New Rory & MAL - Episode 531 | Deante' Hitchcock

Episode Date: August 13, 2026

Deante’ Hitchcock stops by to talk about one of our favorite Rap projects this year ‘Junkie in the Sun’. He shares some great stories from the legendary Return of the Dreamers sessions.  As a lyricist Deante gives his input on the XXL Freshman freestyles.  After 6 days in Vegas Rory & Mal give Deante’ some much needed bachelor party advice.  He’s trying to sell 100,000 units so be sure to check out ‘Junkie in the Sun’ after the pod. Visit your nearest Boost Mobile store or https://www.boostmobile.com/promo/25-forever Go to https://baskandlatherco.com and use code RORYANDMAL for 20% offSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Welcome back to another episode of the new Rory Amal podcast. I am all. I'm Rory. Rory, today we are joined by somebody that you've been talking to me about for a very long time now. Somebody who I've grown to like one of the bright spots in rap and hip hop. Got a new project out, Junkie in the Sun.

Yes. I've been listening to that a lot. Arguably, I think halfway through the year, you can put this up. It's in the conversation. for a rap album of the year for sure. Yeah, really, really like this project. Today we are joined by Southside Atlanta's own. Deontay Hitchcock is in the building.

Huge studio audience. Huge studio. Millions of people in the audience. Deonti, how you feeling, man? I'm happy to be here, that. Yo, first of all, congrats on this project. Appreciate it. It's a dope project.

To me, you're one of the bright spots in hip-pop. Thank you. We talk about hip-hop kind of going through a very interesting phase right now. where, you know, the skill set is kind of taking a backseat to, you know. Stetics and vibes and all the other things. So, you know, hearing somebody like yourself that still puts, you know, the skill set to the forefront and in the art to the forefront. I appreciate that.

How are you feeling, man, in New York City for a few days working? Yeah, I'm about to say, coming up here, a couple interviews and shit just running around and getting in, coming to yapping about these albums or more. Anybody who will let me sit down. Do you like New York? You like visiting the city? So, crazy, no, we were just talking about that out there. So I got family and stay up in New York.

Okay. I didn't see you staying like Bedford-Stuyvesant. I just found out I got like six hundred years. I like that you said Bedford-Stuyvesant. Yeah. You know, you say Bedford-Stuyves. He says it the way I say Decatur. Yeah.

Yeah. But now, I'm about to say, oh, last time I came up here was my first time being here, solo. Okay. Solo, Dolo. And where is the city usually feel like overwant? and type vibes too fast. Yeah. From the side was not as quick down there, you know?

It's much slower down there. Yeah. I'm about to tell you, but this time it felt more electric. Okay. That makes sense. So, yeah. Well, it's the, we've talked about, this summer in New York is a lot. The vibe is a little bit.

I was here. The Knicks of just won a game. Everybody walking a little different, you know what I'm saying? Coming off of the three shows at J-Had Yankee Stadium. Nix was chanting for Trey Young when I was out here. Well, we still feel that way. Well, we still feel that way. Even though we have a band or not.

Now I still feel like pure hatred in my heart. Atlanta Hawk anymore. It's still the vibe. It's still the vibe. We keep that energy for years. New Yorkers hold on to a lot. I feel like I kind of talked about it. He was like, maybe I want to live up here for a year.

I started explaining how taxes work up here. Yeah, I think I'll go back. I'm good. Yeah, stay in Georgia. Stay in where you at, man. You got four bedrooms for 1100? Like cop collar today. Yeah, I'm good on this shit.

But why the title, Junkies in the Sun? Junkies in the Sun. It's basically like all of us, we all got stuff that we're embarrassed by, we all got stuff that we addicted to, whatever the case, whatever the case. All of us are junkies to something. For sure. Whether that's our own feelings, whether that's our own joy, shame, guilt, whatever the fuck it is. God don't care about that.

And to me, the sun is God. You mean, God, the light don't never turn off from the sun. You go outside, you stand outside right now. You're going to see the J on the corner. You're going to see the drunk, just like you're going to see the doctor, just like you're going to see the brain surgeon, whatever the case. Everybody get the same light from God. It ain't no different.

There's no judgment from the sun. It's the same way for us. No matter what we're going through, what we're dealing with, God don't turn God's light off, but none of us. We might feel like it's out, but it's not. What's your version of junkie, do you feel like, especially when you were making this project? Because it is very deep.

Every record felt on purpose, if that makes sense. Yeah. Like there wasn't really a bar wasted or a point that you didn't get across. Appreciate it. For me, for me, it's been like this validation, like, I don't even make music for a long-ass time. How old are you? Bro, I'm 33. Okay.

I don't even make music until I was 12. That's around the age, though, where if you're a rapper, like, that's the age where things start to, start to direct. Oh, shit, man, I'm going to be gone. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, need that. Yeah. But show, I'm about so like, I got, I got a jeep. I'm going to get married, this shit out of that. You're married.

Oh, that's good a brats, man to have. Okay. Yeah, me and my lady. So yeah, bro, like for me, it's been a validation because I've been making music for such a long time. And I always felt like it was that. You feel? You feel? Yeah.

I ain't going to put out no project if I don't think it's like that. But the reception never matched what I thought it was. And granted, you know what I'm saying? It happened for a plethora of reasons. Like I put out my debut project and then COVID happened. Okay. So yeah, everything shut down. We couldn't tour.

We couldn't really do anything we plan to do it. We got a lot of good music in 2020 though. Man. Me and Roy, we talked about that. Yeah, about to say. A lot of good music came out there. Yeah. Pandemic hadn't. Tripping.

Yeah. Real, for real, real. Recording some of their best shit. Yeah. Couldn't do nothing with it. Yeah. I was like, cool, cool, cool. But for me, even creating this project has always been,

and not in the sense, again, a lot of standard, but just being aware of it, the validation. Like, I've sought that for people to regard my work and, like, certain level. Yeah. I mean, to be talked about with some of my peers with the same, like, provider that they speak about them. Yeah. Yeah. I always felt like that's kind of mean to say to artists of, like,

It doesn't matter what people say. If you feel good about it, I'm like, crazy. That's kind of a, man. That sounds good on paper. It's kind of a dumb perspective because this is how y'all eat. Like, no, I'd love to be validated by everyone that looks us to the project. That's the job, right? Yeah.

