What's your sign?
I'm an Aries.
Okay.
I'm a Taurus, okay.
Okay.
I can jive Taurus.
We're stubborn.
How long does it take you to make a song?
If vibes is right, beat is there, not long.
If my producer plays the beat and I'm jacking it, then I just start freestyling.
And then he's like, "All right, rap."
You freestyle?
Yeah.
So if I'm feeling it like that, then the song is done or at least a verse and the hooks.
Have you ever had a song or a beat, like you loved it?
But every time you try to write to it, you just hit a wall, almost, you can't get past?
Yeah, it's just like what's happening.
There's something breaking the beat or something.
Yeah, it's like what's happening.
No, that definitely happens to me.
I'm like, "Bro, how do I get past this?"
But you know it's a hit.
And you know when you get it, it's going to be a smash.
I like your voice, too.
It sounds fun.
You was at least having fun with it, not forcing it, not trying too hard.
And people can hear when you're trying to do that.
It sounded real flowy.
Fire.
As an artist hard work is important, but I think working smart is even more important,
because you want to maximize all your time.
I think I got my work ethic from playing basketball, honestly, because you have to be in the gym
every day.
You got to find AU teams, or new programs to get into all the time.
You just always got to be in the gym.
So I treat rap like I'm in the gym.
Like, you had me for a second, but you can't hold me mentally.
I'm not going to put energy into this.
I'll go wherever.
If the bag is crazy, I will go wherever.
You can tell me somewhere...
It could be on Mars, as long as there is a way for me to get there safely and back, I'll
go get the bread.
Only note that I possibly have for it is it's a part in the hook, I feel like, could be
bridge that goes
I think I know what you talking about.
Yeah.
You know what I'm saying?
Yeah.
Because the hook is, "HP and it's..."
That shit it stands out, and it's hard.
And I feel like if you maybe put a little bit of space in between it, go crazy on some
ad-libs-
Yeah.
... that shit, that's the hook right there.
And that other shit, that's the bridge.
You put that, let it in.
And then maybe for the second verse, change the flow just a little bit.
I'm working on my album right now and it's like every time I think I'm done, I leave
the studio like, "Fuck."
Yeah, got to put some on it.
"Should have said this."
"I should have worded this different, or moved this word."
Yup.
All of that though, that just shows you persistent, bro.
Don't be afraid to go back in and fix some shit, man.
Hell yeah.
Yeah, I'm from Roxbury.
Well, I'm from Boston, really.
And there's not a lot of opportunities for inner-city kids of color or people of color,
in general, to just make a good living for themselves.
I definitely came from the bottom, so that inspired me to get up and go get it.
Obviously, it sucks now trying to make lit music in quarantine.
How do you manage through all this, especially like you might want to make songs that are
specifically for performing.
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Like, a crazy ass lit song, but no where to perform it.
So how are you getting around that?
I don't know.
I feel at first I was like I don't know, I'm trying to do one thing.
But like you said, a sound, you can tell when something's forced.
I'm just like, I'm going to still make what I make.
And I don't know, for me, it got to be the beat.
I got to vibe with the beat.
How do you do it...
You know, when it's time to drop, it just goes crazy.
It's hectic.
It's supposed to be A-B-C, but then-
Oh, fuck.
Oh.
... X and F...
Huh, that.
Yeah, all that.
All that.
Yeah, that.
That.
Oh, the part that we try to act like don't exist?
Bro, oh my God, you fight.
You fight.
And I don't mean fight, like disrespectful and calling people a name.
I mean like when that shit starts taking that turn, you on the phone calling motherfuckers,
"This can't do it like that.
It got to go like this."
Yeah.
"This is why."
And I feel like the only way that I get around it is when I make my projects I try to make
a team.
I'll get my graphic designer, and my person, my stylist, or whoever's going to build that
project.
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
And instead of having to find a different person, I just try to let them hear the song,
or let them get an idea.
And they on my right side fighting that shit with me.
This is why it got to be like that.
I feel like that's part of being in the industry.
You got to prove to motherfuckers why something should work a lot of times.
Sometimes shit just gets fucked up and you have to take it on the chin.
Like, my album got pushed back three times.
Obviously, it fucks with your ego.
Yeah.
You start thinking, okay, am I not important?
Or does this not sound good?
You start thinking all this shit, but it's literally none of that.
It's just logistics.
And this shit is a business, man.
Facts.
I miss meeting artists like you.
Meeting y'all, seeing where y'all come from, and watching how y'all perform.
Because your performance was lit too, I don't even got to say nothing about that.
A lot of artists don't have good performance, so you don't need no help with that.
Keep it up.
It's just important for people to have somebody that they can ask questions, or get advice
on shit, and not feel like they got to do something in return, or give something in
return, they just get some genuine help.
It's nice to just sit and have a conversation with you.