No Jumper - The Baka Not Nice Interview

Episode Date: November 5, 2019

While doing press in LA, Baka took the time to stop by the No Jumper podcast to dive into his upbringing, upcoming music, his friendship with Drake, and how he has worked on himself to grow and always do good by his team and being loyal. --- FOLLOW OUR NEW SPOTIFY PLAYLIST! https://spoti.fi/2vi9lsD CHECK OUT OUR ONLINE STORE!!! http://www.nojumper.com/ SUBSCRIBE for new interviews (and more) weekly: http://bit.ly/nastymondayz Follow us on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/nojumper and iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/no-jumper/id1001659715?mt=2 and follow us on Social Media: http://www.twitter.com/nojumper http://www.instagram.com/nojumper http://www.reddit.com/r/nojumper JOIN THE DISCORD: https://discord.gg/Q3XPfBm follow Adam22 as well: http://www.twitter.com/adam22 http://www.instagram.com/adam22 and follow adam22hoe on Snapchat Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

No Jumper, coolest podcast in the world. Today, I'm very, very happy to have the one and only Bacca Not Nice on the podcast. How you doing, man? I'm good, man. Thanks for having me, G. You definitely fall into the category of somebody that I never thought I would meet because when we first found out about you through the music, that was part of the folklore. It was like, you're never going to meet this guy.

He's never leaving Canada. There's been a few artists over the years where that's kind of the rep that they got. It's like, you'll never get to see this guy perform. He ain't going anywhere. Yeah, man. I honestly didn't think I was going to get it over either. man. Wasn't an easy task neither, but we got it done. This is your first time?

Legally. Really? Yeah. Oh, so this. I mean, when I say legally, when I was coming in with the boy previously, it's just a thing where they never asked me any questions about anything. That's the exact opposite of everybody else coming in and out of Canada, huh? Yeah, well, it helps when you fly private, too.

I bet it does. Well, life hat. Spend 20, 30 grand on a fucking private plane for the flight. Don't have to worry about shit. Yeah, just keep it moving. There you go. I'm really just interested in learning exactly where you're coming from, though. So let's talk about your early days of what it was like coming up in Canada.

Oh, man. Yeah. I guess you could say, like, I was just troubled youth, you know, coming from a broken family. Parents got separated. One lived in Montreal. One lived in Toronto. How did they get separated? They just divorced?

Yeah. They were married and they got divorced. I guess shit wasn't working for them. My dad was a musician and my mom was just, I guess, a home maker or whatever you want to call it. Right. And it never worked out because I guess he was on the road a lot or whatever. But yeah, got into trouble, early age. Got a prison term.

But what age was that? My first prison. I did two prison, two federal bids. My first one was when I was like 17. So the underage shit doesn't work the same as does in the States because in America, it's like if you get caught up at 17 You're not gonna get punished half as hard as you were to 18, I think Oh, it's still kind of the same thing, but what happened was My case kind of went over till when I was 18

Because I basically turned 18 a month later Right so I was still an adult so basically what happens is you get found guilty Sorry, they send you down to the feds. So I got two years and I think it was six months or something like that Uh-huh for robberies and stuff right and then I got out and I was out for 30 days man on parole and I got charged for attempted murder and I got 13 years holy shit so when you look at the stuff that you were doing early on like just the attempted attempted robbery that kind of stuff did you turn to that kind of stuff was it that you just had nothing like you didn't know anything else or was it the kind of situation

where you had certain people sort of pushing you, telling you that this was a normal way to get some money? No, what it was was I got to the point where I was kind of fed up, you know, whether it was my mother or my dad just living under the rules and regulations of the house and shit. And I just wanted to do my own thing, you know. My parents, well, my dad was strict. He was into the church, so it was always church, church, church.