What you're talking about? Don't nobody like it, dude? I'm going back to McDonald's, niggins. That shit, I'm over with, real. Right. So, yeah, brother, like the whole job, shit, not only me for y'all too, is like perception. To be perceived. Like, people got to look at you and be like, yeah, I fuck with that.

Or, yeah, I don't fuck with that. It got to be either polarizing enough or, I was exactly love it. You know what way or another? If folks don't like it, you cook. Yeah. That's it over with, bro. What do you think the reception has been

between Junkie and the Sun and Better your debut? Man, I think folks liked. I love both of them. I think this one, like, whereas we're better, I got a couple of songs that shouldn't exist at all on that motherfucking, bro. On the first one? What? Yeah.

I got some of that. Always looking back. You always say that. Like, yo, what was I fucking thinking? I got a song called, Give Me Your Money on that I wish I never made. Yeah. Yeah. I like, but stepping stones.

But I love what artists, like, you can look back and say that about a record. Like, yeah, what the fuck was I? Brer. That's up, true for you. I was with RCA at the time. Yeah. So, Junk in the Sun is the first project we don't make without necessarily having, like, the label's ear or them talking in our ear at the same time.

Like, we need this record. We need that record. I had a partner who came through, we was getting towards the end of the project. And he was like, brer, it sounded like y'all feel. not to be cliche, but it sounded like y'all feel free. Okay. I mean, for the first time and a long time, and, bro, that shit doesn't stuck with me

ever since he said it because that's how I feel. Yeah, that's exactly how I feel. So, yeah, I think the reception for this one has been 10 times. 10 times a bit. What type of things was RCA in your ear about? You don't have to get specifics to anyone on the label, but. Same thing how the label's being hit about.

We need a record that we could press gone. You know, I mean? Like, you can rap. That's why we got you here for show, but we still need the record that we could place on urban radio, the club, on the festival stage, whatever the case, to get you to that place. You know what I'm saying?

Whereas, like, the label might have been able to press a button. And granted, that influence was kind of waning back then, too. But, like, now, I don't think the label can press a button anymore, do, die. You could pull money on some shit and it still might not go. Yeah, it's not what it used to be. At all. Yeah. It's a whole different guy down the landscape.

They fooled the consumers for a while. It was some tricks and things that they used to do that kind of, like, fool. But, like, you see major artists now that can't, they can't do anything. They can't move in the news. Can't store. All that shit, bro. Yeah. They can throw gas on something that's already working.

Yeah. That's probably the best thing that they do. And that's been an approach for most of them. You know what? Like folks, we're talking about like artists development. That shit dead. Yeah. I don't do it no more because everybody's afraid to take the swing and look stupid.

Because don't nobody knows what the fuck going on. Right. Yeah. So who's some of the artists that you, because I, you know, listening to your music, we obviously hear, well, I hear the 3000 influence. For sure. Outcast, outcast, maybe some coal influence in there a little bit. But who's some of the artists that you listen to that people might not know

that these are the guys that I kind of grew up listening to that inspired me? Out top, I don't think everybody's familiar with Kilo Ali. Love Kilo. I used to be like Tig and Eagher back in the day. So out of the southern bass music, out of the type of play, who was on that heavy. Yeah. folks don't know

so I'm pretty sure everybody familiar with Crete everybody's saying love Crete okay I'm sure everybody familiar with Tia for show

because I remember I was in Atlanta and I told her a time I laughed when Joey Badass told me that Bow Wow inspired him to rap

I just wasn't expecting Joey Badass to be inspired by Bow Wow You know what I'm saying but we forget How about I said, bye-Wi, was that boy? You get what I'm saying? He was literally one of the few artists that can tell you what it was like to go outside and create pandemonium.

I got a picture of my mom and house still today with me standing in front of a big tarp with bow wow. I don't know if it was at a screen tour, original shows, or if it was at a Bow-Wai himself concert. My mom still got that picture sitting on the bookshelf. Yeah. Literally. Bail out. No, we don't, because it's been so much time, but like, you don't because you're not from the eight. group that we are yeah like I was old I was already outside so by what I was literally like a kid

I was out but it was just like looking back I do remember it being like oh yeah no this is like he has the youth the world in his hand yeah now he's sad yeah it's a little different in me people grow older and it changed a little bit yeah it's a little different now he's a little different now he's a little different day i had one of those craziest careers oh absolutely yeah um I feel like The rollout, or if you'll call it the rollout for junkie and the sun, you did something that I feel like a lot of quote unquote, like lyrical rappers had trouble with is somewhat going viral. I feel like, you know, your verse on got to be more reminders.

Like you had shot different visuals for one verse and repurpose that for like a year before the song even came out. Like I was starting to even get mad as a fan when you would start repost. I'm like, what is this fucking song going to come out? Them songs didn't exist at the time, bro. You just had those great verses. Right around that time. So I left RCA.

This is 24 in like September, October type of age. So from there, I'm already going through a period of time where I'm like, damn, shit ain't really popping how I want to pop, you know, everything kind of slowed down. What am I going to give to fans in this in between, in the meantime, in between time type play? So I started writing a verse every day. I did it before, but I kind of fell off because I was in a lot.

little dark patch. Started writing a verse a day every day again, kind of like that October area. And I just had all these verses. No songs, no fully fleshed out ideas, but it was like, all right, cool. I'm just going to drop these. NJ. Go.

I had my home girl camera. She'll let me use. I'm shooting these videos myself. I'm recording myself at the crib. All that. It was just like, there got to be more video. Probably the one you're talking about this is the one when I fall in the clothes. Yeah.

Just at the crib. Put the camera up, set it up, wrap the version, go. And then it pop. I'm talking about the video. Right now I might have got like 80,000 likes on it type vibes. I didn't expect this shit. Right now.

So from there, folks are yelling at me. I'm getting all types of like, hey, bro, quit fucking playing with me, drop this song in my inbox and shit. And I don't even have a song. So I had to finish that, but, like, I had to finish it go from there, bro. Yeah. But see, and that's something we always talk about too,

where, like, artists have a moment like that. Yeah. And either, I mean, I think that's the first time I heard an artist they didn't have the song. Not at all. But like, it's usually didn't have a plan. Yeah. Didn't know what they want to do.

