Alex Drips on rap, modeling, finding community, and living many lives

Saturday, June 28, 2025

Agora Cafe, Houston, Texas

It's a hot summer day in Houston, and Alex and I are doing the most Houston thing possible: sitting at Agora. Me and Alex have been acquaintances for a while, and I was excited to finally sit down with him for Coog Sound Collective's first interview. Out of all the UH musicians I have gotten to meet, no one has put out as many recordings as Alex during their college career. I was truly amazed at not only the quantity, but the quality of his musical output. From the outside, Alex seemed laser focused on a double vision, as model and musician. And while this is true, I learned that his vision goes so much deeper than that, and what rap and modeling mean to him. In short, I couldn't have asked for a better first interview.

Alex Drips, courtesy of @aIexdrips on Instagram

Riya: Okay. I think we can be heard. That’s why I wanted to sit outside. But I know it’s hot, so sorry.

Alex: No, I’m chilling. 

Riya: It’s kind of nice.

Alex: It is nice. It’s not too bad.

Riya: Okay. I know that you do rap. And I feel like rap is different from other music in a lot of ways. 

Alex: For sure. 

Riya: It’s its own genre, I feel like. I wanted to ask what drew you to rap as opposed to other music. 

Alex: That’s a good question. 

R: Sorry, we’re going to get like, right into it. [Laughs]

A: No no no, I like that question!

R: I mean, I don’t listen to a lot of rap. But I’ve gotten into it more recently. I think it has its own rules. Obviously it’s very different sonically, some people think of it as poetry, an extension of poetry… What does it mean to you? 

A: That’s a good question. When I was a kid, my brother used to play a lot of music in the car. He would play a little of everything. Rock music, alternative, heavy metal, classic rock, and even reggae like Bob Marley, he’d put on. But one thing he used to put on was Eminem. And I used to love Eminem. He would just say whatever the hell is on his mind, he wouldn’t care what anyone thought. I think rap is just a way to express yourself that you can’t express yourself in real life, honestly. Or even in any other genre. Rock is probably the most similiar. You can express yourself a lot more freely than other genres I feel like. But rap is just, I don’t know. There’s something about it to where you can just express yourself in such a unique way. Again, I think Eminem is a great example of that. When I was a kid, people asked me if I liked rap, and I’d be like “No, but I like Eminem”. So it was really interesting. And when I first started rapping, it sounded very aggressive, very cocky. It was like this side of me that I never really got to express. I just got to be careless. And not care what others thought. 

R: So would you say those songs from your brother were the start of your love for rap? 

A: Yeah, and my love for rock and roll too. And that time I wanted to be a rock star when I was a kid. So I was kind of opposed to rap in a way, but then it started growing on me. It started with Eminem. Eminem was the first rapper I really loved. 

R: I see. 

A: I appreciate my brother. He really put me on a lot of music at a young age. It really crafted my taste and my style of music. 

R: It sounds like your first recordings were very emotional. You just releasing emotions that you can’t express in your life otherwise. At the beginning, were you thinking of taking it more seriously, or did it just feel like something therapeutic? 

A: I remember one time I was listening to a Kodak Black song in the shower and I started getting ideas and like, I remixed to that song. It was one of the first times I ever pulled out my phone and started writing. Then I got back from a Lebanon trip in like seventh grade I think and [my friend] asked me out of nowhere like, “You wanna hop on a song?” We were playing basketball outside. I didn’t even question it. “Yeah, let’s do it”. And so that day, we went in the studio. I pulled up a random beat. It was a Kendrick Lamar type-beat, I think. And yeah. I just wrote a song. 

R: How old were you? 

A: I was in the seventh grade, so I think I was like 13? It was like that SoundCloud era. 2016 SoundcCloud era. You know SoundCloud era, right? 

R: I thought SoundCloud was just like… rap. 

A: Yeah. The SoundCloud era was a lot of rap. 

R: I didn’t know that was over. 

A: Oh it’s over, for sure. It was in like 2016 I think, SoundCloud era of music. Lil Yachty was like one of the headspears. You know Lil Yachty, right? 

R: … I don’t. [Laughs]

A: That’s fine, that’s fine. [Laughs] We’re in two different spaces. 

A: It didn’t feel like anything crazy though. I don’t know. It was my first song, you know. I was pretty happy about it. I showed it around to everyone but, the beat’s terrible. [Laughs] Horrible. It’s the worst song ever. 

