Raised in New Jersey and later moving to Miami, 10nik, or Tenik, picked up music through his dad and has turned that influence into a catalog of tracks on SoundCloud, growing a community across Instagram and YouTube.

Over the past decade, he has shaped a sound that blends lyrical rap with modern, energetic production, tapping into a new style of rap music.

With new projects on the way, Alternativenergy sat down with 10nik to talk about his beginnings, his creative process, and the direction he hopes to take his music next.

Q: Who are you, what do you do, and where are you from?

My name is Tenik. I’m from New Jersey, small-town New Jersey type shit. I’m now living in Miami right now.

I’ve been making music, I think, like 10 years now. Shit’s kinda crazy. My dad made music and shit, so music’s always been in there. Music’s always been the number one.

Q: How did you get started making music?
I started out DJing first. I was DJing at like parties, like little-ass kids’ parties when I was like 11. My dad wanted to rap, and he made music and shit. He was trying to give me a whole plan, bro, like this. He was trying to make me do like Silentó shit, like the Whip and Nae Nae. I was like, fuck that. I got my own equipment, bro. Since then, I’ve been making music.

Q: What kind of music inspired your sound?
My sound is a little bit different than what I was listening to growing up.

I was listening to a lot of lyrical stuff, but I always liked techno shit. I was listening to hella Skrillex, Safari.

I think in my music, though, I try to keep the lyrical aspect of it. I still try to say something. I know a lot of music now is just feel-good music and shit, but I still want to get some sort of a message across. But I’m also having fun, like I’m just trying to feel good too.

Q: Can you explain “U Lead the Way”?
U lead the way is just leading the way. Showing people that the people you look up to, you hold the same power as them. You’re no different from these niggas you say you’re looking up to. So go ahead and put yourself out there and do that shit the same way, or a different way, however way—just do something and don’t sit there and watch.

Q: What made you start sharing your music online?
My first song that I put out online was a diss, bro. I dissed like seventh grade, eighth grade, some shit like that. The school was lit. I became known as like the school-type rapper. Just started it, I guess.

Q: What’s your process like when you create?
I’ve learned now not to force it. I just sit down, listen to the song. If I feel it, I feel it. If I don’t, I won’t. I’ll delete shit and work on something else. When you force it, I don’t think it goes. So yeah, I try to keep it like that.

Q: And with videos? How do you turn ideas into visuals?
Tonique: Sometimes we’ll have a song, like a broad idea from when you hear the song—what direction you want it to go, what colors. But for the most part, it’s really about the videographer. I just linked up with my source Kiss. This nigga’s tough. He was just good vibes every time we were outside. On top of it, it just makes the video come out better.

Q: Who are some artists you’ve been listening to lately?
Tonique: Last year my top was Cena, my boy Cena. We got a couple collabs. Yapo JJ, JJK—he’s good, feel-good music. I just put that shit on, I start vibing. Definitely I’ve been listening to that. Other than that, I’ve been on some crucified street, some electronic shit.

Q: What influences you outside of music?
Tonique: Probably just a whole bunch of nostalgic shit. Video games, like Midnight Club. That whole time period—I just wanna feel like when I was a kid again. All that shit I try to bring back.

Q: Do you have any upcoming projects?
Tonique: I got a tape coming up. I haven’t named it yet, working on the name. The songs are ready. Everything’s just getting mixed. Cover art’s there, working on the name. I have a song called “Inauguration.” We got a couple videos for it, at least two or three. It’s a full tape, at least like eight songs.

Q: What’s your vision moving forward?
Tonique: I want to keep testing the boundaries. I feel like I’ve been kind of ahead of niggas in terms of experimenting with sound. I held back in recent years on my experimentation because of confidence. But now confidence is at an all-time high. Just keep experimenting, keep pushing the boundaries. Niggas gonna have their own sound. It’s just gonna be you, a little bit different in the next couple of years.

Through his abstract lyrics and dissonant melodies, Edward Skeletrix's album, Museum Music, captures the essence of psychological introspection and spreads a messeage about the packaging of modern rap music.