But to say, like, that song wasn't even a record that was done. One verse. It was nothing else, man. That speaks to the time that we're in where you're able to promote yourself and then, you know, catch a moment, go viral. And everybody is now like, yo, what's up? You got to be prepared for that moment of opportunity because it's like a lot of people, you know, they go viral.

And then it's like, all, but what's after that? What's coming behind that? Ah, true for you. All right, so I'm blessed enough to have retained a lot of fans from the time when I was at RCA. So I got people who will, you know what, wait on me. Well, that's the talent. Yeah, type of vibes. It's like, all right, folks will get down, hold out.

I know he's doing something. He's working on the cool. But the new folks was like, bro, we end and I sleep, feel like kind of dropped the ball a little bit. Granted, you know what I'm saying? Folks are finding it again now. It's almost like a million on Spotify now. Thank God, cool. but yeah

I would like moving forward to be more proactive than reactive my career and anything else for it. So yeah. So let's talk about a few of the records. Now, because I'm really listening because obviously your talent speaks for itself, so I'm really listening to your lyrics.

I want to talk about the almost their record. For sure. Now, is that just art or is that something speaking to your mental health? Yeah, I mean, it's not anymore. You know what I mean? Out of that phase.

But yeah, it's a real story. And that's something that you dealt with. Did you get therapy? Because as black men, we don't go to therapy. We kind of like therapists ourselves and things like that. But did you seek therapy? Did you have mentor? Did you talk to some family?

Like, how did you come out of that dark space in your life? Not at that time. So I don't have two points in my life where it kind of felt like rock bottom type of act. One was earlier, which is the point that I'm recollecting about on the song, it's like 2016. And then the other is that 2020 through 2023 phase. After COVID, stopped everything that we was like working for. So, yeah, I'm about to say I've gone to therapy for like four weeks. That ain't crazy, you know what I'm saying?

Me and y'all did marriage counseling, but other than that, I ain't really took the time to go on a personal type of need to. Yeah. Because, yeah, I'm not trying to check out this motherfucker. No, you can't, man. You can't. You can't. You got to stick around. We don't have to get into marriage counseling per se, but does your wife ever have any type of issues because your music is so personal?

Not that you get super deep in your relationship per se, but you can talk about y'all kid a lot. Your personal stuff, I'm sure even her hearing that record was probably tough as well. But does she ever bring that type of stuff up? because she'd be in the videos too. Yeah, yeah, not for sure. Sometimes they'd be a little too honest for sure, but that's the job. That's part of it.

Yeah, for sure. Like, we don't had them talks early on and up. You know, we've been together for a grip. So at this point, it's like, all right, cool. We kind of got like a understanding and a flow of anything. I mean, so we're good now.

I can get stuff off and we're going to talk about it later. But yeah, she, she, what's what it is mean. Yeah, and it helps when the album is successful. It helps when the checks are bigger. You know, I mean, then this, then it's, you can talk about it. about whatever fuck you want to talk. Let's take a trip.

Yeah. We can talk about it over. Yeah. We talk about whatever we want to talk about on the beach on this island. Yeah. Let's have a good time. Absolutely. Oh, yeah.

Was the Revenge of the Dreamers, because you kind of, you had a standout verse, I feel like. Appreciate it. On that album, not even just on that song. Yeah. Was that kind of a gift and a curse a little bit? Because you talk a little bit about it on good things. Take time on the intro.

I believe you get into that whole cold situation. And I don't think it was a gift and a curse. I just think I was fucked up at the time. Like, I was fucked up before I got the call. I was fucked up after the car. So it wasn't like that in particular had no influence on it. It just, that's what it would. Yeah.

If anything, I might have a bittersweet view of it because of the timing of it. Because, you know what I'm saying? That shit happened in 2019. Then COVID happened right after that. So I'm getting kind of like my bands together. We're going on. 2019 we dropped. The Revenge of the Dreams dropped.

We went on tour with Gid, we went on tour with Waleigh and Jadena. So we getting ready to put out the album this next year. It's like, all, we're going to go on our own debut tour, my personal first headline, and then the world stop. So if I got any type of like bittersweet view of it, it's because of that. Not because of like the shit that I was talking about in the verse. Because like money just was funny. And it just is what it is.

Life was looking a little rough. If anything, that was a blessing to keep me going. So I'd had like a million moments where I've been like, I'm gonna get my H-back license of God, this shit, man. You're gonna make some shape. Go get that age back, boy. You start realizing, like, you know what?

Maybe this ain't Nick. Yeah, I'm about saying, ooh. Go get my CDL or something, yeah. Rapp on the side, a little high before. Yeah, yeah. I can have a few open mics in there. Yeah. But that came at a time where it was like,

it God don't always gave me little checkpoints. Like, cool. You think this shit over with, here you go. Yeah, there you go. Yeah, there you go. And gotta be tripping, because I need some more of them. We still, man, like, that came at the perfect time. Yeah.

Oh, yeah. Mall Boost Mobile is proving that you do not have to overpay for great wireless, no matter how many phones you have. Unlocked savings with $25 a month, the forever unlimited plan. It's a permanent price with no contracts, no price hikes. You keep all the phones in your pockets. It's the same number so everyone can still hit you, but you're saving up to $600, which you can spend that money on the people that are texting

you with all that unlimited data. So stop overpaying and switch to a fair price at boostmobile.com today. based on average annual single line payment of AT&T Verizon and T-Mobile customers compared to 12 months on the Boost Mobile Unlimited Plan as of January 2026. For full offer details, visit BoostMobil.com. What were those sessions like down Atlanta with the retirement? I bet I know y'all don't heard these stories. For sure. Well, every time we talk someone's there, we hear a new story.