I didn't get no time to do my own thing. So that was a rebellion in itself. And then my mom was just over protective, you know? So I guess that's what kind of caused the rebellion. And then I just started, I was just in the streets. I kind of left home and never came back. Did your parents map out like a future, like what your future might look like? Was there a certain thing that you thought that you were supposed to do with your life?

Did they want you to go to college? they want you to get a certain kind of job. Oh, yeah, for sure. My dad, my dad always wanted us to get our education. I'm sure my mom did too, but my mom was a little different. I never spoke about my mom before, but my biological mother, basically she took off when we were young. Like, I think I was 15, 16 or something like that.

And, you know, like you have a mom and a dad, and you would expect, like, your dad's supposed to be the G, the gangster. I'm not taking nothing from him, but he was just in the church. So he didn't, he wasn't on that street stuff. But my mom was. Really? Yeah, so she was just involved in the street stuff. I believe she took like a whole bunch of money from the government and said,

fuck you, Canada and just went back to her country, which is Barbados. What? Yeah, I started her new, her new life, just left her kids and everybody. How did you take money from the government? I would love to do that if somebody could tell me how. Well, I think it was just back then, like, that's when like that whole student loan shit just started. And they were just giving money away. And I guess she found some type of scheme and it worked for her.

She got her bag and cut. Early scammer. Yeah. For real. That's dope. That's crazy. So, okay, you started to get into the street type life and everything. Where you're coming from, are you like joining a gang?

Is there even an equivalent to that? Or is it more just like everybody's going about their own things, figuring out their own hustles? It's not like America. Maybe now it's, you're starting to start to see. see that pop up now, but like back then it wasn't like that. Back then it was just like, you know, you grew up with some dudes in your neighborhood. You guys bonded, maybe another one or two other guys from another neighborhood, and you guys just come together and you guys just bond.

And it's just, we never called it a gang. Like, you know what I mean? Like Bloods and Crips. It wasn't like that, but there would be like a name for the set, I guess. But it wasn't like a gang, like Bloods and Crips. But now it's getting like that. They're starting to, I feel like that's how it always happens over time. Even when you look at America, it's like all the different regions of America over the past 10, 15 years have sort of been infected by this idea that every different gang, every different crew of dudes needs to at some point sort of label themselves as something.

So it's easier for people to understand. Right. Yeah, it's weird. When you talk about like being in the streets out there, though, what in Canada, people are smoking a lot of weed, people are definitely drinking a lot. We've all seen trailer park boys. but is there like is everybody doing coke is his heroin big i know it is all the way over vancouver and shit but is it the same sort of thing on the east coast of canada i'm gonna tell you straight up man it's the same thing everywhere brother i mean i know everybody has this stigma

about canada you know like you guys probably think that we all live in eagles and shit like that not i i was just in montreal the other day i've been going back the first time i ever drank in my entire life was in montreal drinking a fucking mike's hard lemonade in the parking lot because i grew up in new hampshire it's like a five-hour drive to Montreal. I was born in Montreal by the way. Yeah, yeah. That's where like, because growing up, it was like, I would go on a BMX trip with some of my friends and we would go up to Montreal, be able to buy porno magazines, be able to fucking drink. We thought it was the greatest shit on earth. Yeah, Montreal's cool when you're going to. Oh, yeah. That's the best.

Selling the liquor and the gas stations and quarter stores. It's not like that where I come from. Okay. But do you grow up like right in the city or do you grow up like outskirts of town or something like that? When you say city, you mean downtown or? Yeah, I mean. Well, nah. Where I came from was Scarborough. Oh, yeah. Okay. Like the burbs, I guess.

