I never do the one foot in, one foot out.
There's no plan B?
No, never no plan B. If I'm going to do something, I'm just going to go all the way.
I always told myself, I'm either going to make it in this rap and shit, or I'm going to be homeless.
Do you still feel like the underdog?
I never give a fuck about what people think about me or what could be the outcome.
I'm just gonna do what I wanna do.
I'm gonna do it always, no matter what.
Nobody can tell me any other way.
Was this all part of the plan?
Definitely all part of the plan, for sure.
Remember the first time I met you, I think it was at the Roxy.
Remember that night?
Yeah, it was a crazy night.
Didn't get to perform.
She did not get to perform.
It was definitely a few thousand, five thousand kids out the front.
It felt like something really important was happening at that moment, but it was just the start.
Not upset.
Who was that kid that I met backstage that night?
You think about that guy just for a split second.
Who was he versus who you are now?
I feel like back then it was more like me just getting out the gate, figuring everything out, seeing it all.
Also, that night was a crazy night because it was like first time where I was like saw how real everything was.
You know what I mean?
It was like, yo, I'm going to do this show at the Roxy.
Everyone pull up.
I didn't think me saying, oh, free tickets, that it was going to be like that.
And then they end up on the news.
They're like, rapper Yeet shuts down. whatever, Sunset.
I didn't even get to perform, but then it really put everything in perspective for me.
I'm like, man, it's really like a movement.
I felt like the real perspective of it saw it from that point.
You haven't stopped working since?
Mm-mm.
I never stopped.
Yeah, I think the consistency as well as the quality of the music that you put out.
I think it speaks a lot to us as fans and to all your fans, is that, even if you haven't got something that's following the last thing, there's always a sense that you're working on that thing.
I've always put a lot of effort and time into making music because I just love, it's all I do.
You know what I mean having fun, but that like it's my, it's the backbone of my career.
It's like all I do is just make music.
That's like just have a real passion for it.
So it's like I always put so much time into it and like I felt that you feel it when you listen to my music.
That it's like something you feel in your soul.
It's like It's just real.
It's always, always.
Whatever I'm doing, whatever next thing I'm doing, what I'm on is always that's like that's what it put to the music.
I went back and listened to some of the really early stuff, a little bit of Different Creature and definitely got into Alive and stuff.
And just had to remind myself how accomplished that music sounds going back to it now, whereas at the time when it came out because it sounded so new and fresh and I didn't know you and none of us knew you there were more questions about your music than there were answers.
Did you feel that that there was as much as you knew what you were doing, that there were people who were gonna question your authenticity or question your staying power, all that stuff?
I feel like that was my goal, to be honest.
I feel like I was always running the shysty.
I didn't do interviews and talk to people.
I didn't.
It was more just like letting the music speak for itself.
That was always before I.
You know I mean people get a judgment of who I am and what.
You know what I mean.
It was just like, that was kind of my goal.
Like, I wasn't even trying to be like mysterious.
I'd rather let the music and everything speak for itself before someone else gets like an idea of me that, like you know what I mean.
Paint a picture in their head that's not true.
And that speaks to the identity that you presented an image as well.
The idea of with the balaclava and everything that you would wear.
It kind of backfires though, right?
Because, at the end of the day, people want to rip that thing off and find out what you truly look like.
It's the Batman effect.
I feel like now is that time where it's like I'm coming out of that stage where I'm like presenting me.
You know what I'm saying.
Presenting myself like I feel like now would be the time to like fully let everyone know who's been a part of the journey and who's yet to be a part of the journey to see.
Why we're here.
Yeah, 100%.
I always admire artists that plant the seed for something before they've even seen it grow themselves.
Were there moments when you felt like having announced ADL and even talked about it on Dangerous Summer, you know, with the interlude ADL is coming, that you had made a bit of a rod for your own back.
You know what I mean.
Because it just builds that anticipation amongst fans.
Or was it motivating for you?
Yeah, it was even before that, too.
I think I've been playing ADL for the past two years.
I've been dropping hints in IG stories, talking about ADL.
I think usually when I drop an album, I'm always in album mode.
I'm just always, I guarantee I mean already ADL's.
You know it's a thing, but I'm already working on the next two albums or three albums that I'm always just like visionary, trying to see what next vibe I'm trying to see.
But I always like to leave little hints and leave little like things for people, like when it starts happening, it starts unfolding.
They could be like go back to it and be like oh, he's been thinking about that, he'd been working on it, he's been doing that.
But I feel like this is the first with ADO.
It's the first time now that I'm like putting a lot of real effort into like actual album.
You know what I mean?
Before everything has been like.
Here's a mixtape, here's this album, here's this, which nothing was wrong with that, but it was like give them this this, this.
Let's just talk about that mentality for a sec before we come back to ADL.
We'll park ADL and come back to it.
But I just want to go back to the thinking behind that.
And I think this will help a lot of people who don't understand the way the artists and your contemporaries move, like that in the beginning, where it's like make a song move on.
Don't even probably listen back to it.
May never listen to it again.
Even IDGF with Drake huge record like the song was like.
I made that song three years before we even dropped it.
And when, I remember, I remember the night.
With Drake on it.
With Drake, no, no, no, I made it Dola, it was a Dola song.
I just saw the song.
It hit me.
Cheers, by the way.
Cheers, bro.
Yeah.
The night that it hit me, they were like, yo, we want to drop this song.
We need this session for it.
We need the files because we have to mix it.
And Zach hit him back.
He's like, we don't have the session.
He's like, we don't have anything.
I used to just make a song in a Logic session, make it, delete it instantly and then put a new beat in.
Make a new song, delete it instantly.
Put a new beat in, make a new song, delete it instantly.
So there was no like, I was just always in that mode of just like- What's the mentality behind creating like that now that you've stepped into a new way of creating with ADL?
Now it's completely different.
So what was the mentality at the beginning that was driving that?
I think it was just like I was just in my bag.
I was just like getting beats from my producers.
I'm like making a song, whether I was high as shit off Molly in a bag, making 20 songs in one night, just like in a mode where I'm just like getting shit.
I'm just fired up.
I'm just inspired.
I mean, just like always going.
But but now it's definitely changed.
It's a whole different process.
So what does success feel like to you when you're going into the studio and knocking out 20 songs and deciding that these are the 10 or the 15 or the 20 out of the 200 or a thousand that you have that are gonna go on a record?
You may never listen to them again.
Everyone else is streaming them endlessly.
And all of a sudden you're starting to achieve huge success, but you're moving at such a pace you're not really absorbing that.
So how do you translate success when it's being created so quickly and almost in such a throwaway way?
My original goal when I moved out to Newark with no money, even though I thought I was rich, was on this grind and thought I was the best rapper in the world when I was 18 years old, first out of high school.
Success to me was just being able to have rent and some food and I could just make music.
That was success.
So I already achieved success since I was 18.
You know what I mean?
That was success to me.
I didn't care about what.
As long as I could do what I wanted to do and have a roof over my head, that's all I cared about.
Now looking at it from that perspective, it's definitely different for sure.
Was it better or was it the same or was it even worse at times?
