Artist Friendly with Joel Madden - Southside

Episode Date: February 7, 2024

On this week's episode of Artist Friendly, Joel Madden is joined by Southside. Southside is an Atlanta beatmaker and producer who has worked with Drake, Future, and Meek Mill, among others. He co-founded the music production collective 808 Mafia with Lex Luger in 2010, which helped to popularize trap and bring the hip-hop subgenre to new heights. Though he hasn’t released a proper project since 2020’s Demons R Us, he’s kept busy, most recently by sharing “Gimme Dat Lite” with Lil Yachty in December. ------- Listen to their Artist Friendly conversation on ⁠⁠⁠Spotify.⁠⁠ ------- Follow Artist Friendly! IG: @artist.friendly TikTok: @artist.friendly YouTube: youtube.com/@artist.friendly ------- Host: Joel Madden, @joelmadden Executive Producers: Joel Madden, Benji Madden, Jillian King Producers: Josh Madden, Joey Simmrin, Janice Leary Visual Producer/Editor: Ryan Schaefer Audio Producer/Composer: Nick Gray Music/Theme Composer: Nick Gray Cover Art/Design: Ryan Schaefer Additional Contributors: Anna Zanes, Neville Hardman Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey, what's up everybody? I'm Joel Madden, and this is artist-friendly. On today's episode, I'm sitting down with Grammy-nominated, multi-platinum producer and artist Southside. Let's go. Is that your usual night until 9 a.m.? Yeah, that's my usual night to like 9 a.m. I usually stay out.

But I used to live in the household with all my kids. I stay out probably like the same. to his time for him to go to school. Wow. Get up, go take them straight there, take him to school, then go back home and go to sleep. It's just always been my schedule.

Like, nobody really working in the daytime. Yeah. Yeah. This is a little weird. That's cool. I'm a big fan. Appreciate it, man. Appreciate it.

So I've been following you because my son is, he's 14. Okay. And he produces. Okay. He loves producing music. Yeah.

And you're on his, like, you're in his top three. I wish he was here, so I could have met him. Well, he gave me his MPC for you to sign. I'm definitely going to do it. He was like, can you have him sign my MPC? I can't wait. That's fine.

And this is why you're special. A lot of producers, they just produce. Yeah. They don't necessarily top line. Yeah. Then you have guys who can produce in Topline, but they're not an artist. So what you mean about top line? Writing the melody, the lyrics.

Oh, yeah, we could do everything. You do everything. Yeah, we could do everything. We just like, like, we use. I can use loops sometimes, but I could do everything. Like you say, I can write the song, play them, you know, make my own sounds, my own drums. I could do all of it, you know? And you can perform it and you can also be the artist.

For sure. Whether you like it as much as producing, I don't know which one you like better. Nah, I like, I like them both kind of the same because it's like they both kind of like, you know, they both kind of run like, they run into each other. I like them both the same. Kind of like being quarterback. sometimes, being the running back sometimes. Like sometimes, like, you know, it's, it just ran hand-to-hand.

Like, you know what I'm saying? Yeah. Yeah. I love it, though. When you started, were you always thinking I'm going to be a producer? Or was it always both? Hell no, when I started, I thought I was going to be the biggest gangster rapper in the world. Like, Lidoo-D, like, I thought I was going to be the shit.

Like, you know what I'm saying? Like, hell on. I did. I started making beats because I never, like, I had all the shit to record, but I'd never, but I never had no, you know, I was a kid. Yeah. Who the fuck I'm gonna call and get beach from? This like, like, YouTube was in like, you know?

Yeah, it was before you could just get. Yeah, like, where the fuck I'm gonna get beach from? Right. So my uncle got them, brought me a laptop one day. It was just like, hey, like, learn how to make beats a beat program on it. And do you, my son actually said, maybe I'm wrong, but do you, he said you don't use a Mac?

No, I don't, I just is on the phone. It was really loose the other day about this. So I'm not gonna say, bad because y'all gonna see this fruit loops but they um it's it's because of the way the older one is on fruit loops the older one is just like right it's just more warm and hit harder yeah like to me a lot of people say it don't but it's like it obviously does so sparrow gave me good information yeah yeah yeah he's he's he's studying yeah that's that's he's definitely right you know what I'm saying but I don't dislike the mac fruit loops they actually they waiting on me to send them stuff right now

so they can change it. Right. So they'll be high like it. Like you get what I'm saying? Yeah. Yeah. So you're actually working with them to help them improve their product? Yeah, just for me to use it.

Like, just for me to use it on my bit, my, my, because they were saying like, I get on the end of the end of the same. I hate 20 food. The sooner. The first thing they said was, well, we see you say you hate Fruit Loops 20. Like what can we do to help you, help it where you can use it. Because it is features in fruit of loops. That's smart.

That's smart. Is that what it's called? 21. 11, like you can send me a loop. Right. On 11, I can't just split the loop where it tracks out on 20 to track out the whole loop. Somebody sent you so you don't got to call them and get them on the phone and, you know?

That's smart of them, by the way. It's certain features I like and it's certain features I don't. But it's smart for them to call you. No, it is. It's very, very smart. That's how you make it work. Not for sure. The people that are using it at the highest level.

Not for sure. So you started producing how old were you? Oh, like... 13, 14. Do you have a favorite producer? I used to love, like, 36, I'm not used to, I still love, like, 3-6 Mafia beats. I love 36 Mafia. I love, I used to love Charter Red beats.

