Shooting the Shit with Perubaby

Perubaby, an artist who made his initial strides in music through brain-rotted Instagram reels and out-of-pocket lyrics, doesn’t talk like someone chasing validation or instant stardom. Although unconventional, Perubaby insisted that we would conduct this interview at a shooting range. He had been itching to shoot his Coyote Tan Glock 19X Gen5, which he had purchased only a couple of months prior. At the range, his mind is clear and focused, and he felt these were the conditions he needed to do this interview. Naturally, I was happy to accommodate.

After both of us emptied a couple of magazines, I asked about a recent challenge Perubaby has faced that many would consider a career-killer: having a successful and steadily growing Instagram page banned. Twice. Perubaby claimed that this was completely unjustified and that Instagram refused to show proof that he had violated the terms of service.  

“I even hit up the Meta support. They’re telling me you can’t get your account back. It’s gone, this and that. I’m telling them to show me the proof that I did something wrong, what guidelines I’m misusing, but they couldn’t show me nothing. So, I don't know, it feels targeted, but I mean, you just gotta keep ballin’ up, you know?” he said.

I asked Perubaby if he had any strategies to make up for the lost time and followers. 

“Honestly, strategy-wise, I think I would just keep doing what I was doing before Make The World Float, you know, if it ain’t broke don't fix it. But ten times harder, because now it’s really like I have to fight for it,” he said. “It’s kind of like an injustice, and you just got to fight through it.” 

On a more optimistic note, I asked Perubaby about what’s next for him. “Me and Booly are halfway done with our collab tape, Party City. That should hopefully come out early this year. Then I’m planning on dropping my own tape that I just started working on. I don't have any specific release dates to give, and I'm still working on a name for my solo-tape, but that’s what I’m working on right now,” he told me.

“Booly,” better known as Boolymon, is a close friend and frequent collaborator of Perubaby. I first discovered Perubaby through his song titled, I Asked Booly If I Could Use His Adlibs. The song is very interesting with a casual, conversational tone throughout. What makes the song interesting to me is that it’s based on a real conversation between the two artists.

“I was like, ‘Yo, I kinda used your adlibs in this song. Is that cool, or should I change it up?’ I wasn’t trying to bite or be a carbon copy, and he said, ‘Yeah, bro, I don’t care.’ Then it came to fruition, and I ended up making the song. At the time, I was just like, alright, this song is absurd, so I said fuck it, I’m just going to say it because it just happened.”

I would’ve also used the word “absurd” to describe most of Perubaby’s music. It was hard for me to explain why that’s the case and where this absurdity comes from, so I let him describe it himself. 

“I feel like a lot of the serious shit is just boring to me. I like songs where you can make jokes, and I like songs where you got that one just crazy, out-of-pocket lyric, you know? I think that shit’s cool,” he said.

Perubaby added, “I think it’s really just showing an artist's true character and who they really are outside of the whole artist persona or whatever they try to display for people. Like, I feel like you’re supposed to have fun when you make art, you know? The authenticity makes it cool.” 

After a few more rounds of shooting at a zombified caricature of Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un (A paper target they had available at the range titled “Dictators”), I asked Perubaby about his experience with live concerts this past year. More specifically, the shows hosted by Instagram pages @tubmanunderground and @leanopp in New York and Los Angeles. He noted that fans go “absolutely Brock Lesnar suplex city massacre” (?) for the aforementioned I Asked Booly If I Could Use His Adlibs. The same goes for All Praise Be To Yahweh, and more.

“This last show in New York that I did, they turned up crazy for Kiss My Keister. I had Damnhecold put an intro together for me with a song called Contigo Peru, which translates to ‘With You Peru.’ So, it’s like this dude singing about being with Peru and how Peru has his soul and all that stuff.” 

“So, tell me about what Peru means to you. Were you born there?” I asked.  

“I’m not from Peru myself. I was born in Broward County, but my family is from Peru, and I grew up in a Peruvian household. You learn to be very patriotic about just the culture itself,” he said. “I love Peruvian culture. I love the food, I love all the folklore, I just love everything about it.”  

Perubaby feels it’s his job to act as a representative for his culture in a scene where he doesn't feel it’s recognized at all. His grandmother instilled these values in him. 

“My grandma’s like a super patriot. She’s always telling me about what's going on over there and just random facts and stories about Peru. She’s definitely the one who taught me to love my culture,” he said.

Diving into Perubaby’s artistic style, I asked him about his use of balloon imagery for his album, Make The World Float. He explained that Boolymon had created a group chat for his artist and creative friends called “Balloon Crew.” Perubaby really liked the name and wanted to theme everything he was doing at that time around balloons.  

“I’d love to get back to that balloon stuff. It was fun. The imagery was bright, and it made the music feel alive. I’d love to revive that shit, but I don’t want to force it either,” he said. 

Perubaby added, “I mean, with this Party City tape, that goes back to the whole balloon aesthetic. When you go to Party City, you get balloons. Me and Booly specifically wanted to theme this tape off that idea.”

 Our time at the range was ending, so I let Perubaby gather his thoughts and allowed him to share any last words he wanted people to know. 

“I want people to know that I'm not done. I came back to this shit to prove a point and show people that I can really do this shit. I don’t want to be cliché, but I feel like, as a Latino, I’m just marginalized. I feel like people don’t take us serious. I don’t like to get into that whole topic, but I think it’s the truth.”

“It’s a great culture we got, it’s just really beautiful. There’s so much art, and there are so many creative people in the Latin community, I feel like I really got something to prove for my people,” he said.

From our conversation, the words I would use to describe Perubaby are: intentional, patient and focused. Although it may feel like the odds are stacked against him now, I can't help but believe him when he says he’s ready to flip the script and show the world what he’s about. 

Edited by Jack Tellier and Valentino Goulian