I think, I think it's definitely, sometimes it could be worse at times.
It was like a lot of pressure from like the fans and like just like different.
There's a lot of different angles at this point now when it's like so much going on and so much like I gotta think about than just like back then when I'm just like in a basement fucking eating top arm and just freedom.
You know what I'm saying.
That was like that was the original success.
But this success I still enjoy and love it a lot, but it's like definitely a lot more comes with it than just like.
Yeah, I was watching one of the videos from Dangerous Summer here in Paris.
What's the black and white one where you're out in the street in the limo?
Oh, that was in Cologne.
In Cologne?
Yeah, right by the cathedral.
Right.
It's a really effective piece of art, man.
I mean, you're out there amongst the people and you know, you're throwing yourself into it.
And obviously there's cameras around.
And so it feels a little bit more framed, but I was, I was watching it.
I'm wondering, like you know okay, you lost in that moment or you got eyes in the back of your head, or how we had security everywhere.
But, but you're definitely more safe.
They don't have guns like that.
They might have a little shank on them.
But now we had security.
YBG was there.
My other security team was good.
But that moment was crazy because it was like I had just finished a show.
I was doing a tour with Drake.
We had all the Europe dates.
Then I just randomly went live on IG and I was like, everyone come to the cathedral.
And that's where the video started.
5,000 kids pulled up within like an hour.
And that's the video.
That was the music video.
That was it.
We didn't put anything into it but that.
It's kind of like the Roxy but in music video form.
How was that summer with Drake?
I know you developed a good friendship with him and he obviously is in a lot of those videos from that summer.
There's footage of you guys out there doing festivals and stuff with him as well.
It was great.
It was great.
Our opening was also like.
I mean, my relationship with Drake has always been like, So my value a lot.
You know what I mean.
Cause he's to me, he's, he's, he's a good friend.
Also just like, he's so successful.
He's one of the biggest artists of all time, if not the biggest, you know what I mean?
And so like being able to, be behind the scenes and also part of it.
Like even before early days, when I was not really like, I was just like just medium stuff like that, to see like how it really works, like what kind of operation it takes.
It was like eyeopening.
You know what I mean?
Especially that tour to me was like, it's when you see shit like that, it's like- What's required.
You see what's required, but also it puts it in perspective, like how big this shit really gets.
It's like I start my shows, they're big and I do these big festivals where I'm hanging with 120000 people and I do this shit, but like when it's a big tour like that and he's doing five nights in Switzerland with 20, whatever thousand people back to back to back, sold out every single night.
And you see the operation backstage, you see like a thousand workers, so many moving parts.
It's like it puts.
It put a lot in this perspective to me, where it's like not only this is where I need to get at, but also this is definitely.
I didn't realize how much goes into this.
So that was really happening for me to be a part of that and see that.
Does it adjust the way you live your life?
Because one thing I've noticed is I've gotten to know you a little bit over the years is to see you discover parts of health.
You know, not entirely, you know, like I know, the drugs come and go, but certainly from a lifestyle point of view you've sort of embraced a healthier lifestyle.
Is that driven to some degree by your desire to reach people and be successful?
I think it was just what needed to be done.
I think definitely when I was younger.
I mean, I've been doing drugs for a long time, but always being smart with it.
I was never dumb, you know what I mean?
When did you start?
Was it an eye-opening experience?
Was it distraction?
Was it to deal with trauma?
Can you trace it back?
I mean, it was a couple of different reasons.
It was like, the one I struggled with the most was Perks, for sure.
That was a long... three, almost four year, every day I was waking up taking however many.
Towards the end, I was taking like 15 30s a day.
It was a lot.
I mean, it was obviously my parents, my family, my ex at the time, like everyone who was around me, was kind of just like you need, like you can't, just like keep living.
Like not only because I was spending so much money on it too on top of that, but also just like for my health.
Like, and it's not like, I wasn't like, my tolerance was so high that like, I wasn't even really getting high.
I would be like taking 1530s and I'd be like sober, be like walking around and I wasn't even doing anything.
So I was like, it was just pointless to me to even like be doing that.
It was like, what is, why am I even doing this?
The people that know you best got in between it.
It definitely pushed me. to not want to do it and not want to keep going with it.
Cause I was also just like for my health, for my longevity, like health is wealth to me.
It's more important than money and anything like that.
That's why like lately I've been in the gym eating good, like turning that all around.
Just like in general, just living a more healthy lifestyle.
Cause it's like if i'm not taking care of myself, i can't take care of anyone else.
That's like number one and that's important.
In all of this, as you continue to amass money and success and things like that feels to me like you're saying you want to share that, like that's something that you want to spread around with your family 100, not even my family with everyone too.
It's like, if i have the opportunity to, to make other people's dreams happen come true.
Like I would do that 10 out of 10 times.
I feel like everyone deserves a shot.
Everyone deserves to live out what they want to do in their dreams and their purpose.
You know what I mean?
So it's like I want to be an inspiration to people that want to live out their dreams and want to live out what they do.
I'm living proof that if you have an idea and you have the mindset that you want to go do something, you should do that 10 out of 10 times and nobody can tell you anything about it.
This is beautiful, man.
I mean, I feel like this feels special, you know, for me as someone who's listened to your music from the get-go, to hear you express yourself in an open way.
And it's timed beautifully around this double album, right?
Dangerous Life for Dangerous Love.
Can you define the difference between the two and why it's a double album?
The album itself is definitely the first album of my career where I'm putting a lot of real, real effort into the album itself.
Before, when I made 2 Alive, Up To Me, all these albums, And that's part of the reason why they did so well and why people resonate with them because of the, you could just feel the authenticity of me just like firing them out and just like,
Just me being in my bag, me being hungry, I want it.
You can feel it.
Well, it spoke to everyone's hunger for it as well.
Everyone wanted more music, and you're like, well, I got more music.
I was ready to go.
I could fire out 50 Otomis that week.
You know what I mean?
Thousands of songs.
But this time, I'm looking at it, Like after, even Danger Summer, I made a while ago.
Everything I make, long time ago.
But this album I'm still like it's more like I'm putting so much time and effort and actually like going back into the songs and into the records and like even like I talked about it with Zach like cause I used to think it was wrong to go back in on a song.
I thought like that was wrong.
I don't know.
I just, that was just in my head.
I was just like, I was like, if you go back in, then you're like, that's just wrong.
Like you gotta make.
If you don't, you know, if you don't make it that one take, then you're doing it wrong.
Like, boom, it's got to be one and done.
I mean, you know, people who talk about the importance of being present and capturing something magical from thin air would argue that there's some truth in that.
Yeah.
I talked about it with Zach and he was like something he said that really resonated with me is like, if you think about like a painter or someone like, they don't just like, they don't just do one stroke on their painting and they're like I'm gonna call it a day, it's done.
You know what I mean?
They could though.
The art painters like that.
It's art for sure.
They could, but like not every time you just have to do one stroke and then it's done.
Like they paint and then wait a week and they'll go back on it and add a tree here and go back.
Add them out in there two weeks later and then maybe delete the whole thing and go black on everything and then drop the whole new thing.
You know what I mean?
