I hear all these artists talking about the trenches, the trenches, but they don't know
that, when it was time to fight, a lot of people would stay behind and stay in the trenches
and refuse to go out just because they were scared.
No man's land is where all the action takes place in between the trenches of you and the
opposition.
So when I had got this beat.
I'm listening to it.
I was at my manager's house and then I was like, "I'm going to save it for when I go
to LA," because it was a West Coast beat.
Another artist I fuck with, Lil Tjay, he was telling me ... Because he had recorded one
of his biggest songs in LA, "Brothers," so he was like, "Oh, you're going to make a hit
in LA."
Yeah, I just saved it until I went to LA.
I was listening to it on the plane and that's when I wrote just the line, "Play the block,
play the block, repeat.
That's all a young nigga learned from these streets."
Then, I free-styled everything else in the studio.
While I was recording the actual video the second verse was just blank.
So when we got to the studio, like literally while they were recording, I'm actually singing.
So in a way you see it looks quite authentic, that's 'cause it is.
I was creating the verse on the spot.
I'm from Flatbush, New York.
There is not much you can get out of street life.
So you either you die, or you go to jail.
My dad is a street nigga feel me, so he knows he tries to push me to do other things.
The older heads on my block in general.
They don't let me get into too much things.
I just chill outside with them.
But when certain things happen they'd be like, All right, you gotta cool out.
As a kid I was always smart in school and shit.
So they like you need to focus on school, but you know, yeah your mind wanders.
You get to a certain age, you go places without them, can't control everything you do.
A lot of people thought I said fully for the clout, no, I said foolie for the clout because
growing up in Jamaica household, you do some stupid, they'd be like, him foolie, so I took
two or two and I just put it together and me and my own word.
Just don't do no dumb shit.
A lot of people do stupid things for clout and it's just, it's going to get you hurt.
There's this viral video that went around like 2015 and I'd see it on Facebook a lot.
There was some kid, and he was like “word to my mother, word to my mother, if y’all
hop me, the toolie is really coming out.”
You feel me?
If you know, you know.
In Brooklyn everyone goes through their phase of scamming.
For me is you've got to make money somehow.
Either you're jugging, robbing, got a job, or you scamming.
APM started as a scamming group, so it's ... it used to stand for Approved Mafia.
But now we focus more on music now.
And plus my mom, when I was angry, I made a promise to her.
I wouldn't join a gang, so I made my own little organized group type shit.
People love to hear stories.
So once you can take those negative experiences and sing it in a way where people would love
to hear, then that's just music.
Being an artist, it was never really in my mind, but it kind of was, but it wasn't, like
growing up, I used to do everything I used to draw dance.
For me it was really dancing because I used to love Michael Jackson.
As much as I love the music, for me it was more about his movements and I used to really
just sit at my Aunt's room all day on her laptop, just watching his videos and just
clocking his movements, practicing every single thing he does.
And I used to draw him every day.
I used to wild out every Halloween, I used to dress up as Michael.
That was just me.
[Singing “Man In The Mirror”]
There was this Italian artist, I think you pronounce his name Tedua, he's pretty big
in Italy.
He shared my stuff on his Instagram, he shared my song on his Instagram, and like all his
fans were just commenting like, “Who is this?
It's fire.”
I'm like, “Wow.”
Like I'm really like known internationally, that's just crazy.
Not gang as in gang members, like gang bang, you know like Scooby Doo would be like, Scooby
and The Gang.
This is just our group of friends.
Jamaicans Christian go hand to hand.
So my grandmother as a kid, she would try to take me to church a lot, but it just wasn't
for ... I do pray a lot.
I do believe in God, but church ... I just don't, it's just not, it's not for me.
I think I could just worship from my crib.
Street life, only thing that comes out of that, jail or death.
And if you're doing what you're supposed to be doing in the street, you’re definitely
not going to heaven.
So I'm not going to jail, and I'm not going to hell.
And I'm saying thanks for my friends for helping me.
I was going down that path, but now I'm going the other way for me, fork in the road.
I go to school in the Crown Heights, Crown Heights, we refer to it as Crime Heights.
It's crazy over there, shootings left and right, just pure gang activity, and neighborhood
is just bad, in general.
So yeah, when we come and call that the fields, and you know, just the whole hood is the fields.
So we live and go to school in the fields.
Smarts, you gotta have a brain, you've got to know what you should and should not do.
Certain things you just don't get into.
That's what I mean by real.
You gotta be smart.
Even with school and like even though my parents don't like it, they know I prioritize music
over school.
For me music is over everything.
Nothing is more important than just me just creating, and just pushing out music from
my fans listen to.
That's just my only set goal.
Even if the money comes, and the fame or for me it's literally just about the music.
Retro was there from the very, very start, like he knew that I was making music.
So it was Retro, my parents, my mom.
The first day I came home and I was playing my song on the speaker, she's like, “That's
you?
That's not you, stop lying.”
I'm like, “That's me.”
And then she's like, “Oh my god, you're actually good.”
Since that day she's shown nothing but love and support, my dad as well.
They actually just be sharing my songs on everything, showing anyone they can meet,
listen to my son.
Yes, this is my son.
My first sign, realizing that music can take me far, was my manager JD.
At first I didn't even know who JD was.
I went to a Tjay concert to play my music.
I waited in the rain, he came in late, all of that.
But I met the promoter, Scotty I played my music for Scotty, Scotty loved it.
He pointed me in the direction of JD.
The whole time JD's just standing on the road waiting for TJ, I'm thinking he's just here
with me, like waiting in line.
I'm like, “Can you listen to this?”
And then he's like, “You got to put up the posters.”
So I'm putting up the posters and he's listening to the music.
He's like, “Where you from?”
I'm like, “Brooklyn.”
He's like, “This is you?”
I was like, “Yeah.”
He was like, “You don't hear a lot of people coming out of Brooklyn like singing.”
He's an actor, so I don't know if he's genuine or not, but he's very persuasive.
So he's like, “Yo, bro.
You're different.
You're going to be a star, bro.
You're going to be a star.”
And then I was just like, “Okay, fuck it.
If JD said I'm going to be a star, I'm going to be star."
I mean, look what he did with TJ.
I started making music and my voice changed.
If you had heard me, if you heard me in October, my voice was just high as shit.
And I guess I've just been exercising my vocal muscles so much.
It just deepened and then you know puberty's beginning to hit.