Behind the visor with the Brockton hip-hop artist behind ‘Nothing’

Ones 2 Watch is a collaboration between DigBoston and Redefined, the company behind the Boston Music Awards and the upcoming Ones 2 Watch concert series at Hojoko in Boston. This first installment interview is with Lord Felix, a visor-sporting Brockton-bred artist who’s successfully kept his face shielded while rocking from New York to Mass since 2016. For more info on his performance this Friday and on other upcoming free shows in the series, visit bostonmusicawards.com/ones2watch.

How’s it going with Lord Felix today?

Everything is great man. Just been working on a couple projects as of late.

You have a background in fashion with your Amerikanah streetwear line, which is evident by your stage performance and styling. For those who have yet to see you live, what’s the story behind the visor?

I found these in Soho man. I already wasn’t showing my face online at the time just cause I’m a private dude. So when I found these, I completely lost my mind. When I performed with them on for the first time, I was like, “Yup, this is definitely what I wanna do for a living.”

Your debut full length, In Bloom, Forever, dropped in February and we’re pretty sure “Nothing” is going to become one of the songs of the summer. Despite its upbeat sound, you’ve talked about it coming together during a difficult time in 2016 …

Haha man, I’m already sick of that song. But that was actually one of the later songs I recorded for that project. That song almost didn’t see the light of day, but that’s another story for another day haha. You could say I was in a happier space.

The video for “Nothing” looked like a lot of fun …

Man it was just me and the homies I do this with. I feel like this [latest release] was just one big group art project and we wanted to showcase the community we have going on over here. There isn’t any type of music infrastructure out here so we were pretty much forced to boss up and build what is now a scene. We had to become our own OGs in a sense.

There are so many talented young artists from where you’re from in Brockton who are starting to gain traction, and from all over Massachusetts as well. Who are you watching the most. Who’s leading the charge locally?

There’s sooo much talent man. My team of course (Meech, Jiles, Ricky Felix, Luke Bar$, Benjy, Saint Lyor), Latrell James moved out here and definitely laid a huge hand in the culture, Leo The Kind, Garrett, DTheFlyest, Stefan, them Dienue boys. I’m missing so much but those dudes right there are absolutely killing it right now. They keep me inspired.

You have a line—“Been the illest in the state since Bell Biv DeVoe”—which is one of our favorites from “Nothing.” And it got us thinking about a game we like to play: BMA Fantasy Festival Lineup. If you got to perform with one artist from the past and one from now, who would you go for and why?

Wow that’s hard as hell. You’re really putting me on the spot. But I would probably pick Jimi Hendrix as the artist from the past I would perform with. The things he can do with that guitar, man, sheesh. One of my favorite performance videos ever was him performing the Star Spangled Banner with his electric guitar. I would’ve went nuts if I caught that live. The other artist would probably be Anderson .Paak. I feel like he’s a super-underrated performer. His energy alone can amp up a crowd. That dude just has it.

This week you kick off the Ones 2 Watch series at Hojoko. What can we expect?

c Just an array of emotions coming from me and from the audience. It should be fun.

Anything else you want the world to know about Lord Felix?

I’m hungry for this.