Going back in on it was a concept to me that like wasn't even, like never even had that concept in my head.
It's always just been like, I make it, delete it, done.
Next song, go.
Let's keep going.
Next song, next album.
So this time is the first time I'm really going in on an album where I'm like putting time into it and like not being like perfectionist, like Oh, this has got to be perfect.
And I got to, this lyric has to be sound like this and do that.
But like if I noticed something in the song when I'm listening back to it over multiple periods of time and I'm like this could be better, not as a perfectionist standpoint, but like if I'm hearing it, I'm like the delivery on this like I kind of like it just could be better.
Or like, this bar is like, I just said, I'm gonna fuck this bitch 10 times in a row.
Like, can I say something else?
You know what I'm saying? could I go back in and like, could I word it differently?
Could I do something, you know what I mean?
So it's like, I'm going back on it.
I'm like trying to make it the best it could be.
You know what I'm saying?
Like, so this is the first album I feel like in my career, like 2093 was the eye opening for sure.
World building, a huge step.
That's when I was first sober.
First album being like, not on drugs.
So that was the opening, but even then I was just like, boom, boom, boom, and then go.
But this is the first time I really sat down and was like I can get a song from two years ago.
Work on that, take that idea, take this, take that.
You know what I'm saying.
Just bring a lot more, put a lot more work and effort into what I'm doing.
Starts with Purpose General.
Yeah.
Who's on it?
Why is it song number one?
What's it say about the record here?
I got it tattooed right here.
I made the song the next day I got tattooed, so had to come out.
It resonated with you that much?
Yeah.
I'm always, I'm always big on that.
Just tattooing songs, albums, like paying homage to like.
Family.
All that.
Yeah.
Family got my grandpa right here.
Rest in peace, boo.
He was the GOAT.
Purpose general.
I feel like a name I liked because it was just like the general purpose.
I'm saying like whether who it is or what I'm talking about, but like I'm giving you purpose and I'm the general of that.
Before I was Twatsky General, I'm the Twat General and I'm the purpose general.
You know what I mean?
Benny cooked it up and did some crazy like Let's talk about your relationship with Benny X for a second.
You guys have both risen simultaneously and it's certainly been beneficial for the two of you.
You know, Benny is one of the most in demand and respected producers making music these days.
And I feel like the two of you recognize something in each other that was unique.
What is that?
I feel like we've just been working since the beginning also.
And also, Like when we first started working, it was just instant.
We just clicked, you know what I'm saying?
I fuck with Benny as a person and also just like, obviously his beats are like just insane.
Like he's super talented on many different levels.
He can make so many different types of drums, so many different types of beats and shit like that.
So
I've always just fucked with Benny and we just clicked always at the beginning of life.
How does he push you?
What does he see in you that other producers maybe don't pick up?
I think, since we've been working so long and doing so much shit together, he definitely is never afraid to tell me or people in general like yo, you could do better.
I'm not gonna lie.
At first, you could be better.
And so when I saw that in him, because I don't fuck with yes men.
I don't like to ever have people around me that's like dick suckers.
I don't like that.
I don't like that energy at all.
I feel like it's an unsuccessful strategy that people are running like that.
It's like having people around you that obviously fuck with you and appreciate the work you're doing, but aren't afraid to tell you yo, this isn't your best work.
You can do better on this.
In a way, that's not.
I love having that energy around me because it's like it pushes me.
So like me and Benny clicked in that way.
It was like, and I would say the same to him.
If you send me some beats, I'm like not gonna lie, this shit's ass, we need some new ones.
Like you know what I mean and he'll do the same.
You know what I mean, he'll do the same.
So it's like we always say Benny's in the matrix because when he's in, he's got.
Yeah, he's got, he's got.
When he, when he produces, he puts in-ears in.
He doesn't even use headphones, he puts his in-ears in, like when he DJs, he blocks you all out.
No, everything's out.
Everything's out.
He's fully, he's in the matrix, like, 100%.
You can't even talk to him.
We'd be like, yo, Benny.
Like, I remember when I was working.
I love it.
When I was, we was working in a. Social genius.
Yeah, we was working in an aquarium, I called it, when I was making a song with Cuddy.
Me and Cuddy was recording and shit.
Like we was making No More Ghosts.
We kept asking, trying to get Benny's attention.
And he was like sitting like three feet away from us.
He was on his computer, like cooking some shit up.
We're like, yo, Benny, yo, Benny.
He's like.
How can you be offended?
He's doing his job.
Every time we're like, nah, he's in the matrix.
Let him be like, he's in the matrix.
But real talk, just having a little bit of self-awareness.
Do you think that you give off the vibe in the studio when say, a producer comes in and wants to work with you or whatever?
Do you give off the vibe of like, hey man, tell me the truth.
Or are you testing them?
Are you like?
Is there a standoffishness, a certain defensiveness that you carry in your creative process?
I wanted to just be.
I go in the studio with people that I never met the first time and I really don't say a lot.
I'm more of a spectator, you know what I mean?
Like just on their antics and what they do and what they, you know what I mean?
A huge thing with me when I work with people and work with anyone is like I have to fuck with them, like as a person.
I won't make music with people I do not fuck with, like ever.
I don't care about anything.
Otherwise, if I don't fuck with that person, I can't work with them.
It's not going to come off pure.
It's not going to come off authentic.
It's just like anything forced or fake like that, I can't fuck with anything like that.
I kind of just let things unfold and watch them from a third-person perspective where I'm like let it see how it unfolds, let it see how it goes about, and then I make my decision on how I want to go about it.
If I'm in a session with a producer, I'm not going to be sitting there expecting anything from them.
Well, you're a producer as well.
I mean, you produce.
Yeah, I do produce, yeah.
It's one of those rare situations where you're in the room, you understand the language.
Yeah, 100%.
Is it the same for collaborators as well?
You've got some amazing people on this album and obviously there's an opportunity to work with people that you may or may not have a genuine kindred connection with, but it's good for business.
Like does that ever factor in, or is it like no, I really, me and Cuddy have to have a genuine connection for No More Ghosts to exist.
One, it's like, I mean, me and Cuddy have been wanting to work for some time now.
Yeah, me and Cuddy spoke about you.
I mean, he was very, very quick to tell me how much of a fan he was and how gifted he was.
And thanks to Benny.
I think Benny put that together for sure.
But I mean no matter what.
Like I always knew, the vibe would have been good if we just linked up.
Like when we pulled up and made No More Ghosts, he came to the studio.
We made that in literally 10 minutes.
Like, we was just locked and ready to go.
And I think part of that is because, like, we just both fucked with each other generally.
And it was, like, mutual, like, down to work on some of the other and down to like make great music.
So like.
But if the case had been that he came to the studio and I didn't fuck with his energy and he was kinda not if it's Kid Cudi or anyone else, if it was just like we're linking up and I'm just like don't like this person's energy, like i don't and i don't care, like who they are, doesn't matter, it could be anyone, i'm just not gonna work with them, like that's like to me.
That's always been like a huge thing with me because like, if i'm not with it, then it's just not pure, it's not genuine, because my always my music has always been pure and genuine, everything i do about it.
