right person to speak on this. I guess I don’t see it in that lens. I grew up here and have just been here a big part of my life, and got to meet a lot of people that were like me.

Vintage Ty: My biggest thing to say is to support the small businesses, cause those are the places where a lot of the culture and history lives.

Has there been something that didn’t make it to the show that you wish had?

Vintage Ty: Something that we do differently than other channels is that we have usually two hours of footage for the episodes and usually shorten it to fifteen minutes, which is like a highlight reel, and makes it more engaging. Sometimes the guests don’t want stuff in the video so we don’t include that, or things that devoid of context might make the person look bad. That being said, we usually like the crazy parts.

Flosef Loc: Can’t think of anything that we have taken out because it was too crazy. We want the crazy stuff. I got tazed by a pornstar. We want that.

What do tattoos mean to you?

Vintage Ty: I think we both don’t really ascribe a whole lot of meaning to tattoos. We just like their culture and their aesthetics. We obviously have a few that are meaningful. For the most part, we just like them.

Flosef Loc: Yeah, I am more into the aesthetics of things. While some of them have meanings, they are just anecdotes that I make after the fact. I do think when tattoos mean a lot, they are very into themselves. I think of them as just purely aesthetic, but at the same time, it does say more about my psyche than I intend to. I usually don’t think about it. The only time I had regrets, is when I was younger and was concerned about the working world. Meanwhile, I am a bouncer in a strip club in New Orleans so it was all in my head. They are just badass. Mega cool, like decorating a living room.

Anything you are all looking forward to this year?

Vintage Ty: We are really hyped right now cause the channels is really taking off. People are starting to really look.

Flosef Loc: I am excited to keep making stuff, one day at a time. There is a vision, but we are not chained to that. I don’t want to get ahead of myself and get excited about what could happen. I just want to keep making incremental steps.

At the end of the day, I just want Seattle to thrive.

If interesting people come through we want them to stop by and have that be a thing to do when coming to Seattle. Make things sicker.

Youtube Channel: Not Most People

Instagram: @NotMostPeople / @VintageTy / @Flosef_Loc

Photos by Sebastian Guerrero Cardenas @ILikeToCuddle