So … I am Will Ramsey … and I am a hip-hop artist who goes buy the name Boys vs. Girls … So … I’m originally from a small little city in Michigan … Pontiac Michigan which is thirty minutes away from Detroit … I grew up there … and I moved to Chicago … ten years  … ten … eleven years ago … Michigan just was not … it was just not a place for me … at all (laughter) … Being artistic … being gay as well … it was not the most progressive place to be … Since I was a little kid … I’ve always been … been obsessed with music forever … and my parents have a famous story that they like to tell … when I was five years old …  apparently I cried a lot … and the only way they could get me to stop crying was that they would put on Michael Jackson videos … and I would stop crying … and I would literally start dancing (laughter) … in front of the TV … So … music and art in general … have always been a massive part of my life … it was a way that I made sense of the world … even when I was a kid … even right now … it’s the way that I made sense of things … It was a comforting thing too … because I didn’t have a lot of friends … art allowed me to get lost into my own world … and kind of create my own world … It’s everything … it’s always been a part of me since I can remember … My childhood was kind of interesting as far as music goes … In our house … there were various different genres of artists … My grandmother would play Johnny cash … she would play Beethoven … There were several of us … we all lived in this big house … but also Tupac would be playing … Nirvana (laughter) … But for me personally … when I was a teenager … I really identified with kind of … rock music … punk music … so for me I was very into … I’m still into … The Ramones … I used to listen to the Sex Pistols a little bit … I also fell in love with Bob Dylan … These … especially Bob Dylan and Kurt Cobain … in some way I could just relate to their story … I felt very connected to them … so they were really a important part of shaping me … Rap? … So … I’ve been rapping since I was seven years old … but I would also sing as well … During that time when I was a teenager … I was mainly more into being in bands … I wasn’t even rapping … at all … I just kind of stopped … I was just singing … trying to teach myself how to play instruments … But I really wanted to be … I joke with friends … I wanted to be the Black Kurt Cobain … at that time (laughter) … I wasn’t even interested in rapping … I kind of came back to rapping four or five years ago … before that … it was just terrible punk bands I was a part of (laughter) … Did I go out … to clubs … back when I was in Michigan? … I was antisocial … I couldn’t allow myself to do that … I was such an introvert … I feel I still am in some ways … but I’m so much more comfortable with who I am now … But during that time … no … I was just indoors almost 99.9 % of the time … just listening to music … writing poetry … It was honestly … when I moved to Chicago … that I actually started to perform … before that it was just my bedroom … and the imaginary audience in my mind (laughter) … And that year … I taught myself guitar … by watching Youtube videos … because I didn’t have money for guitar lessons … I was … “This internet thing is kind of interesting … lets see if I can find some videos that can teach you how to play guitar” … And … surely enough I did … and in a matter of months I started learning … and it was very difficult at first … like most things are when you first start … but over time I became better and better … When I started to play guitar I was in a really really really really dark place in my life at that time … and learning how to play guitar gave me a sense of hope … and it really gave me a reason to wake up … at that time … I was very suicidal during that time in my life … and I remember that … and it sounds so weird to say but playing the guitar … I think … strangely enough saved my life …  So … yeah (laughter) … Michigan was one of those weird places … even when I was a little kid … my cousin … my favorite cousin … we always knew … since we were little kids … we would never stay in Michigan … I never felt like Michigan was home … ever … and I haven't been back since I left … because I just don’t feel any connection to it … For me … leaving … was something I always knew I was going to do … I didn’t know I was going to end up in Chicago … but I always knew … I would never live … in Michigan … there was nothing there for me … yeah (laughter) … I originally wanted to move to New York … because its the cliche thing that you hear … Oh … you know … you become a rock star in New York … and for whatever reason  I thought I was going to be on the cover of Rolling Stone at the age of twenty two … Living in New York … smoking cigarettes … drinking coffee (laughter) … So … Chicago … I came here because … my dad was already living here … and I hadn’t seen him in a very very long time … So … I originally came here just. To spend time with my father … and then I was going to move to New York after the summer … and strangely enough … I started exploring more and more of Chicago … and I was wow … this is kind of an interesting place … and before I knew it … I fell in love with it … I honestly couldn’t see myself being anywhere else … For the first time in my life … Chicago felt like … what I wanted Michigan to feel like … it genuinely felt like … and still does … home … It feels like home … more then my actual home … so I fell in love with it … and I never look back … Originally when I came here … first I was in this town called Westmont … That’s where my dad was … he still is … At some point … things got really really really bad … it’s a long complicated story … basically … I was in a really terrible situation … this guy … who I knew through my brother … because he took care of my little brother … he reached out to me … and he just asked me … he’s this Canadian guy married to Jamaican woman … very interesting couple (laughter) … He was … “Would you like to stay at my house? … and help you get on your feet” … I was … “absolutely” … yeah … because right now … life is not going so great … so I lived there for … almost a year … An amazing family … strangely enough … they were a pretty hard core conservative republican family … but really good people … but I was miserable in the town itself … it was not a very progressive place … and at that time … I still hadn’t come out …. I was still very much in the closet … I remember working for this place … where they would sell books … and magazines that would say how to stop being gay … or these super homophobic books … that they would have at this store … it was like a Christian furniture store … and once again … I was very depressed … and I was very suicidal during that time as well … because there was so much going on in my life at that time … I left sometime in the middle of 2012 … I said … screw it …I’m just going to move to the city … I’m just going to figure things out here … saved a little bit of money … and just moved here … and I’ve been here since … So … when I first came to the city … it was Logan Square … the reason I picked Logan Square was because a lot of my musician friends I made over the years … most of them lived there … it was the “cool “ place to live … it still is … I don’t know (laughter) … Moving to Logan Square … was honestly … life changing for me … it felt like … I could just be myself … It was the first time in my life where I could be myself … It was this freeing … liberating moment for me … and being a musician … there’s a lot of cool places you could play in Logan Square … so that’s the reason … I moved there … The reason I left … the rent got too high (laughter) … Got too damn high (laughter) … or I would have stayed … for sure … Where would I hang out? … I am a little addicted to coffee … so I spent a lot of time in so many different coffee houses … I spent a lot of time at  this very hipster place called New Wave Coffee … where they have … old Nintendo video games … It was just very … whatever your idea of hipster is … that is that (laughter) … But I spent a lot of time there … writing … about my life … also just writing where I’m at at that moment … When I wasn’t hanging out there … I would hang out at this dive bar called The Gallery Cabaret … Still probably my favorite dive bar … I met so many amazing people during that time … Another place I used to go to was …  another very hipster coffee shop called Cafe Mustache … The Empty Bottle as well … Just like d.i.y venues … or d.i.y.. house shows … My first performances … I remember … because it was god awful (laughter) … 2009 … I believe … that was when I was still learning how to play the guitar … probably three months in … and I was ok … let me go … I’m going to do this open mike … it will be great … I’m going to blow peoples minds away … I’m going to be like Hendrix … they’re going to be like … “Whoa” … No (laughter) … I performed … and I remember I was so terrified … I literally couldn’t look at people … I remember playing the guitar … with my head down … my hand was shaking … and the guy who was the host of the open mike … he kept constantly saying … “Dude … you got to sing to the mike … come up to the mike” … and I remember getting off stage … feeling like … just the worst person ever … and he pulled me to the side … and he’s like … you need to just … keep … going … I still remember that … his name was Garett … shout out to Garett if he somehow hears this … He told me … No one starts out great … you just have to keep going … and keep going … and keep going … That was my first performance … and it was a super packed night … it was at the Gallery Cabaret … They have these really popular open mikes … it was totally packed … and I bombed so badly (laughter) … It was really terrible … I broke the ice … I did …  But honestly … the first two … three years … I was terrible … I was really bad … The only thing that kept me going was … music was the only thing that made sense … it was the only way I knew how to … I guess communicate with people … because … as I said … I was much more of an introvert when I was a kid … more anti social … very shy … I couldn’t look people in the eye … for me … music was the only