Arshad Goods took a unique route to a music career. As a graduate student studying electrical engineering at Purdue, Goods realized he was not happy with the path he was on. He finished school, moved back to St. Louis, and recorded a voice-memo of himself rapping on his phone. Goods sent the file to his sister and his friend, who gave him positive feedback. Now, he's one of the city's most promising new artists.
Your path to music was unconventional. When you were in graduate school at Purdue, was there a specific moment when you thought to yourself “I want to do something else?”
It wasn’t actually while I was at school. When I was at Purdue I was in a Ph.D. program, and I wasn’t happy, to say the least. I knew I wanted to leave, but I figured I’d get my master’s degree first, so I finished my requirements and left immediately. I honestly don’t know if I actually got a degree from there, because I left as soon as I was done.
Is that when you decided you wanted to fully pursue rap?
I guess the moment that really sparked it in me was seeing the Batman Movie, the one with Bane. The scene when they’re in the underground prison trying to climb up the wall and they ask, “How do you make it up?” and the answer is to do it without a rope or safety line—the next day I think I maxed out a credit card at the Guitar Center.
Has your education shaped the way you approach making music?
Definitely. I think education of any kind changes the way you approach things. In engineering, you have to be clear-minded and have a clear hypothesis, then do things in the right way. I think that’s helped me with making music, and with time management.
When you took the leap into music, who were your biggest influences?
There were so many. All the different kinds of music I listened to growing up: jazz, hip-hop, soul music… all of these influenced me. And a lot of it was the support from my sister and my friends who encouraged me to make the kind of music I wanted to.
Much of your music is extremely personal and intimate. Would you say that the intimacy behind your songs is what makes you so intriguing as a rapper?
To say what sets it apart, you know, is hard, because this is art. I write about my experiences, which is a wide-range of things.
You’ll be performing at LouFest U in Forest Park later this summer. Is it special for you to be performing at such a prominent event in your hometown?
Definitely. Especially when you’re talking about local artists, there’s a stigma in the city. Only certain kinds of people go to local shows, so it’s cool that LouFest has the finances to pay local acts, and that it’s not us performing for free. It’s a big thing that they have finances to bring in regional and national acts because I know that I’ll be able to get some exposure to an audience that might not have gone to a local show. Especially when you’re independent, it’s a huge thing, because that can be the momentum that you need.
In your song, “Fear No Man,” you have a line about hating the way the media portrays St. Louis. Do you think your music is directly influenced by the city?
Yeah, I kept seeing things about drugs and syphilis and STDs and stuff like that. It was just random articles that I would see about St. Louis that I didn’t think were highlighting any positives. And then Mike Brown happened. I wrote a lot of "Black Sunday" way before anything happened with Mike Brown, it’s just that history repeats itself until things actually get addressed. So It’s sad. Not to say I knew about Mike Brown, but I knew that what I was talking about would probably always be relevant in this country.
LouFest U will be a crowd of almost exclusively university students, and you’ve obviously been in their shoes before. What advice would you give them as they look to begin careers in their respective areas?
So much comes to mind. I would say there’s value in learning what you don’t want to do, almost as much as learning what you do want to do. So if you go to school and realize “Hey, I kind of don’t like accounting,” or whatever, it is that you’re getting a degree in, that’s OK. It’s still important information. Another big thing is to actually make a choice. A lot of the time it’s as simple as making a decision on what you want to do and following through on the work. If you know that 80 percent of people won’t put in the extra mile, then make sure you put in the extra mile. Most people won’t even do the first mile, so if you can do the extra mile, then it will set you ahead of a lot of people that might be trying to do the same thing.
Arshad Goods performs at LouFest U on September 8. The event runs 4-10 p.m. and is free to any student with a valid student ID. Find it at LouFest's 2017 festival site on the Upper Muny Grounds and Festival Plaza in Forest Park.
