ARTIST INTERVIEW: HADJI GAVIOTA
Hadji Gaviota in “gimme a year!” music video
This week, Hailey House Imnida caught up with Queens-based musician Hadji Gaviota. By day, he’s a substitute teacher, but off the clock, Hadji is in full artist mode: making music with friends, playing shows, and creating videos that bring his worlds to life.
I’ve had the chance to see Hadji perform live several times over the years, and even photographed the promo for his 2022 single “GOOFY!” Watching his evolution has been nothing short of exciting. With each project, he continues to unlock new layers of his artistry- recently, Hadji’s been making music as one half of the duo Elmjack, with producer lo4rt (pronounced “low effort”) featuring their dads, and creating thoughtful YouTube commentaries about the music industry. While undeniably his own, his sound lives somewhere in the space carved out by artists like Frank Ocean and Tyler, The Creator, blending smooth R&B with early-2000s rap influences.
Just weeks before heading out on a U.S. tour opening for Last Dinosaurs, Hadji talked music, creativity, and burnout with HHI. What followed was an honest, energizing conversation with an artist very much on the rise. Read on and meet Hadji Gaviota.
HHI
So… what is Elmjack?
HADJI
Elmjack is me and Jerome, or loe4t, the producer. We’re childhood friends. We met at Elmjack Little League- that’s where the name comes from. But the attention-grabbing aspect that a lot of people are drawn to is the fact that our dads are the visual face of the project, instead of us.
We've built this world with our dads. It started with one music video, and then we just kept doing it. We [Hadji & loe4t] are characters in the universe too.
HHI
Who are your characters in the Elmjack world?
HADJI
The way that I would think about it is we're signed to our dads, and we're forced to make them music, so that they can get rich. They're kinda like “we spent all this money raising you, so it’s time for us to start recouping that”.
So the joke is that people really do think it's them. I kinda envisioned people figuring out that it wasn't them making music, but on social media these days, people believe everything.
HHI
They believe your dads are the ones making the music?
HADJI
Way more people on social media believe it than I was expecting. There are people who are watching the skits, paying attention, and looking on Spotify. They can see all the songs are coreleased by us, even just by listening to the voices, but the truth is in 2026, people aren’t looking into things that much. They might see an Instagram Reel out of context and take it at face value. You know, you spend all day just getting blasted with information, so people don’t think about things too hard.
We built the world, and it’s silly, but it’s actually like a father-son project, and some people get a lot of value out of that. It’s a lot of fun to make stuff with your dad.
elmjack in “maybe it’s u” music video
HHI
I remember seeing you in Seattle, on tour, and hanging out with you and your dad in the merch booth. I thought it was so cool!
HADJI
Yeah, that's true! That's so funny. You know, me and Jerome made the first Elmjack song two days before that. Obviously, we didn’t know how we were gonna do it at that point, but we had just made that song [“closer sober”, released April 2025].
My dad's always been super interested in my musical career, and we’re best friends, so it was easy to get him to do it… and he's very outgoing. And then with Jerome, his dad is a lot more reserved and he is a lot more reserved. So it kinda made sense.
But Jerome’s dad is also really talented. He's a really good musician. So we’re looking forward to a way to get them involved, musically, in the future.
HHI
Are the dads going on tour with you guys?
HADJI
Not officially! We found a way to bring them visually, with a projector, but my dad is probably gonna come to a couple shows just for fun. I might bring him out as a surprise, but I wouldn’t expect it.
HHI
So right now, is your main focus Elmjack?
HADJI
I would say yeah. I mean it's kinda like the way you think about Anderson .Paak and NxWorries, or Cameron Winter and Geese, as being both a solo and a band. Geese is really on fire right now, like they just put out a new album, but Cameron Winter still plays shows as Cameron Winter.
In this exact moment, Elmjack is #1, because we’re playing shows and going on tour. But when I get back, I plan on working on the next Hadji project… while probably working on the next Elmjack project at the same time. They’re concurrent to me, in my life.
Hadji Gaviota (Source: Hadji Gaviota)
HHI
You’ve also been making a bunch of YouTube videos. How’s that been?
HADJI
Yeah, yeah once a week once a week I think I've missed one week like 2 1/2 years
It's been really fun. Getting into YouTube, I was watching videos and then almost like the way I got into music, wondered, “Huh. What would it look like if I tried to make this?”
At first I was a little scared, because it was a new thing, and people already knew me for music. But eventually, the people who came over from music thought it was sick, and then people started finding my music from YouTube.
I realized I shouldn’t be afraid to try something new just because I was worried people from my last endeavor weren’t gonna care about the new thing. There’s like, 7 billion people on Earth. So don’t be afraid to try new things.
But yeah… I’ve been doing YouTube for about 2.5 years, and I think I’ve posted every week, only missing one week out of that time. It’s been great. I’m really thankful.