way I could make my voice be heard … and that got me through that … and I spent a lot of time watching various punk rock documentaries … The idea of punk … The idea that … Just do it … Just put your art out … That was something that gave me a little bit of confidence … or at least … a little bit of hope … But those first three years … so many times … I was just like … “What am I doing”? (laughter) … I was constantly embarrassing myself in front of all these people … Yeah … it … was not easy … Now … doing hip hop … for the most part … it’s basically beats … I work with these different producers … or different people that I find on line … But the transition … it was interesting … I … got to the point where I got tired of doing the singer songwriter thing … because … everybody does that … and there’s people that do it way better then me … So … at a point I was just like … I want to create this ultimate pop … hip hop project … and just change my sound … and just have fun … it was a way for me to deal with depression too … I wanted to make music that could make me move … and dance … and put me in good mood … It was towards the end of the summer in 2013 … was when I started to do this current project … Boys vs.. Girls … It’s been the most successful thing artistically that I’ve done … It’s just so much fun … I’ve always loved guitar based music because it just has a special place in my heart … but I love hip hop so much … it allows me to express myself … in such a more honest way … How did I choose the name Boys vs. girls? … I’m a massive Japanese anime nerd … so … for whatever reason … I was watching some … I don’t even know what anime I was watching … for whatever reason … the name popped into my head … Boys vs. Girls … I was … “This sounds kind of catchy and interesting … On a deeper level … the name represents … I think the masculine and feminine side that everyone has … These masculine and feminine sides that are constantly at odds with each other … especially for … young males … I feel like … regardless of race … I feel like … males … we’re taught to … repress that feminine side … or that softer side … or more sensitive side … I like the idea of playing with gender … blurring that line … the idea of … what makes a man … what makes a woman … It’s something I’ve always been interested in because … people get so … people get very intense about these things … people get very intense about gender identity … You know … this is what a real man is … versus this is not … I like the idea of playing with that … pushing it in peoples faces … When I first started doing hip hop … I played with a bunch of different ideas … I was still trying to figure out my style … I was trying to figure out my hip hop voice … Yeah … I played around with a lot of different things … like … almost E.D.M. … electro type of beats … The lyrics and the songs … they weren’t really deeply deeply about my life … because I wasn’t ready to share that story … Now … I feel I’ve found my voice … All of the songs are about my life … my past … about where I’m at now … about where I would like to be in the future … But that took time … It was definitely just trial and error … I mean just kind of playing around with things … figuring things out as I went along … One of my lyrics that people enjoy … that I shot a video for … called Demons … That song deals with my own battle with depression … and anxiety … And there’s a line in the song where it says … “Drinking till no-one can notice me … Drinking till there’s nothing left of me “ … That line … is really about how I … dealt with social anxiety … I would drink … so I would be more interesting to people … I didn’t feel that people would find me interesting unless I was the life of the party … so I would just drink a bunch of alcohol … to ease that anxiety … A lot of the songs are heading towards that direction … I’m at this really weird place in my life where I’m so comfortable with who I am … and telling my story … that I feel like all of the songs are becoming much more confessional like that … because when I first performed that song it was very difficult for me … because it was me facing my own truth … a truth I didn’t necessarily want to face … I guess if I had to choose any song right now … it would be that song … Now … I perform almost every week … at various places … like D.I.Y venues … but also more traditional venues … for whatever reason this year … I’ve just been getting booked a lot … I don’t know why (laughter) … Right now … I want to say … I’m booked through July … It’s been going very well … Performing … I always tell people … it’s the closest … at least for me … to feeling like a superhero without actually being one … Now … I feel so free when I’m on stage … I don’t know how to say it … but I feel so powerful when I’m on stage … I feel like I’m expressing my most authentic self … And it just creates this type of intimacy with the audience … It’s a certain type of intimacy that I don’t even have with my closest friends … that’s how it feels when you’re on stage … It’s like sex almost … it’s almost better then sex in some ways (laughter) … You