For sure, Zatovin. But I like, like, like, Zatovin. Yeah, I love Zay. But, like, Farrell is one of my favorite producers. Ferrell. Yeah, he's awesome. Like, you know, I love Ferreel. I love Kanye, Kanye, Kanye, Fierre.

Yeah, Kanye, you know, Kanye's Kanye. And Tung. He used to make TIE beats back in the day. He's a june. He should make all this five shit. Tunes, like, one of my uncles for real. That's like my top. That's it for me.

Everybody else get in line on your ass. Yeah. Yeah. And you grew up in Atlanta. Atlanta, Georgia. South side of Atlanta. South side of Atlanta. What's that like?

Everybody looks like me. All the guys look like me, act like me, everything. No, it's fun. It's like, you know, it's culture. It's fun, but it's very fun. But they, um, you'll love it. got good food. Like, you ever been to Atlanta?

I've been to Atlanta a lot of times. I don't know that. I don't know if I've been to the south side. When I go to Atlanta, it's usually for three days to work. Buckhead, probably. Yeah, Buckhead, cool. See, Buckhead cool, but you ain't really like, you got to come to Atlanta with me one time.

Yeah, like, I got to take you to, like, because you know, Atlanta is like a strip club culture thing, like, you know. Okay. So it's like, you know, if your girl or whatever, she'll think you're on bullshit in Atlanta if she's not from there. but if she's friend of she'll understand I go there to eat lunch I'm gonna go order some more food

and I'm gonna go there back again for dinner and I might not talk to one girl in this whole club right you're just going to I might stop at the DJ booth because how we break our records hey play my new single right that's just Atlanta

I've heard that that I mean all the records that I've broken out of the strip clubs Oh we got the strip club Yeah yeah Oh we got the strip club And if you think about Atlanta

as a as a center right for culture and for an entire genre or even if you look at like say hip hop but then you look at the hip hop that's come out of Atlanta and really dominated the world. No for sure. It's this small area. Yeah. That's interesting to me. Yeah.

And you came out, let's see, if you would have started producing around 14, 13, 14, that would have been in the early 2000s, 20 years ago? Yeah. Right. So 2005. That was really the, if you think about the early 2000s, that was like, when you think about the global wave of Southern hip hop,

that was really the time when it was, I think when it was going from just, I mean, it was big, but it started to switch because I feel like we had like, what year did like shoulder lane come out when young joined them? That was kind of around that. See, that's like, that's when it started to switch from what you're saying. I get exactly what you're talking about.

It started to switch. Like it evolved to the next stage, the next stage. But as a kid coming into, okay, I'm going to make music and I'm going to rap, that would have been, I think, being in the center of it, being in that place where you're watching people have success. And you're kind of seeing, you're putting it together. You're seeing like what they did. You're seeing the potential.

That has to be part of, I think, your success, right? So a lot of times in these conversations, I always try to find a piece of the success to give to people that are listening so they can maybe take it. And I think there's something about seeing success around you, whether it's someone you know or it's just you know it's from Atlanta. And having a model for something to build on, right? Because here's what I'll say. You're one of the biggest producing songwriting, top of your game. Yeah. Most of the time kids are going to, or people that want to do what you do, right?

They're inspired by what you do. They're going to say, how did you do it? Yeah. And we all know hard work and showing up every day when in the early days. Most people don't care, right? Not just hard work, you got to have a strong mental. Right. Like the hard work is just fun.

It's self-explanatory. It's a hobby. Right. It's the mental of you don't know when you're going to really pop off. Right. That's the, what I'm saying, you got to learn how to control that. You got to learn how to box yourself in for a minute. This shit might take seven years, box your mind.

You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Like, I've always been good with, like, living inside my head. Like, I don't, I'm a person that can sit and just live in my head. And show up every day to work regardless. Blast is fucking fireworks, fuck, going off inside my head, all that. But it's like, I'm in my head. Yeah.

You know what I'm saying? Like. Regardless of the. outside. It's patience, patience, and MRI, that's it, regardless of what's going on. That's it. That's powerful. Most artists wanted to happen right away.

A lot of these young, a lot of, I find, I don't feel like that, I feel like that's like, you know, like, that's just promise to break this down. So, yeah. You got rappers that want it to go right away and they get a hit song overnight. All right, so two out of the 10 become superstars, the other eight. That's it. One hit wonders. If that.

If that, because they wanted to move so fast. So, like, I always used to tell my boys, they just tell them, like, hey, like, this shit competition. Like, I need y'all to be trying to outdo me. Like, you know, because I'm trying to outdo all y'all still. Y'all think y'all, like, they're looking at their stuff like they're not established yet, but it's like at the end of the day, y'all sitting in front of my face right now, so y'all are established.

That's right. So I tell them, it's a competition. I tell them, if we all go up for one, two, two, and we're going to fill up one, two, and three. That's right. If we got one, two and three, fill it up. we run music. Like you get what I'm saying? It's like there's no way around it at all. That's prolific because one, to me, the best A&R are artists. We tend to see each other

across the room and you can kind of know when someone really has it. You can feel if they're for real or not. Yeah. And the only way you're going to have a career as an artist, you have to need this more than anything else because it's a long road. It's a very long road. I want them to understand it. It's a very, very, very, very long. It's not a science project. It's not a, it's not a lottery. It's a, it's a long-ass road. And the people that quit are the ones that go away. For sure. For sure. If you're sitting here in front of you and you're an artist and you're, you feel like you're a new artist, but you wouldn't bring someone in the room if you didn't know they had the potential and the ability to do. You wouldn't even bring them in the room.

