Clouds Over the Desert: Indi Clouds Finds Her Sound in the Desert Heat
Indi Clouds was born with music in her veins and was rapping as soon as she could form sentences. Friendly rap battles between family and friends quickly turned into something more serious, catapulting her from the snowy winters of Connecticut into the sunny, welcoming music community of Phoenix, AZ.
While visiting some friends in the industry, Indi instantly fell in love with the creative scene and tight-knit community of Phoenix music, and only a few months later, decided to become a resident of the city and was making weekly appearances at local music events. No longer frozen by the brutal CT winters, she could now expand creatively as an artist and soon melted seamlessly into the Phoenix music community.
“I’ve definitely been feeling a strong sense of alignment [here],” she said. “I’ve been linking up with people who are really like-minded and want to progress. And we’ve been doing so together...”
Supportive relationships and collaboration within the community has sparked an exciting transition for Phoenix talent, with Indi believing that continued collaboration has the potential to break through the glass barriers that are preventing Phoenix artists from becoming household names outside of Arizona.
Meanwhile, Indi has quickly made a name for herself in the four years she’s been in the state. She’s appeared on several local music platforms, from a freestyle on the DJ Pest Podcast to video interviews for The Heat Advisory and live performances at Tribe Ave Studios and Valley of the Beats. More recently, she’s gone to Instagram to share weekly freestyles, encouraging followers to help her videos reach the platforms she respects the most, a strategy that originally started as a way to boost her social feeds but developed into an opportunity for engagement and exposure.
“I actually came up with the idea to [add Bootleg Kev and other’s socials to the posts]... to give people something to root for and to make them want to follow along,” she said.
So far, Indi has posted 14 weekly freestyles and as a result, has gained the attention of notable people in the community, including getting a follow from Bootleg Kev, an achievement that’s made her happy but ultimately hasn’t changed her path as an artist.
“Regardless if I make it up on one of these platforms or not, it’s not making or breaking how I’m going to go forward with dropping music and pushing myself as an artist,” she said.
In addition to her prevalence in the Phoenix music scene, Indi’s music has evolved since being in Arizona. Her music now reflects more on her growth as a person, her songs still adhering to a more traditional hip-hop sound but the lyrics more self-expressive and often highlighting the things that resonate with her the most.
“It’s just more healing subject matter [and is] coming from a more healed place,” she said.
Her songs Get Back and Evolved provide an example of this evolution, the latter sending a message of progression and change, which Indi sums up as, “I know what I said before but I’m evolved now, I’m evolving.”
Indi plans to continue her evolution through her new trio with Jamila “Benny” Bentley and Jamaal the RX. Clouds Don’t Cry was officially born on a whim after the three were submitted to perform at Strip Mall PHX’s SOUNDBYTE event in late July, an opportunity they eventually won and made their debut at. Indi hopes the band will have more of an experimental sound compared to her solo work, but nothing is set in stone yet. Both Clouds Don’t Cry and Indi plan to release some type of new music in the coming months, the specifics of which you’ll have to stay tuned to see.
