- I move with purpose and I want to inspire people.
I want to challenge norms and build bridges
so that people can escape the self-imposed boundaries
that their perspectives and paradigms put them in.
You know, so I want to inspire people.
That's the simple version.
- Congratulations on your first Grammy nomination.
What was your reaction when you learned you were nominated?
- Oh, man, I was actually on my way to the shooting range
with my family, so I was kind of chilling,
and then when I got it,
I had to really, you know, ask
because we hadn't grown accustomed
to being up for consideration.
So when it's like official, like "No, you're nominated
"and can win, you have the chance at winning," you know,
it was something else. So, you know, we went big.
We celebrated. And then of course, you know,
went to the range and started busting off guns.
- You come from a musically-inclined family.
Everybody from your brothers to your cousin, to your mom.
How did your family react when they heard
about this nomination?
- Man, we went big.
My family celebrated.
When I really want to feel the joy of the moment,
I look at them.
Because they're removed from the work of it,
they get so much more happy and celebrate
so much more, even than I naturally do,
because it's like, all right, that's another, you know,
that's another quick elevation
in our platform that I gotta withstand.
So, it's a little bit of weight on that from my end.
But you know, to look at them as like, "All right,
this is a big moment, you know, worth celebrating."
- How does it feel to have two nominations,
not only as Best New Artist, but also Best Rap Album?
- Oh man, it's incredible.
Best Rap Album is like your community recognizes you or
you're recognized among your peers.
Best New Artist is you're seen by the world.
You know what I'm saying?
This is across genres,
it's across cultures and things like that,
and you're still recognized.
So, I think it's humbling that
that we're getting that kind
of recognition this early in my career.
- It says something special to be nominated
for Best Rap Album in 2021, specifically,
because this year, the highlight was
on so many prolific MCs.
You got Nas' 'King's Disease.'
You have 'Alfredo' with Freddie Gibbs,
Royce da 5'9"'s '[The] Allegory,'
and of course 'Black Habits,' which is heavy in rotation.
What do you think changed this year
so that these kinds of albums were highlighted?
- I think the world sat down, you know, the world sat down
and had to listen to music that served a different purpose.
We got accustomed to moving way faster
than I believe is even sustainable.
You know, which is a big part of why we find ourselves
in this situation.
Because of our circumstances, we developed a need
for something that spoke to us in a different way.
I think that was a difference.
That's what had people really being like,
"All right, where the lyrics at?"
"Where are the people that are going to help us make sense
of the world around us?"
You know, I think that was the difference.
And when I made the music, it wasn't even about that.
You know, it was about being honest
with my story and my experience.
And that was just where I was at.
It's dope that, you know, me
and the people in that category were ahead of the curve
and doing it out of a sincere place
'cause nobody knew that it was going
to be recognized for that.
It was all for the art, for all the people in that category,
and I think that's what's dope.
And then somebody like Nas being
in the category, he's been doing that,
always been lyricist,
always been saying something and still being recognized
and taking that to high plateaus.
So, that's why it's this huge honor to be
in the same conversation with those guys.
- You make a good point, man.
We had to sit down and reflect
on a lot with the racial reckoning of 2020.
So, we wanted music that reflected the severity
of the times that we're going through.
And I think that that really meant the cream had to rise
to the top, which is what happened with it.
- Absolutely.
- Have you started writing your Grammy speech?
- Oh man, I haven't started writing it.
I know who I'm grateful for,
who is key to my process
and everything that we accomplished in the past year.
So outside of that, you know,
I haven't planned my stunt.
- Did you think that your first project would yield
a Grammy nomination?
- I knew my first project was Grammy-worthy, but again,
I know things are outside of my control.
So, my hopes weren't hung up on us winning a Grammy
or being nominated the first time around.
So, we just left it in the hands
of the voters, in the hands of the people.
But we knew when we were making this project,
we knew that we were doing work that put us
in a conversation and that's all we could do.
Third or fourth album, you know.
We was thinking third project is
when they gonna know what's up, you know?
And it just, it just happened a different way.
- This was a long journey.
What is it like seeing this hard work pay off, man?
How satisfying is that?
- It's incredible, man.
It came in the right time because the irony is
that when I wasn't hung up on it,
when I got to a place where I had the vision
on how to create it for myself,
on how to build it from scratch,
then somebody came and put the engine behind it.
When you know how to gain that momentum,
people see that and you attract all kind of opportunities.
That's what was beautiful about this experience.
I was in a space where I was gonna
build the engine myself and operate that mug, you know, so.
Then 'Rhythm + Flow' happened and you know,
I'm grateful for that opportunity.
- So having already reached this milestone,
what are your new goals like?
What's next for you?
- Keep putting out quality music.
Keep putting out groundbreaking, incredible music.
Of course, there are other things that I want to branch
into, literature and film,
you know, keep doing international music.
I got a chance to travel to Nigeria
and collaborate with a lot of artists out there.
And of course we have yet to really fully
explore making the music in Spanish.
You know, those are some things
in music I plan on doing, but you know, I've written a book
that's gonna be a movie, if not a series.
So, there's all kind
of things that we eventually will share with the world.