“Ever since I was a small child I’ve always been attracted to more experimental styles of filmmaking and that comes across in the music for sure,” New Jersey rapper Fatboi Sharif aka The Garden State Gargoyle tells Joseph Stannard in The Wire 483. “1970s and 80s horror movies, arthouse cinema of the 90s into the 2000s and certain historical documentaries have all played a huge part in my upbringing.

"When I create musically,” he continues, “I always aim to give the listener the same feeling as I felt when I revisit some of my favourite films that opened my mind over the years, that will always hold a special place in my heart for what they made me think about creativity and what’s possible from worlds that haven’t been created yet.”

Though he's developed creative partnerships with several producers over the years, Sharif prefers to see the process of making an individual album through with one producer, likening the results to an “audio experience that plays out like it’s on the big screen.” Brooklyn producer Steel Tipped Dove worked on Sharif's 2023 full length Decay, and he's also collaborated with noface, Big Juss, and LoneSword. His most recent release – a 10 minute standalone single titled “Something About Shirley” – is co-credited to Roper Williams.

Here Sharif selects tracks birthed from these partnerships and more, and teases an exclusive unreleased track titled “Postcards In Arabic” produced by Driveby.

Read Joseph Stannard's interview with Fatboi Sharif in full in The Wire 483. Subscribers can also read the article online via the digital library of back issues.