So it's like I don't care about any names or anything like that.
It has to be something I genuinely care about or fuck with, and I have to fuck with that person as well for that to be even possible.
What do you sing on?
No More Ghosts.
When you listen back to it, subconsciously or consciously, what's coming out of that record for you?
So originally I made that song I think like five months ago, six months ago and it was just lately.
I've been doing a lot of my songs where it's like I'll get a melody from Sapger, I'll get a melody from some of my producers and it's like no drums at all, beat just.
You know what I mean.
I'll just get the melody rap on it, imagining there's the drums on it, and then I give it to Benny or I'll give it to whoever, and then we'll put drums on it and I feel like that way it fits it.
Well, not as the case maybe on this album.
Well not, and that's the case with this one is that we didn't end up putting drums on it at all.
We just kept it.
That's why it was more like an interview.
Vibe, I think.
No More.
Ghost to me was like kind of done with the past, done with things that aren't real focused on what's real, what's happening right now.
And I feel like Cudi was the perfect person to put on that, not even just sonically, but it just felt like- Spiritually, ideologically.
100%.
And it just clicked.
Like I said, we made it in 10 minutes.
So I think that song being the interlude, being the middle of the album, the separation between the two discs, it just feels like a perfect way to put everything, good or bad, behind me and focus on what's happening now.
That's why it's called No More Ghosts.
We're gonna talk about all the records that move within the framework, but we know what starts at Pippa's General, we know what's in the middle of No More Ghosts and we know what's gonna close it, which is Up From Here.
That's the most honest you've ever been on a record, I think.
I think definitely, Not even just because I'm sober.
I mean, technically, sometimes I'll still drink and shit, and I'll party sometimes.
But for the most part, I'm not just waking up getting high every day.
I mean, I still dip and dabble around some shit, for sure.
I think it's not a crutch anymore.
No, no, no crutch and nothing like that.
Like, it's more like once I quit Perks, I realized it was really all mind over matter.
If I say something that I'm really thinking, I'm gonna do it every time.
But with that song, going back to what you said, especially with this album as a whole not even just that outro, I mean not every song but a lot of the songs I wanted to be more like personal, more like because I think when I listen back to old Drake, old Kanye, just old music in general, old 50 Cent, you know a lot of these albums.
They was really just talking about what the fuck they were doing, which I've been doing.
You know what I mean?
I've been like, if I'm on two live, I'm talking about, I'm geeked about the smallest five days of that.
Like that was, I was actually doing that shit for real.
But like I feel like now what I'm doing is like getting more personal about my whole upbringing, my story, my life, like what's going on now.
Like, cause I feel like that's the type of shit that's missing from music nowadays.
Like a lot of.
It's kind of just some slop bullshit thrown out to like try and get a TikTok real, trying to get some clickbait views.
A lot of just like the slop that's what I'm calling it just much slop.
Not everyone, but like a lot of shit nowadays is like not genuine, not real, and I feel like that's why those records are still doing so good today is because people resonate with it.
It's new kids coming out of high school now being like never heard it for the first time in their life and they're going to it and they're like resonating with it so much.
And I feel like they're resonating with it so much because it's real, it's authentic.
You know what I mean.
Like those are real like, they're talking about what they were doing then.
And like, I feel like when you open up, you're a little bit more vulnerable.
Not even if it's good or bad, but you're just more vulnerable.
It's like people just feel that authenticity and they're like it just goes so much further than just like saying some bullshit.
You know what I mean?
There's so much to unpack there.
Let's just go to the obvious one.
What was your upbringing like?
What was childhood like for you?
I think a lot of it had to do with like, my dad used to be in a band when he was younger.
And when he had, when my parents had me, he had decided to.
My mom told him it's either the band or me and the kids.
So he quit his band.
They was doing some gigs in Southern California and he quit it.
So I think now I'm living out that dream.
I was born in Irvine, LA. for like most of my childhood.
And then we moved to Oregon.
He wanted to start a weed farm because it got illegal.
So he moved up there.
How old were you?
12.
That's tough.
That's a tough age, man.
It's a weird age to go from like being in LA, Fullerton.
You're established.
You've got friends, your identity's forming.
What things were you to go?
I had my first little girlfriend, you know what I mean?
And then just like...
Whew.
Oregon.
Made new friends, a new life.
You know what I mean?
And then I was definitely a geek-er from, like, a young age.
I was definitely not for any reason, like, you know what I mean?
But I was just always kind of been a geek-er.
And then my mom and my dad being so like music, and my mom loves music, she loves music and so does my dad.
My dad still makes music for this day now.
Um, but they've been so music heavy like since i've been a kid and i feel like that just her like playing t-pain and playing young thug like she, she put on like sufjan stevens and then play like a young thug song.
Oh man, Real taste, serious taste.
I've always just loved music too, and that's a big part to them.
What do they think of the music you were making when you first started?
Because obviously they're well versed in it, right?
They understand it.
They either make it or they're deep in it.
And you're making stuff that for the most part sounds like it's from outer space.
Most people, aside from your core fans who got it out the gate thought the music he was making was either unlistenable or made by a fucking alien.
Yeah, yeah.
So how did that land at home when you're fucking around making this shit, forming it?
I think they always supported me.
I think they're a little bit skeptical at times.
You know what I'm saying?
To them, they're like... Where's this going?
Where's this going?
You know what I mean?
I was working at Jimmy John's at the time.
I mean, I've been working since I was like 16.
I was a lifeguard for like a year.
Then I worked at a gas station in the snow in Oregon, fucking getting like minimum wage.
And then I worked at Jimmy John's as a delivery driver.
So like I was always grinding and that's how I got my first recording set up.
But, and then all of a sudden I had like $5,000 finishing high school.
And I was like I'm rich as fuck, five thousand dollars.
That's where you went to new york, yeah.
And then i moved to new york and that new york's just gonna be like and i'll take that, thank you very much.
You're like i've been here five minutes.
It's about one month of rain.
That's literally not even getting.
You're not even getting food for that, no.
So definitely they were a little bit like skeptical.
They definitely believed in me, for sure, but I could imagine they were definitely questioning it.
And now?
And now they fully support me.
Of course.
I mean, they've been behind it even before I've even been in this current state.
Yeah, man.
I've always been two feet in, two feet out.
I never do the one foot in, one foot out in any part of my life.
There's no plan B.
No, never.
No plan B.
If I'm going to do something, I'm just going to go all the way in.
I always told myself, I'm either going to make it in this rap and shit, or I'm going to be homeless.
Oh, let's talk about new leaders, man.
No option.
Look, it's a fair statement, right?
Like new leaders, the idea of, who's gonna take us into the next generation, right?
We can't just sit here and honor the same generation.
They can continue to honor themselves by creating great things and build on the success they already have, and we'll continue to love them.
But who's coming up under?
It can't stop.
It's a fair statement.
And people had an opinion and that's great.
I feel like, You answered that with Face the Flame.
It's a power collaboration.
Me and Top been cool for a long time.
I love Top.
He's just, like, another case of a person that's just, like, he's so real.
He's just so real.
Like, top is top.
That's why he fucks with me.
