By Ike Nnabuife

Abhi Manhass of Weston Estate On Swag, Transracial Psychosis, Indian Rappers, Cracked FL, the Meaning of Life, and More

2025 gave us an odd summer. Unlike last year’s tight race among the caffeinated “Espresso” the litigious “Not Like Us”, the puke green sea of BRAT, and somehow more, this is the first year where people weren’t overreacting by raising eyebrows at the whereabouts of the Song of the Summer. Now, barely dipping their toes into the school year, I hear people already planning out their Mary and Stack Halloween costumes. Before you know it, you’re already at Christmas.

Immigrant kids everywhere know the culture clash of Christmas. As Fox News pundits — usual unwavering acolytes of consumerism — pop a vein trying to stress that the holidays are about Jesus, some migrant families don’t hesitate to assimilate and spoil their kids with presents despite never mentioning Christ in their house otherwise. (My mom could get behind Santa Claus, but the Easter Bunny was a step too far for her.) The formative memories of first snows and witnessing presents under the tree in the morning change lives.

Like in all the best origin stories, for Weston Estate’s Abhi Manhass, getting FL Studio for Christmas from his mom was the first domino to fall. It all started in “the middle of nowhere” (Raleigh, NC — Abhi’s words, not mine):

Ike Nabuife: What are your earliest memories of music, and how did [Weston Estate] meet?
Abhi Manhass: We met in middle school. There wasn’t much to do in Raleigh. You just consumed a lot of content and watched videos with your boys on the school bus, bonding over the music in those videos. Then one day you get FL Studio as a Christmas present from your mom, and suddenly you and your boys are making music together. One thing led to another—you’re like, maybe we could do that, make videos, make music… And before you know it, you’re performing in the CocaCola Arena, 10,000 cap stadium shows in Toronto opening for Keshi, stage diving into crowds at the Ritz, getting passed around the section by all your friends. And then after all that, you’re talking to someone over the phone about how you got here. It’s a crazy butterfly effect.
It feels like the only decision in my life that truly mattered and that I don’t regret is getting FL Studio for Christmas. Everything else has just been a consequence of that.
IN: The way a lot of philosophy works is—you can have freedom with a lot of different things, but you might not build something to look back on. You just jump from thing to thing. Versus if you commit to something meaningful, it’s different. You care a lot about purpose?
AM: The nature of regret is whatever you see yourself doing in 10 years. Does it make you think you’ll be sad? Or in 10 years will you be glad you did it—or glad you didn’t? You choose whatever is going to make you happy 10 years from now. You also choose what’s going to make Past You proud. Like, what would 14-year-old me think of the person I am now? Would he be proud? And will 34-year-old me be grateful for the decisions 24-year-old me is making right now?
In terms of freedom, I do feel free. But I also feel constrained because we’re human and there are only 24 hours in the day. I hope I’m making the least regretful choices. But only time will tell. For now, that’s how I feel.

Being a boy band is a lost art. Being “ya auntie’s favorite boy band” requires a lot of intentionality. Abhi’s intention is satisfying that joyed inner child who got FL Studio that fateful Christmas. The culture clash signature to Christmastime is also endemic to Weston Estate’s sound. Their new track “Go!” subtly incorporates a Hindustani feel that really breaks the mold.

IN: How does your background impact your life? Would you call yourself religious? Do you think that shows up in your music, or will it more in the future?
AM: I’m definitely more on the spiritual side. There are many ways to make money, but not many ways to be content with being. Religion helps you be content. When I make music, it feels like a religious experience. I’m expressing my inner thoughts, and we’re expressing our collective thoughts. That’s why working with the band feels more spiritual than making music alone. Solo music is self-expression, but group expression is something else entirely.
We grew up in a diverse area. My roommate was Ethiopian, and he showed me how the Weeknd sampled Ethiopian music. With “Go!” we all learned to appreciate our ethnic backgrounds, but we didn’t want it to be the focus of attention. We wanted to create something completely new, not just rely on culture for attention. For example, the chorus of “Go” is more like a body of sound than just words. That’s cooler than just taking an Indian melody and translating it into English.
IN: Do you feel comfortable sharing if you identify as Hindu or Muslim—or is it just spiritual?
AM: I’d say I’m cool with the teachings of Hinduism. But if you ask me, like, have I read the Bhagavad Gita? I haven’t really read those texts and ingrained them into my being. I was raised Hindu, though, so I take those teachings. For example, the idea of karma—I believe in that. What you put out into the world will come back, from some other energy you can’t define. For me, God is everything I can’t control.
IN: Going back to “Jab We Met”, do you have a favorite Bollywood or Tollywood movie?
AM: This might sound like a basic answer, but I love “3 Idiots”. My dad really related to the college experience in India through that movie. Also, The “Jungle Book” was my dad’s first-ever movie in theaters, so when I think of movies, I think of my dad. But yeah, “3 Idiots” is probably my favorite Indian movie.
IN: That answer couldn’t be more basic than mine. I think the only Indian movie I’ve seen all the way through is “RRR”, which I know is the most basic answer.
AM: No, that movie is pretty fire. My roommate and his Ethiopian family friends came over one day, and they were like, “Bro, I just saw RRR—that was crazy.” We all watched it together, and I realized people really do connect with Bollywood or Tollywood movies without being Indian.

