Muenster is a versatile wordsmith, a polished and flashy orator, and a prolific national performer. This Austin native/Denton transplant is not your typical Texas rapper. The rhymesayer’s résumé boasts more than a decade of experience and dedication to his craft, evidenced by hundreds of live performances, several Warped Tour regional circuits, and a collection of meticulously crafted recordings that seemingly have no low points. His albums are the listen-on-repeat kind, ones that never give you the urge to skip a track (which is a rarity, especially in the hip-hop community). Muenster seamlessly blends an array of vocal cadences reminiscent of the UK grime scene with a delivery as varied as a late-90s Project Blowed mixtape. Listeners will find sincere, insightful poetics that aren’t afraid to grapple with provocative social and political topics. His cerebral, timely lyrics result in a more fulfilling experience than your typical club banger, but Muenster’s tracks still bring the bang. He showcases technically complex delivery matched with quick-paced lyricism, which comes off as natural and almost effortless, deploying surgically sharp enunciation and precision that somehow results in an insidiously listenable swagger.
How did you come up with the name ‘Muenster’?
I always enjoy answering this question, especially these days… It once was a funny relevant story and now is a seasoned footprint in time that I cherish deeply... SO! …I got the name Muenster (Fazolli) from Rap… Literally.. it was 2000 in Austin Texas.. we had been kickin it all day skating, burning, listening to tapes… and we had been watching a Munsters marathon on TV in the background… (don’t ask me why…) and we were goin ‘off top w the homies DRTE, Kilathon, Jsun, Haps, and some others… and my guy started off “ something something kickin it with my main man “Muenster Fazolli” and we all lost our ish… classic cypher moment ya know?... Side note, I really FW this restaurant at that time heavy called “Fazollis” and it all just gelled ya dig?.
What is its context?
I think it was just this awesome byproduct of that moment in time ya know? Like a perfect combination .. I quickly dropped the “Fazolli” aspect and for a while billed as “Muenster Emcee” before just sticking with “Muenster”.
Can you tell us about your background in music and how you got to where you are today?
Oi… Sure.. I have been playing keyboards/piano since I could press buttons. I never was formally trained on the keys, but I began “band” in 6th grade playing trumpet and studied music through graduation. As an Anthropologist, I chose Ethno-Musicology as a light minor in my baccalaureate studies. I have a knack it seems for more rhythmical instruments picking up drums and percussion in college lending to my beat making/production touch points and syncopated delivery in my songs throughout my musical embarkment…
Who has been your biggest musical influences for Muenster’s sound?
Singularly speaking there is just NO WAY I could pinpoint that. I will say it takes a village to raise an MC, and I brought along some of my greatest teachers and village leaders to help make sure the path was a righteous one on this record. West coast underground hip hop from Los Angeles from the mid 90’s likely had the greatest influence on me. That said all of that was influenced by the greatest Jazz musicians and Griots of their time, so its all an ecosytem…
Congratulations on your upcoming album ‘MuensterVision Presents: Ian’. What was the creative experience behind this project?
Thank you, and thank you for lending me your ear, and your ink…
My creative experience has been exponential, the amount I have learned in the last 18 or so months creating this record is just how valuable communion is. The bonds we make with each other as we experience life in a moment, in sync with one another if for but a sliver of that are so critical to the way that Art is received. I set out on a journey to give my squad more than I had ever given before. I learned about the value of token backed assets, and about the power of what added utility can bring to a work of art. I started architecting the future with newly found tools in my tool kit. I jumped into web3 and crypto, I learned about blockchain transparency and smart contract driven unlockable content that I can overlay into my creative offering. From there I started thinking about who I wanted to bring along with me on his journey. I reached out to my old bill mates, monsters of rap, and day ones along with some of the best accompanying musicians I could think of and we formed this brain child of mine, but together as well. It is as much all of ours as it is “Muenster’s”.
And where did the idea for ‘MuensterVision Presents: Ian’ come from?
It’s a bit Nietzsche-ian but it comes from the notion of the “uberman” or over/more than man construct from “Thus Spoke Zarathustra” in that in order to truly expand beyond, we must become more than ourselves allow us to be in any given moment. I decided to shed my ego / constructs of who “muenster” is and to embrace fully the human within the conceptual entity of a “rapper”. Acknowledging the “brand” that is MuensterVision while at the same time embracing my root self “Ian” seemed the best way to sort of let my old self transcend. I mean, am I still “Muenster” of course, am I also Ian, yes. As I always have been… I am also part of something more than the self. There in lies “Muenstervision” the brand or the project itself that exists outside of the boundaries of self-sufficiency. The entire notion of MuensterVision is to incubate and embolden the notion of WE over me. So, by embracing the fact that I was letting my former self go, I am able to present as new art, as new energy.
What do you hope to see from audiences when they listen to the project?
I suppose I just hope to form a bond, in any way we can. Whether listening and reaching out, meeting at a show, or connecting with some element of the art itself. Knowing my creation is out there in the world, being received and potentially shared in communion with others loved ones and tribe is an overtly satisfying feeling all in itself.
And as an artist and curator, what’s your motivation and purpose when releasing new music?
For me, as socio-cultural scientist in the new modern age, its ALWAYS about what my impact is. “All we have is what we leave behind” is often something you’ll catch me saying to new crowds or familiar faces alike, because its true. At the end of the day, we are only remembered until were spoken of in someone else’s final breaths, so what we do while were here matters. My purpose is to leave more than I took…