Sage Elsesser’s Shades
of Blue
Spending an afternoon with the multi-faceted rapper as he reflects on his latest album, telling the truth, and finding gratitude.
- Interview: Jordan Coley
- Photography: Eric Johnson
- Styling: Romany Williams
It was somewhere between taking his pit bull mix Wednesday out for a walk in Brooklyn, stopping by a café for an iced coffee, and running into his acupuncturist, Camila, that I realized that I was spending my entire afternoon with Sage Elsesser, far longer than the single hour allotted to me on the call sheet at that morning’s photo shoot. The New York–based, Los Angeles native—whose frequently doleful, occasionally elegiac, always considered raps are released under the moniker Navy Blue—is, it turns out, a very easy hang.
Since stepping into the spotlight alongside his childhood friend Earl Sweatshirt on 2018’s “The Mint,” Sage has released three, full-length projects as Navy Blue. In that time, he and collaborators like Liv.e, Maxo, MIKE, and the aforementioned Earl have carved out a thoughtful, seams-bearing niche within the contemporary rap landscape, attracting a devoted following, garnering critical acclaim, and earning cosigns from hip-hop luminaries like Yasiin Bey. His fourth album and major label debut, Ways of Knowing, was set free into the world this past March via Def Jam. The album finds the rapper-producer as introspective as ever, but wielding a hard-earned contentment, the fruit of years of soul-mining and grief-purging.
If you’re like me, you probably first became familiar with Elsesser as a featured rider in videos for the skate brand turned global apparel behemoth Supreme. His part in the 2014 skate film Cherry crowned the lanky teen and his shredding coconspirators as street skating’s next big thing, and style lodestars for a generation of punks and posers alike. Gone, however, are the days of Chuck Taylors and cropped Dickies. As he leaned against an outdoor seating fixture chatting with Camila, the 26-year-old sported a slick xanadu green Stone Island windbreaker and matching track pants. A fat gold pinky ring adorned the hand gripping Day Day’s leash, and emeralds set in the face of a gold Rolex Day-Date glinted on his wrist. His hair was pulled back into a bun, and with his full beard, deep-set eyes, and olive complexion, he sort of resembled Gil Scott-Heron, if Gil Scott-Heron were a model in a Stone Island ad.
Sage wears Homme Plisse Issey Miyake cardigan, Calvin Klein Underwear tank top, Engineered Garments cargos and Marni loafers. Top Image: Sage wears AiE shirt and BEAMS PLUS trousers.
Sage wears Dries Van Noten cardigan.
Earlier in the day at the shoot, Elsesser and I retreated to a couch in the corner of photographer Eric Johnson’s studio to talk about the album, accepting the discomfort inherent in growth, and embracing the power of honesty. “World Famous” by the Beatnuts blared from a pair of speakers nearby. Out of respect for my recorder, he turned the music off and queued up a YouTube video titled “432 Hz - Deep Healing Music for the Body and the Soul.”
Jordan Coley
Sage Elsesser
Something I think Ways of Knowing gets at is the realization that often occurs in your 20s when you begin to understand your elders as actual people. Were there things in particular about your family that you had new insights on while working on the album?
I went to a casting for some commercial, an audition or something like that. I got in the room and they wanted me to dance and do a cartwheel and shit, and my dad just looked at me. I was frozen and I don’t remember what [exactly] he asked me but he was like,“Do you want to go?” and I was like,“Yes.” And he was like,“Boom, no problem.” And I feel like other parents might be like,“Do the fucking cartwheel!” But he was just like,“Yeah, he doesn’t feel comfortable. Thanks, though.”
My parents also showed me so much music and food. I was never that kid that was like,“Ew, what’s that!” I was shown so many different cultures, so much different music. I was taught a lot about my heritage, the people that I come from. My dad is Chilean and Swiss. He was born in Chile but moved to England at a very young age, so he has a very multicultural understanding of the world. He’s experienced prejudice and being a refugee, leaving the coup in Chile, so he has a deep understanding of discomfort.
Were there aspects of your childhood that used to annoy you that you appreciate now?
Due to the fact that I have three sisters, I never really got to like, fight. I always felt kinda like a protector. And I convinced myself that I had to be perfect. So I think the intention in my music is expressing that I’m quite imperfect, and embracing that imperfection.
