Adnan Ahmed Rizal ’28 is a man of many talents. Originally from New Haven, Connecticut, he is an independent musician rapping under his stage name, Rizal. Rizal has come onto the Vassar scene strong, commanding the stage at his solo Mug Night and opening ViCE’s spring concert with student band Magnolia. This summer, Rizal released his fourth album: “That’s Alright.” Available on music streaming platforms, “That’s Alright” is rich with humor, vulnerability and charisma. It is an album that takes you everywhere and leaves you with a lot to think about afterward. This week, I had the opportunity to talk with Rizal about his new album, his inspirations and what he hopes people will get out of his music.
“Your rap tends towards a more dense and lyrical style. What’s your writing process like?”
“There will always be inspiration that comes to me, from both the things that are going around in my life and in the world. The artist in me always wants to come up with ideas. Once I have those ideas, I’ll just keep writing about it and writing about it. That’s in terms of rapping—when it comes to bigger projects and bigger ideas, like my last album, I always want to be bigger, do better, to grow as an artist. I had my concept and plan, but it wasn’t complex enough. I was watching films and getting inspired by what I was seeing. I was asking myself: ‘How can I make the narrative something complex, so that the audience has to really think about it?’”
“You cite pop culture as a big influence in your work. Musically, who are your biggest influences? Where do you feel influenced by them the most?”
“It’s always been Kendrick. Kendrick was the first artist I ever listened to and was a fan of. I was saying how I wanted to make the album more complex—I was looking at Kendrick’s albums. Kendrick will put something out there, and then play devil’s advocate against himself. He just makes you think so deeply about everything, in all his albums: ‘Mr. Morale,’ ‘To Pimp a Butterfly,’ ‘DAMN.’ Rapping-wise, a big inspiration for me is JID. His new album, ‘God Does Like Ugly,’ is insane. I pull a lot of creativity from Smino, too. Those three are my GOATS.”
“Let’s talk production. Do you make your own beats? How do you approach music production? Who is involved in that process?”
“I take a lot of notes on the vibe I want. I made a tracklist and wrote down what I wanted for each track. It’s never bad to pull inspiration from other tracks, looking at the energy in other songs and trying to translate that energy into your own feelings and putting that into your own track. Production-wise, I’m pretty good with chord progressions and pretty good at figuring out where to put stuff. It’s more feeling than technical for me. A lot of it is self-taught, for me. This is the first album I put live instruments on, also. I play some of my own basslines, I play piano and I included some people I know too.”
“Right, I understand that a few of your Vassar collaborators contributed to the album. Who were they? How did they get involved and what was the process like working with them?”
“The first person I wanted to play on the album was actually my friend from New Haven, Demari Cole. For the intro track, I knew I wanted something really groovy and something really punchy and funky. I figured I would ask him if he would do it, and it turned into something beautiful. I felt like the intro track was good, but it was missing something to wrap it all up, because I wanted it to be a summary of the album. I was thinking about Alden’s (Alden Ormont ’27) guitar solos for Magnolia, who I’ve worked with before, and I asked him to hop on. On the last track, I also have Sebastian (Sebastian DeLeon ’28) on drums and Noah (Noah Pockriss ’28) on keys. Chemistry was really important to me. I wanted people who were gonna understand my vision and be excited to do it.”
“A lot of your work, both on this album and in the past, references your upbringing in New Haven and your Malaysian heritage. What role does that play in your music?”
“Like everybody, you love where you’re from. I love talking about identity in my music. Sometimes I feel like I’m in so many places that it’s hard to reside in one. I love talking about that because I know people will relate to that. New Haven has always been home to me. As for Malaysia, I love Malaysian music so much. I sample Malaysian music all the time. My mom would put on Malaysian music for holidays. The third track, ‘Malaysia,’ is an ode to my home—I speak Malay on it. I went to Malaysia in the summer of 2022. I spent three weeks with my dad’s family and three weeks with my mom’s. That song has three parts: the first part to represent my experience with my dad’s side, the third part to represent my mom’s and the middle to represent how I was feeling. I personally consider myself American. I don’t reside with my Malaysian side a lot. But it’s still there: my mom is an immigrant, my dad is an immigrant, and they preserved our culture inside our house. It’s an ode, an appreciation of the fact that I’m in America doing my thing, but that doesn’t exclude me from my Malaysian ethnic background.”
“Do you have a favorite moment from the album you want to highlight?”
“‘422A’ was the most fun to make. It was this nostalgic vibe, the rhymes were there, the storytelling was there. I made the bassline for that song. ‘Is it Alright’ also, it’s easily my most conceptual song. It reflects what goes on in my head when I overthink. It reflects the concept of the album: is it alright to grow within yourself and still stay connected? And ‘Malaysia.’ It’s so beautiful to me, having that ode to Malaysia and being able to talk about it. It’s such a beautiful track.”