Hell no. So that is the validation. Oh, for sure. It's overly a validation. Like, you get what I'm saying? Yeah. Overely. I see why you're successful.

I mean, you know? Yeah. I ain't got enough to go back too. Yeah. We have no other options. That's the only option. It's four, not back. Do you have a big family?

Yeah, I got eight kids. You have eight kids? Yeah, I got five daughters and three sons. Wow. And five daughters, ma'am. It was ten. and that's a i had including me was 10 siblings one of my brothers died but i'm the oldest you're the oldest yeah wow gotta feed the kids yeah i don't have time to be

playing yeah you know is everybody in atlanta no they are all spaced out i have two kids in atlanta three in texas one in vegas and one in miami okay yeah fatherhood is a it's more like a coast-to-coast thing to me right i saw on your instagram um and maybe it was your daughter's birthday. I thought it was, I have a, my daughter's now 16. She's little or the big one? She's little. It's probably being a Carisha baby, summer. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Daughters are special. They, they, uh, it's funny because my daughter is 16 and now it's almost like I answer to two women because my, my wife, uh, it and her, they get along really well, but now I have kind of another woman in the house who's kind of.

I just told my sister, I got to do it at 16. Oh yeah. Yeah, I just told her, it's like I don't even, the only call I get his daddy, can you see me some money? Yeah. I mean, to my baby, like, that was my first child, like, you know what I'm saying? Yeah. That shit is out the window.

Yeah. Like, it's over with. What do you say when she calls and says, can you give me some money? You ain't called me and checked on me. Yeah. Just all you want is my money. Call me and check on me. And you still probably send her the money.

I said it right then. Yeah. Thank God for a Venmo. That's the same. It's just can I can I have some money and she's 16 years. She wants a car. She asked for a car yet. Yeah, she did.

Her birthday and April, I'm about to buy her car. That's good. For her birthday. She owned me about that too. That's a good driver though. To have to have a family you have to take care of is, I know one of the reasons I work so hard is my family. Yeah, I don't have no other choices. Like, I made this decision to have all these kids.

I got to take care of them. Yeah. I'm not leaving that responsibility to nobody else or no other man. Like that's my responsibility. Yeah. And I ain't going back and forth about it. That's how I feel. Yeah.

Also, my dad wasn't around when I was a kid, so I felt especially driven to try and do the opposite. My real dad wasn't around when I was a kid either. My mom had a boyfriend that raised me since I was three months old. I called my dad his name, Trey or whatever. My real dad, all I do about my real dad is that he made beats. Oh, wow. You know what I'm saying?

So that my mom. I was like, I'm gonna. I'm gonna. And, I'm gonna'all my music, my

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I'm be a producer. I'm a producer. I'm a producer. I'm a producer. A rapper either because he's rap and produced. And I thought that that would really make it where it was like, well, like, you know, it would be tight because it's what he wanted to do as his dream. But what I've learned about this fame shit is, like, that shit ain't his heart up.

Yeah. I can't eat his heart up. It ain't his heart up to the point where he was just kind of like, he got so envious of me because he wanted to, this is, like you said, this is a goal. This man wanted to accomplish for the last 40 years. the last 40 years. I just made this shit look like in 10 years like it's the easiest shit to do ever.

You know what I'm saying? That's what really talented people do. Yeah. Like, I don't know. It's like, I never like, it's like my friends, they way more understanding than family. I don't know, do you go through that?

Sometimes. I think also because likely you've, over the last, let's call it 20 years from when you started. Yeah. I think when we think in terms of potential, we think in a positive space. Okay.

So when we're looking towards positive, we attract positive. So likely we're going on the road towards our goal, we're likely going to meet more positive, even though we do experience negative. You deal with the haters or people, whatever. But you're likely going to be more likely to spend your time with people

who make you feel closer to your goals. And a lot of times they've either had success, they're working on their own success, or they just believe in yours. Not for sure. And so you're going to be surrounding yourself with people who are aligned with you on your greater purpose in life, right? Yeah.

And when we come from a, I think when we come from a negative environment, you know, I'm not from the south side of Atlanta, but where I grew up, I didn't have any money. And most people didn't dream at all, so nothing was possible. Yeah, sure. And I certainly didn't have any standing in the community. Where you from? I'm from Maryland. Like Baltimore or just, man.

I'm from, like, the sticks, like country. My boy right there, he's from Baltimore. Okay, I'm from southern Maryland. Like, I moved to PG when I was older, but I was in like St. Mary's County. Yeah, so it's down in the country. So no one's really dreaming there, right? No one's really like aspiring in the, and the people that are usually get out because there isn't a lot of opportunity for artists, right?

So on the road to success, you're likely going to meet other like-minded people and you're going to find kindred spirits. So you're going to get what we all need. to have success, I think is support. We all need it. Yeah. And so sometimes when we're from a place where family, we were all struggling,

some people can never get out of the struggle. They just can't, they can't in their mind get out of that life actually could be good. They don't want to change. They don't, like, some people don't, some people, some people, some people like to accept change. That's right. Like, like, you know, a person to come tell me,

like, you change, bro, you changed. It's like, what you said, I change. Are you saying I change as far as me? being in the streets? Are you saying I'm changing as a person as far as me getting money in my business? Because if I'm changing as a person of me getting money in my business

and you see her looking like, I'm changing on this, you ain't really, I gotta separate you. Like usually I would have pulled up here 20 niggas with me, 25 niggas like, I understand. I fly everywhere by myself now because it's so peaceful. Peaceful.

