john2tact on ‘Perdition, what does it mean 2 u?

'Perdition, what does it mean 2 u?' puts a question right in the title. What does perdition mean to you, and why did you choose to put that question to the listener rather than answer it yourself?

john2tact: Perdition to me is a state of being — trapped, like something is keeping you held back. I ask what it means because I had no idea what it meant myself until I saw it in my ex-girlfriend's bio while I was stalking her. And what it means to me could be different from what it means to them.

Take us back to the moment this track started. Was it a line, a melody, a beat or something happening in your life, and how did it grow from there into the finished song?

john2tact: Well, I already said I was stalking my ex and read it in her bio, but it wasn't just that — it was after, when I Googled the definition and it brought tears to my eyes. In her bio it was a quote from Supernatural: "I'm the one who gripped you tight and raised you from perdition." And it was all just too real to me, because ever since we broke up, everyone I'm close to tells me they think she did something bad to me, and they notice things always go wrong when I'm with her. And one time I was nodding off on FaceTime with her and her face looked so realistically demonic, like Lucifer from the Netflix show. Then I looked down at my wrist and my blessed bracelet popped off my wrist and I started having a panic attack lol. But yeah.

Walk us through how you recorded and produced it: where you worked, who was involved, and which part of the process took the most work to get right.

john2tact: After I read it in her bio and saw what it meant and cried, and then calmed down like a regular grown man, I just put my AirPods in and started freestyling the song lol. When I record, I sit criss-cross applesauce in my bed with one AirPod in my ear as a headset and I hold the other in front of my mouth as the mic. I know, very ghetto.

How did John Cannetti become john2tact? Tell us the story behind the name and what it says about you as an artist.

john2tact: I got the name John2tact from a Discord I was in during high school. It was my friend group — everyone was from New York City and we all just played Fortnite, it was very fun. But yes, John2tact just stuck, and that was always me ever since I first did the name change.

Where do you come from, musically and geographically, and which people, places or records shaped the sound you make today?

john2tact: Musically I don't really have an actual background, but my parents are from the city, so I grew up on Lil Wayne, Fetty Wap, Future, A Boogie, Nicki Minaj, all of them. My mom and abuela also danced bachata all the time — shi was annoyin at 7am.

What keeps you writing and releasing music independently, and what do you most want someone to feel or think about after hearing one of your songs?

john2tact: I'm the only person who keeps me going. And all I want people to feel from my music is better. Next question.

What are you working on next, and where do you hope to take your music over the coming year?

john2tact: I have no idea what I'm working on next. I literally just read her bio like a week ago and now I'm filling out an interview for an entire album I already released about her, that I recorded in 2 days. So I honestly don't know what I'll be working on next. But one year from now I want to be on stages, on tour, doing the regular rapper things — buying my mom a house, making sure my loved ones are taken care of. And in one year from now I'd like to have enough money to at least open up my first rehab. I would like to open up rehabs all across the world — not just for drugs, but for sex, gambling, not being able to save money, literally anything, because people can get addicted or get bad habits with absolutely anything. But yes, that's what I would like to do in a year, hopefully.