HHI
Do you ever run out of things to talk about, or is it just whatever you’re passionate about that week?
HADJI
Sometimes I have a ton of ideas, and sometimes, I'm really stretching to find an idea. But most of the time I'm good. It's just that having to do a video per week, take for example, when I’m going on tour, I'm not gonna be able to film those. I have to film them beforehand, and have to have not just one, but six videos ready beforehand.
It’s a little bit of a stretch, but then what happens is I go on tour, I’m on tour for six weeks, and then I have all these ideas I’m stockpiling, and I can come back with a bunch of ideas. It comes and goes in waves, but I always have something going on.
There’s never a lack of things to talk about, whether it’s things from the past I want to revisit or things that are happening right now. I try to mix it up. As long as you’re not forcing it. I’m actually pretty excited about the videos that will come out on tour… I’m trying something new. That’s one of the nice things about committing to doing a video a week. If something doesn’t hit, that's totally fine. That's something that I have to learn.
I've gotten myself in front of a lot of people that my music wouldn’t get in front of, but they might like my music, or even if they don't, that’s cool too. They know they like my taste.
Hadji Gaviota in “tricky!” music video
HHI
Has anybody come across your videos that surprised you?
HADJI
Oh yeah, a couple times. When I’ve done my series, “Your Favorite Artist’s Favorite Artist”, sometimes the artist themselves, someone who works with them very closely or a family member has shown love or reached out, more than half the time. Sometimes I’ll have full conversations with them after those videos.
tobi lou was public- he tweeted it, so I can say it, but he thought it was the best video, even if I missed a couple things. I talked to him a couple times and think it’s really cool.
Even if the video doesn’t get a lot of views, and that person saw it, at the end of the day, I think it’s worth the effort. It’s pretty rewarding.
HHI
I've seen a couple of your videos and noticed you’re really encouraging and constructive in the commentary.
HADJI
That's one thing I try to keep in mind, because I'm an artist. There’s a lot of music commentary out there, and I thought there’s room for a perspective from someone who actually was an artist. Because of that, I'm always thinking, “How would I feel if someone said this about me? How can I be certain that this is what happened?”
I know a lot of the time, people will make judgments based on pieces of something. I've been in the studio, so I know sometimes that how things look, and what really happened, are not exactly the same.
I feel like a lot of content on YouTube about music is driven by “the downfall of this artist” or “this artist fell off”. A lot of those videos could be very instructive, and not complete takedowns. I wanna talk about things that aren’t necessarily so negative, because I think negativity gets clicks, and that’s what drives people to do it.
I understand the mentality behind it, but I want to be honest with myself, and thought there was space to do that, so I tried it.
Hadji’s commentary YouTube channel
HHI
What are your goals in the next few months, as an artist and beyond?
HADJI
I want to be able to make a full-time living as a creator. I want to put out something big that I'm really proud of, as Hadji. Combining all the things I’ve learned, as Hadji gets a fresh start. With Elmjack, I get a second chance to do a lot of things, or starting something new with experience. But now, my success there has reinvigorated me, with Hadji. Taking what I’ve learned, and apply it over there. I feel very motivated to prove I can succeed there too.
HHI
Do you feel refreshed from starting Elmjack?
HADJI
One thousand percent. Honestly, with Hadji Gaviota, I was at the point where I didn’t know how much longer it was gonna be for me, so it was a very restored feeling. I'm really glad with how it worked out so far. It’s very inspiring.
It just really just made me feel like I was starting over again, in a good way.
HHI
Like you’re not giving up?
HADJI
Exactly.
Hadji Gaviota in “HOT CRASH” music video
HHI
Who are your dream collaborators right now? As Hadji, Elmjack or something entirely different?
HADJI
I mean, Frank Ocean is the reason I make music. I don't know what that would look like. I don't even care, like anything that in that realm will be cool. I think Tyler, The Creator and I could make cool music together.
I really like this Japanese guitarist named Masayoshi Takanaka. That would be so cool, that’s another dream.
I wanna make a song with YT. I really like the way he raps. I like a lot of the British stuff, that’s been very inspirational to me so like dexter in the newsagent. She's really fire, her album is really good. Jim Legxacy. Also Mack Keane, another R&B artist I’d really like to work with.
HHI
What’s your favorite part about being an artist?
HADJI
Playing live. You think you’re the only one who likes the music, and then you play live and realize you’re not!
I love meeting fans too. It's been really fun. I remember I played this big show in 2022, in LA. Years ago, there was this girl on Instagram, who made a dance to one of my early songs. It was the first time that’s happened, so I thought it was sick. Fast-forward a few years, she's in college, and meets one of my friends in college, and then they both came to my show. That was really cool.
elmjack in “chemical x” music video
Special thanks to Hadji Gaviota
Interview written & directed by Sydney Wright (SYDNETH) on behalf of Hailey House Imnida