Punching Bag are built to endure

Askari and Jahsy, 25 and 22 respectively, are two of a kind. They consider themselves outcasts. Shaped by what they describe as a "typical black experience", the pair are rooted in creativity. Dance, art, and visual media surrounded them growing up. Forming a close bond during their time at an arts-based middle school, they eventually separated and went to different high schools. It wouldn't be until 2021, after the pair both began exploring music in earnest individually, that they'd link up.

It was during this in-between period that their musical cogs began spinning. At the same time, both were independently exploring digital audio workstations like Logic Pro. By the time they came back together, the groundwork was set.

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"After high school, I was very much in the dance world and then the acting world, that was my thing. I did music as a hobby back then. I would write songs and rap over tight beats and write songs to beats I found on YouTube," says Jahsy. His musical journey began properly when friends who were already deep in the music game invited him to studios to hang out. In time he began to mess around with recording and anything that he deemed worthy of sharing he'd upload to Snapchat or Instagram, which is how his and Askari's paths crossed once more.

Askari recalls finding his musical entry point through a friend. "I was just so geeked about it that I couldn't contain it," he opens. "I just shared with everybody that I knew because I felt like I was the greatest ever," he laughs. "I was so excited because I'd found something new that I enjoy and I was able to make something that I actually would listen to if it wasn't me. If sending ideas and things to people were a currency, I'd be the richest person in the world."

Striking up a chat, they hung out for the first time in five years, and that same day wrote three songs. As they reconnected, they began sharing the influences they'd each amassed, which it turns out were fairly similar. Their joint reference points include JPEGMAFIA, Death Grips, and Paris, Texas – all of which come through in PUNCHING BAG's array of distorted riffs, aggro-baiting vocals, and sheer attitude. As with all good duos, they do wind up forming a yin-yang of sorts. Askari is the more industrial, experimental side of the duo, while Jahsy leans toward the energetic friction of emo and pop-punk. They've even established jazz roots and unspoken musicality within their freeform approach.

The initial plan was to use PUNCHING BAG as the umbrella term for their label. In 2023, they earmarked two solo releases under this label, which they both inevitably featured on, so the eventual melding of their talents into one pool just made sense. "From the jump, even before we were PUNCHING BAG, the music just had that raw emotion to it," Jahsy says excitedly. But in the end, the pull and sway of the name was too great to be resigned to just a credit.

The first release, "Group 1987" came out in February 2024, and then in July came their debut EP GYM RAT. Their second EP, A BOUT TIME, came out in November 2025, and they've already slated a third for later this year, after the release of January's "Guerilla". If it wasn't obvious, they're relentless grafters. That's the way it has to be for two kids who didn't follow any strictly seasoned path and have instead begun to forge their own.

The PUNCHING BAG process is meant to serve its creators, rather than its creators serving the process. There's no strict ritual of creation within specific boundaries. As Askari describes it, "I am so anti-formula. I'm anti-regimen when it comes to art. I think it's so unhealthy, and I solely create out of necessity…it's therapeutic for me."

He's quick to stress that this whole enterprise isn't based around invincibility – it's taking the hits as they barrel in. "It's taking it on the chin," Jahsy says. "I'll let Askar speak for himself after but I can say I feel like that's just something that's built in us, it builds over time, but we've both been through our own unique experience and trials and tribulations just growing up."

For Jahsy, this involved moving around a lot as a kid. Originally from Queens, New York, he moved across the country with his mum and sister. While in itself a trying task, add in feeling like the black sheep in your family, "or in your friend group, or in your school," and it's here his armour took shape: "From that shit that happens as you get older, and you figure out how to deal with that."

Askari had a similar ignition. While he had family around him also, interactions with them would inadvertently add to his own stockpile. "I remember being made to feel like my endeavours aren't worthy of chasing and obviously now it's different," he says. With that, none of this is out of spite. That would sully the groundwork. Instead, they're spurred on by the self-belief instilled in them from years at creative schools and being encouraged in such disciplines.

"We are so aware of how talented we are, how gifted we are, and what we're capable of, that it will be a disservice to what we're given if we're not gunning for every single day," Askari says with no pretence. "I think talent is a test," he explains further. "It's more of a test than it is a gift to me, I think if you're not using it properly, if you're not appreciating it to the fullest, or taking advantage of it to the fullest you are a part of the problem."

"To even do this job that we're striving to do, you've got to have that hunger, that backbone" Jahsy says. "You need that just to get through life. And then on top of that, you want to be an artist in 2025/2026, we live in LA, you gotta fight, you got to be hungry. I feel like you can't even do this living where we live without being strong." To this point, while the pair were concocting the basis for PUNCHING BAG living in Pomona, they worked as UberEats drivers, delivering to the higher echelons of LA. This only fuelled the fire. It spurred them on with the basis of "having no option. This shit has to work."

Luck is the secret ingredient that they're aware of. But since this is an unknown quantity, preparation is the only move. "No one's more prepared for success than us," boasts Jahsy. "I'm so fucking anal about structure, about organisation, about presentation, the capitalisation of [song and EP titles], it matters, the formatting of everything is so crucial. Preparation is everything, that's what separates us from the jump, and the reason why we could drop the way we drop."

With this comes the dissatisfaction with the satisfactory. The only thing they're striving for is greatness, and that streams through their three-dimensional look at their output. The artwork begets the chugging riffs and prophetic spitting inside. "I hold everybody around me to that standard," Jahsy says and that's another reason why he and Askari are two of a kind. "Everything I participate in, I'm always going for the absolute highest honour. If my heart's in it, I'm going for the pinnacle," he affirms.

For PUNCHING BAG, all of this boils down to: "How long are you able to keep standing?" Askari posits. PUNCHING BAG is for those who have to fight their way through the world, the weight pulling them down, and the only thing that you can do is dig deep and push through. "PUNCHING BAG got you," he smiles. "You're gonna feel seen in the world. We're shining a light on resilience and perseverance, and being proud to carry whatever trauma you're being dealt with and punching back," he ends.