A little bit like that. But, yeah, it's not like downtown, but it's, it gets rowdy, man. Gotcha. Slit. So you catch this charge, and is it the kind of thing where it's normal for you get caught up out there and you get two years just for an attempted robbery type thing? Or is it the kind of thing where they're giving you chances and trying to keep you out of that system? Because we talk. about the prison system out here like it's just so unfair and fucked up you have the same

impression of it yeah same thing and it's not attempted robberies it's armed robbery oh okay armed robbery that's what I keep in this uh yeah attempted murder I got there you go okay I'm combining charges so uh yeah but but then you get into the prison system are you like shocked do you were you ready for this in any way I'll be honest with you I wasn't because I was by the time I got down to the federal system I was 18 and um Sorry. It's just a thing where like, bro, if you're real, I mean, it's just a situation where when you land, you just got to get yourself together, man, and figure shit out quick.

You got to learn a lot of things by yourself because a lot of guys down there and not trying to teach you and trying to help you out. If anything, they're trying to fuck you over. Yeah. You know what I mean? Especially being a new fish. Right. You know what I'm saying?

And it's stuff, like when we talk about gang stuff, it's very much like the prison stuff. We think the gang stuff matters, the race stuff. matters are people sort of organizing in a similar way in Canada as well it's race in prison it's all like that's how the groups are sectioned off i think that's what they say out here too is that like your your blood or crib shit don't really matter that much once you get to jail oh yeah i never did time out here though i thought it was the gangs um they just always said once you go to jail out here that it don't matter you'd be cool with some bloods that if you were on the street and you'd be going crazy but in jail it just kind of ceases to matter but uh yeah did you make it through pretty

smoothly or do you have any issues during your initial bid no issues man um like what i what i what i told myself man because when i when i first got my time i already said like you know i'm basically married to this shit man because you can't you can't you can't step into this and be halfway in and halfway out right because you're gonna you're gonna lose your life or you're gonna be fucked up or labeled whatever a rat snitch goof whatever you want to call it you know so i said to myself like if i'm doing this i'm going to do this all the way so and what i mean by that is like like snitching you know all those things are not in my vocabulary being solid is you know what i'm saying and staying true and and never telling on on the weaker guy or never telling period you know that's

just my motto so i had to tell myself that and once i came to turn to with it and it is what it is. I just keep it real all the way through. I don't change and I haven't. When you were in there the first time, though, was there anything, any part of you that was starting to tell you like you were meant for something better than that? I said you even begun to identify that you might have the talent to go beyond prison. Was there any dream that you had at that moment? Sure. For sure there was. But again, like back then when I was doing time, I wasn't, there was no idea of me being an artist. None of that. The most that I thought of doing was saying,

yo, maybe I could start a label, you know, get some young boys and start a label up. But rapping was never in the cards because like I tell everybody, like music has always been a part of my life. Like my dad's a musician. He plays a guitar and he sings. So I've always heard music since I was a young in till now, like in the house, you know, just always playing different types of music. But were you not making music when you were younger? No.

No, you never really got into it. No, at all. I just understood it, and I loved it, and I appreciated it. Right. Yeah, I feel the same way. I'm, like, been obsessed with it my whole life, but for whatever reason, it's such a thing to become a rapper, you know?

And it seems so cozy and easy if you avoid it. Because once you become a rapper, then you have to face the reality that you might be a whack rapper, and then you've got to carry that around for the rest of your life. Exactly. So you get out, how the fuck do you end up getting caught up again 30 days later? See, that's the thing, man. Like where I come from, like my neighborhood is a very small neighborhood.

It's basically one street, right? And there's only like maybe 20 guys in the neighborhood, really, that are active and doing anything. Right. But I was the guy that was making the most noise. So when something happened, they were. look at me first. So basically that was so that's what happened. A dude got robbed and shot and the first person they looked at was me because they couldn't get the actual dude on the scene when that when the crime happened. Right. So they I don't know man like a day or two later they came back to the

neighborhood and they just came to my house man they had a warrant for my for my arrest and arrested me but they arrested you but they didn't have any kind of proof or anything to go on. Yeah they they had a disclosure and they said they had proof, which is why I won my appeal because basically they're saying that the individual that got shot was in the hospital, they took a statement from him. But what my lawyers found out is that would have been impossible for that to happen because you got shot with a 357 in his stomach. All right? So he's hemmed up. He's got tubes going down his throat. All kinds of shit rigged up. There's no way you can talk to him. We found that out through doctors, notes and