It's another genuine, like, real connection, friendship.
But what you're saying about like new leaders and shit, I feel like, Do you still feel like the underdog?
I don't even wanna be a leader.
You know what I mean?
Like I feel like I could be because of other people's views and their opinions, but like I think I'm a leader in ways of like I never give a fuck about what people think about me or what could be the outcome.
I'm always fearless in that way of I'm just going to do what I want to do and I'm going to do it always, no matter what.
Nobody can tell me any other way.
There's very few people in my life that could say something to me and make it even maybe change my mind, because I'm always so set on trusting my gut and my opinion.
So you never get caught up in that thinking where the math tells you one thing, the concerts tell you one thing the level of success you have and yet there's still, I feel, this kind of deniability associated with your success that people aren't quite sure how to position you right.
You're hands down.
I mean, I think it's factually correct, like numerically correct, that you're the most successful new rap artist this decade.
I mean, I see the stats.
I see the numbers for sure.
But like, I don't think, one, I don't think numbers is everything.
You know what I mean?
Numbers, like for sure they do prove some point that, like my music and what I'm doing is doing something for sure.
But like As far as there needing to be new leaders, putting a quote on leaders, what does that even mean?
Leaders of like I think definitely there are people of my generation that like, are pushing the sound and shit like that.
And I'm definitely one of those that's like not afraid to break boundaries and do new shit and try this and do that and light the way.
As far as like, the term new leaders, I feel like That's more of something that's just like up to everyone's perspective.
It's up to like that individual person.
Who do they think is the new leader?
Who are they inspired by?
In that lyric and up from here, you know you definitely stake your claim, regardless of the term leaders.
Well, leadership, you stake your claim in terms of what you've built and what you're proud of.
100%.
It's a statement.
I'm the only one in my generation who's changing music right now.
Yeah, for sure.
I think so.
For sure.
I think that's what I was trying to get at.
Leaders and being able to change.
I feel like it's a different term, at least to me, where it's like i don't want to be labeled as someone who's like to this standard, where i gotta feel like i have to be leading and controlling people to do this type of thing.
I think, just definitely for sure from my perspective, i think out of my generation and as of right now, people and and no shade anyone also, but i think i've definitely like like super forward thinking on like how can we make something that sounds fresh?
How can we make something that sounds new?
How can we push boundaries?
How can we do this next thing?
How can we do that?
Like I feel like and also have the capability to be able to work with different people and this and that like.
That's why I'm saying stuff like that.
I'm definitely trying to change, trying to change it up, trying to give the youth some real music, some real art.
I think I'm done with the slop.
I think people are done with it too.
It's resonating like in all ways.
I think people are done with it.
They're done with the bullshit for sure.
And as these kids get older, as my family get older, everyone gets older.
I'm not saying shit needs to change, but I think people are kind of growing up a little bit, taking Molly 20 times a day and geeking up all week and doing all this shit.
It's just like not as cool as it could have been then because I like, we was just young and fried.
You know what I mean?
Like at a certain point it just gets to like what am I going to be, 40 popping X-Bills all day and getting geeked and scamming and shit.
Like I'm going to wind up in jail for sure.
And you can't make a song without John giving you his blessing and leaning into that if you're gonna be unfocused, right.
I mean, he's not gonna lean into your album and bless you.
He's the patron saint of music, you know?
How did that happen?
What's the story behind this Elton John connection?
It came to be that, I think it's his nephew.
His nephew had fucked with me and also- Probably his kids.
Yeah, no, his kids for sure.
When I was doing Coachella, his kids were like huge fans and Zach's like yo, you want to go meet Elton John's kids.
I was like, okay.
Of course, I'm about to go perform, but like, we got five minutes, but I'll go make time.
I said, what up?
We took a picture, said what up to them.
So that was the start of the connection.
And then, I mean, Elton John's a legend.
Like, you know what I mean?
He's one of the only people in the world that can go do a fucking stadium tour with just a piano and himself.
Tell it out every time and do it over and over again.
The guy's just like, but it's just like pure like talent, superstardom.
I just love the fact as well that, and Elton's a total new music addict.
I mean, he's like your mom.
He's dialed in everything.
He worked with Dog.
They got that record.
So he's tapped in.
For sure.
So that's why I knew, if there was a person, if there was a place for that, it would definitely be him.
And we already had that connection with the kids and him.
It's the perfect recommendation, really.
Yeah.
Zach got in touch with his nephew.
And we just had this weird song where one of my producers Lucid, He just made this crazy piano riff song.
And when I heard it, I was like, we were all saying, this sounds like some Elton shit.
I'm rapping on some Elton piano.
We put no drums on it.
And I was like, we need to get Elton on it.
So we had the connections.
We had the plays.
And I was like, let's try and make it happen.
You know what I mean?
So we ended up making it happen.
And he fucked with it.
They told me, even in the kitchen, you turn it up to it.
So I'm like, okay, so it's definitely the one.
It's so on brand for him.
He's so into it.
I mean, it's not a trait for him.
He's the same as you.
If he's not feeling it, if he's not genuinely in love with it, he's not going to put his name on it.
100%.
He's going to play on it.
100%.
We alluded to this person earlier on in the conversation this kind of extraterrestrial creative life force.
On the record as well that you've got, I think on Faith to Flame as well, which is Grimes.
I heard that Oblivion song.
I'm just fucked with her.
Her music's just crazy.
Like the song is so like, just crazy song.
I had this intro that Lucid had made that was like, it sounded like rhymes.
So I was like, How do we get her?
We have Youngboy on it, on one end of the spectrum.
You got Top on one side, and then you got Grimes on the other side.
When I heard it, I was just like...
She needs to be on it.
Like she has to be on it.
So we got the connection.
I think Benny had worked with her before.
So we had that connection.
I pulled up on her house and we just clicked.
We started working.
I was in her zone, in her environment.
You know what I mean?
Just like letting her do her thing.
Seeing her process, the way she does things, she's definitely super talented, super forward thinking, for sure.
It just opens up so many doors in terms of who you can work with going forward.
I feel like there's not a lot of people that could get Youngboy, if not any that could get Grimes and Youngboy on the same song.
This is what's really interesting about your music is now that you've put a lot out and you're opening yourself up to these people.
It must have actually come as a surprise to you because I can imagine for the longest time you weren't really exposed to someone like Donald Glover or Grimes.
You don't know what they think about your music.
And then all of a sudden, you find out that they actually love what you're making.
It kind of opens up all these new worlds for you, right?
Yeah, 100%.
I think people were surprised to hear that you and Donald Glover have this kind of friendship and have made music together.
But why?
He's an outside thinker as well.
Me and Donald go way back.
I remember we have so many songs that we made in the past.
I remember we was in Paris.
I think it was for Fashion Week, and he was out there, and we hit him.
We're like, yo, you free?
We just pulled up, went to the studio.
We made some songs that'll probably never come out.
They're insane songs.
Why wouldn't they come out?
I mean, they might come out at some point in time.
They were questionable for this album.
But after Power Trip and shit like that, We did that, made some records.
Definitely Donald Glover was like, he's just a genuine dude.