Yeah. I'm about saying, uh, the books came through. Giannis, all them that came through like donuts. and they brought donuts and he's got named Chris Bosh Yannis bought donuts Yeah I've never heard that stuff

They brought donuts bro That's crazy Wow It was crazy as hell Yeah Chris Bosh In them making beats

I feel like yeah I heard about Yeah She calls And they were walking around A lot He just got done Cutting the grass

Yeah He'd be rapping his ass Oh bro He and T-shirt basketball Shorts Every day But nah The sessions themselves

You got out of these people In these rooms Dogg is Ross It's Tia It's Earth Gang, it's R-A-Lenics, it's Swiss beats, it's all of these people that seem, that's so far out of reach, trying to come up and it's like, damn, bro,

it kind of leveled the playing field for like a week. Yeah, you know what I'm saying? You're going to sink or swim in that type of spaces that. Everybody trying to get the same thing. It's like 200 people in here every day. At least, that's like minimum. All right, cool. You're going to get on this song, or you're not.

Nobody asking you where your verse at. He just 50 other rappers in here, bro. Yeah. Figured out. At what point in an environment like that does the rapper ego, you got to kind of have that talk with yourself because you're all in the environment where, like you said, Yonis is bringing donuts.

You know, it's like a very cool layback vibe. But the rapper ego is like, I'm here to bust ass. I don't know what fuck about none of this other shit. At what point is it like, let me pull back on the rapper ego or do you like, nah, fuck that. I'm here to just go crazy. I think ego got like, rapper ego specifically got like two different sides. It's like the flexing, the bravado, all that type shit and the rapids are better than y'all

needs. And I'm gonna hit a hoop. Right. Right. That's the side that's shown for everybody. I think Cole and Dreamville just as a whole kind of like cultivates a space where the other side of the ego doesn't really come out of air. Yeah. Don't really show for everybody type vibes.

But to get out there and know, it's like, man, if you hoop, you start off. Little League going crazy, move up AAU, move up again, high school, college, whatever the case. But by the time you get to college, everybody in here that nigga. Right. Everybody came in the hoop,

bro. It's not, you're not just getting by of talent alone, you got to go work. And it's like, it showed. If you want to the people who's really working, you're going to get in here, you're going to hoops. Right. If you want to the people who kind of like

scared of the lights and they're a little too bright, you probably ain't get on nothing. Right. Because it was so chaotic and it was so much going on, that should have made certain folks shrink. Yeah. Is there any songs out of that session you thought your verse was going to make it on that? It didn't.

PTSD was my least favorite one. Really? Yeah. I probably did 18, 20 verses on it. Yeah, PTSD. I remember, so I was on Gat me. One that got Ari Lennox, Shrezy, Oman, out of them, like, wrote on the hook on that song, and I had a verse on it. And I remember Cole coming in.

He was like, who was that? For my version, I was like, yeah, that shit crazy. So I'm in my head, I'm like, yeah, that shit's going. Yeah. It's going. Once Cole asks, who was that? You thinking? Yeah.

I'm like, this shit is sold up with good. We went on tour with Jed right after that and got me, ended up dropping while we was on tour with him. And I'm not on it. And I'm like, fuck, if I ain't made that shit, it's over. Not to make it worse, that is my favorite song on the- shit, five.

Five, bro, I'd say the last show at a Jet Tour we ended up in Atlanta and Eid came down. And he was talking to us in the backroom and shit. He was like, we got most of the track lists tired of the situated, but we got three more songs that we're trying to choose from. And PTSD was one of them. I was like, oh, shit. Well, yeah, maybe we're going to make it, maybe not.

Like, this is still my least favorite verse out of all on when he said, but I'm like, damn, that would be fine to still make it, whatever the case. I ain't no slouch or whatever I do is going to be. It's going to be good. Yeah. And they ended up making it. Yeah. A rapper brain is so interesting because you have the standout verse or that being the least

favorite out of everything. It's always like this. It's so interesting. Yeah. It's always like that. we don't know what folk gonna look yeah you just gotta put that work in exactly bro it's just like you gotta show up and do the thing because i'm i'm overthinker i got a different relationship to all these songs all these verses than anybody else and i never get to hear my own music for the first time

so i don't heard this verse in my head and i don't heard all these 18 verses in my head a thousand times before i actually flesh them out and they finish and they finish and i get to put them into the world so i just got a different relationship with it and folks folks resonated with that like nothing else I put out at the time. So yeah. With Jid, Earth Gang, Black, Mariba, like I always viewed from the outside looking in, like y'all grew up together or something.

Like I put all y'all together as like that younger Atlanta click. No there for. I know it different labels. But for some reason, I think fans view it that way as well. Like you guys are connected in some type of way. It's crazy enough. So I met Black, you know, in a parking lot on it. I don't know if y'all familiar with Edgewood.

It was like a scene. Well, it's still there. It's a street, but Edgewood used to have its own scene going crazy. It's like 2-9. You're all familiar with Fat Man Key, O.G. Maco, Spillish Village. All these folks at one time were kind of like really hopping around there. Matt Black, Edgewood at the apartment store. It's one of the venues out there just in a parking lot at random.

Like, I don't know what your shit. It's back when he still had the whole, you know, me? And the free forms going on. It was crazy enough. My pop sweat up and down that we had the same babysitter. Okay. Like, you and black? Yeah, I don't know if I believe him or not.

My father would be tall tails. But he swelled down. Didn't your uncle say he wrote no scrubs and didn't? What? All right. So that was on me. Listen, my family lives too. There's so many stories my father told me.

I was like, I got older. I'm like, I think my dad was lying. Yeah. My dad do be lying, for sure. My uncle, not so much. I think I just misconstrued the story. He used to tell a lot of time and then, you know what I'm saying? Once you play telephone, like my mama would tell me the story.

I did that shit get to like seven people. Now it's like, oh yeah, my uncle had a million dollars. And he said on the Titanic type of shit. Like, all right, cool. I'd say, I still don't have all the facts next to it. Yeah, my uncle is the one who got me in the rapping when I was a kid, my uncle, Marlon Hitchcock. Okay.

Yeah, about saying he painted out. Okay. Crazy. Dope. But yeah. I don't even know how to foot we got here. Oh, you're talking about meeting black for the first time. Facts.

All of us, yeah. I ain't really know none of them for you. I met, uh, I can't remember how I made Gied out top. I know I met boss was like the first person I think I met from the whole Dreamville camp. And then from there, it just kind of spieled over. Yeah, no pun intended to spill. Yeah. It's another song on Junkie and the Sun that I kind of, I was like, okay, this is very clever, very clever way of writing.