So peaceful. I never knew this. And all these years, spending all this money, I get the most peace by myself all day long. I actually hear that a lot. And I feel the same way. But when someone says to me, I've changed and now, and I'm 10 years ahead of you, right?

So I'm 45 in March. Okay. I've learned to understand they're uncomfortable with growth. So if you're saying I've grown, you're right. For sure. Right? If you're saying I've changed, I don't really understand what you mean. Yeah.

Because all I do is grow. All I do is grow. I'm taking that. And so every time they say, I'll be like, no, I'm growing. I'm growing. I'm growing. And so if you change. If you want me to come back to where I was when you knew me like you do, like you feel you do still, because you really don't know me like you did because I grow, I've grown.

Yeah. And if you want me to come back, that's not possible. Yeah. I can't do that. It's like chopping a tree down. Yeah. Right? So if you want to chop me down, I can't let that happen.

I have too many people that depend on me. No, for sure. And even the people that depend on me that don't know they depend on me, even the people that depend on me that might resent me. For sure. Right? The nature of love, the nature of relationships tends to be messy. It is.

Right. It's very messy. And it's very messy. So what I see, right, you're telling me the oldest of your siblings and we have a similar background with our fathers. I didn't have another man until I didn't really meet any older guys who were good mentors until I was probably in my late 20s. Okay.

Right? Who actually were sharing real information with me that would help me. me versus just trying to take advantage of me, right? Because that's the nature of also the world we live in is when we're young and we come into this business. Try to finesse you and take from you. They try to finesse you. They try to take advantage of you.

And it's the nature, right? But I always say, I'm not mad at that because you should have killed me because now I'm full grown. Not for sure. And what I realized about growth is if we look for it, part of success of businesses, right? A business has to grow. to scale to be successful.

Not for sure. Right? So to build wealth in the world, we have to grow. We have to constantly search for a better way. We have to search for more optimization. We got to optimize, do things better. And then we have to look for factors that cause negative outcomes and remove them. So sometimes that's a friend, right?

In my 20s, I had some friends who could never get it together. And I had to. Can't get right. And I was moving this way. And I had to slow, I had to grow, we just had to grow apart. So it's really hard for people to accept that. But that's their journey, right? Because you're the leader of your family.

For sure. When you think about it. And now you're also, and you have a couple different families. You have the family of origin. And then you have the family you built in the world. Yeah. And those are the people you get to choose. Yeah.

And you want their best interest and their best interests and their best outcome, and they have to want yours. And so what we learn as we grow, and really in our 30s is when we start to really, it starts to crystallize is some of the people that I wanted their best interest didn't want my best interest. I'm not mad at them because it's human nature to see someone who you think hit the lottery.

To want them to give you some. Not for sure. But what you know and what I know, even though we come from maybe different corners of the music business is we didn't hit the lottery. We worked our asses off. But, man, listen to me.

I'm gonna say, I know you, I'm to mind. I know you I worked y'all ass off. I overly, like, I've probably been to sleep right now. Probably, I'm like two hours, three hours. Like, you know? And this is a guy at the top of his game.

Yeah, that's what we were just talking about last night. Like, he was in the studio. They was like, man, it was like, me and Metro are really sitting in here. Like, we don't have. nothing. That's it. Still, every day, like, Future was saying that yesterday, he's like, y'all sitting in this bitch. He does, too. Like, we don't have nothing.

Like, you know. Like, it's the first day. Like, it's the first day. Like, we're starting from scratch. That's what people need to understand. That's what I hope if someone's listening that has their own dream, whatever it is, maybe it's music, maybe it's a business, maybe it's their health. Maybe they're just trying to get in shape. You got to go every day like it's the first day. Uh-huh.

And I think you've got to have the attitude. it's got to be optimistic. For sure. You got to go in there knowing you're going to hit the ball that you're going to perform. For sure. But yeah, confidence is everything with that. Like, don't give me fuck them.

I beat harder than a lot of niggins. So I don't have to be there, but... Yeah. I can go in a room, too, with the confidence. And be like, no, this is it. It's you. And get a record done. Like, you know what I'm saying?

So, and that's what I was like, I've been breaking that shit down and, like, all my producers because they all use kids with loops. And it's like the kids with loops, feel like they're so entitled, and which they are entitled to something, you know? But it's kind of like,

it's shit politics to it in and then, you know that. Yeah. Like these kids, they sit at the house at their house and they make sounds, make loose and send them, but it's like, how would you meet future? How would you get future these beats? If I didn't, you get what I'm saying?

That's right. So, you know, I don't know. The shit just... I think you do know. I think that it's hard to say sometimes because we also live in a world where everybody has access to argue about some shit they don't know about. Yeah. So you can go on Twitter or Instagram or wherever and you can argue about something you have zero experience in.

