Twin Cities rapper Student 1 took made a seismic return to the scene with the release of his latest album. A follow-up to 2019’s UPPRCLSSMN, which featured collaborations with Tierra Whack and Mick Jenkins, OFFTHEDUST! was originally set to come out before the pandemic began, but was put on hold until this past October.

In conversation, Student 1 and his best friend and manager, Alec Coines, discuss the album, music video strategy, and the secret behind his nonstop energy.

When did your musical journey begin? 

Student 1: Shortly after high school. When I graduated, I was already writing shit in my notebook all the time, or just random beats, but I didn't really have a name. I just knew I liked making music. I was halfway through getting my associate's at this community college that I lived at, and shit just started to feel hard. I felt not focused. A lot of the reason I was at college is because I'm a first-generation American in my family. So my parents really wanted that for me. But the more and more that I felt like all of my efforts kind of going into a different direction, I was just like, "All right, Mom, I'm dropping out." That was not an easy talk. “Don't worry, Mom, because this is my school now.”

I didn't know that you were of African background. Where's your family from?

Student 1: My mom is from Ethiopia. She moved to America when she was 17 by herself to make money and send to the family. And then my dad is half Ethiopian, half Eritrean. And I don't really know much about his side of the family because his parents passed away when he was really young. So it's like Ethiopian-Eritrean. Those are my African roots.

How did you decide upon the stage name Student 1?

Student 1: Part of it was, symbolically, a nod towards the conversation me and my mom had about me dropping out. And she's just like, "What are you going to learn so you can do well for yourself in the future?” And it just felt funny telling my mom, “Imma rap.” I wanted to give my mom the opportunity to look at it through a lens where I'm still learning things. But at the same time, lI thought it was fitting because my head was just in multiple places anytime I was at Alec [Coines]'s house... I'd want to make like one type of record, like an old-school, like ’90s-type beat. And then maybe the next day, I'd want to make something over some Travis Scott Metro Boomin shit. And then like a year ago, I made “Nippy.” I'm ready to learn it all.

Alec, you manage Student 1, but you have a much deeper friendship. How did that form?

Alec Coines: It started in high school, just as homies. I don't know the exact moment I was like, "Yo, this dude really got it." I just always knew that if he tried, he could actually like make it in this rap shit. Eventually, I was just like, "Bro, we gotta go for this." My mindset was always just like, if he creates the music, I can like do everything that's in the background – like figure out how to get the music heard and seen by the people.

Which high school did you guys attend?

Student 1: I went to two, because I grew up in south Minneapolis. So I went to South High for a little bit, for freshman and sophomore year, and then I met Alec at Simley High School in Inver Grove Heights.

Talk to me about your creative dynamic? What are studio sessions like? 

Student 1: Before I even go into the studio, I look over what I have in my notes on my phone, or just in my notebook, because sometimes the idea will start to grow before I can even put it into a song structure. And I'll be like, "Oh, that's a good line, like, oh, that fits the theme," and then eventually I'll have like 30-40 some bars that kind of give me a good enough start to lay something down. And I'll think about what it fits with. And then I'll take a stab at it. And if it doesn't work, I'll probably just smoke and come back and try it over something else. But if that doesn't work out, then I'll immediately just scrap what I'm doing and just start something new. 

I feel like Alec is better at focusing than I am. He be on go mode when he's ready to work. There is nothing in his way. Whereas, I need time to get back on the ball. 

You released a new album, OFFTHEDUST!, in October. What's the project about? 

Student 1: Just like aggressively energetic. We didn't hold back at all. Before I met [the album’s primary producer] Cory, aka letmode, I didn't really like have a footing. Like with regards to what I liked on the production side of things. I just know that shit sometimes slap. Sometimes it don't and we'll just figure it out from there. But then I met Cory. And like, he has his own style. But it's like, it's insane to me.

Working with him was like a healthy exercise. I feel like because of that this album is going to be like me just comfortably yelling more. And just pushing the pen a little harder and working on my melodies. And that's not to say that I'm not gonna go any harder. I'm just saying like it's definitely my best work.

Where does your Energizer Bunny energy come from and how do you bottle it in?