Now, the cycle. perspectives that you wrote from. That one's just art. That's like, you know what I mean? That's rap art right there. The way, just the perspective, the point of views that you're writing from, the way you put everything together, was that, when you first heard that track, did you have that idea right?

Because sometimes as right as you're probably have an idea, but then the track is like, okay, this is the right moment for this. Yeah. Yes. Yes, I didn't know. So I've been doing this thing. I was talking about earlier, the verse of the, day joints. So I started, I think I started for the first time in like 2020. It was like me,

crazy enough, Chris Patrick, when I was just watching on the thing, Rayvonne, Cedon, Cedon, Cedic, Swave, all these guys, you know, I mean, just- I like Swave. Crazy, yeah, I like but just a whole bunch of people in that type of, like, space, the class. And I wrote the first verse for the cycle, that was like 22 to a whole different beat. Okay. Yeah, me. And then I came back. I got that beat. It's a producer named Ben Nartley.

Crazy as hell. And once I got the beat, that's when I put the second verse down to it. So, yeah, I had that song from its infancy for about four years. Okay. But the verse of the day is kind of like played a big role in this album in general because it allowed me to, like, start ideas. And then whenever the perfect thing came forward for me to finish it. Right.

So. That's actually a dope way, like, coming off of, you know, you know, the viral video. Yeah. And you're not having the song. But then taking that and be like, okay, well, I'm going to take that formula and just keep using it. I'll do a verse a day. And then I'll hear something to go back to it and inspire me to finish that record.

Good of shit. Not to piggyback and awful what my partner said, but it's the freedom, bro. Like, I used to go to the studio, like, maybe once every two, three weeks type vibes. It's like, if I go in here that amount of times, whatever I do in this motherfucker, got to be perfect. I got to make the best song of my life. If I'm writing every day At this point it's like I don't care if it was trash

On Monday bro Because I'm coming back Tuesday Wednesday Wednesday Thursday I'm being here seven times this week Right Yeah everything I'm doing It's like Just keep putting the shots up

So I'm gonna go in I know I'm good enough To the point where it's like I can hoop Yeah You feel me Like something gonna go in Whether I miss or not

bro I don't care about this shit It's over Right again Right Yeah every day Right To keep building the bricks As an emce

How many times Because you know Like you know It's again Rapy ego Artists come You know They talk this

They never talk about those moments of self-doubt. Yeah. How many times do you think you have to fight through that self-doubt of, am I good enough? Or maybe I'm not as good as I thought I was. Maybe I should go just get my HVAC. How many times do you have those thoughts and those conversations with yourself? All right.

So it's been a thousand plus. I mean, it happens at a time. I think I got a line from a minute ago. It was like, what do you say? Like doubt will make the most. a time will make the most confident nigga wonder. That shit real, bro. Like, when everything ain't lining up externally,

how you see it in your head, internally, it's like, bro, and then you got, like I said, I got a kid, trying to have a wife. In life. You and me? It's going to knock every month. They're going to be out of that shit. Once your attention has to be diverted

into so many other things, and you feel like you're kind of like responsible for all of these other people's happiness, whether it be wife or a kid or team or whatever the case. It's like kind of make you wonder like, damn, am I wasting these people time? Am I fucking up?

Am I wasting my own time? Whatever the case. So, yeah, a thousand plus times, bro, like, shit, I love it. Right. Yeah, man, I love it at the end of the day. So even when I was going through it and it was like, damn, folks not fucking with my shit, how I'm fucking with my shit.

I'm going until I get better. Yeah. I got some projects where I don't go back and listen to it because shit, looking at it today, it's like, same shit, would do you give me your money, join? Yeah. I never listen to the song. I want to scrub that motherfucker from the other.

But that, I needed that to be able to get to. I think every artist has those type of records. For sure. I don't think that's a rare thing. You know, we were watching the double Excel cipher. And do you get caught up in any of those type of accolades or that type of recognition? Of course, I'm sure you wouldn't mind it. But is that ever a goal?

Like, I need to be on a complex list. I need to be on a double Excel freshman. and I need to be on the radar cypher. Like, not for real. I'm about to say, I think it would be cool to have for sure, but it ain't like a make of breaking or shit like that.

As long as I can like go out, I make music, bro. I just got a flu up here, like to sit down and talk shit about my music that I made in my living room, bro. I'm not true. And as long as I could pay,

as long as I financially, I don't say stable because I want more than that. You know what I'm saying? As long as the money ain't coming in. Right. Good. My son good.

My lady good. And I can tour and people like still feel my music. Do it to love. Yeah, everything else is a plus for it. Yeah. Not so that nigs wouldn't like to be on those lists for sure, but you don't need that. The recognition is always good. For sure.

But it's not. Because it brings more of the other things. It brings more attention. It means. Yeah. But if you ain't got that already, I'm not tweaking about it. You're not going to see me on Twitter, Instagram, arguing about no list, bro. I'm happy to them folk got that shit.

I've been fucking with Chris for a minute. Like I said, Larisi Got down a little youngest hell Got out of talent in the world Belly gang From the whole time Come on Wau-Kee's too

Why can't need She might have one of the best verses Of the year What song? You're talking about The belly gang The Belly Gang time The William and circle

Oh you're talking about the brand dude Yeah Yeah Like that verse was crazy Like every time That shit come on Like the reaction That verse gets in the spot

They played it Crazy enough I told you went To the Dave East concert Last night They played that shit Before he came out Crazy

I was shocked. Every time I hear that, I'm like, I ain't going to lie. The girls was waiting for all version. I was shocked. Yeah. But yeah. Yeah, man. No, I hear you.

I mean, I guess it does help to some degree because it does put you in conversations, I guess in media that typically wouldn't happen because I went and looked up to people I didn't know, just because they were on this. But I feel like Revenge of the Dreamers might be a better accolade in the long run. I guess it's really just how you look at it. I got the Grammy plaque on the wall. Wait, as soon as you step in the house, it's the first thing you all.

Yeah, let's get this on the shit. What? You know what the fuck going on, man. Yeah. Yeah, we put that in the other room, man. It's the picture of Jesus. For sure, yeah, me. Come on, bro.

And the photo of you at the bow. There you go. Right there. That's right there. The holy three, the traffic. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. How much involvement is your lady allowing you in this wedding plank?