For sure. And you somehow seem valid because a thousand people retweeted you or something. Yeah, and that ain't it. And it's not it, you know? Yeah. But future is future because of future's work. And his path is his path. And then he met you whenever you all met and you guys collaborated.

or whoever else it is, I'm just using him as an example. Not for sure. Because your shit was good. Yeah. We also all remember the person who gave us an opportunity to prove ourselves and we'll never forget that. Yeah. I always find that the real ones have a way of doing that as well,

finding someone giving them an opportunity and letting them prove themselves. Where you get let down sometimes is when someone doesn't have the integrity, I think, that it takes to have a long career. It takes integrity. You gotta know who you are. I agree. Of all the people you've worked with over the years, would you say you have a couple people that would,

at least in music, like your best friend in music, someone that you feel has influenced you, and maybe it's not even music, maybe it's just the person they are. Well, I got, I say in music, I got two best friends. Like Metro is one of my best friends.

I love Metro. Yeah, I knew Metro since he was 14. Wow. I've never met him, but I love him. I think he's... And I would say my manager, Mo. Cool. Like, most of Lizzy, like, half of my management.

But that's my best friend. It's one of my best friends, too far as, like, music. Yeah. You know? But as far as the industry, I'm not real, like, I offset my boy, too. Yeah. That's my real friend, like, you know?

But I ain't really friendly. Like, when they come to, like, the music shit, like, I'm trying to... Like, I feel like I'm missing a little. a lot of my blessings to at the same time because of how I was raised up, how we move and how we are. So I'm trying to kind of dumb it down a little bit because it's like I'm one of the co-est to ever touch fruit loops.

Yeah. You know, but I want people to start really, really knowing that. Like not, hey, that sizzled them nail some wild shit. Hey, that sizzled them. You see the new number one hit he got out with someone, so and so, like, you know, trying to switch the narrative up a little bit because I do got a funny side. I do got a, like, you know, like I'm playing clown all day long. You know what I'm saying?

I'm getting ready to show it to the world. Just let them know, like, hey, I'm cool too, you know. Yeah. Like, I ain't, you know, it ain't always, rah, right, right, right. Yeah. The music is pretty gangster, though. Yeah. It is.

It is. It is. It is. If you want some motivation music, put it on. Yeah, I definitely got, I definitely make, well, me and we may go to the gym, throw their eye into the air music, like for sure. Yeah. I overly agree.

I can see how it would be hard to shake, though, that if you grow up, in an environment where you have to, the reality of the environment, right? I could see, if you look at like the formative years, right? Let's say zero to 18, right? Yeah. That's where you're developing all your relationship with the world, right? Your habits, all that. I could see how it could take, you know, a lifetime to undo some of the things that were

necessary there. Yeah. I often wonder how, for me, sometimes I see how people have to move just because of safety and things like that. For sure. It feels stressful to me. Like when I look at that, when I think about having to think about safety, right? So my safety net guard, quote on quote, don't come from music.

Right. My safety nanguard comes from being in the streets. Right. You know what I'm saying? Like I'm, I'm really street. Like, you know what I'm saying? Yeah. I don't really even hang with rappers, like I'll pull up with 20 dudes from the hood.

Like it's just, that's what I'm used to. Like, you know, you were coming, like, last, like with the studio day and we were shooting dice. Yeah. Like, you know what I'm saying? Like, shit like that. So, oh. It's just like, I'm, I don't know, I'm completely different. Yeah.

I could tell. Yeah. I've always kind of sense that in the music too. Yeah. And the way you carry yourself. No, for sure. But we just, that's, it's just like the, my dad. kind of program me to move, how I move.

Right. So it's not even like I treat every way I go, like that's my last time going there. Right. You know, so I gotta, like, you know, like, certain things I don't worry about. Like, you know, I don't worry about having to move and the safety because I'm gonna do that naturally

every day with it without music or with it, without being Southside. Right. You know? It's just survival. Yeah. It's all it is. Do you like LA?

I love LA, but I love the O LA. Like, right. Before the pandemic, LA? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Ooh, I used to be out having them blast. Yeah, it was different. Man, it was. I still love L.A., though.

It hasn't really come back since the pandemic in the same way. Yeah, I kind of don't want it to, though. I kind of like this, like this a little bit. Yeah. I like it cool. It should be crazy out here. Yeah. Real crazy.

Early 2000s was kind of wild out here. Yeah, because, see, look, I didn't really come out here for real, for real, for real. Because my dad, my real dad from Pasadena. Oh, really? Yeah, my grandfather, like, all them day off from Pasadena. I didn't come out here my first time until I was like, to Dirty Sprite 2 is out. That's when I moved to L.A. for a little minute

on Future Drive Dirty Sprite 2. Yeah, it's nice out here for in a lot of ways. I mean, it's great to be, I guess in Atlanta, you, it's, it's great for work in Atlanta too, Miami as well.

Yeah, I love, I work better here right now because it's slower. It's dead, but Miami I'm outside every night. Atlanta, I'm outside every night. Here I work. I sit down and work, work, work, work.

I probably made like, 70 beats in the last three days. How do you feel about the artist, your, your artist projects? My rap music? Yes. My shit is unique. Like, I got four different styles.

Like, one style that's just super trapped out. It's going crazy. I got some shit I've been doing, like, with no drums on it. It's all about my life. Like, it's like real shit, you know? Yeah. I just, with the rap shit, I just kind of, because it's like I'm open.

Like the world had decided yet as far as me as a rapper, like, what they like so I can try anything right now. Yeah. That's how I'm looking at it. So I'm about to put out like my first real rap project. I'm really excited. I want to see, like, you know, I want to see how people going react. I heard that you're on the Nicky song.