He's just like a cool person.
He's mad real and I fucked with him for that.
I think it definitely is interesting that I could work with so many different types of people.
And I think it's just because I just come off as so genuine, I feel like.
I could be in a room with a lot of different people that are from so many different points of life and living and shit.
But it's like we just click or connect or we don't.
But for the most part, we do.
And it's like with him and Grimes and stuff like that.
It's like I could see where they're coming from and I could kind of like be able to work with my world.
You know what I mean.
In the same way that like, I mean, it's easy for me and Top to make a song.
It's easy for me and Drake to make a song, but like me in the room, people who are not making rap I mean Donald Glover.
He makes some rap songs, but you know what I mean.
Like, Grime's not a rapper, obviously. but I could get in the room.
I wanted to work with Bon Iver on some shit.
I wanted to work with different people because I feel like there's a lot of different ways you could texturize shit and bring them into the world you're trying to build.
And definitely took an example from older Ye on that type of shit, because Ye get Sosa and Bon Iver on his own and that's unheard of back then.
You know what I mean?
The fact that he could do that and get those type of people on the same type of shit is just like kind of inspiring, where it's like how can I bring a lot of worlds together that aren't my world or any world at all?
And like make a song, make an actual good song out of it.
You know what I mean?
I think ADL is that.
ADL is definitely enough for me.
Kylie Jenner.
I'm sorry, what?
You know what I mean?
Kylie Jenner.
No one really saw Kylie Jenner showing up on a Yeet record.
That wasn't on the bingo card.
No, definitely not.
So take us through the whole thinking and then the process of the why and the how of all of that.
When I was doing the first camp, so we did multiple camps for this album.
When we was doing the first camp, we got a house in Malibu.
That's when Cudi pulled up, Emma pulled up.
One of my close friends, Daniel Chetri, he works with Bieber.
I had him pull up for a day.
I was playing some records, getting his input and shit.
And I made this song one night, and he was there.
I was kind of in my bag.
I was in the little drunk bag.
And I was like, I made this song, Let King Talk Talk.
We was just cooking, and then I didn't notice that, I didn't know that Kylie made music.
There was like a four bar space.
I was like, we gotta get Kylie on that.
I was like, King Kylie, like, she's gotta be on this.
And he's close with her.
One of my close friends, Stas, Zach's friend, you know what I'm saying?
Zach, we all, it's all, we all know each other.
So I was like, just to call away, so.
I was like, how can we get this done?
Definitely went back and forth a lot on getting it right and making it perfect.
But I feel like it was a way to like get that done without trying to be on some like clout effect.
You know what I mean.
Or trying to get some like, oh, this is some crazy thing.
It was like to me it just made sense where it was like I mean obviously getting Kylie Jenner song, that's crazy.
But like- Is it subversive on both ways?
Yeah, a hundred percent.
But like to me, I was like just the fact that her name's King Kylie and the song's called Let King Talker Talk.
And we have the connections like, and- and she's down.
So I'm like, let's at least try it out.
You know what I'm saying?
But I feel there's part of you that I always feel there's a part of you that also still, while all that being true, still loves the subversive kind of pushing the buttons of people like you wouldn't expect it.
100%.
It's going to pop.
100%, yeah.
Definitely, I don't think people would expect that ever.
No, I don't think that on the new album, they would guess that track two has got it in on it.
They expect Drake on an album.
Now?
Because of the hit?
People like that.
Like, people that I've worked with in the past, for sure.
But like her, out of all people, I don't think no other people are like oh for sure, Kylie's going to be on the next album.
Like, that's like, for sure.
I'm like, I don't think anyone's thinking that.
No one's thinking that.
You said before, man, no one knows what to expect.
And that gives you a really blank canvas to be able to create worlds around these things.
I mean, even why we're here today.
I mean, don't get me wrong.
I'll put a button down shirt and a suit on anytime.
I like the fact that we were able to sort of sit down and lean into this experience based on what you've built around ADL, this idea of it's dangerous getting everything you ever dreamed of.
It can be dangerous to your life and dangerous to your ambitions.
You've always built these worlds.
Yeah, 100%.
With my albums, I like to build a world.
And with 2093, it was more of like...
Some real dystopian, like, I was just like, fuck it.
Let's go 80 years in the future and start fucking around.
Like.
That's what music is going to sound like to me, at least, what I would make 80 years from now or whatever.
I'm trying to paint a picture, not only through the songs, but like through like the promotion and how it looks, and like what people are getting what they're seeing.
So they feel like when they're listening this, they feel like they're part of that world and they're part of like, what is going on.
Um, and i'm doing the same with this album, for sure, that's like this definitely been a recent trend, like before it was kind of just like whatever i was doing, i dropped it.
But this is much more like A new world where it's like life is dangerous.
You know what I mean.
Love or life can be dangerous for sure.
And that's like something I'm living.
Also, you know, with the way life is, with the way that shit's going on, that could happen, with turning up sometimes, doing drugs sometimes, or with girls, shit can get dangerous.
You know what I mean.
I'm painting that picture through the music and also in the imagery, like through the mafia shit and the whole vibe.
It took inspiration for sure from like old mafia movies and old vibe.
You love movies, huh?
Lately, yeah, for sure.
Not always?
Not traditionally?
No, not traditionally, no.
So if you weren't really listening to music and you weren't really watching movies, what were you doing as a kid?
Geeking up, for sure.
Played a little bit of sports.
I was kind of bad at all of them, but I played them all, for sure.
A little bit of basketball.
Equal opportunity sports guy.
Yeah, yeah.
Baseball, wasn't good at it.
Played water polo for a year.
I think two, actually.
Was not good at that either.
Because water polo is fucking impossible.
It is fucking impossible.
I'm going to just try water polo.
It's like, it's not just a game.
You have to be like the fittest person on the plane to be able to fucking train water polo.
My parents didn't want me to play football because they were like you're going to fuck your head up.
Yeah, so you were drifting, huh?
Trying them all.
And that's where the fucking... And I was like, let me start geeking out, making music.
Fuck it.
I work at Jimmy John's.
You know?
Were you even listening to anyone at that time?
Was there anything that was inspiring you at that time?
I mean, was it just a pure inner voice situation where it's like this is the shit I hear in my head?
Where the fuck does the sound come from?
Definitely I was listening to shit.
High school, Uzi a lot.
Cardi when I was younger.
Ye, I wasn't really put on the Ye until later, but definitely Ye is inspirational when you hear stuff like that.
This album feels ADL feels like it's tipping its cap to Ye's sonic and architectural ambitions.
As a creative
Sure, definitely.
Like the whole vibe of like, also just the thought of like going back on the Graham's Youngboy thing and all that shit like that.
Just being able to like, connect these different worlds.
Connect dots that wouldn't be connected normally.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
You know what I mean?
I'll listen to Drake.
I mean, my first car crash, I'll listen to Drake.
What happened?
I crashed into a house.
I'm sorry, what?
Crashed into a house, yeah.
You crashed into a house?
Yeah, I was 16.
I was dropping my brother off.
He was going to, I think, a football game at the school.
So I took my mom's car and dropped him off.