R: That’s how it goes. Now you think it’s terrible. Back then you thought it was the shit!  

A: Exactly! I felt so cool. I was like, I gotta make more, I gotta make more. I record a couple more. I put ‘em out. I was putting these out on SoundCloud, everyone was listening to them at school. I was cool as hell. ‘Cause not a lot of other people were doing it. It was just the time. 

R: Something that I also noticed was I feel like you have very strong visuals. I was looking through all your album covers and I feel like they’re really beautiful honestly! 

Alex's latest project, Alex In Wonderland, out everywhere (photo courtesy of SoundCloud)

A: Thank you.  

R: I really liked how they look. 

A: Thank you. Through like soundcloud and everything? 

R: SoundCloud, YouTube, yeah…!

A: Nice. You were looking through. 

R: [Laughs]

A: Thank you. I put a lot of work into them. 

R: I mean, yeah. That’s something I noticed because I really think it helps the music. Sometimes it can be make or break.

A: Yeah! It’s like a book cover. 

R: Yeah, it’s important!

A: It’s like, if the cover’s not cool, I’m probably not gonna pick it up. 

R: Yes! Yeah. Is there anything inspiring that? Anything that comes to mind? I know right now in the social media age, I feel like visual inspiration can come from so many different places so it’s hard. But a sort of aesthetic…?

A: That’s a good question. I don’t know… One of my first cover arts I ever did, I would just edit photos together. But my first real cover art I was really proud of was this little EP I dropped. And it was in middle school. I went up to this girl I knew for a while from elementary and she’s really good at drawing. So I asked if she could draw me an album cover. And I got inspiration from this rapper called OBD. His name was Ol’ Dirty Bastard, from Wu-Tang. He had this album called Return to the 36 Chambers. It was him, he had a license, his face was on it… it was like a box, like, that was so cool. That’s the coolest album cover ever. Like it’s so hard. 

Return to the 36 Chambers, courtesy of Discogs

But I took inspiration from the name of [one of the singles, “Brooklyn Zoo”] and I made it into “Houston Zoo”. And then I just got her to draw a bunch of animals on it. I kind of gave her the torch. But I don’t know! I care about the cover art, you know? I used to see a lot of other SoundCloud rappers around and their cover arts would be so bad. And it’s like I don’t want to listen to your music if you have bad cover art. 

R: Interesting yeah. I mean, I’m glad I asked because I guess I really see that coming through. 

A: I definitely care. I care a lot about every aspect of it. 

R: I think it also relates to maybe your modeling. You’re someone that cares about presentation.

A: For sure. 

R: You have an interest in fashion as well. I wanted to ask you if the two sort of… Do you see them connecting in any way? Your interest in fashion and modeling and music?

A: Hundred percent. When I first got to college, I had no friends, I knew nobody. I didn’t know anyone that made music, unless they were just people who wanted to come hit me up and use my studio for free, and they had no skills at all. I felt so alone. It was a terrible time. Got into college, got into SGA [Student Government Association]. That really got me involved on campus. Once I did that, I met Ahad, I met JP, I met Goodnews, and on the campaign trail John Paul asked me one day, like “Hey I have an open studio or whatever today and you should come out. I think you’d be a great model. I think you have the look.”  And no one ever told me that before. I’m like “What?” But thank god I’m an open-minded person ‘cause I was like, “Screw it, I’ll pull up.” I had nothing to lose. It was terrifying, the thought of going to a studio and letting people take pictures of me. With people around staring at me. It was kind of horrible. I went and did that, and then when I got in there, I met photographers, videographers, and just creatives. People who wanted to create. 

R: Mmm. 

A: I took pictures in there, I saw people have like a cigarette… just like an aesthetic. I was like, this is cool. I met this other guy, I’m still cool with him to this day. I told him I made music. I was still shy to kind of say that, but I said that to him, you know, [and he said] “I’m trying to make music videos and stuff like, I’ve been trying to get into that… We should work one day.” That snapped in my head. I’m like, “What?” Like, I just pulled up to this modeling shoot, I made a connection for music. I was like this is great. This is a great way to network. I got the pictures back, I could post them on my Instagram, I looked cool as fuck: Why don’t I do this more? This is sick. So I started doing it, and I started just making connections with everyone. ‘Cause [getting into] the modeling scene, you realize that everyone is a creative in their own way, and if they’re smart, they’re using modeling to pivot into what they want to do outside modeling. If you want to build that creative network, modeling is the place to be, in my opinion. So yeah, I think it does coincide a lot. I’ve met so many connections.

