Matty Aston is an upcoming rapper from the Bay Area performing in Chico with hopes to expand to rest of the West Coast. He has opened for “Nef the Pharaoh,” “Show Banga” and “Yung Pinch.” He also successfully hypes up crowds for the show with his songs “Bay Sh*t,” “Another One” and “House Party” featuring “Priceless da ROC.” While he spends most of his time in his studio working on new music, The Orion got to sit down and talk to him about music, inspiration and other “Bay Sh*t.”

When did you first get involved in music?

My junior year of high school. I had a mentor by the name of Brent. He was basically starting on mixing, mastering and engineering (music), which is what I do now. I was just under his wing and he taught me everything I know. That’s how I started to get involved at a part-time label when I was still in high school.

Who are your biggest influences?

My biggest influences are the new wave of hip-hop. I look at guys – the guys that stand out the most like “Lil Yachty,” “21 Savage” and “Lil Uzi Vert.”

Then of course, me being from the Bay Area, I have all of my current Bay Area influences like “Mac Dre” – rest in peace to the legend – and today’s artists like “Iamsu!” and “Show Banga.” I just model myself after those guys.

What style or genre would you describe your music?

I actually just recently switched up my style a little bit. I haven’t dropped any new music in a while because I have kind of been focusing on myself and school. I used to be west-coast oriented. I liked to make music for parties as soon as I moved up here to Chico to adapt myself to the culture. Now that I’m a more experienced artist, and now that I have a bigger base here, I decided to switch up my style a little bit so I’m gonna take it to a whole new level.

Who have you collaborated with, and if you could collaborate with anyone, who would it be and why?

I don’t really do features right now because I want to be able to get paid for them, to be honest.

I’m just focusing on myself and creating a consistent style. But if I could collaborate with anyone, it would probably be “G-Eazy.” He’s so widespread and is a huge influence to me because of how he approaches himself and how he brings himself to a business perspective.

But I would have to say “Lil Yachty” because he’s my favorite artist. He just stands out so much that I feel like he and I could make the perfect song for everyone to vibe out to.

What do you think about when you are writing songs in the studio?

I have to be in a certain mood to write music. I have had lot of issues within the past month so I stepped away for a second.

But I’ll usually research beats, look through my email or contact local producers that I work with and kind of see what type of vibe it is. And once I know, then I can figure out what I want to write about. Then that’s when the lyrics will pop up in my head.

What are shows like when you perform on stage? How does it feel to see that many people supporting you?

There is absolutely no feeling like it.

Actually, just a couple weeks ago I performed at the Senator at the “Yung Pinch” and “Show Banga” concert. I still think about it every day.

Its crazy because you are the center of attention and everyone is focused on you at one time, there is no feeling like it. As soon as I got off stage it almost brought me to tears because that was my biggest performance yet.

It felt like an out of body, out of world experience.

As a student, what words of advice can you give to other students following their dreams?

I would say just follow your dreams. Especially if its music. There’s always gonna be people out there that are gonna say that you can’t do it. If you have a passion you just have to go for it, it doesn’t really matter what anybody else thinks at the time or if no one listens to it, you just have to keep chasing it until people do. I feel like I’m a perfect example because I always had people that told me I need to focus on other stuff because I’m not going to do something with this but once you actually start to gain a following you can show them wrong.

Are there any projects that you’re currently working on?

Like I said, I kind of have a new style so I’m going to be dropping a single soon.

It’s called “Hell of a Night” and it (premiered on) the “BYOB” radio show May 4 on 90.1 FM KZFR.

It’s kind of has a summer turn up vibe and it kind of just gives people that sense of positivity.

I am also going to be working on an EP that is going to be executive produced by “DJ Moe Slaps,” who is also a Chico local. That will hopefully be dropping at the end of summer.

You can follow Matt Aston on Instagram and Twitter. Follow him on snapchat @mattastonmusic. You can also find his music SoundCloud.

Natasha Doron can be reached at [email protected] or @theorion_arts on Twitter.