All right. Or do you just shut up and just sit down. I shut up and here you go. Yeah. Yeah, there you go. I'm about to say, I got my suits and my dogs, suits for the groom, man. That's all that's it. Everything else.

She's playing there. She needs help. Right. She comes, ask me, cool. Yeah, everything. Stay out the way. Yeah, bro. We were talking on another episode about, like, bachelor parties and things like that.

I was saying I wanted to do, like, a paintball tournament if I ever have a bachelor party. Yeah. What's your bachelor party plans? I was like, we already went. I just got back from Vegas last, what was this, 10 days ago? Yeah. Okay. I never put my folks.

through that shit again, right? Six days in Vegas is the most six days in Vegas. Exactly, what the fuck? Mistakes were made. Six days in Vegas is like three months ago.

People that live in Vegas don't stay there for the same thing. I passed out in the pool the first day. Oh, I was in that video. They got a picture of me with like a straw. I knew I had to breathe. I was just in the motherfucker

floating died like. I got home, bray, I wasn't able to hear out of my right ear for like four days, bro. Yeah. That's what I got, bray. It's aggressive.

A Vegas is just such a, it's like a, by day four, I don't even know if I can be able to see. It's a liminal space, bro. That shit don't exist at all, bro. Vegas is such a terrible place. Like, I just don't know how people go to Vegas. That shit was designed to take your soul. Yeah. And, like, just kick you in your ass. There's no clocks to get the fuck out of it.

Yeah, brer. Yeah. We was originally supposed to go to Columbia. But then. Now, that. So I could do six days there. I can be six months. Oh, God.

I got another partner who got married in 2020. He had his best party out there, and we went out there. We was there for a week. Okay. Greatest vacation out of it. Yeah. I bet it was. Ever.

Yeah. Like, just bonding with the fellas. Great time. Yeah. We ain't got a great time. Yeah. But yeah, we're supposed to go there, but, you know what I'm saying? We got brer in the presidency right now.

He kind of was fucking shit up at the time we was planning. Yeah. And, yeah, Columbia was like a no-go. Yeah. So we took that out. the list yeah it was shit going on Vegas was a terrible choice like to to bounce back on yeah great time great time but it's just a terrible terrible everything hurts though yeah and was everything full body yeah yeah was everybody in the bachelor party either married or in a

relationship because I've I've gone on bachelor parties where there's a single friend there's a married for like we had a little mixed bag yeah and everyone does things separately certain people wake up earlier nah one day and one son One man more sound. We were walking in at like 7 a. Like the sun, yeah, yeah, yeah. The sun literally, boy. We got out the first day, that shit was 103.

Oh, God. Oh, yeah, boy. Yeah, nah. Yeah, yeah. We coming in the house like 7 a.m. leaving the club in his daylight. Oh, I'll take a little two hour a nap. Get back up.

We ran that shit for like three days. Fourth day, we had to sit down, bro. Hell yeah, go get some IV drip. All that. Ivy drip, sat by the pool. Yeah. Shout to shit. Killed it.

Fibb Day we back up. Yeah, bro. It's so aggressive. Oh, man. It's in Vegas and I was done. Jesus Christ. Moa, as you know, I was at a very big R&B show over the weekend. There was thousands and thousands of women there that were there to see the people that were singing.

But how I could compete and where I was getting my compliments was in the beard. Baskin-Lather kept me competitive with the beard oil. It was shining at that life. I heard you stole the show. You could see it. What is that? That's the Baskin-Lather. Beard oil.

It was the only way I was competing out there. Transform your routine to keep your beard looking its best, all in one set that helps you maintain a healthy, stylish, well-groom beard. It also includes shampoo, conditioner, bomb, oil. All the things you need to compete out there, fellas. I'm telling you, it took me forever to find a really good beard oil and beard wash. And Baskin Lather is the one that I have found. One of the many reasons where we're outside of the product being great,

one of the many reasons why we love Baskin Lather is that it is black-owned and family-operated. a dermatologist misdiagnosed Shana, who was the CEO. Her youngest sister was misdiagnosed and was told that her hair may never go back. So the family decided that they were going to create a product to try to get everything back on track. So today her hair is flourishing.

Amazing. Roots are beautiful. Sheena, her mother, researched and formulated their own scalp and hair oil to stimulate growth and retain length. Explore viral bestsellers and products for healthier hair of all types at basque and lathercoad.com. That's basque and lather. On to other like rap shit.

Is there anybody or any artist that you've ever had a situation where, you know, it was like, yeah, let's do some, get on something together and you sent something and they never sent it back. Is it like, because that's like a big thing right now that's going on where a beef started because of that. But I feel like every rapper goes through that. Like it's called, it's called rapper just like lingo. We're like, yeah, send me some shit.

Yeah, nigga, I had a moment For sure I ain't never look at it on I never It never got deep enough To be beef Because I didn't did the same thing I feel like every rap

Yeah And it's like Folks be mad as hell about it But I'm sure Nine times out of ten Another rapper And you don't do that To somebody else too

You know I'm busy And out of time It don't even be like I'm not fucking with it Because I'm most of people I don't talk to I can have a conversation

With like Yeah, it's like my flag But I'm the direction I'm going in right now But it'd be like Brad and he should be busy I got a chick. I hope I don't pronounce her name wrong right now.

Ray Khalil. I'm not sure what she's from. I want to say L.A., but she got like a real crazy soul in her voice type of shit. But she reached out to me on, like, she's like seven days ago. And I don't been in the gulag for the last, really 14 days type of vibe.

And I'm trying to find a time. She sent me a record. The record, she sent me a record. I told the show her, like, I might be able to do this in the time limit you. What is the time limit to tell me that? I might not. Yeah, man, but I just want to be honest with you about it

because, yeah, I understand how that shit feel. Yeah. And there's been times where I haven't done that. So I get it. Yeah. No, yeah. No, no, no. She was on rhythm and flow, yeah.

Yeah. She's tight, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, fuck her. How about I say? She just hit me and DM. Yeah. I've seen it.

Yeah. She got some crazy shit. Yeah. Crazy. Yeah. She's really, I said, you just said something with reason. Yeah. And reason's part of that.

