City of Win is a series curated by Isiah “ThoughtPoet” Veney and written by Alejandro Hernandez that uses prose and photography to create portraits of Chicago musicians and cultural innovators working to create positive change in their communities.
Our current understanding of how galaxies form is that they’re shaped by the clumping together of dark matter, which makes up the invisible scaffolding of the universe. Clouds of gas and dust gather along this scaffolding, slowly collapsing into stars that evolve and then die in supernova explosions. These explosions create clouds of gas that form new stars and the planetary systems around them. This cycle of death and rebirth has continued for billions of years, and galaxies have continued to develop during all that time—as they accrete mass or merge with other galaxies, they slowly grow larger and more organized in their structure.
Lamont Anderson knows a thing or two about evolution. The Chicago-based artist formerly known as L.A. VanGogh has spent more than a year rebranding himself creatively as Galaxy Francis. Under his previous name, he’d built a solid reputation thanks to a diverse skill set: rapping, singing, producing, and engineering. But he felt he’d outgrown that persona, and the name “L.A. VanGogh” was creating logistical problems.
“Search-wise, it’s a fucking mess,” he says. “I’m competing with Vincent van Gogh, La Oreja de Van Gogh, the Van Gogh exhibit—so much has to populate before you might see me.” He thought carefully about what he wanted his new identity to be.
“You break down [‘Galaxy Francis’], ‘galaxy’ by definition is a collection of gas and stars and dust that comprise worlds, and I feel like that myself, making space for all that I am as a singer, rapper, and even a producer,” he explains. “‘Francis’ translates to ‘free man.’ So allowing all those worlds inside of me to be free.”
This May, Galaxy reintroduced himself to audiences with the first project under his new name. Throughout the 13-minute EP iNNERGALACTiC: SiDE A, he takes listeners on a rocket ride around his musical universe, switching flows across a range of multidimensional beats and bouncing between spitting clever bars and harmonizing choruses. By including standout features from the likes of Icy LS, Jay Wood, and Manasseh, Galaxy stays true to his name—he’s creating space for other stars to shine.
The first of Galaxy Francis’s two iNNERGALACTiC EPs came out in May. The second is due next week.
Galaxy hasn’t always had access to a team of collaborators, though. When he was first introduced to music making, he had to learn to do everything himself—vocals, production, engineering—simply because he had no other choice.
“The first rap song I ever remember hearing was ‘Gin & Juice’ by Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre, and if you know Dr. Dre, you know he produces and engineers his own stuff,” he recalls. “So I think that idea of being self-sufficient was like subconsciously pumped into me. And just coming from where I come from, resources didn’t always allow me to hire all of these team members.”
Galaxy’s list of music influences—Motown, west-coast hip-hop, modern EDM—spans decades and genre lines, and he credits battle rap for helping sharpen his writing.
“Again, a lot of worlds that make up that galaxy. You got R&B, you got alternative. I really recently got into electronic music. Just those types of production elements make a lot of things really fun.”
In April 2022, Galaxy was still working at a T-Mobile store and transitioning between personas. He took a trip to Los Angeles with friends whose connections there included movie composer Hans Zimmer, and it refreshed his creativity and his sense of who he is. In a lucky omen that didn’t seem lucky at first, he suffered an ankle injury on the trip that led him to take leave from work—and that time off allowed him to think about his future.
“I think I was relying or maybe just had this fear that I can only create in my bubble,” Galaxy reflects. “When I realized that I could create with other people, around other people, I realized how much of a gift I had that I owed to myself and that I owed to the people around me. And just selling phones and phone plans felt like such a disservice to that. I really felt like I was in the wrong place.”
Energized by a new sense of self, Galaxy has leaned into his community to revamp his creative process. He’s now a staff engineer at Studio Shapes in Albany Park, alongside Renzell.Wav, and they’re helping orchestrate the current wave of talent in Chicago. He’s also allowing the community to have a hand in his artistic direction: for the past year, he’s been letting his fans choose which single he releases next by conducting an occasional “choose your fighter” video-game-style poll via Instagram.
On August 2, Galaxy will release iNNERGALACTiC: SiDE B, with production by Ethan Deetz and a feature by singer-songwriter Ranika. The week before—on Wednesday, July 26—he’s throwing a free listening party at Midlane Esports (2471 N. Milwaukee) that will include video-game tournaments, a DJ set by Chan000, and a raffle for three hours of time at Studio Shapes.
“I reached a point where it wasn’t about ‘What do I get by putting this music out?’ It’s ‘What am I giving?’” Galaxy says. “This whole iNNERGALACTiC EP rollout is literally the pre-rollout for an album I want to put out in 2024. So understanding that, I gotta create a narrative as an artist—I gotta give people some substance to want to hear an album.”
Photos by ThoughtPoet of Unsocial Aesthetics (UAES), a digital creative studio and resource collective designed to elevate community-driven storytelling and social activism in Chicago and beyond