all that stuff. So we caught them lying and stuff. So that's one of the reasons why I won my appeal. Oh, okay. So basically what the cops did is they went to the, to the, they said they went to the hospital and interviewed the individual, which they probably tried to, but he couldn't talk. And they probably said, like, listen, we don't know who shot you, but there's this guy from this neighborhood and he's really bad. And maybe we should just go along with this. Right. You know? Because there's no other alternative for me. Like, I know the guy didn't say that I shot him. There's no possible way. Right. First of all, he can't even speak. Right. But in the, in the disclosure, the cops are saying that they took a full statement from him, that he said that it was this guy who shot him and da-da-da-da-da-da. That's crazy. Yeah, it was crazy. So then, so but you're locked out meanwhile for a long-ass time while this is all going through the court system or what happened? Yeah. So basically you get arrested and you have to sit down while.

the case is being brought up. Right. So I sat down for like about a year and a half. That's so fucked. To go to trial, right? So crazy. Right. How the fuck are they not?

At least give you house arrest or something. See, that's the one thing about America, though, that's different from us. Oh, they don't do that out there? You guys get bailed. Like, you guys could get bond. I think that's what you guys call it. Right, yeah. Over where I come from, it's really hard to get,

especially for, like, violent crimes and stuff. Right. It's not that easy to get bail. Yeah. So is someone getting shot in that neighborhood a really fucking big deal? because there's just not that much gun violence? No, there's a lot of gun violence. Oh, okay.

It's just a big deal because I guess we don't see as much as you guys get, but it's a big deal because it causes the public to be an uproar, you know, because they're not used to it, you know? Right. So if someone's just getting shot where, like, and people have kids going to school and it was during the daytime, it was just a bad scene. Yeah, sometimes when it feels like a really,

big deal when people get shot here, but then I think of all the times that I know somebody got shot and that nothing happened and it wasn't in the news and like people forgot about it a few days later. And I'm like, that's kind of crazy. I mean, I could think of so many examples. It's fucked. So, okay, that time back in prison, though, was it more of the same? It wasn't anything too special or are you done with the second time? Yeah. Second time, I had to figure stuff out as well because when I went down the first time, I was young And I only spent, like, I think, like, 10 months or 11 months in there. So, like, when you get time in Canada, it's not, I don't think it's the same as here.

Like, in Canada, say they gave you 14 years, you will do two thirds and you'll be able to get out. Right. So there's no, like, you're doing the whole, you have to do the whole time and then get out. That's like that a lot of times here, too. If you hear about something in five years, it's a good chance they're going to do, like, three. Okay. With good behavior, assuming they don't stab somebody in the shower or whatever. Yeah. Okay, but so that time you're starting to really think like I got to get this shit together and you're starting to really like strategize because you're getting older

It's a little bit more pressure on you Yeah, and I was just I was just trying to come to terms like what I was gonna do and like I told you I was thinking about starting the label thing, but then I then again I'm like how am I gonna do that because I don't really know anybody in the music industry and I know it's not an easy thing to start but I was just always in my thoughts and saying you know well if you have talent, you know good things should happen for you know and I and I know that when I got out on the street just from making connections while I was down there for all those years and I knew that I'd be able to get the right people that I needed to make this happen if I wanted it to happen mm-hmm so yeah that's that's where I was thinking about

like I was while I was down there I was thinking about getting out and starting a label right my thoughts I didn't there wasn't I didn't have any other like what's the word I'm looking for like like you know how people go to school to to learn all the plum and all that shit. I didn't have done it at one. No backup plan. Yeah, because like I was in prison when everybody was doing all that shit, like going to high school, I was in prison.