Yeah, that's me saying fuck this club up. Yeah. That's a hit. That's a hit. That's a big hit. Yeah, for sure. That's proof right there. That's a big hit, no, for sure.

Does everybody know that or is it? Hell not, people don't, they started a know now, but I never really said that. That's a hit. Yeah, for sure, it's a hit. That's a superstar artist, vocal. No, it is. It is. I'm about to get on it.

Yeah. What about, give me the light with Yadi? How did that happen? I was in Miami and my engineer, my brother, Max Lurd, they was making, because you know, I'd be having people like, make my sounds. Like, I had to hook up all the shit. They're coming there playing the guitar, all that shit. So they made this loop.

When they first played it first playing it first, I kind of was like, uh, because it wasn't really catching. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? I left the studio and came back the next day and just the first thing I pulled up was that beat and made it, made that beat. So when he did it, he was working with Slump Guard. I was like, man, put Slump Guard on this shit for my algorithm, Slump guard end up doing some, you know, some weird shit and not showing up. Yeah. I rapists do it, whatever. So yeah. I hit Yadi. Yadi pull right up. How is that?

And knock that bitch out, went right through it. Do you guys know each other well? Who'd be a Yadi? Yeah. That's my boy. I like Yaddy. Yeah, that's my boy. I've never met him, but I like him.

He's a good kid. How long have you known him? Yaddy's since he's, like, first he got signed. That's like 18, 17, 18. Yeah, he's cool. Is he from Atlanta too? Mm-hmm. Who would you say was like one of the first people that gave you a chance to make a record?

Oh, I'm gonna keep it real. I got my guy named Spiff, Spiff TV. Spiff used to do Rorypawsing them shit. So Spiff is like the first person that, ever take my beats and go get like Ross on him and you know like meek at a time yeah while he was the first person to give me a shot for besides walking him but first person I like Waka yeah I met him years ago he was cool yeah crazy dude yeah very very crazy you think you'll always live in Atlanta I'll live in Atlanta I stay I stay in

Vegas okay okay okay yeah I don't know I can't live in Atlanta I can't live in Atlanta I was thinking, I was wondering that. I'm not dumb. Right. Yeah, like, I'm not dumb. I'm gangster, but I ain't know. Yeah. By far.

Yeah, why? This is for what? Yeah. Like, you know, for what? You got too many kids, too many people depending on me. How's Vegas? Boring as fuck. Boring?

So fucking boring. Good for taxes. Great for taxes, but it's boring as fuck. Yeah. Boring as fuck. I don't do shit but gamble all day. You gamble? Yeah, I usually didn't gamble to,

until we moved to Vegas shit once I like I I I had I like to gamble too I had a girl like even my girls stay in my house here I wouldn't see her for like four days five days I go down and get like five penthouses and every different one of you just be gambling never go home unless I lose all my money if I lose all my money I'm going gambling me too yeah you fucked up on the gambling too I mean I don't have a problem because I live in L.A what do I like to play yeah I don't know how to play poker yet so poker I don't know how to play poker yet so poker I I find is like a good metaphor for life sometimes because you're... So you're...

So you're... No, no, no. No. It's the rest of the poker face? There's some corny... There's some cornyness in poker too. Yeah, because that shit, like, I'll be looking at a nigga have his glasses on. Like, dude, like, you're not intimidated me.

Yeah. You know what you to see your face? I don't do that. I'm a pretty honest poker player. I tend to play pretty tight and I only play, you know, when I have something. But I also like roulette. I'll play roulette. I like craps.

We used to shoot dice a lot on the road. I would tell you. I knew frame about somebody with them damn dice. Yeah. I love dice. I play baccarat and crapsless craps. Yeah. We used to play Celo on the road.

I fuck with Celo. I tell somebody that new frame playing Celo too. Yeah. But I'm pretty good at containing that part of myself. I fuck with Blackjack too. Yeah. You ever play Casino Wars? Casino Wars?

Yeah, Casino Wars. It's like ID Claire Ward. But it's like I always play it. I only play it with like it's just me and Adler. If it's other people at the table, I don't do it. So basically I take like $10,000. Put the whole $10,000 now. You got a 50-50 that you're going to win

because he's just one card, one car, flip over whoever higher you win. If it's a tie, you keep going like ID, Claire Ward. And y'all flip the card over after the three cards, whoever got the hires you win. It's like some real addictive. the gambling shit. Fast money.

Super fast. If you win. Either you're lucky or you're not in these days. I wonder why we like gambling so much. I feel like, shit, motherfuckers gamble every day. Yeah.

Like, you know? You bet on sports? I'm trying to, like, I want to learn it. I don't want to get nobody my money to do it. Like, I got to learn it myself. Yeah.

Because I don't watch, like, sports, like, all day long. Right. I kind of catch the glimpse of shit or the ending. Like, you know what I'm saying? Yeah, you're too busy. But I watch boxing. I love.

That's my favorite sport. Do you box? I used to when I was little. I don't know. Yeah, when I was John did. I see Devin Hady last night, actually. Yeah. I seen him last night.

Boxing my favorite sport. What about M.MA? I love, I like it, M.A. I had what Swiss Beach took me to a fight with him once on. We were sitting, like, so close to the cage and shit. Like, it was cool. Yeah. I think I wonder, like, everybody thinks they want to hit the lottery.

