Lil Uzi Vert: ‘Everything’s too goth, we need more steampunk’

May Van Alen House, a Victorian brownstone on the Upper East Side, once belonged to one of New York’s most pampered bachelorettes. Today, it’s been decked out for a different kind of pampered socialite. One wall has a gold-rimmed frame with a photo of Lil Uzi Vert dolled up like an 18th-century aristocrat. Upstairs, a bed is strewn with white towels shaped into swans and dollar bills bearing Uzi’s face. 

The rapper comes barrelling in with a speaker blasting 2slimey’s High Anxiety, a rage tape so serrated it hits like a dagger sawing through your ear canal. For the first shot, they stand atop the dining room table, clasping a chandelier. Uzi’s dreads are split black and pink; a massive vertical gold necklace that spells out “MUSEUM” hangs over a cinched Dior Bar jacket and pair of white trousers so unbelievably wide they would even turn heads in Ridgewood. 

It’s been a weird 12 months for Uzi, who didn’t sit for a single written interview in 2025. They’re easily one of the most charismatic MCs alive and the most talented vocalist of the original SoundCloud set, someone who can stretch simple phrases like an accordion. Halfway through the decade, Uzi remains immensely popular, and there’s a strong chance of a new album this spring. But they now have to fend off an increasingly inventive underground scene and an impatient fanbase which has leaked more than a thousand unreleased songs this year alone. 

You never know what Uzi is going to say. This kind of dizzy unpredictability has propelled their career–you can see it in their outfits, the constant edging of fans with the promise of new music, and their freakish collaborations. (Who else has worked with Nicki Minaj, Snow Strippers, Bring Me the Horizon and the Nickelodeon boyband Big Time Rush?) Here, they discuss death, new music and their dream of spearheading a steampunk revival.

Hi Uzi. Who are you excited about in the underground right now? 

Lil Uzi Vert: 2slimey took the end of 2025. I can’t even think about nobody else. 

I liked your three recent songs [Chanel Boy, Relevant and Regular]. 

Lil Uzi Vert: I have another one coming out, too. I should drop that shit [What You Saying] after this. 

Are you in a posting mode right now, or a creative spurt? 

Lil Uzi Vert: Yeah, I thought about it. I was being selfish for a long time, holding my music and shit. I’m like, ‘What if I just wake up and die? Who’s gonna drop my music for me if I’m dead?’

Do you worry about that a lot?

Lil Uzi Vert: About dying? Nah, I don’t worry about dying at all. But I’ll say that what I really do worry about is being the last person on Earth. 

Like that movie, I Am Legend?

Lil Uzi Vert: Well, he technically wasn’t the last person on Earth. They was just mutated. I don’t know… Like, what if I’m really supposed to be the last person on Earth? What if everyone dies? What if this room doesn’t exist and I’m still alive? That’s bad.

Are these singles part of a bigger world you’re trying to build or a project coming out? 

Lil Uzi Vert: Nah, the singles is for the streets. You gotta understand, I got so many flows. My fans don’t really appreciate when I make a big mainstream song. They say, ‘Well, we want a trapped-out Uzi.’ Then I make a trap song and they say, ‘Uzi, you know better than this, you make quality music, we can’t even hear it.” So instead of meeting those people in the middle, I make two different genres of music… I have my real drops that I usually drop on holidays or I have a countdown. 

Do you have an album coming out in 2026? 

Lil Uzi Vert: [Takes a few seconds] Um, sure. 

I was curious to know if you feel pressure; so many people in underground rap feel pressure to drop frequently. 

Lil Uzi Vert: I don’t feel pressure, bro. I’m gonna tell you right now: everybody that don’t pay attention to me, [they] got they life going on. Everybody that pay attention to me [too much], it’s somehow coded that I’m better than you. They be trying to make it like we supposed to drop one album a year. 

What kinds of sounds are you interested in exploring?

Lil Uzi Vert: I’m trying to see what they listening to in Indonesia. 

What got you into Indonesia? 

