Flex Freestyle was absolutely another day at the office for me.
I respect the platform for what it means and has meant for the culture.
I feel like it was a long time coming.
In my mind, I just wanted to get in there, rap immediately, and then boogie.
It really started coming together for me during an interview that I was doing with a brother
named Barry Michael Cooper for the New York Times.
He said, "You're like the hip-hop Dostoyevsky."
So I did a little bit of research and the truth started to come to light.
I said, “Wow. I agree."
He was a philosopher, he was an essayist, a novelist, but what he did was he spoke to
the social and political, and spiritual struggles of his time in the same way that I do.
The first thing I did with some bread that I made as an artist?
I don’t know if this is any indication of having made it or not but we went and bought
a Land Cruiser.
We shared it between 3 people.
Two of whom were unlicensed and uninsured drivers.
And you know, we sort of made it work.
When I was 18, I was in like my second year of college at a crossroads trying to decide
whether I was going to stay in school or move back to Philadelphia, or you know just try
and dive completely into all things roots related.
I was getting huge refunds back from my tuition cause I would get these college loans and
stuff and then drop classes.
So you get like refunds back from mad classes.
I was living beyond my means literally.
The possibilities, the different configurations of a bar are limitless.
The limit only comes in when you limit yourself, so I try not to do that, I try not to limit
myself to the way a word is traditionally pronounced.
The whole crime and punishment that was, in some peoples opinion…
That's one of Dostoevsky's best.
That's his finest hour, so to speak, so I feel like that spoke to this time in my life.
This is my crime and punishment.
This will go down in history as my finest hour.
Dr. Sebi.
He was a healer and a spiritual advisor down in the Honduras.
He incorporated traditions from the Caribbean and from Africa.
He was believed by some to have discovered or to have worked on cures for
very many popular diseases.
I'ma just leave it at that.
Stranger in Moscow is a reference to the Micheal Jackson song.
It's more a reference to the Micheal Jackson, the way he was, at that time of his life.
When he recorded "Stranger in Moscow," he was sorta an exile for court procedures.
He was an exile and he was feeling very much like an outcast.
I feel more like a maverick.
I feel more like an outlier than an outcast.
But I’m definitely able to identify with that, with feeling that way.
I mean for years, I’ve been told by lots of people whose opinion I respect like
"Yo. You’re one of the best.”
When other folks that I sort of run into say, “Yo how’s it feel to be so underrated?”
It’s like I don’t really get that.
If so many people feel like yo I’m top 5, I’m top 3, I’m top 10, I’m their number one,
which is what I get from the people.
And it’s not like…
I don’t live in a bubble.
I’m out and about everywhere in the world.
And that’s what I get.
So what’s underrated?
This is what I do it for.
This is everything that I’ve wanted.
It’s like aight.
I wanted to be received in this way.
I think the whole “eldest statesmen” line speaks to myself and other artists like myself
having reached a level of OG status in the game.
I’ve been around for a long time.
I’ve made a lot of records.
I’ve done a lot of shows.
I’ve lived the life.
I’ve earned my stripes.
So these grays and white hairs that you see in my beard and you know, the fact that
I don’t have the option of growing dreadlocks anymore at this point in my life.
All of that, it’s like I worked for this so I definitely embrace it.