The east London rapper and Givenchy muse speaks on Chinese culture and Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. “I was hugely influenced [by the] discipline and ambition, the power of realising your own strength and focus,” he says
This article is taken from the Spring/Summer 2022 issue of AnOther Magazine:
“I’m fascinated by the ‘science’ of music – the engineering and environment that makes something special and successful, how you both respect and reject the rules. A trip to Shanghai in 2019 changed my approach to music and my perspective in general. It was interesting as a young Black person from London to be immersed in Chinese culture. I went to a bar and met an old guy named Kenny. We found common ground talking about Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, which is based on Chinese war teachings. We discussed its themes – focus, strategy, skill. I was hugely influenced by Tzu’s discipline and ambition, the power of realising your own strength and focus. This is when I was making [my 2019 album] Friend or Foux – I felt like, rah, I wanna realise my own power, forge my own path.”
Lancey Foux says his life has been “a movie”. The 26-year-old artist, real name Lance Omal, is fresh from Milan when we speak, where he walked in the 1017 Alyx 9SM Autumn/Winter 2022 show. Soon, he’s off to Paris to film a music video. Having emerged from east London and the underground rap scene, he’s now worked with Kanye West and Skepta and interacted with the fashion sphere, performing on Telfar’s runway and modelling for Givenchy – all while producing pummelling live shows in Lagos, London and New York. Across six musical projects and a continent-hopping career, Foux has steered a path through trap, propulsive R&B, bashment and acerbic rap. With the forthcoming album Life in Hell, his follow-up to last year’s darkly lyrical beat mixtape Live.Evil, he is determined to continue to defy genres and combine his music, fashion and creative fascinations.
This article appears in the Spring/Summer 2022 issue of AnOther Magazine, which is on sale here.
Grooming: Roxy Attard at Future Rep using DAVINES. Photographic assistant: Federico Covarelli