Sure, it's rap, but it's also something darker and harder to describe. You immediatly feel like you've walked into something bigger than itself.

The album plays with feelings you don't always want to face, and that's exactly what makes sound so different.

Across 30 tracks, split between two different names—Edward Skeletrix and "I'm A Monster"—he pulls from rage rap, SoundCloud energy, and glitchy, internet-damaged aesthetics.

It's weird, raw, and a lot of times uncomfortable.

Songs like "Blurry Picture (Psychosis)" or "Drug Dealer Injects His Fentanyl" aren't easy listens, but they stick with you.

What I find important about this project is how it captures a certain feeling—like when everything in life feels kind of twisted and surreal.

There's a numbness in his voice, in the beats, even in the way he titles tracks.

It's like he's trying to show just how absurd and painful everything can be, but without ever saying it directly.

Some people might hear this and think it's trolling, or that it's not serious.

But I think that's part of the point.

Skeletrix blurs the line between performance and honesty, and that tension is where the power is.

You don't always know how to feel when listening to Museum Music, and I think that's exactly what makes it real.

It doesn't try to make life sound better than it is—it just shows it like it is, and leaves you sitting with it.

Sterling Ruby's SKULL series comprises oversized sculptures (roughly 30–38 in.) crafted from resin, urethane, fiberglass, aluminum and synthetic yarn. Debuted in 2018 at his Damnation exhibition at Sprüth Magers in Los Angeles, these grotesque totem-like heads feature animalistic eye-orbs, fang-like teeth and flamboyant yarn "wigs."

Initially whimsical, Ruby's skulls reveal a deeper commentary on state power and confinement. They serve as distorted funhouse mirrors reflecting our collective fixation on fear and security—fear used to justify the compartmentalization of bodies behind concrete and barbed wire.

At Damnation's core was STATE (2019), a 33-minute aerial video documenting California's 35 adult state prisons, set to rhythmic percussion. The aerial perspective underscores the geography of control—vast landscapes bisected by unsettlingly regimented structures.

Together, the video and sculptures form a potent allegory: prisons as authoritarian monoliths in rural isolation, skulls as playful yet sinister artifacts of repression. Ruby's work invites viewers to reconsider how modern America encloses not just bodies, but psyches, by transforming monumental sites of confinement into distorted cultural icons.

Hello, this is Aidan. I'm a news reporter for one of the most prominent student-run newspapers in the south. But I do a lot more than just report news.

Over the last two years, I've interviewed historical experts, outspoken activists, politicians, and more.

From 2023 to 2025, I've covered the evolving political landscape at LSU—everything from elections, debates, protests, and campus hearings. Focusing on important moments that shift thought and culture.

I'm hoping to use this blog is a continuation of that mission.

Here, I'll explore the ideas and stories that reflect what makes us human: culture, conflict, nuance, and purpose.

I want to write about the things that feel worthy—the topics that shift perspectives, challenge norms, and highlight how strange and beautiful life can be when we pay attention.

Find it here.

For young artists making cutting-edge pop music in the age of Discord, slowsilver03 has served as both a label and a collective. The group, founded by teenage producer Ash Blue Gutierrez, better known as Glaive, and Welsh singer-producer Kurtains, began as a handful of friends trading beats and vocals online. Nearly five years later, its members have grown from SoundCloud upstarts into key figures in a genre that delights in breaking rules.

Birth
Hyperpop evolved during the pandemic as artists stitched emo, rap and EDM into glitchy, melodic songs. In an August 2020 interview with Lyrical Lemonade, 15-year-old Glaive described slowsilver03 as a musicians’ collective he started with Kurtains: “We’re all pretty much friends that also make music,” he said, noting that the crew was only about five months old at the time. The duo invited other like-minded artists who were posting to SoundCloud; they exchanged ideas in Discord chats and posted songs under the tag “SS03.”