And I was coming back in, coming around this corner.
I was going like 90 to 20.
In a residential area?
Yes, in a suburban neighborhood.
You're a fucking idiot.
But I also had some food, I had some food that my mom made for me, some food.
And like this, I thought I knew the neighborhood kind of and this turn came up like there was a full whew.
Yeah. full 180, I thought it was like maybe a 90.
She was full 180.
So I came out of this corner and I'm like fuck, like the hedge in the house, straight ahead and I'm going 90.
Like, I don't know, I can't even stop.
But also my food started falling off the car.
So I went to go grab the food because I was like, I still was hungry, you know what I mean?
In that moment?
Yeah, I was hungry, yeah.
And then I look up and thank God I'm still alive.
There was a giant metal pole that I just missed by a foot.
I would've went straight 90 into a pole and be dead for sure.
For sure. swerved a little bit, went, my car was mid-air for like probably three seconds.
It was down like a hedge.
I went through two hedges.
It was a whole car imprint.
You were airborne.
Airborne, yeah.
And then I landed in the living room like, and I swear to God, I swear to God, I'm not lying to you.
I land in the living room and it was sitting down on the couch watching TV.
I'm sitting in this Volvo straight in the living room.
And they was like, what the fuck?
They was like, what the fuck is going on?
They were nervous laughing.
They didn't even know what to say.
It was like a car just came through the living room.
My first instinct was to get the fuck out of there.
So I put the car in reverse, start revving the engine.
I obviously didn't work because the car was fucked up.
But then, yeah, but I remember that to that day.
What song was it?
It was that one with, I gotta find, I don't got my phone on me.
It was that one with that UK artist, Drake.
Skepta?
Mm-mm, Dave.
With Dave?
Dave.
That song was playing, yeah.
That song with Dave was playing.
You know I'll never forget that.
Like every time I heard that song, I'm like damn.
I was like crashing into a house when I heard that song for the first time.
You crashed into a fucking house.
I was on a fucking radio.
You crashed into a house.
Yeah, it's crazy, yeah.
I've been in a couple car crashes after three.
Do you still drive?
No.
Thank God.
YBG.
Thank God.
Yeah, thank God.
For all of us.
I'm a great driver, though.
What?
I'm a great driver, though.
I'm sorry?
Three, I've been driving all the time.
I've driven from Oregon to LA back, an 18-hour drive, going 200 the whole time.
I've been doing great driving the whole time.
Definitely a great driver, for sure.
But those times, it was just like a young mistake.
Have you told Drake that story?
No, I've never told him.
Never told him.
Oh, my God.
Fucking wild.
Yeah, definitely.
The other car crashes weren't as bad, for sure.
I love the one that was just on IG Live and shit.
On the freeway.
What's your relationship with?
I was talking to someone the other day and they were talking about Bob Dylan's relationship with destiny is fragile.
And I loved that.
I loved that statement of like, almost rejecting the idea of destiny as being like a predisposed situation.
I mean, you talked about being lucky and being spared the pole and given the hedge.
Do you lean into the existential?
Do you lean into the what-ifs of life?
Never, never.
I'm the biggest op of that, for sure.
Like I'm always.
I'm always just like my mindset is always like whatever's gonna happen, is gonna happen always.
And there's no change in it, I don't think.
I mean, to a certain point there is.
Like, you can be dumb about shit for sure.
But in that case, that was probably gonna happen anyways because you were being dumb about it.
I think you kind of just gotta lean in sometimes on like the way life goes and what's bound to happen is probably going to happen most times.
At least from my perspective, I think there's no really changing.
So no prayer?
In what way?
Do you put your faith in anything other than what will be will be?
Not really, no.
I think to a certain extent, you can change it.
You can change it slightly.
Like me quitting Perks and trying to do better for myself.
That in some way could have changed my destiny, but my destiny probably is gonna be the same anyways.
I was probably gonna get off Perks without me choosing to do that or not, I think.
What's laid out for you is laid out for you regardless.
But I think it's about how hard you're gonna push yourself to be able to make that happen.
Yeah, your work ethic is pretty unmatched right now, I feel like, in terms of the new generation.
That's really what's coming across, not just in this conversation, but obviously improving concept.
You know, through the music and everything you've done right down to this, like really important moment.
ADL, this double album.
It's a statement for you.
For sure.
Is it not?
I think it's a statement for sure, because it's the first time I feel like One.
I put myself out there, more like putting everything out on the table for sure.
And also it's the first time where I'm like really going back in on something and putting all my effort into it.
Because I feel like before I put my effort into it, but this I'm really putting all my effort into it.
It's the first time I'm doing that ever in my career.
So where does it take you?
Like, I mean, to me, it sounds massive.
It sounds like the kind of music that you can tour and not just jump on the circuit, not just do the festivals great as they are, but actually build out a world, do a proper tour, maybe arenas, maybe stadiums.
I mean, How does this album adjust your ambitions?
In the same way we were just talking about with Destiny and stuff like that.
I feel like whatever's gonna happen is gonna happen naturally, but I think the album is more like gonna set the tone for the rest of my career.
I think.
I think it's more like...
It's going to light the way for a lot of people, I think, a lot of my fans especially.
And I feel like there's going to be a new president for where my music is going to be.
I feel like it's a new tone setter.
It was a great review that Fantano did.
I like to watch his reviews and he had this great take on Dangerous Summer where he was talking about how I don't know if you saw it, but how and one of the comments he made was how he was really.
He really loved how dialed in and focused you were.
You acknowledge that your fans are ready for that, now that this idea of speed over attention, of productivity over care, this idea of being on drugs over being focused and clear-headed,
That's kind of what you're referring to in terms of leading the way, right?
Showing that you can come out of what was considered a scene or something that could be dismissed, that there's actually a pathway forward out of that.
I think this album is like Like you said, with Dangerous, it's a lot more clear, a lot more concise.
I feel like this album's the same way.
And I feel like sometimes, like, I know I got fans that drop up to me a hundred more times.
Keep dropping up to me.
You don't have to do this, do this, do that.
But I feel like this album is, like, in the same way with 2093 and even up to me at the time.
It's like, At the end of the day, it's my music and I'm always gonna know what's right for my music.
I make my music for myself.
I go in the car, what I listen to, 99% of the time, I listen to my own songs.
I listen to it all the time.
So I make my music for me.
I love that, by the way.
I make it for me.
It used to bum me out when I'd talk to artists and they'd be like I released it.
I can't listen to it anymore.
I'm like, man, that's such a sad, that's just such a sad trait.
Whatever the last song is, is my favorite song.
That's one of my, we always talk about that.
It's like sometimes I gotta get away from that because it's like, whatever I made that day, that's my new favorite song.
At some point, a while back, you mentioned you had like 4,000 songs.
How many do you think you got now?
Way more than 4,000.
Way more.
I think on my computer alone, there's like 35,000 files.
A lot of it is beats for sure.
Yeah, but still.
But I think at least like 15 to 20,000 songs.
You can't possibly keep track of that.
You need something like any- I'd be cranking 25, 30 a day.
Especially when I was geeked up, I make like, And off the Mali, you can make like 40 songs in a day.