Transitioning from watching movies, skits, and vlogs on YouTube as a kid and rolling your eyes when your parents said it was rotting your brains to accepting that the phone really was the problem as a new adult makes for a rude awakening. Thinking back to YouTube, I had to address the elephant in the room.

IN: How do you feel about being Logan Paul’s favorite band?
AM: (Laughs) His wife Nina is so sweet. She actually reached out to us personally. Their romance sparked from listening to our music, which is the most random thing ever. Logan Paul of all people! But hey, a fan is a fan.
IN: If money wasn’t a thing, what would your dream music video look like?
AM: Good question. I loved Interstellar—especially the cornfield chase scene. My dream video would be us driving a monster truck through a cornfield while one of us is in a fighter jet crop-dusting the fields. It’d be like a floral Mad Max vibe. That would look crazy.

That was 100% his inner child talking. But enough about his inner child. On the note of future children:

IN: Do you support nepotism?
AM: My parents came to this country with nothing. Over time, they built something. When I left the house, we had one fridge. Five years later, I come home and there’s two fridges. I can’t blame anyone for using what their family has built. If my brother wanted to make music, I’d produce an album for him. Is that nepotism? Maybe. But I wouldn’t put him above someone with god-given talent. Nepotism doesn’t mean prioritizing unskilled/amateurish family over true talent—it just means using your resources.
IN: What are your feelings on Indian representation in the music industry—like NAV, Hanumankind, Yung Fazo?
AM: I love Yung Fazo. He’s playing at the festival we’re doing this Sunday. I think he’s a young GOAT. His manager Shaq is fire, and I feel like he can put him in the places he deserves. Shaq has put on for the Indian community before, and I love his whole team.
NAV is great. Hanumankind really put on South Indian culture. But I think we need more. Having a band that’s Indian would be really cool… I wonder where people could find a predominantly Indian one. I hope that happens one day.

I really wonder…

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Welcome to our new segment FYNE PRINT — a series where interviewees give deeper insight into their artistry, and say it all with a song — indirectly curating a playlist for us.

IN: Tell me about your first song.
AM: Our first song actually sampled an Indian track called “Tum Se Hi” from the movie “Jab We Met”. It’s a love story about a guy who goes far and wide for a girl. The theme was about never finding another like the one you love. We pulled inspiration from that movie into the song. But the track wasn’t good, so we had to take it down.
IN: That’s usually how it goes—you gotta start somewhere.

IN: Song of Summer?
AM: There’s this UK rapper, Feng. I really love his stuff. “Weekend” are both super fire. I also loved “Bristol,” but it got taken down because of a sample. We were just in London for a show, and one of our openers’ managers also manages Feng. I was so hyped to maybe meet him, but unfortunately he wasn’t there. Still, I love the UK scene. They’ve got a new kind of swag out there.
IN: They’re mostly beating the American underground right now.
AM: They’re way ahead of the American underground. They’re just on some different stuff.

IN: Most Underrated Artist Right Now?
AM: I think I’d give it to my boy, Maasho. He’s really fire. He’s an all-around renaissance man and deserves more flowers for the work he’s put in. He’s a very good editor, producer—everything.

IN: Favorite Indian Song?
AM: One I love is “Nach Le Soniye” by Raf Saperra. Also, there’s this brown duo called The Twins—similar to the Hellp—they just did a track with fakemink, and their album TURMERIC is pretty fire.
IN: Isn’t fakemink Indian?
AM: Yeah, half Algerian, half Indian.

IN: If your life was a TV show, what would be the theme song?
AM: Probably “R.I.P.” by Playboi Carti.

