Over the summer, Dazed turned red, white and blue for our landmark States of Independence project. On top of six weeks of different daily guest edits, for the Pop Quiz, we interviewed some of our favourite American underground icons on the country they call home. Here, we've chosen some of the best answers: dig in for a festive roadtrip. 

Where in the US do you live now?

David LaChapelle: In Maui. I had this period where I worked for 11 months without a day off and I just felt like I needed to stop. I wanted to get away from the superficialities of New York and return to nature, to things that felt real again, so I moved to Maui. I live on a farm that used to be a nudist colony actually. By the way, there’s nothing like being naked in the woods. Solitude and nature really inspires me. I don’t want to be controlled by devices, distractions and noise.

What three words define the States today?

Wiz Khalifa: I don’t know.

Joey Bada$$: Out of order. I think there's a lot of stupid shit that happens there. I just saw on the Internet that this guy got murdered by the police for breaking up a fight. I don't like the police, I don't like their type of control. They're trying to eliminate all the black brothers in America, they're trying to enslave.

J Cole: I know the three words Americans think define the states. They're the three words used by DJ Khaled: 'We the best'. I don't know whether it's necessarily true though.

Which living American do you most admire and why?

Jeanette Hayes: 

Which living American Do you most despise and why?

Danny Brown: I don't like the Miley Cyrus thing. My girlfriend has a daughter who’s thirteen now, and her dad's locked up for murder. So I’m that little girl’s dad now. My daughter watched Hannah Montana growing up and now look at what Hannah Montana is doing!? Kids can't separate what's real from fake at this point. She's obviously a talented individual, she just really cheapening her brand. She doesn't have to do those things. Someone else can do it and do it better.

So if Miley asked you to be on a track you’d turn her down? 

Danny Brown: No, no, no. Not for the cheque. It might be the last one. You always need another cheque. You gotta pick your cheques wisely, like playing blackjack. 


What high school clique were you in?

Angel Haze: I’m not gonna lie, I was a loner in high school. But one of those loners who was extremely well known by everyone and was considered a bitch. It was only because I kept switching schools, and I just didn’t want to bother. In my 10th grade year, I stopped going to high school and started to be home schooled. I was one of those – extremely anti social.

When and where you the happiest?

Kim Gordon: I don’t know...‘Happy’ is a weird word. I mean, I liked being a kid and going out to Malibu I guess, we had friends out there. But I don’t think of myself overall as a happy person. But I’m not totally unhappy. When you grow up in California there’s a lot of pressure to be happy.

Whose face should be on the $100 bill?

YG: Damn. Obama. First black president!


Mink Stole: Bill Gates.


Richard Kern: Elvis? But I like Ben Franklin’s face on the hundred. There���s lots of aging grandpa hippies that have his look now.


Jonas Mekas: The moon. The face of the moon would be fine.


Cory Arcangel: It would be cool if it was an artist of some type. Poet, musician, novelist, etc. etc...anything will do. It's a tough game out there so it would be good to show some love to someone who sweated it out. Tupac would be cool maybe. 


Ariel Pink: Anyone living past the age of 99 should have a special edition of $100 bills featuring pics of them as babies.


Common: Jay Z.


Jeremy Scott: Well mine, of course! Duh.


Dominique Young Unique: Of course, my face, why not! And I'd have big hair, like in my "Throw It Down" video.

What's the best road trip you've ever been on?

Chris Peters: To be honest I haven’t really done many road trips, but I really want to do the drive to LA from New York, I haven’t had time to do anything like that in forever.

Shane Gabier: Travelling across the country from Chicago through the Badlands through the Salt Flats in Utah, to San Francisco and then Los Angeles. The salt trail in Utah was probably the highlight. It’s just miles and miles of plains covered with an 8-inch layer of white, crackling salt. It takes 30 minutes to drive through and it’s vast and amazing. Honestly, I didn’t even know it existed until I was there – I took lots of photos throughout the trip.

Favorite slang phrase?

Jack and Lazaro: Fuck you.

What do you think is the most overrated and underrated tourist attraction?