R: That’s so cool! 

A: So many people that helped me with videos, that helped me with just everything. It’s everything: creative directors, clothing designers, people who make music, people who engineer, people who make jewelry. You meet all types of walks of life in the modeling scene. People who just create!

Alexander Rizk, courtesy of @alexdrips on Instagram

R: That was really interesting. So I guess it exposed you to a community. You met a lot of like-minded people.  

A: Exactly. Like-minded people. And I started feeling like: Damn. I’m not alone anymore! It was just the best feeling ever. I felt so isolated. It was like “Bro. What’s the point of even making music? I have no one to work with!” You can only do so much alone. 

R: Wow. It fed your music.

A: Yes! And also on top of that, I got into doing fashion shows, and the modeling in general just started giving me this confidence. I’m getting these pictures back. I’m like like “Damn, I look good. Other people think I look good like, I’m like building up, I know how to brand myself now a little bit, I feel comfortable in front of the camera, I feel confident. And when I started doing fashion shows: I’m walking to stage, and I get these moments where I’m only by myself and everyone’s staring at me… It builds stage presence, it builds confidence, it builds a lot of character that’s unique from being an artist as well. Just being able to brand yourself, being confident in yourself, and putting yourself out there.

R: It sounds like a fun time honestly.      

A: Yeah, I feel like I get so much out of it! And I didn’t go into it thinking, “Oh I want to use this”. I went into it just open-minded. Not knowing what the hell I was doing it for. Like I’m just doing what JP said I should do. I’m here. And it’s so cool how you can do things sometimes, and you look back and you’re like, “Wow. I had no idea that was actually going to help me in the future, but it helped me so much.”    

R: Wow… Yeah. 

A: It’s crazy. So I love modeling. I think every creative should go out and model. Even if you don’t know what you want to do. Like… I think it’s fun! 

R: That’s such interesting advice.

A: I love good creative execution, I love helping other creatives. That’s another thing, you’re just able to like help people. You can help people bring their vision to life. Once you help people, they’ll be obligated to want to help you. And it’s just a beautiful ecosystem. A beautiful symbiosis. 

R: I love that. I wanted to ask- I feel like something that’s closely related is the concept of managing multiple things at once. 

A: Yeah. 

R: You model. You do music. You also want to go into finance and business. You have all of these ideas. We were talking about this before but: How do you think that affects your identity? Do you see yourself primarily as one thing? 

A: Yeah. That’s such a good question. You’re asking a really good question.

R: [Laughs]

A: I think to myself all of the time: When someone meets me, I don’t want them to be like “Oh, who’s that?”. “Oh, that’s the finance guy” or “That’s the model” or “That’s the guy who makes music” or “That’s the guy who does this”— I don’t ever want to be known for one thing personally. I don’t like when people box themselves in or are known for one thing. I don’t like when people, you know, make one thing their life. I want people to be like, “Nah, he does everything.”  Like, I keep like people who inspire me— Like Anthony Bourdain is a good example. 

R: Oh! Interesting! The cook?  [Laughs]

A: I love Anthony Bourdain. No! Like his life is so cool! 

R: No, he’s fucking cool. 

Anthony Bourdain in 2007, courtesy of Wikipedia

A: Tupac is really a good example! Especially for me. ‘Cause he used music to just pivot into so many other things. He kinda did a little bit of modeling, his choice of fashion was always so amazing. I’m pretty sure he was on fashion magazines and stuff like that. He also got into acting. I love how Tupac orchestrated his career, especially in such a short amount of time. He died at 26. He did so much in such little time. That’s so cool to me. I wanna live a life like that. I want to live… many lives. 

R: That’s super cool. I like that. I wasn’t expecting that answer honestly. I thought it would be,  “Yeah, I see myself mostly as this…” Because when you’re doing multiple things, people accept that but it’s like: “What’s your main thing?” 

A: Ya, that’s very true. 

R: “And what’s the side thing?” “What are the side things?” 

A: Very true. 

R: But that’s a frustration that I’ll feel. Like, why does it have to be that way, you know? 

A: Yeah. They want you to just be good at one thing. I feel like it goes back to that conversation we were having about balance, though. Finding that balance.