It would be great if someone gave you a bunch of money. money, but doesn't it feel better to, like, earn your own money? Of course. It gives you something that is a self-esteem that comes with it. But it sounds nice, but that's probably why all the lottery winners end up with terrible, horrible, you know, the whole lottery curse. Yeah. I just say some shit with somebody here for like 400 million and somebody going to get a hundred

and some million out of 400 million in a lottery. Yeah. I'm like, what the fuck? And they have, I don't just take 300 million in my money. I won. It's crazy. Well, I think it's something like if we don't learn how to have what we have at the time and as we gain more, if we don't know how to have it, then we don't know how to keep it.

Sure. And if we're giving a bunch of money, we just start spinning it everywhere. And not to say spending money is bad. I love to spend money. Sure. But there's a self, there's checks and balances you do on yourself because especially when you're taking care of people, you have to think about the family. I think the hardest thing for me, one of the.

hardest things for me to learn how to do was have money. Yeah. It was a real, I found myself a little overwhelmed sometimes. And I think it was just never having any influence like that, or if anyone that had money that could tell me like, hey, this is, this is probably what, this is how you set up the foundation of your life. I get what you, like, I just told my friend the day, I'm like, like the world now with the kids, they want to, it's like kids that's privileged, like, you know, that's privileged. Like, they still want to be gangsters. You know, and I told my homie the other day,

I said, bro, I'm trying to go so far in life of this music shit that I forget I was that person. Yeah. I don't want to, I want to forget my whole, you know, that whole part of my life, I want to forget it because I use it to gear, but it's like I want to get away from it

at the same time. Like, I don't still want to be in the hood all day. Like, you know? That's powerful. But I'm fucked up, though, to the point where it's like, I gotta go to the hood every day. Right. I don't know what it is, like, you know? But I know I shouldn't be there.

Like, I know I'm supposed to be growing. Well, I think we do what we can with what we have. Yeah. Until we have more and then we do what we can with that, right? Yeah. But there's sometimes our roots are our roots, right? Yeah. And I think we've got to try to minimize the damage our past can do to us.

Yeah. Right? And it might, everybody's different. Some people may have a family member who's damaging. They may have, you know, some people shouldn't go back to where they came from, where they lived. Everybody's different. So your reality is you're a hugely successful music business. And it's not just one thing.

It's a bunch of things, right? So you're a music, let's say for lack of a better term, you're like a music business mogul. Yeah. You've built these businesses. You have publishing. you have an artist career, you're signing other artists, you're building up a world where it's full of opportunity for producers. So you've built this world, right?

Yeah. Hugely successful. Worth a lot, right? Even though you've done that, there's a part of you that's probably still the same guy who grew up where he grew up. And that's the part we have to like, we have to come all the way into our present reality. and then make decisions that are based in our present reality, not our past. You know what I mean?

And I think that's what we all struggle with. We all have it in different ways. I was never a gangster, but I certainly have things in the past that come from a family with all different kinds of struggles that I have to remind myself like that's not where I'm at today. Well, but see, like when I say gangster, I want to say this too, because when I say gangster, how I was raised, gangster is like you as a man taking care of. your kids in your household.

Right. You know, you will lay your life down for your kids. Like, that's gangster to me. Yeah, I understand. Like, you got, gangster to me is making decisions that I know a normal person with a normal mind with normal fear in anybody. It's not going to be able to make the same decisions that I'm going to make. Yeah.

You know, like, there's a lot more at stake. A lot more at stake. That's right. You know, it's like, that's gangster to me. Absolutely. And I, and I say the word gangster in a very broad way, right? Yeah. It's interesting, like you're young, but you're old enough to know all your experience, right?

Sure. So this is the thing that I think a lot of people don't stop to take, like, inventory of. Yeah. Is the pressure of what's at stake because of what you've accomplished, right? It's everything you set out to do and more. And then now that we're here, there's a whole lot more at stake. Sure. And a lot of other people at stake, right?

Yeah. And so the thought process continually evolves because you're not just thinking about one thing. You're thinking about 50 things when you make a decision. Yeah. That's a lot of pressure. And you got to go into the studio and focus and just make art. That's what me and my mother is just talking about this. He's like, man, you got so much shit going on in your life.

I don't know how you like focus. So it's like I'd be having to go over there like go to the studio by myself. Yeah, how do you? I have to like now lately I just been on some by myself shit. I had to just get everybody away from me. There was nothing personal. I love all my friends, but just shit wasn't, like, it don't make sense. If I'm the only one with this gift, it's like I could relate to my friends about how we grew

up, what they're doing now. But it's like, like I said, I'm trying to grow past that shit. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? They can't relate to me being Southside, the superstar. Right. The next Dr. Dre, the next Kanye, where it's like, they get it, but they don't get it. You know?

And you're in the process. So you're in the game. It's the legacy you're really. you're writing right yeah you're still you're you're in the middle part i'm overly in the middle part right i haven't even you know so when you look at your catalog it's amazing yeah i mean me and my son were listening to we were going all the way back all the way forward like years it's crazy yeah years and that's just everything you've done yeah everything you're gonna do i got a whole arsenal shit is going to come out right now like you know a lot of times people watch and they think it looks

It's fun. It is fun. There's moments that are great and all that, but like, it takes focus every day. We could be having fun. See, they don't understand, like, they don't understand our mental. I'm still focused while I'm having fun at the student. That's right. Like, you get what I'm saying? Like, you know how to block the whole room. I don't only hear music.