Student 1: Being an only child growing up, I just had to entertain myself. I wish I had a brother or sister around me, but I was just alone playing the game. And in my head. I was like, “This is chill, so I learned how to entertain myself hella quick.” I was just always active growing up. When I started going to college, I started taking Adderall because I wasn't paying attention. And then I was just like "What if I just take Adderall and go make music?" I knew I had this side of me that if I liked something, I could really focus in on it and just just do just be really good at it. I remember I was in seventh grade I literally liked Guitar Hero so much that I became like top 15 on the leaderboards of the world for multiple songs. And who's to say I can't do that with anything else?

Alec, on Twitter, you wrote that this was the hardest and longest album that you both worked on together. Why is that?

Alec Coines: Mostly, it's just because I think the first song we finished it like three and a half years ago. And yeah, the album is just coming out now. We were originally gonna release it before COVID. It was supposed to be like March or April 2020. We were gonna go on tour with Prof and thought we were gonna drop the album as a thing before the tour. We had brand new songs and all that. But then COVID happened. So then it was kind of like, no one was watching for new music.

Student 1: I don't even even think we were thinking about music. When that happened, we basically hit pause and just tried to figure it out. 

Alec Coines: Even though it led to it taking longer to come out. I think it was definitely for the best. The album sounds insane now.

Who have been your biggest inspirations as an artist?

Student 1: I'm not going to cap, I'll put Ye up there. I'll put Doom up there. I'll put Doom very, very high up there. Rest in peace, Doom. I put Lupe Fiasco up there. I don't talk about him enough. I don't think people give this man his flowers enough. And I think he's in my top three of all time. He had me looking into his genius lyric things for like random songs. And he would just have hidden triple entendres for no reason, just in the calmest voice. I loved Eyedea, rest in peace Eyedea. Just one of the coldest motherfuckers out of the Minnesota scene for me of all time. Production-wise, I love old boom bap shit just because I listened to like so much Doom, Atmosphere, Aesop Rock and shit. I love that, but as of now I've been ficking with like JPEGMAFIA's production and just how insane he be. I'd also put SOPHIE... Starrah is probably like a top-tier inspiration for me.

What's your creative process for making music videos? 

Student 1: When it comes to like music video ideas, they're few and far in between for me, personally. I have homies that just give me an idea and I'm just like, "Oh, I think we could run with that." Where my input comes in is more how I execute on camera. But like I'm a big fan of symbolic things. So I'll just think about little additions that are just like little trinkets to fit with the theme. So like the song, “Kites,” we have a kite, and we're flying it around. And that's not like a super deep symbolism or anything, but I just think that that's cool for a video. But as far as just seeing the vision for the music videos, I feel like that's mostly like, Alec, my friend Justus, my friend, Eric. We literally just got back from a trip to Montana to shoot for the “Kites” music video. We just woke up every day, early in the morning, went out into the mountains and didn't come back until 8 p.m. And I was just like, holy shit, we just did so much.

I've been seeing Montana as a destination for artists, especially hip hop artists, in the last few years. Like, what is it about that state that just inspires musicians?

Student 1: I'm not gonna lie to you, bro. At first, I didn't want to go. But we've driven through Montana multiple times to go to Portland or California and it's been beautiful and we were like, "You know what? Let's come back here." I forgot whose suggestion it was to go to Montana, but it was honestly the best idea. It's one thing driving through it, but we have a homie that lives there. And he was just like, "Bro, y'all have to come here. I will show you the mountains." And we were all like, "Let's go see the mountains."

What do you envision for the future of Student 1?

Student 1: Coming out of the pandemic, I'm in a better headspace now. Which is good, because part of the reason I was not very active for a while was because I was just figuring my own shit out. I had to sort that out or otherwise, I'm not really gonna have the energy that I feel is sufficient to work on my craft. So, I feel for the future, just because I feel like in a better headspace, the sky's the limit. As far as I'm concerned, I have like more projects. I have another project that I'm almost done with right now, after OFFTHEDUST! And hopefully, that's all going to be produced by me, first time that's ever happened. I feel like I've just been dormant the past two years here, just because I'm not trying to get sick.