just feel so alive … It really feels like this spiritual … thing … it’s very hard to explain in words … It’s the most alive I feel … is when I’m on stage … There’s so much exciting music happening right now in the city … what I’m starting to see is the hip hop world and the indie rock world are starting to blur into one … which I’m really happy about … I always felt it would do that eventually … because a lot of younger people … we listen to so many various types of music … Genre … is almost irrelevant at this point … You’re seeing a lot of people who are mixing hip hop … and indie rock … and punk rock … and jazz … and all of these different genres that seem to contradict each other … these kids are just blending them effortlessly … and that’s so exciting for me … and I feel that’s the future … not just for Chicago … but the future of music in general … more of a mashup of sounds … Do I have to deal with judgement? Oh my god … absolutely … not so much in real life situations … but definitely on line … I’ve literally gotten death threats … I’ve been called homophobic slurs … racial slurs … I’ve had people tell me how much they hate my music (laughter) … so yeah … I’ve experienced a lot of hostility … a lot of judgement … especially when people find out … Oh … he’s a gay hip hop artist … No … this is not allowed … this is such a contradiction … let me attack you with my keyboard (laughter) … So I’ve experienced that … a lot … as far as real life situations? … No … not really … Usually what happens at a lot of my shows … and I do have some older people at my shows … a lot of them come up tp me and say … I don’t usually listen to hip hop … I usually have my judgements on it … but … I like what you did … this was something different … I felt like I can relate to that … There was a guy … he was a sixty year old white guy … who told me he listens to mainly country music … but … what you did … moved me … I think that that’s part of my goal … to bring different types of people together … If you can emotionally connect to something … and it’s truthful … it’s genuine … The face … The genre …. all of these different things that usually separate us … none of those things matter … because if I’m creating a human connection to you … that’s what’s speaking to you … So that’s part of my goal … is to make the world less … intense … make people get out of their comfort zones … and their boxes … All of us … including myself … we all live in … you know … So … that’s what I hope I’m able to do with my music … As far as social media … The main ones I use are … Instagram and Facebook … especially Instagram … I’ve found a lot of success using Instagram … I’ve been able to talk to … and meet so many different types of people … Social media … everyone uses it differently … I use it for the purpose of sharing my art … and my work … Instagram has been really interesting to me … because … along with the hostility … there have been a lot of positive situations … where … two nights ago … I had a young lady reach out to me … and she was letting me know that my song … literally … saved her life … She was … that very night … planning to end her life … and she found my account … and she found the song I was talking about … “Demons” … and she hit me up … and she was … Thank you for this … And that’s happened a lot recently … where a lot of different … young people … from all around the world … have been messaging me … saying that your music is helping me through my depression … it’s helping me through my anxiety … To me … that shows the power of the internet … and how we actually … should be using it … instead of other reasons (laughter) … But … Instagram has been really great for me … I’m literally obsessed with it … As far as Facebook … I took a whole year off Facebook … I was just tired of seeing politics … on both sides … But Instagrams less of that … it’s just images … It’s art … in many different ways you meet very cool artists … So that’s why I mainly use Instagram … I still go on Facebook … but not as much … Travel … Where would I like to go to? … Tokyo … Japan … absolutely … That is the number one place … since I was fifteen years old … I’ve always wanted to go to Tokyo … it has been a huge dream of mine … Tokyo for sure … Would I like to perform there? … Absolutely (laughter)  … Yes … yes … yes … Japanese culture is just really interesting to me … and for whatever reason … I just feel strangely connected to it … I can see myself performing in Tokyo … For me … quote unquote … “Made it” … when I’m able to do that … For now … I’m just going to keep performing … putting on events … I’m starting to do that more too … where I’m gathering different artists … and throwing all these bigger shows .. I’m doing an all LGBT artist event in June … At this point in my life … just keep creating art … I don’t know what else to do … I have to keep creating … I accept that one day … I’m not going to be here … I want to get whatever’s going on in here … I want to get as much of that out as possible … so maybe it can help somebody else … when I’m not here anymore … Just keep creating … that’s its …