Like, you know, so. But you're right. It's a lot of hard work to come with this shit. And I pray to you. I'm impressed, man. I pray they understand it one day. They will. I mean, I think the people who love you will, a lot of times even when they don't understand what we're doing while we're doing it after the fact they do. The rest don't matter really. Not for sure. For sure.

Because it really, the music speaks for itself. It does. Do any of your kids make music? I got a son that's 14. Same as mine. Yeah, my son is like a little jean, like a little guru, like a little genius. Like he got his son. own GTA server, clothes, he make beats, he rap, he just... He's that modern kid, he's... Yeah, he's gonna be, he's gonna make his own millions by the time he's 21, 22.

Yeah, I think that too about my son. For sure, like just the way he's moving right now, how he acts, how he assess shit, how he look at things, like he's, he thinks like an adult already. Yeah. Honestly, I think that that's because they watch us. Yeah. And they see us navigate. That's 85% of it. That's why.

They have a model. It's just going to be better at us. Yeah. That's all. That's what I pray for. I think it's nature. Yeah. I think that's the nature of things.

I pray for the same thing. But I get reminded a lot of times, you know, he's in the car with me or a lot of times I don't even know what he's up to. And then I see that he's making beats or he's doing that kind of stuff where a lot of stuff I don't even understand sometimes. And I see he's operating. And then he sees me operate in the world and then he takes it back. Yeah.

And he's building his own thing. That's the powerful thing about having a dad is having that, especially someone who, you know, like yourself. Yeah. Who's working hard and building things. That's the nature of us as we look at that and we go, I could do that too. Yeah. And I feel the same way about my son. I think he's going to be successful at whatever he puts his mind.

to, but it's probably music. He's growing up around so much music. Everybody in the family does music. Yes, that's, come on now. You know, he's born for that, for real. Yeah. What's next?

I'm assuming it's everything, but the album is the next thing? So, yeah, I got my first album. I put together with my beats on it and all the artists. It's my first one. It's called Speed. You know, because it's just like, I feel like my life moves so fast and I'm so wild.

It's just like, you know, I love fast cars. Like, and we call women speed too. We'd be like, I got some speed. Yeah. Like, you know what I'm saying? So I call it speed because it's just like, I feel like this is like a soundtrack to when you're in the car and you just wilder.

Like, you know, like, I'm not telling anyone to wild out, but you know, like I wanted to name it. At first I wanted to name it, drive this at, I mean, I play this at high speeds. You know what I didn't, I don't want to get no trouble either case somebody do that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But that's what this for-

Liability. Yeah, it's just the hangout the car music, that's what this is. What's your favorite car? Um, my favorite car I had was my GT 500, Mustang. Yeah, Nick likes that car. Yeah, I had it, I had it, I had it, I had it suited up, like, running under 1400, it was probably, was to the wheel. Yeah, I'm fine.

I spicked it around, and I had split it around, and I let it was cold, I split it around like eight times, and it was the way on the highway. I came back, because I put off the wheel, my cars and my mom didn't almost sold that motherfucker. I was like, that's my favorite car. Yeah. I had a, I, I, I, I, I, I, I used to didn't even really like that car. I was, um, I was shooting a video with Doe Boy.

I was in my Inventador, but I had to be doing like 180, man, I was now with my inventor. That's crazy. Like, for real, for real. Like, I was back to back, my Lambo truck, my inventoror, the GT 500, it was in something. It might have been my track hog. They, um, I'm gone, man, I just, he just, I hit, I hit, you know,

The Mustang just, first I hear it, it had it where I couldn't even like hit a Lamborghini no more. But that shit shot past me, bro, and was still going like some other shit. I start driving that car every day. It's a sick car. My brother used to have one. I love that car. I have an old car, so I have a 65 Impala, 64 Impala, 67, C10, like, load of the ground,

big engine. That's fine. I love the old cars. We do more than, like with the old ones, I do. do like 70-30s and 75s. The big ones. Yeah. But Capricians, that's what we do.

Yeah. Those are cool. I like the Camaros, too. Like my dad got a, I want to say, 69. Yeah, 69. Got a black and white, 69. A little old cars, too. A little old cars.

What would you say if you could spend on a car or a watch, would you buy a car or a watch? I'm definitely about a car first. Yeah. Yeah. Me too. Yeah. I don't really, I mean, I have, this is my lucky watch.

My brother gave it to me. Yeah, like, I like watches, but it's like. Yeah. I like cars, too. I love cars. Something about getting in a car. Yeah, I love cars. I don't need no jury.

I want to get in no car. Yeah. You know, that's it. That's it. Yeah. Any new artists you're excited about? I got two artists. I just signed one name, Mo Smack, another one they, uh, Trace Ave.

But they, like, they're so hard. And I've been working with Huncho a lot late later, too. Uh-huh. so it's like a new kid going crazy. Yeah. Yeah, so. And Skiller Baby. Fucking with Skiller Baby.

I've been trying to fuck what I like to do. Up and coming. Do you feel like when you're working with a new artist, do you feel like you're mentoring them a little bit too? Yeah, big brother.

Yeah. You know what I'm saying? You need that. For sure. Sick, dude. Thanks for coming. Appreciate you, right? Nice to meet you.

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