It is hard to say where someone will find Iowa City-based artist Ahzia Hester on any given day. Maybe he’s opening for GZA at the Englert Theatre, or Cautious Clay at the Iowa Memorial Union. He might be at Gabe’s, performing his own songs and DJing the artists that influenced them, all over the same weekend. But on this specific day, he’s in California visiting friends, thinking about where to live next and awaiting the Aug. 25 release of his latest EP Loading … Please Wait.
Hester — who performs simply as Ahzia — is in the middle of things, or as he puts it, “not fully rendered.” Respecting personal journeys is a unifying theme of his five-song EP, recorded with fellow Iowa musician Jim Swim. The album cover centers on an empty, vast Iowa road as Ahzia runs off to the side, except his identity is obscured, pixelated like a low-resolution video game.
“I don’t know if anyone feels fully rendered being 20-something, or any age for that matter,” he said. “I’m still very much in progress, but that’s what’s lovely.”
Lead single “Trial and Error” — a song meant to be played with “the windows down and the sun shining” — echoes the same sentiments, mellowed through a blend of hip-hop and R&B grooves. “Baby, this life ain’t fair,” Ahzia repeats during the song’s hook. “I’m well aware / Trial and error.”
Since his last project, Welcome to Nowhere, Ahzia’s music has leaned into moody synths and warm flourishes of lo-fi atmosphere. But what has stayed the same is a sense of place, expressed through the rapper’s melodic, rhythmic delivery.
“It’s funny that, as Midwestern kids, I think there’s a little bit of resistance to highlight that we are from Iowa,” he said. “There’s so much material right here — why lie? Why try to rebrand it to something it’s not because there are still kids in Iowa. It’s the truth of someone. It’s the truth of me.”
Ahzia discovered his love of music later than many of his peers, having picked up show choir in his last year of high school in the Quad Cities. Choir evolved into rapping, and his low-grade recordings were passed around in the hallways. He built his profile gigging around Iowa City. After a full year playing music festivals and opening for industry heavy-hitters, Ahzia is filled with gratitude and excited to elevate the spectacle of his live shows with each performance.
“I don’t want to be your favorite local artist. I want to be an artist who just happens to live locally,” he said. “I think that’s the mission statement of everyone who’s really going at it. Don’t worry about the fact that I’m local. Just worry about if the music is doing something for you.”
This article was originally published in Little Village’s September 2023 issue.