IN: Song you wish you wrote?
AM: “Romantic Homicide” by D4VD

IN: Song that reminds you of your favorite person?
AM: “How much is weed?” By Dominic Fike—Reminds me of my girlfriend.

IN: Favorite Crying Song?
AM: Crying or crime song?
IN: Crying. But if you want to give a crime song too, you can.
AM: (Laughs) OK, well if it was ‘crime’, I’d say something by Glock40Spaz. His stuff is so loud it literally makes my phone vibrate. The bass clips in a way I’ve never heard before. They put sound limiters on streaming platforms specifically so that doesn’t happen; I’m always like ‘Holy, sh*t, how is this even possible?’
But for a crying song, I’d say aldn’s “icantbelieveiletyougetaway.” I listened to that a lot last year. It’s more rageful than sad, but I’d rob someone while crying to that song.

IN: SoundFynd does these “context clouds” where artists pick artists who inspire them or just ‘contextualize’ their sound. Who are your six?
AM: That’s hard because the music we’re dropping now is different from the past. It’s still us, but in a new lane. I wouldn’t normally compare us to big pop artists, but the sound we’re headed toward is bigger, not necessarily pop, just different. So, I’d say Frank Ocean, MOIO, Daft Punk, Glaive, Dijon… and maybe one more. The new Glaive stuff feels close to what we’re making. And Dijon’s latest album is Top 5 this year for me.

IN: Favorite Song from the new Dijon Album?
AM: “Yamaha” and “Higher!”

IN: It’s been 9 years since Blond. What’s your favorite song from the album? And do you think Frank Ocean will ever drop again?
AM: I love “Siegfried” and “Futura Free”—the way the beat comes in five minutes in when you’re not expecting it, that’s fire.
IN: Yeah, and because there are basically no drums on the album until then, it hits even harder.
AM: As for the second question: probably not. If I were him, I wouldn’t. For my own solo music, I really only want one project to be like my thesis. If you’re doing a Ph.D., you really only get one dissertation—the culmination of everything you’ve learned. That’s what your first project should be. Lauryn Hill did it—The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill is so good, and she never dropped again. But that one project was strong enough.

IN: I know this is a crazy comparison, but who would you put above who: Frank Ocean or Lauryn Hill?
AM: I’d take Lauryn Hill. She invented melodic rap. Even though her album is technically R&B, she won a rap Grammy for it. She invented a whole style. Frank Ocean is an inventor too, but Lauryn Hill takes it for me. Do you have a favorite lyric off Blond?
IN: I like the double entendres on “Solo”; solo and so low, in hell and inhale.
Abhi: That’s heaven. He’s a great writer. Writing is hard. We normally have a melody, then find the words. But that feels wrong. But we’re switching up the style for the album. I don’t know what our fans are expecting, but I feel like they want a large body of work. And I feel like it’s about time to give that to him.

IN: Any final comments?
AM: We don’t make pop music. We make emo music.
IN: What do you consider emo?
AM: I think emo music is true to the time it’s in—a reflection of how the artist feels. There have been many waves of emo: emo rock, then emo rap with Kid Cudi, Kanye, and Drake. Later, Lil Peep and others brought emo trap. What we make is the emo version of whatever’s happening now.
We used to make pop music because we felt that way then. We don’t feel that anymore, so we’re in a different lane now. Still, it’s all self-expression. But this time around, we were feeling pretty swaggy, so we decided to make some slight “flex music” because we felt good.
[Around this point in the interview, Abhi had said swag about 20 times.]
IN: Can you define swag? Are you saying swag because of the Justin Bieber album or is “swag” a word that you’ve just had in your lexicon?
AM: In 2024, during the Super Bloom Tour, I realized the next renaissance is that late 2000s aesthetic, so I started saying “swag pop” all the time. Me and Marco even made a whole project called “Swag Pop”. Then Justin Bieber dropped an album called “Swag”—terrible timing. But luckily his album didn’t sound like ours.
To me, swag is like sauce—an aura that comes from putting in your 10,000 hours. It’s not forced; it’s earned. People call it charisma or style, but it’s just being your true self at the highest level. It’s purely subjective.
IN: What do you think of the “transracial psychosis” in Justin Bieber’s latest album? (laughs)
AM: (Laughs) That’s such a fire phrase. But honestly, the “white boy avatar” phenomenon isn’t going away. Tommy Richman is a Brent Faiyaz avatar. Bieber is just Usher’s avatar. It’s a cycle. People just see dollar signs since there’s just a large population for that, so I don’t think it’ll stop, but I also think it’d be cool if we saw the reverse.