Illuminati lyricist group chat that y'all got, right? Yeah, yeah. He vaguely told me about this group chat, what you guys had, were you? That shit didn't float it. It's over. Oh, it's over? Yeah, it's over with you, man.

What happened? Crazy enough. It was reasons for, right? Yes. It was reasons for all, yeah, it was not my story to tell, so I've been told him. I'm not telling it either, but you, you know. Yeah, what reason? No, fuck that, man.

What reason did? How do you fuck up the group chat, man? He only told me because he was asking if he was like, I'm going to tell you a story so you could tell me if I'm wrong or not. And I was like, you was kind of wrong. Yeah. They don't say it publicly. Yeah, but that's a reason story to tell you.

Yeah, they don't say to publicly. Like, it's been out, if you look, you can find, okay. You can find what's going on type of shit. But that's not my story to tell you. And it wasn't, it was, never mind. I was about to say it wasn't as deep, but it was. Yeah. But he owned up to it.

Granted, it was after, but he definitely owned up to it. He stood on. It was like, all right, cool. My bad type shit. You know, fuck up. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Absolutely. But yeah, I'd say that shit.

This is dead. Oh, man, Reeves fucked it up. He fucked up the chat. That shit over with, Grease, man, what the fuck you out there doing? It was the best of times. Yeah, I got to look into that. I don't know what happened.

You should just hit the group chat now? Just check the temperature. Just throwing emoji that has no context. And emoji you've never used before. Folk. Get that that that motherfucker, man. Start seeing has left. Like seven people.

It has left the group. All right, man. Yeah, yeah. It's over. Leaving the group chat is always hilarious. Like, when you see it has left, you like. Passive aggressive shit. You can do like...

Truthly, I don't think I know how to leave group chat. What you mean? I don't know. Just go like you delete and then and just say it says leave chat. I'm just not enough group chats where I felt like I need to leave the shoot. I'm definitely left some chat. We're gonna make a group chat so you can leave. Yeah.

I've definitely left some chats and left after somebody posted something. So y'all niggas know why I left. True. Like you post something like, all right. You can't even say nothing to me now. I can't even see it. Yeah. I'm out of here.

This is what you're posting in here. Like, let me get out of here. I want to see this shit, man. Damn, Reeves. You fucked up the chat, man. Shout out of them. Everybody in the... Everybody in there.

Everybody in there were crazy. Yeah, this junkie and his son shit, this was... You know what it reminds... I don't know if you... Rora, you know, you remember Malik Moses. Of course. To show me something project he had in 2020. This is...

This junkie and the son gave me... I just talked to Malik. That was one of my favorite projects of 2020. If you haven't checked out, Malik Moses, show me something. Incredible. This junkie and the son reminded me of that. Just good rap.

Sure. Good music. music, again, keeping the skill set to the forefront. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like, it's always dope to see rappers that still understand that that is the most important thing about this. That's true. You know what I mean?

Everything else is like, you know, they dress things up and then, but it's like, no, no, no, no. Is this person nice? Can they rap? What are they saying? Are they saying something? Yeah. A junkie and the son, to Rory's point, definitely one of my favorite rap projects this year, without a doubt. Yeah, I mean, I've, of course, like,

like better and I've liked your past stuff but this was the best produced album yeah I know you can rap I appreciate I wasn't sitting here like I wonder if he's gonna rap well yeah it's always the music yeah it's just the music as much as I do love lyricist and that's the core of what I love if it's not good music like I I'm cool yeah like I know you guys let me know when he does leekers yeah yeah yeah yeah like cool but this yeah right exactly um this this again because I am you know uh Outcast Baby as well. Goody Mob, just that whole world. Didn't sound like you were trying to recreate that.

It sounded like 2026, but this was definitely the best produced album. I feel like that you put out. It's good music on there. Yeah, me and my boy, bro. Like, what's crazy is the person who produced most of this, produced most of the better. It produces most of my stuff. Brandon Phillips Taylor.

That's my dad. He was just here yesterday. He just a little bit this morning. I had to say I was having a conversation with him yesterday. He was like, bro, music is supposed to make you do one or two things. It's supposed to make you remember. remember or it's supposed to make you forget real. And the music that we make that I've been making up to this point

is really designed to make people remember. It's make you feel something. You can rap until you blew in the face. You're cold as hell. I mean, that shit is impressive. But that shit don't hit me nowhere in here. Don't give me no chills or nothing like that. I can't feel nothing beyond.

Just, oh, you so good, you're so fine, I'm probably not going to return to it type of shit. And one thing that, you know what I'm saying? I was about saying not too. I was about saying not too. I'm talking. Like, one thing I'm glad that I've been able to do is like preach without sounding preachy, bro. Yeah.

I'm going to talk about everything that I got going on, but it's not, it's like, man, you don't want to buy no car from a car salesman, doubt. Yeah. You don't want to hear no preaching from a preacher. You want to hear the preaching from the nigga that's on the street type shit. It's like, yeah, give me your testimony type of. And that's what I think I've been able to do for the period of time. Like, it don't sound like I'm talking to you from the clouds and no shit like that. It feels like I'm going through the same thing you're going through because I am.

Yeah. And it just can articulate it better than most people type vibes. But, yeah, man, I'm excited about that. And I'm glad that it's resonating with people in such a way. Like, I don't know if I know we're doing 100,000 shit independent. So I'm literally in the spirit of like a Nipsey, La Russell, tech nine, whoever you want to look at. Like, we're taking this shit independent.

I'm selling 100,000 units from this time to the time next year. We're going to sell it. I already know. It's out for free now. We already had a thousand sales. I mean, I missed the CD version. Are you going to re-up on those? I bought it.

Yeah. We just all that. I was like a day late for the actual physical copy. We just all that. We read, tomorrow. Is he still in? No, he did. Thief in the night.

Nah, but we re-uping on that shit, A-Sop. Okay. Who did the artwork? My best friend. Jay, Jay Gardner. Yep. I about so she started out there in Trinidad right now. She been gone for a little minute, but she paints her ass out.

She did it in like three weeks. That's dope. that from the time we gave with the idea, everything. She cooked it up and was done. Is there any artists that you want to work with that you just haven't been able to really get in contact with, getting in proximity with yet? That nigga, Dre, don't put down that flute.

