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Music

We Interviewed the Guy Who Crashed the People's Choice Awards Stage to Yell About Kanye

"It honestly wasn’t planned out. I honestly think that like I was the only person in the building that night who wanted to stand up for people with dreams."

Zacari Nicasio crashes the People's Choice Awards / Screenshot via YouTube

Every year, America gathers around the television and watches as its voice is put into action on People's Choice Awards. You probably remember doing so last night. Ha, just kidding. Even though the award show is in its 42nd year and airs on CBS, it might not have captivated the entire nation if it weren't for the most meme-worthy occurrence of the night: "some dude" (to quote the show directly) crashing the stage to announce “Yeezy jumped over the Jumpman” and profess his love of Kevin Gates. He was quickly herded away from the mic and compared to Steve Harvey (who recently had an awards show gaffe mixing up the winners of the Miss Universe pageant). It was certainly one of the odder stage crashing moments in recent memory, but at least it got the entire viewership of CBS talking about Kevin Gates.

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Since the stage-crasher shared his name, Zacari Nicasio, it wasn't too hard to track him down: It turns out he is a 20-year-old LA native who also makes music under the name Zac Zeta. He has a history of rolling through VIP soirees in LA—as he told me when I reached him over the phone, "If you check my Instagram I’ve been everywhere." In fact, he even had a brief flash of notoriety last fall when he crashed Kris Jenner's 60th birthday party and pulled a similar stunt (although not on TV). To find out more about what motivated Zacari to hop on stage and use his moment of fame to quote a Kanye freestyle, I gave him a call.

Noisey: How did you end up at the People’s Choice Awards? What were you doing there?
Zacari Nicasio: It was a gift, the ticket. I was just very frustrated with a lot of the things that are going on in the world today, especially with the fact that the things that I’m doing people wouldn’t take me serious. Everybody thought I was a damn joke, that it was a game, and I kept telling people like you know I make good music, take me serious, stop messing with the artists you mess with. Mess with me, mess with me because I actually make good music. And nobody was taking me serious until last night. I’ve been getting a lot of negative feedback and a lot of positive feedback, but I think I’m going to stop paying attention to the negative feedback. It’s just weird. People have been telling me ‘your career will be ruined,’ and all this stuff like that. I’m like ‘get out of here with that shit.’

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So you think that crashing the stage on TV was a good way to get people to not think of you negatively and improve your image?
Honestly, man, it’s both ways. I’m taking the good with the bad.

Were you planning to crash the stage beforehand, or was that a spur of the moment decision?
It honestly wasn’t planned out. I honestly think that like I was the only person in the building that night who wanted to stand up for people with dreams. I don’t think there was no wrong or right way to do it. I don’t know. It just happened.

Where were you sitting? It seemed like it was pretty easy to get up onstage.
Orchestra seats.

And nobody tried to stop you before you made it to the stage.
Yeah, yeah, uh-huh.

Were you surprised by the reaction that you got?
For a little bit I was, yeah, but I just learned to deal with it and to let that shit go.

You know I had to do it.. 2016 I'm taking over @future @privatekanye @balmainparis @zara @iamkevingates #2016 #peopleschoiceawards #yeezy

A video posted by Zacari Nicasio (@zaczeta) on Jan 6, 2016 at 7:53pm PST

You said that Yeezy jumped over Jumpman. Why did you say that? Did you like “FACTS”?
That song was turnt! That song was turnt.

Do you own a pair of Yeezys?
I do not own a pair of Yeezys at all.

Do you think you deserve a pair now that you’ve done this?
If I did deserve a pair, they would come my way, but other than that, man, I just did it for people with dreams. That was my inspiration. That’s actually how I got through high school and all the bullshit I go through today.

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You also shouted out Kevin Gates. What’s your favorite Kevin Gates song?
“I Don’t Get Tired.”: “I got six jobs.”

When you got kicked off stage you got compared to Steve Harvey. How do you feel about that?
Honestly, I did not acknowledge the Steve Harvey part at all. I was like ‘OK.’ I really didn’t notice that part.

What happened when they kicked you offstage? Did they take you backstage and grill you or anything?
Nah, they escorted me to my Uber.

You said that you were tired of not getting recognition for your music. Do you think that this is helping to promote your music?
Yeah, this is definitely helping out a little bit. People think that one time is one thing. I honestly find that people are so one track minded. It’s a whole lot more be coming. People just don’t know. It’s crazy because me and my name pop up so much it’s going to be like ‘dude, who the fuck is this kid’? They didn’t take me serious. I’m telling you. The Kris Jenner thing happened, but once that died down, everybody was like ‘that’s it.’ People were still commenting a little bit.

Wait, what was the Kris Jenner thing?
I snuck into Kris Jenner’s 60th birthday party and hopped onstage and got the mic and gave her a birthday shoutout.

Oh, so this is something you’ve done before. You’re an experienced stage crasher.
I wouldn’t say experienced stage crasher. I’m honestly, just, I’m myself. No one gives a fuck what I have to say and how I feel about music. People think it’s a fucking game with me, but it’s not.

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How would you describe your music? What do you think makes it unique, and why do you think people are overlooking it?
As of right now, the music that’s on the internet and the music that’s about to drop, that’s like a follow-up, but the stuff that I’m actually going to put out, it’s deep. I don’t know, man. I have so much more to offer. I know I can save lives. I can inspire others. I can change the world a certain way. I’m like shock value. I’m like an impact. Even if what I did dies down in a few days, that’s OK with me. I’m not worried about people putting me on a damn list and telling me I can’t come back to whatever it is. I don’t care about that. That has nothing to do with me. That’s their lives. That’s their jobs that they’ll work forever. I’m fine with them not liking it.

You kind of ended up, as a result of this, kind of becoming a meme on Twitter and stuff. Did you want to be a meme also?
That’s awesome. That’s pretty cool. There’s nothing wrong with that. That’s tight. I didn’t see it yet.

What was your favorite meme of the last year?
I don’t know, man, I was busy making beats all last year.

So you weren’t paying attention to the internet. Well, do you know the "Why You Always Lyin" video?
Yeah.

Who do you think would win in a fight between you and the "Why You Always Lyin" guy?
Ahhh man, you know I don’t do shit like that. You know I’m not here to fight people. Come on.

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That’s the right answer. The internet’s about spreading love.
I’m out here for better things. I’m here to build a legacy, man. I ain’t here to fight nobody.

Who are your favorite rappers?
Kanye West and Kevin Gates.

That makes sense. What do you think of Future?
Future’s dope.

Do you like the original version of “Jumpman,” too, or do you prefer hearing Kanye?
Kanye.

What about Travis $cott. What do you think about him?
Travis is dope!

What’s your favorite emoji?
The picture of a star with a black man running towards it.

What else are your goals for 2016?
To be one of the greatest.

Anything else you want to say?
Follow your fucking dreams.

Thanks dude. Take care.

Follow Kyle Kramer on Twitter.