Lil Uzi Vert: Huh? It was just the first place I thought of right now. Yeah, I wouldn’t lie to you.

Do you have any dream visuals for your next album? 

Lil Uzi Vert: I gotta change the scene. 

How are you gonna change the scene? 

Lil Uzi Vert: I can think of it right now, that’s how good I am. Steampunk. Steampunk. Because everything’s too goth, so we’re gonna make it more steampunk.

Are you going to spend the holidays with your family? 

Lil Uzi Vert: Probably not. I’m not that type of person. I’m like Scrooge. But I make sure all of them are really well taken care of. 

But will you be with JT [Lil Uzi’s girlfriend and former City Girls rapper]? 

Lil Uzi Vert: Yeah, well we got our own family. Me, JT and Baby Skrill. We got a Xolo dog, he’s naked.

“I’m getting old. I ain’t that young no more. Like if I was Bob Dylan or something, I’d be good. But I’m Lil Uzi, so shit’s a mess”

Do you and JT play music for each other?

Lil Uzi Vert: Let’s just say we’re going to dinner and it’s like, who’s going to come on the aux? She be like, ‘Put on some music, I wanna hear what you been working on,’ and I be nervous. I just be like, ‘Bro, why you always wanna hear my music? Play your own music!’ And then we’ll go to dinner, chill out and talk about things we can change in each other’s lives and stuff. I be bipping, though. I be out here living my days at a time. But I’m very JT-coded. 

You got a baby Baby Pluto [Uzi’s alter ego, inspired by Future’s nickname] coming?

Lil Uzi Vert: No, she don’t want my baby to be a Baby Pluto. Hell no. She said she want our kid to like tennis, all that. 

When you’re at home, what are you doing most of the time?

Lil Uzi Vert: Play with my dog and my girlfriend records me. We probably argue about something stupid real quick then I act like I’m about to leave, and she chasing me and then we chilling.

Do you guys cook together? 

Lil Uzi Vert: No, I do all the cooking. 

You turned 30 last year, right? 

Lil Uzi Vert: [People] are trying to find everything that’s wrong with me ’cause I’m getting old. I ain’t that young no more. Like if I was Bob Dylan or something, I’d be good. [But] I’m Lil Uzi, [so] shit’s a mess. I’m like a substitute teacher, I gotta fight with kids all day long. [But] I’m gonna keep it real with you, I haven’t had an age for a long-ass time. 

You’re like Chief Keef, 300? 

Lil Uzi Vert: No, that’s too old. I’m like the [Cartoon Network show] Codename: Kids Next Door. 

Oh, you’re like five? 

Lil Uzi Vert: Yeah. I just get reclassified all the time. I do good for the community, they love me.

Are you worried about ageing or are you trying to embrace all that? 

Lil Uzi Vert: No, they got surgery for that. 

People like you when you’re as real as possible, right? 

Lil Uzi Vert: No, that gets you cancelled. 

Do you have any skateboarding idols or people who inspire you? 

Lil Uzi Vert: Probably Ryan Sheckler and Rob Dyrdek. I like the skaters that all skaters hate, because it’s more up my alley. I like the rich skaters, not the broke ones. I like Lizard King, though. Shoutout Bam, too – that’s why I got the purple Lam outside. I wanna be like Bam. 

Any last words you’d like to share?

Lil Uzi Vert: Man, keep living in the free world, do whatever you wanna do, we’re lit.

Make-up Michaela Bosch at MA+ Group, nails Pika at See Management, hair Annette Roche, barber Alex Pimienta, set design Lauren Nikrooz at 11th House Agency, photographic assistant Fallou Seck, styling assistant Masiah Lumpkin, tailoring Victoria Howe, set design assistants Yuma Shishido, Lanell Swoope, production William Foster at Farago Projects, production managers Chloe Snower, JV Hernandez, production assistants Sage Gallon, Chloe Wong, Akil Mavruk, post-production Rufina Shaix

This story is taken from the spring 2026 issue of Dazed, which is on sale internationally from March 5. Pre-order a copy of the magazine here.