Come rap, a version, bro. Him and Big, bro. It's like, and Beads around, you know what I'm saying? Been stank on your studios and shit. Yeah. Yeah. They got down, met up, like, link with him type of shit. But never on some, like,

this is my music. How do you feel? feel about this. I've just been in the space for different reasons. We had like writers camps there and shit like that. He's his studio, so he's just there. I mean, definitely coming through, shaking hands. All that type of shit.

Yeah. Them for sure. Cashed off top. Cole off top. They're the whole big three for sure. That's life changing shit. And we've been listening to them. It's like they've been around my whole damn life, right. Yeah, right.

2009, 2008 type vibes. Yeah, for sure. Thug God thug Granted he can't rap about the shit that he used to rap about no more

Yeah He got to change this He got to choose His words wisely these days Man Yeah Gospel thug would be crazy Yeah

Yeah Gospel thud Yeah Yeah Just out top Yeah For sure Some folk from our class too

I got Some of these folks But for certain reasons We can't put them out Like a Shmino Um Shit Me and J

gotta get it back in again There's a couple of us Yeah, but we're gonna talk about it Any producers? Cool That you want to Oh, any producer I got you

Hmm Yeah Yeah Off top Obviously, yeah Timberland Mm-hmm Yes, Timble

I've got some gripes About the whole AI shit They're doing right now But Timberlin is a legend Is that Yeah A lot of people stay away from that But it's like

If you were a real artist, you've got to feel away about that. Yeah, I'm definitely upset about it. I think it's hard to, like, run from the future on one end. You know what I'm saying? We've gone through this a number of times, whether it be CDs from tapes, whether it be streaming from CDs, all of these things.

Granted, AI feels a little different because it takes certain aspects of the musicality itself away. But, yeah, the future going to come one way or another. So you've got to kind of learn to, if not use it to coexist. You know what, in a way where it's like you can't, don't make yourself bitter about it

because then you're going to give all your energy to the wrong thing. You're fucking up. But I'd say, Timberlin for sure. That's my birthday twin, too. Okay. I mean, I got Timberlin, Chuck Norris, Osama bin Laden.

Oh. Yeah, I mean, I'm a shit crazy, bro. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think Bad Bunny on that, too, bro. It's nuts, bro. That's an interesting birthday chat right there. And Rick, Rubin. And Rick, Roobin.

That's creative. Shit crazy. How did you find out the Osama one, though? Like the others, I just look it up. It's easy to find out. Yeah, but I say, you look up. Undercelebrity birthdays.com, they got Osama been lying. Look up.

Go look up your birthday. Birthdays. Oh, yeah. And it's just going to give you a list. Yeah. Like, yeah, Osama been lying right there. Yeah, and I feel like at being the most wanted man in the world at one point, one would be like, when was this dude born?

Like, what's his man? Like, just to get into the mind of this person. And then if it pops up and he has your birthday, you like, oh, oh, shit, okay. There they go. They might not have Osama on that list. Yeah, no. They might have scrubbed him from...

Seems like people like. That's what I was picturing. You went to one of those sites. Yeah. Look at Osama. It just had... It just had been a lot of birthday. Yeah.

That's the bad bunny. March 10th. Yeah. Same day. So, yeah. All that's like, Timberlin is cut from that same cloth. Yeah. Yeah.

You don't check out. Listen, it's the same person. Osama and Jimla and Jimlin have the same characteristics. They just chose different paths. Definitely push the envelope in their genre. Yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely. Hunter Biden. That's a crazy day.

Damn, that's it. What was going on on on March 10th? A lot, apparently. Very interesting. Okay. God, damn. What you're like that? Yeah, man.

We are out here for the right and the wrong reason. For the right and the wrong reasons. A lot of trailblazers. Yeah, yeah. Definitely. No pun intended. Yeah. Damn.

Before we let you go. do you have any in on when P Valley is coming? I know you wrote on P Valley. I have one of my favorite show. We love that show. We've just been waiting for P. Valley to come back. We've been waiting too, bro. I do not.

I got to hit J. Alphonse, man. We got to get a date, man. Like, what's up, man? Which joint you wrote for him on that or which? We wrote seven pounds of pressure. That was another one. I'm forgetting the name of it. But seven pounds of pressure is the one that really was, yeah, got low awards and shit.

We got some more stuff on the next season. but we way known it to me. I have no idea. Yeah, I don't know what the holdup is with that show, man. One of the best shows. And the last time I saw Jay Al Fons, when we went to Broccoli City. Yeah, that was two years ago? Yeah, and he took the hat off and he had the low murder hair color.

He was like, he had a hat on, so he was kind of like trying to hide it. But he had it on. It was like, we back shooting. And I was, it's done. Yeah. The music is done. We did the music. It's three years ago.

Yeah, I was in Stangonia Studios. Big boy shit three years ago with drama and in the other room they were writing the P Valley shit I was like, okay. It must be coming. That was three years ago. Season three coming soon. That's 2026.

It's like coming soon like rappers be saying. Yeah. Yeah. Definitely looking forward to that next season. Hell yeah. I love it crazy. Deonti, let people know where they can catch you at, man. Look, man, I'm gonna tell you all like I tell everybody.

You can find me Deonté Hitchcock. That's D-E-A-N-T-E-V-H on our socials. That's Instagram. That's Twitter. Black Planet. That's MySpace. Wherever you need to find me. I'm there. Music are going to be there. We're selling 100,000 copies of this junkie in the sun album right now. You can go listen to it for free. It's on all DSP, Spotify.

I want a physical. I need a physical. For sure. I need a physical. I got you that, man. Say that. How about so I get your lines? You doing vinyl? Yeah. So we're going on tour. We're going on tour in November. Okay. So we're going out of vinos and I have the merch ready for that. You coming to, y'all coming to New York? Yeah. I'll get my vinyl then. Yeah. Yeah. This is I really love this project, man. hopefully everybody enjoys as much as Rory and myself is definitely some some of the best rapping that we've gotten this year

by far from top of the bottom of the year man I'm not mad at that Deontay Hitchcock junkie and his son go get that go stream that I'm that nigga he's just ginger that's Deontay Hitchcock This is an I-Heart podcast Guaranteed Human