Zomb: First things first, where are you from and how old are you? 

Onwuka: Chea! It's Onwuka. I'm originally from Monterey, CA. Grew up there around the Bay area and I'm 34.  

Zomb: Excellent we love our West Coast natives, tell us a bit about what it was like growing up in California for you? What are some of your early experiences you remember? 

Onwuka: Yate big shout out to the West Coast! Growing up as a kid I stayed in Seaside, San Jose & Carmel Valley a bunch. We had people we knew or work my Mom did there. One of the main things was going to the Beach and vibing in Seaside. Checking out Monterey Harbor to grab a meal. In Carmel Valley I would straight pluck oranges out the backyard and make juice all legit. Going to the Arcade and stuntin' on older kids in fighting games had a bunch of cool memories. Also Monterey Aquarium is a classic thing to scope there. 

Zomb: That's such a comfortable come up, I love to hear that. What are some of your earliest memories of music? Who or what do you remember first listening to and enjoying? 

Onwuka: Growing up around Seaside they would bump a bunch of soul & funk. Funk music is my first love when it comes to music in a sense. My first music G.O.A.T. was Rick James. The flavor of groove he'd bring with his  iconic drawn out voice drew me in completely. Yet The Gap Band, Kool & The Gang, P-Funk. When I was a kid I specifically preferred the fast paced style of Funk that's kinda frantic over the smooth Soul a bit too. 

Zomb: It's crazy you mention that but also not surprising because that style reflects so much in your music these days. So when did you actually become interested in recording yourself or even writing and around what year was it? 

Onwuka: Yate I've always been a bit of a writer as a kid. Poems, stories, all those things in school were my favorite to do. When it comes to raps exactly, I would say in 07,08 is when I'd actually write full ones. Some were actually crazy long yet not too many hooks within them, mainly bars. At this stage I'd go around freestyle and even try to battle at parties in that young bravado ChronWuka style. At this point the only recording I did was at partna's places in a DIY fashion occasionally not much. Then finally in 2016 I recorded Let Me Teach Ya and put that officially into the World. 2020 is when I started recording "officially" if you will and put out my first EP The Grand Chieftain. 

Zomb: What a great journey for you, so you really were sharpening your sword throughout the years before you actually started laying things down. So following your first release in 2020, was that the point you knew you wanted to take it seriously? Especially during peak pandemic that probably gave you some time to think about everything.

Onwuka: Yup exactly! Actually a bit before the pandemic that year it was my goal to put out a full release. A mixture of a bunch of factors inspired me to fully invest. Even Kobe passing had an impact on me. It was already a goal for me. Then that happened and he had a quote saying "Love what you do" I was doing some writing for marketing at the time and wanted to pivot to more creative free flowing writing of rap completely. Also the Pandemic gave me the mindset like I've got no excuse now not to fully hop into grind mode. So I wrote most of The Grand Chieftain during it and within the process I'd already committed to rapping in a more structured, consistent form for the future. 

Zomb: Some real ass inspirations during an important time for sure, you absolutely took the right route. Heading in 2022-2023, what were those years like for you? Did you continue to work on solo releases or were you diving into other collaborations at that point?

Onwuka: So during that time I was actually starting a bunch of collabs. I met INSMNC, who is an incredibly versatile producer, and the first track we ever did was called Annihilus. I was a feature with another artist for a comic book villian inspired track which is my niche. We formed InsomniWuka and started working on our first project Portals. I did Funk Vigilante with DDX.EXE, Flabbergasted with Neuro Shokrz, Set Fire To The Hills with Limnetic Villains. All of these led me to create an album Digital Surfin' all about meeting people online which those will all be on. Xavier and I were also crafting Sleazy so a shout out to all these artists helping me slide on their production. 

Zomb: Such a great list of names there shoutout to everyone mentioned, we've reacted to quite a few of those collabs as well. So that takes us up to 2024/2025, tell us a little bit about the last year and some of your plans for the rest of 2025.