A Last.fm profile summarizes the collective’s lineup as Glaive, Kurtains, Wido, aldn, osquinn (also known as p4rkr), pposture, Kwuzi, pitfall, doxia and Zootzielast.fm. While some members drifted into other crews, the early roster captured the DIY spirit of the scene.

Meet the members

Glaive
Glaive’s songs marry confessional lyrics with the energy of emo, trap and pop. He grew up in a small town in North Carolina and connected with friends through Discord, becoming a member of the slowsilver03 collective along with hyperpop-affiliated musicians such as osquinn and Kurtains. That online community helped him build a catalog that blended melancholy and euphoria; he has since earned praise from The New York Times and GQ. Ultraviolet Magazine noted in July 2025 that, after briefly releasing music under an outside label, he returned to releasing songs under slowsilver03, making clear the collective is “not going anywhere”

Kurtains
Kurtains—real name Alex Davies—is a Welsh singer and producer whose dreamy, glitchy beats anchor many SS03 releases. A concert listing from Belgium’s cultural center Botanique calls him a frequent collaborator with Glaive and explicitly notes that he is heavily associated with the collective slowsilver03.

Osquinn (p4rkr)
Born Parker Nguyen, osquinn quickly became one of hyperpop’s most influential voices. The Fader’s 2020 “5 Fast Facts” feature identifies slowsilver03 as the collective she belongs to and lists Bloodhounds, NovaGang, Noheart, Helix Tears and Scenegirl Fanclub as sister groups thefader.com. She said the scene’s collectives inspired her to switch from trap metal to hyperpop, underscoring how these online communities nurture experimentation.

Wido
Dutch producer Wido released his first tracks on YouTube before gravitating toward hyperpop. In a 2023 profile of his EP Field Day, the site Music Mondays reports that he “joined the collective slowsilver03, started by fellow artists Kurtains and Glaive”allmusicmondays.com.

Other contributors
Aldn and pposture, both producers and singers from the Washington, D.C., area, joined the group in 2020 and helped define its hazy, electronic sound. Kwuzi, pitfall, doxia and Zootzie each contributed distinct flavors ranging from distorted rap to ethereal ballads. Their membership is confirmed on Last.fm’s tag pagelast.fm

What makes slowsilver03 special
While hyperpop collectives often feel and act as loose affiliations, SS03 seems to have fostered a deeper collaboration. Ticketline’s bio notes that Glaive’s music “sidesteps the irony of much of the hyperpop scene,” focusing on sincerity rather than satire. That earnestness permeates SS03 releases, which often pair raw vocals with glitch-heavy production.

The collective’s network also shows how digital platforms shape today’s music. Artists met on Discord, recorded in bedrooms and released songs on SoundCloud. Through Discord, Glaive and Kurtains attracted collaborators from as far afield as Wales and the Netherlands. Fader’s profile on osquinn highlights the role of collectives like slowsilver03, Bloodhounds and Helix Tears in pushing artists to experimentthefader.com.

SS03’s influence extends beyond its core roster. By 2021 the collective’s tag appeared on viral singles from rising stars like Brakence and Midwxst; merch and bootleg “slowsilver03” jerseys circulated online. And when Wido’s “RED” assembled nineteen artists from multiple crews, it illustrated how SS03’s collaborative ethic helped unify a fragmented sceneallmusicmondays.com.

Where it stands now
Hyperpop’s mainstream moment has faded, but the artists behind slowsilver03 continue to evolve. Glaive headlined tours, released his debut LP Y’all in 2025 and still sprinkles SS03 references in his songs. Ultraviolet Magazine reports that he now drops music under his own “independent label/collective” and that the SS03 brand remains alive. Kurtains and Wido have moved into solo projects while occasionally reuniting with their old crew; osquinn’s albums blend hyperpop with emo rap and indie rock, influencing a new generation.

In a genre defined by fleeting trends, slowsilver03 demonstrates the staying power of genuine collaboration. What began as a group of teens swapping files on Discord has grown into a micro-label and aesthetic that still resonates. Whether SS03 remains a formal collective or just a badge of camaraderie, its legacy shows how the internet can incubate a scene and launch artists toward stardom.

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