You can really go crazy if you want to.
But I was definitely pumping them out for sure.
I was pumping out a lot of songs.
You talk about that on the reglet.
Yeah.
I think you actually.
There's a moment where you acknowledge the fact that it's almost like lamentable.
You're like, oh, by the way, I'm back on the drugs.
You should know.
It's almost like you're copping to it.
Like, by the way, you should know I'm back on the drugs and I'm doing a ton of molly.
I just want to be really clear about that.
It's almost like an admission.
Yeah, like on Face the Flame, we was in Australia.
This girl had some molly and I was like, Fuck it, I'm gonna rip it.
And I had my studio with me and I was like, I had my little like hotel set up.
I always record wherever I am.
That's the dream.
I made half of 2093 in a Japanese hotel bathroom.
That's the dream.
You know what I mean?
So crazy song for sure.
Crazy song.
And then I was just like, I made it instantly.
I was like, I need YB on this.
And then after YB got on it, I was like, I need Gramps on this.
It just, it all, it all just was like made sense and worked out for sure.
You know, you move with tempo, too.
I mean Rampa's done that song Naked on this album and I wouldn't say you're a dance music artist, but you love tempo, you love to fuck around with different tempo, lose control same thing.
Yes.
Where does that come from again?
What's your introduction to that world?
Where does tempo play into it?
Where do break beats play into it?
Where does something borderline on house music play into it?
I think as I've gotten older and as I've heard more music, it's even crazy, like two Barts ago or two St.
Barts ago, two New Years ago.
Two St.
Barts ago.
Two St.
Barts ago, I'd heard rock music for the first time.
I've never heard rock music in my whole life.
Wow.
Never?
No.
And I remember we was on a yacht.
What was the first rock music you ever heard?
On the yacht?
Yeah, on the yacht.
What was it?
I think it was Linger by the Cranberries.
And I remember Zach had played it.
That was an introduction.
I was like, what the fuck is this song?
This shit is fire.
Yeah.
I was like, this shit is fire.
I fucked with this shit heavy.
So then I was just like getting into a bunch of whole new, I mean, I'd heard electronic shit before.
My mom, she liked that music and kind of folk a little bit.
I heard shit like that.
So I've been getting introduced back into these new sonic waves that I never really was tapped into before.
And so I think hearing them kind of inspired me to push the boundaries and be like how can I hop on a dance beat and talk shit and rap on it?
I'm suddenly realizing this crazy fact, which is that you, an adult, and the most successful new rap artist this decade.
And you are being introduced to things that have been part of the musical DNA of the world for the first time.
I mean, I'm trying to put myself in a situation where, if I've been on that boat, I'm watching you listen to Linga for the first time.
That must have been a deeply profound experience.
That song doesn't fuck around.
No, that song does not fuck around, for sure.
Technically, we was off the boat.
We had parked up.
We were in the BVI's.
We had a...
We had left, it was afternoons, we took the boat to the BVI's and then we took this charter.
We was like on the beach.
My boy Phil, and we were sitting on this beach.
That was like uncharted territory.
It was like a little island that's like no one had ever heard of.
We was just parked up, we had some umbrellas and shit chilling there.
And we had a speaker going, and they was just playing all these rock songs, and I heard Linger.
And I remember his nephew, he was riding one of them ski-doos.
He was riding the ski-doo out the water, and we was drinking and shit, chilling on the beach.
And he came up out the water.
They just turned linger on.
And he comes out the water.
He's like probably 100 feet away out in the ocean.
He comes up and he goes, June.
He comes up on his feet and he goes, June.
I'll never forget it.
And I was like, damn, this really is a tune.
I was like, this really is a tune.
And he was like eight years old or something like that.
His name was Ali.
But then I was thinking about it.
I was like, man, all this music is crazy.
Like, this is like crazy.
Like, hear all this other type of music, it's like, it was eye-opening to me.
Have you heard The Beatles?
Honestly, still, I don't think I really ever heard The Beatles on it.
Maybe probably the biggest one, I probably have heard some.
There's a lot of, I mean, they're all the biggest ones.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I'm sure I've heard them like in some way shape or form, but never like turned it on or anything like that.
Led Zeppelin?
Never.
Not really.
I don't know.
ACDC, I've heard one of their songs.
Do you have Shazam?
No.
You need to get Shazam.
Yeah, I got to eat Shazam for sure.
I really don't be on the internet on my phone.
But I mean, you don't have to be on the internet.
You can be at a bar and hit something and just be like, what the fuck is that?
Usually if I'm at a bar, I'm having to play my music 24-7.
I just go to the DJ.
So the ad is what's on my shit.
I don't listen to music very often, but if I do, I listen to ADL.
That shit is real.
It's real.
Or I have them put on Fancy by Drake.
I love that song.
It's massive and fancy with Drake.
Anytime I'm drunk and I'm at some bar, I'm like, put on Fancy, put on Massive.
I be turning every time.
You know, at some point, man, I hope your horizons expand a little bit.
There's a lot of music you need to be exposed to.
Have you ever heard Radiohead?
Oh, Radiohead, I fuck with heavy.
Heavy, heavy, heavy, heavy.
I fuck with Radiohead for sure.
A lot of their shit, to me, is like...
That shit feels really real.
That's why I like it too.
Radiohead is like.
Uncompromising.
It's definitely for the time.
If I hear other shit and then I hear theirs, I'm like there was not even ahead of their time.
They were just like making some crazy shit that was just so like unique.
I fuck with unique music.
I fuck with Grimes.
I fuck with like other shit like that.
That's just like not. the norm, you know what I mean?
But it became the norm, like Radiohead's so big.
I mean, you're obviously dialed in.
You don't need to listen to as much music as me or anyone else has if you know what moves you.
You could listen to five albums or five artists in your lifetime.
Radiohead could be one of them, and you might be able to get what you need out of it, honestly.
It's pretty comprehensive emotionally, and on an innovation level, it's pretty fucking amazing.
They're undeniably incredible.
That's what I gravitate more towards the most, is when shit is super innovative.
Have you had a good time since like 2019 officially, but like kind of really 2021?
Have you had a good time?
I've had a great time.
Great time for sure.
Everything's a blessing.
Definitely.
I'm definitely lucky and definitely blessed to be here.
I mean, i think every day i wake up i'm blessed to be here, having a great time as long as i'm alive and being a provider for the people i care about.
That's all i care about.
And just like i had a lot of fun and still a lot more.
Still a lot more to come, still early on in the journey but i've had a great time, It feels legit.
It seems to me like maybe it always did even at the start.
I've been having fun forever my whole life.
But I think definitely nothing's really changed.
I mean besides like the fact of I could have a Lambo, but that doesn't really change the fact of how I mentally think about things.
Like I said, back in the old days, when I was eating Top Ramen in the basement in New Jersey, I still, even then, was having as much fun as I am having now.
As long as I'm able to just like do what I want to do and like continue to do that, then I'm having more fun than I could ever hope for.
As long as I'm not homeless in the streets or dead on drugs or, like, you know what I mean?
That's all I care about is just being here.
You know what I mean? you