Onwuka: Yate last year InsomniWuka released Fatal Fate Tales. Our second project. Salute to S.I.N., Darryl Watson, Big Noah Genesis all from T.H.I.S. they were all on that joint. As well as Lowkea on I Pull Up! I did a couple of features on INSMNC's album Imposter Syndrome on one called Pop Bubblegum & the other Date Night. Xavier and I met years ago and slowly were working on Sleazy and released it everywhere just back in February. We're both now in the process of making a couple of shorter EPs one all smooth & the other raw and tough flavor.  InsomniWuka is also in the lab crafting our next project XL ICONS currently. I've got the start already going and our plan is to get that out this year. We both did verses for a cool ass sensual smooth & gutta rapper named Corri coming up! I've got a collab with Horosha who is an ill producer, singer & musician I'm finishing up. A lot is still in store this year. As I mentioned before working on getting Digital Surfin' out soon. Still got some heaters from that to show Music Mondays & more to record for it. 

Zomb: Absolutely stacked! That's super fantastic. We love to hear that. Your collaboration list is definitely large but what artists would you like to work with in the future that you haven't yet? Can be independent or mainstream.

Onwuka: Shoot let's go I'll start off with an indie! I do wanna reach out to rspbrry who is a sick lo-fi artist. I haven't really done too much lo-fi & I think my voice would mesh well & I'd be able to experiment with some slower flows than my usual pace I usually hop in. For more mainstream & Rap specifically Chamillionaire, Ludacris, Nas & OutKast. Any of them would be an honor. I utilize all the techniques they use specifically so it'd be dope to show them how they helped me grow & carry on tradition yet in my own lane. For modern Funk I'd love to slide on a Dâm-Funk beat. I've already done some freestyles over it and he liked them so hopefully one day. And for more dance vibes Roosevelt. He's one of my favorite artists of all time as well. His groove is immaculate so I feel like my voice could also hit with him on the hook. 

Zomb: Honestly can see you hanging with every single one of them, the lofi experiment would be so sick to see as well I can't lie. Great list. Let's talk about your creative process for a second. How long does it usually take you to write, record and release a song in 2025? 

Onwuka: It definitely varies depending on a few things. The first being a feature of a full track of my own. Next is honestly my inspiration level. Sometimes I'll be cruising freestylin' and I'll immediately have an idea how to set up the whole thing. I've recently been doing this puzzle method I'll classify it as.  Where I take about 2 to 3 words all rhyming the same pattern.  Then structure out the verse. Try different takes, see if it fully hits and edit out words I don't need. When I first started I was very "wordy" if you will so now I try to take out excess while still making punchlines work. For example my song Flabbergasted I wrote in an hour & half. The subject matter on that is mainly flexin' though so easy to just go off. A more sentimental track I might sleep on for a bit and dwell on for some time. Yet a fully engaged idea going I'd say about 3-4 hours if it's all me and the hooks. Feature more like an hour or so. My recent features I've had the idea in my head for a bit. When I start writing it pops off way quickly and I'm done in an hour or so.

Zomb: Wow so all in all a really productive process, it's always good to get some insight like that. Do you have a favorite song of yours that you've made? Can be released or unreleased. 

Onwuka: So tough to hone in on just 1 for real! It's like all of your kids. As an artist's answer I'd go with my most recent cause once I started recording I realized how much you want to show people something you just crafted. Yet for a legitimate pick I'm gonna go with Nattie D's off of Sleazy. That song starts off in such a G' way and I was really trying to show my skills in a "prove it" type of way. Wrote it in 2022 and it helped up my game for all my next tracks. I also did a play on words on it with Fatal and Fate Tall. Which also inspired the title Fatal Fate Tales later on with INSMNC. It's chaotic and has references yet sounds tough, playa and smooth so I think it represents me as an artist pretty distinctly. And Xavier added natural disaster samples to hit even harder and Nattie D's pretty iconic for a title. 

Zomb: Yup completely agree with you to be honest, some top tier picks right there. One of my last questions for you is, outside of creating what keeps you grounded and balanced? What are you usually doing to decompress if you aren't cooking music?