- I got my name just from wearing hoodies
all the time, feel me?
They call the Bronx the boogie-down Bronx,
so that's where that basically came from,
A Boogie, right there.
My name is Artist, so that's the A.
My music basically just, it generated a whole new lean
for everybody around me, even the people that don't know me.
Somebody could be from High Bush,
and just be a part of something, and now,
you alive because High Bush got a name now.
Four, five years ago, I was just on the block.
I never thought about doing shit like this,
so now, when people say oh, you the king of your city,
you the king of your city, and it's coming to me
every single day, I'm not gonna just sit here
and act like I'm blind
and deaf to it.
It must mean something.
When I first heard that beat, we was in, I think,
Denver or Minneapolis somewhere, and I first heard it
from Jahaan, Kehlani's producer.
I ain't gonna lie, it took me, it took me 20 minutes.
(Artist laughs)
I could make a melody just like this,
just like, oh, so you made this song in 30 minutes?
People listen to us for the, feel me, for the stories
and all that.
I've got songs where I turn up, and all that,
but that's just for the fun side.
When it comes to music, music, you've really gotta
put your points in there.
I just want people to see that I'm not all about
that one sound shit,
how I started shit.
Hah, that's a dub bitch.
I'm on the road.
Hah, and I need 20,000 for a show.
- [Interviewer] Damn, bro, you just put your price
out there, man?
- Man, I'm mad I did that, too
because that was old prices.
Facts.
East Coast is up.
West Coast, that could cash me, that could cash me
for the low right now, but East Coast is over.
When the police pulled me over,
I had 30 on me.
What the fuck I look like with less than 30 on me nigga?
They asked me, what's going on?
Why you carrying this amount of money?
But they gotta understand that's for,
that's a rapper's lifestyle, especially in the beginning.
I usually was carrying probably even 50 in my book bag.
That's why I always had a book bag with me.
You've probably seen it before, book bag all the time.
Yeah, that was in that bag, for real.
That was that bag on me, was that ass.
Even when I win a Grammy, I've gotta win another one.
I'm not done, homie.
I can't just have one.
Can't have one million, gotta have a billion.
Can't have one billion, gotta have two billion.
Finna keep on stacking up.
If I wasn't getting money, would you still want me?
If I told you I was broke, would you start acting funny?
This is all I ever wanted.
You can't take it from me.
Let's say you're talking to a girl.
That's exactly what it means.
It's real shit right there.
If I was popped, a lot of girls wouldn't be
wanting to talk to me.
I cannot waste no time.
Bitch, I'm really grinding.
If I ever said I love you, I was lying.
Facts, I know it's harsh.
You've gotta be like that though, man.
Yeah, I love my mom.
I love my grandma, too.
Not like I'm gonna beat you up if you talk.
I could do something that's really gonna hurt you.
Niggas be getting their bitches tooken, man.
When I first hit her up, no she never wrote back.
Then, I saw her at the club, so I got up on that.
That right there, I would just relate it to how
I used to go to the clubs.
I was 19 when I first started hitting the clubs.
I couldn't even get in.
I had to sneak in or something like that.
I used to go to the club, and, feel me,
the females wasn't paying me no attention.
You know how it goes in the beginning
when you're not really loud like that.
They don't know who you are, so they just quiet,
and then, I started making some noise, and they was on me.
Hah, I ain't walking through your club no more.
I really don't even wanna go to no clubs, really.
I don't like clubs.
I like performing in concerts, turning up,
having the crowd lit, feel me?
That's my type of shit.
We was in Miami in the strip club one day.
I was throwing dubs out, and everybody looking at me,
and I'm like, yo, what's going on?
At first, I ain't even realize I was throwing dubs.
I'm throwing 20s like this.
Niggas is looking at me.
I see somebody is picking up money,
throwing 20s, I'm looking at my hand like,
oh, I started, I said fuck it.
I kept on throwing them.
I was like, fuck it, man, I'll be all right.
Can't put water over blood.
If family is number one, they're the ones
that's always gonna be there.
My mom, I have to give her that.
That was, for me, one of the first things I did.
I had to give her that credit.
Stay 10 toes down, I'm really focused.
Look who I roll with, same damn gang as last year.
I'm gonna be able to say that line every year.
Every year, I'm gonna be able to say that line.
That's why I made that line right there.
It's a business, and when you in this long-term,
you've gotta really have people that understand you
around you, and really get what you're trying to do.
Everybody trying to get to the top,
and it's barriers, and everybody just trying to stop you,
so you gotta avoid that, feel me, and move on.
I moved on, and I'm at the top right now.
My energy is too positive for anybody
to feel a type of way about me.
I feel like if you feel a type of way about me,
that mean you really gotta be hating.
Don't go texting this nigga, this nigga, this nigga.
Don't subs at me, feel me?
Come holler at me.
We just turning up, what you really want?
Yeah, they trying to tell us that we can't go back there.
I know everybody mind is not thinking,
oh, I feel, I'm happy for these niggas.
These niggas is doing good.
Most of the niggas, I feel like, is probably thinking
damn, I wish that was me.
When I was broke, I was really, I felt like a hater
because I wanted things that I couldn't get
at the moment.
Feel me, you can't really judge
nobody because I done met people
that I thought was this way,
and they ended up being
one of the most intelligent people
in the world, and one of the most crazy people
in the world,
one of the most, feel me, toughest people.
You never know, feel me?
You could be anything, and can't judge people like that.
You gotta just let time be.
I cannot leave my houses without diamonds,
all the faces on my watches jump out it.
I go to the supermarket, everybody be like
why you going to the supermarket wearing
all your jewelry, 80,000 on your wrist,
and I'm just so used to that.
I go to my room, feel me, put on my shit right away.
I wake up, take a shower, I just put my shit on.
I talk for myself, bitch,
I don't need no fucking voucher.
She looked at my wrist and she looked at 100,000.
That was before, too.
This is more than 100K now.
I think before it was just, everybody was just talking about
the prices on my jewelry.
Now, I've got a chance to really show them that,
yeah, this is 100K.
This is 100K.
This is 50K.
This, feel me, I don't even know how much it is.
I don't perform or nothing in this set right here.
I be jumping up and down, this shit's just too heavy.
I swear, I don't even know
why did it.
AP cost 150.
I be feeling like
I'm drowning with it.
I'm not wearing my AP right now.
This shit's 500, mind you, but when I spent 150 on a watch,
it's like, I don't even know why I did that shit,
literally because at the moment, you're looking at it,
right, and you just buy it, but then, after,
it's what next?
But at the same time, it's a good feeling,
so you can't be mad, especially when you've got more,
when it's coming in.