Telfar Clemens: I would say any tourist attraction is overrated. When I go somewhere, I’m like take me to where people go every single day. I don't want to go where every single tourist is. I've always skipped tourist destinations. Like, I've never even been to the Statue of Liberty. I always told my parents I'd rather be at the mall. Wherever I can get really good clothes would be my ultimate tourist destination: a market or a Foot Locker.

What is your favorite quote about America?

Binx Walton: "An American monkey, after getting drunk on brandy, would never touch it again and thus is much wiser than most men." - Charles Darwin.

Bradford Cox: "Remember, remember always, that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionists." – Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Giancarlo DiTrapano: "America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between." – Oscar Wilde. I just heard this recently for the first time and it's perfectly true.

Where in the US do you live now?

SZA: Wherever my schedule takes me. For right now I’m in New Jersey.  I leave for LA tomorrow then I’m doing spot dates all over. Pitchfork Fest etc. But I don’t really have a home. I have an apartment uptown but it’s not furnished. I’m never there. 

When was your last run-in with the cops? What happened?

Schoolboy Q: The border police, man. They look and me, like, ‘who's this guy?’ because of my face. I'm just like "arrest me or let me go"

Where in the States would you ride out the apocalypse?

Sandy Kim: With Todd Rundgren on Sunset Boulevard.

What noise reminds your of the States?  

Danger Mouse: Car horns. 

What food reminds you of home?

Ty Dolla $ign: Soul food. Yams, beans, macaroni n’ cheese, and whichever meat they decide to cook.

Where’s your favourite spot for soul food in Cali?

Ty Dolla $ign: My mum’s house.

If you could change one thing about the US, what would it be?

Natalie Westling: Prejudice.

What would make you leave America forever?

Skrillex: When they learn how to colonize in space.

What is your ultimate American guilty pleasure?

Stoya: I take no guilt in my pleasures.

What is your favorite American building?

Alexis Penney: I love the Freedom Tower, love the Empire State, love queering their intents and meanings to fit my values, but I will forever be in a relationship with the Sutro Tower in San Francisco.

What's your ultimate American album? 

Danny Trejo: My ultimate American album? God man, this is going to sound really bad, but as an album I just love Credence Clearwater Revival. Now all the Stones fans are going to be mad now. That’s a great driving around record.

If you could vote for Obama again would you?

A$AP Ferg: Yeah I would, he’s a really good guy, he kind of has a Kennedy flare but he’s really swaggy. I’m not that political but from the speeches I’ve seen he has a real good aura. And I’m big on auras.

Who gave you your first break? Do you still talk?

Larry Clark: Now, that is a question. I really have to think about that one…actually, I think I’ve always made my own breaks. If I look back at my life, I’m pretty satisfied that nobody ever gave me anything. Everything I’ve done, I’ve done myself. That makes me feel really good. I guess there is a self-satisfaction thing there.

What smell do you associate with the city of your birth? 

Humberto Leon: Live chickens.

If you lost it all tomorrow, what would you do the day after?

Stephen O'Malley: Count my blessings and try to begin again.

If you could change one thing about America what would it be?

Chad Muska: That people would be willing to work hard again and become the industrial revolution that we once were.

What will America look like in 2050?

Mykki Blanco: Hopefully cute.

Ultimate American film?

Christopher Owens: Ah. That’s hard. Singing in the Rain.

Which fictional American character do you most identify with? 

Laura: R2-D2.

Kate: C-3PO.

Does the American Dream still exist?

Holly Herndon: Objectively, no. Nobel Prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz says “the life chances of a young U.S. citizen are more dependent on the income and education of [her] parents than in any other advanced industrial country for which there is data.” Fortunately more and more information, including Piketty’s book, is coming to the fore articulating just how stratified the US has become. I do think that there is a distinct optimism to the United States that may allow for the formulation of new American dreams, but the idea that anyone can achieve anything with hard work and a good attitude is demonstrably false. Hopefully once we internalize that truth as a nation we can start to dream about ways to address it for the better.