“This might make people uncomfortable, but I’d rather be transparent about being calculated instead of hiding behind fake laughs and social chess,” Kazemi tells PAPER. “People know when I’m at their dinner table, I’m here to collaborate and get shit done.” His first time in New York last month landed him a spot on Page Sixand a sold-out event at The Strand, produced by Kelly Cutrone. “It was my prom king moment,” he says. “I was so surprised she got a cake made. It was so sweet.” People who’d followed Kazemi since his Tumblr-era fish-on-tongue virality showed up in person. He calls the early manuscript a “2013 Tumblr cult moment” but promises it won’t stop there.
Kazemi never moved to LA or NYC. “People think I’m a recluse because I networked through the internet, but was never physically there at any cool parties,” he says. He started out writing for early 2010s music blogs and dropped out of high school (he recounts how Sky Ferreira advised him not to). It somehow worked, though: in 2020, Madonna read paragraphs from the then-27-year-old’s book on Instagram like scripture.