It sometimes bothers me that I get praised for telling the truth. What a backward society we live in, where speaking about how I feel is like,“Wow! That’s amazing!” Why is that so crazy? I’m just rapping the same way everybody else raps, this is just the experience that I draw from.
I think it’s good praise, something to be proud of.
“I put a lot of my energy into skateboarding. But I put a lot of my heart and who I am into my music.”
Sage wears Homme Plisse Issey Miyake cardigan and Calvin Klein Underwear tank top.
You’ve said that you can be judgmental of yourself. And a central thread of this record seems to be about expressing your feelings as un-self-consciously as you can. Do you attribute this to being someone who has been watched and appraised since you were a teenager?
I think beyond gaining any sort of notoriety or whatever, I’ve always had fear. I didn’t see the power in speaking my truth and owning it and being like,“Yes, me, Sage makes this music under the name Navy Blue.” So I used to make it and put it up on Soundcloud and people didn’t really know it was me. I liked that.
Of course, even now, there are people who leave their comments like,“Stick to skating! What happened with skating?” I love skating, but I just want to honor how much energy I put into music. I put a lot of my energy into skateboarding. But I put a lot of my heart and who I am into my music.
Have you found it difficult to publicly integrate these two sides of yourself, your skate identity and your rap identity?
I think a lot of that is out of my control. I just want to show up as myself. And, I just want to be authentic. Of course, I’m still human and I will always try to present myself a certain way and put my best foot forward.
Looking back, as a kid, I loved all of these things. And I’m now acknowledging that that’s just the culmination of who Sage is. There are a lot of things I don’t like. Somebody who thinks my music is boring or not thoughtful or whatever it might be, that’s just their experience with it.
Very selfishly put, I need to make this for me. And the gift of it is, in making it for me, I can offer it to people as some kind of hug or something, which I like. It makes me feel like I didn’t endure all that I’ve experienced in vain. I can share my experience and help somebody, which is nice.
You told Andre Gee at Rolling Stone that to arrive at this place in your career you had to do things that, while ultimately necessary, you didn’t think you would have needed to do. What were some of those things?
Going through being a teenager and depression. Falling in and out of love—with a romantic partner, with your interests. We’re constantly evolving and when you’re in it, you’re in it and thinking,“OK, this is my life. This is how it’s gonna be forever.” You’re not really acknowledging that you’re this ever-evolving person. There are so many things where you’re like,“I wish that I never experienced that,” but it’s ultimately for your greater good.
Sage wears Dries Van Noten cardigan, Xenia Telunts trousers and Clarks Originals derbys.
Sage wears Wales Bonner jacket, Diesel jeans and Martine Rose belt.
Sage wears SPENCER BADU vest.
You’ve worked with people who, I imagine, are heroes of yours. Yasiin Bey, for example, appears on Song of Sage, and underground legend Ka is on Àdá Irin. How did those collaborations come about and what were those experiences like?
The beauty of that is they’re fans of my music. Of course, there are friends who make the connections, but when I first met Ka, he asked me if I made music and I didn’t have the guts to tell him I did. And then he sent me a message on Twitter, sent his number, and was like,“Yo, call me.” And then he called me and was like,“Yo, why didn’t you tell me that you make music?”
I can die a happy man. Yasiin and Ka are two of my favorites. Having worked with them is a fucking blessing. And beyond working with them, I’ve built friendships with these men that I’ve looked up to for so long.
That’s a unique and special experience.
For sure. And they say,“Never meet your heroes,” or whatever, but, in this case, meeting my heroes has been like,“Wow.” These are very like-minded, conscious men. If I was going through something in my life, I could call on them. It’s beyond making a song. That’s really where I’m at with music. The music is always better when you have a connection with somebody.
Do you think your 10-year-old self would see Sage now and say,“That’s cool. I’m glad I’m doing tha”?
Absolutely. I needed that reminder. I get down on myself like,“Ahh, I have too many pairs of shoes. I have too many clothes.” The main thing is I have gratitude in my life now. Ten-year-old me would be like,“Dude, you’re doing so good.”
Sage wears Calvin Klein Underwear tank top.
- Interview: Jordan Coley
- Photography: Eric Johnson
- Styling: Romany Williams
- Grooming: Rachel Polycarpe / The Canvas Agency
- Photography Assistant: Malcolm Sales
- Styling Assistant: Shannon Gorman
- Production: Starkman & Associates
- Date: June 2, 2023