So I didn't have a chance to do all of that. That's the nastiest thing about person, when you realize that they're really taken away, not just somebody's youth, but their ability to become a functioning human being. Like, I forget I was interviewing a little while back, but they were like, you know, I came out of prison at 28, and I had to figure out how to go on a date with

the girl for the first time because I missed that whole segment in my life. Dating, dating when you're young, dating girls and all. I miss all that shit too. Like even down to just using a bank machine. Right. You know, even using a bank card. All that shit in school that you miss out on. Yeah.

The internet, because you can't use the internet. You know, so you basically, man, honestly, when you get your time and you go down below, it's like time stops. Yeah. That's why, like, I don't even feel my age. Right. You know, I feel like I'm still how I was when I went in, to be honest with you. I mean, time is past since I got out, but when I got out.

Yeah. Because you miss so much of it. That's crazy. So you get out and then how do you end up being Drake? Like how long it takes until you get out, this ends up happening and you sort of start moving in a different direction? Pretty quick because I went in, when I went to prison, I went to prison with the guys in my era. And the guys in my era, obviously now there's a younger generation that's coming up in our neighborhood. And they were into the rap stuff.

So they had met up with Drake and I guess there was some type of affiliation and stuff. This is all happening while I was in prison. I didn't even know about it. So I get out now being the OG, not the only OG from my neighborhood, but one of them. And obviously, you know, the younger guys are going to gravitate to you because they want to learn, obviously, and shit. So we grew together and they brought Drake around me. Like I think it was a video shoot that we were shooting, Prim, you know Prim? The artist from Trim, yeah.

He was shooting a video and we got shut down in his neighborhood from the cops because we didn't have permits and stuff. So we needed another spot to finish the video and that spot was my neighborhood. And Drake had a scene in the video where he pulls up in his Mayback and that's the first time I got to meet him. Right. And from that day till now, we haven't left each other's side. That's crazy. What do you think he saw on you that he seems like the kind of guy who, you know, even if like when he comes to LA, like you've seen scenes of him like, that song with game and they're really in the hood and shit. And it's like you know that Drake, regardless of whatever he's actually on, he just appreciates the street side of things and

respects it a lot. Is that right? Definitely. Because he has friends from the streets. Right. You know, so he's, he's gonna have to, you know. It's always funny when, like, the news will decide to report on it and be like, look at all these crazy people that Drake surrounds himself, but they can never really put it on him. But, like, that's basically you right there. You're one of those guys that they want to be like, look at this guy.

And they did it for so many years. And that's why I appreciate him and love him because he could have been like, man, this is too much, bro, you got a lot of, you know, let me go this way because right now I'm here and that might tamper with what I got going on here. but he never turned his back, bro. It's interesting, too, because, I mean, probably a lot of people want to act like, oh, Baca's just his thug or his goon or some shit.

But, I mean, if you're Drake, you have, like, real deal security. Exactly. It's like, he doesn't need you to beat somebody out for him. He's got some secret service motherfuckers to do that, right? So what was, like, the nature of you guys sort of being around each other? It's just, imagine, like, you know, okay, I'm the biggest rapper in the world now. I'm going all over the world. I want to have people around me that I grew up.

up with and that I can trust and I know have my best interests I had. Why am I going to go and hire all these people to be around me that don't know nothing about me? It just wouldn't make sense. Right. I'd rather have a couple people around me that have been around me from the beginning. Yeah. It just makes sense. And he's very much like embraced and tried to sort of represent the soul of Canada and like where he's really from and his music. And I feel like he's somebody that's smart enough that he understands that the closer he stays to the streets, the better off. Because, I mean, that's a remarkable thing about Drake is, like, 10 years of the shit. Like, he's, everybody's supposed to fall off in 10 years.

Going even stronger. Right. You just don't get into that position unless you're strategic. And, you know, we've seen so many people that their music just essentially becomes sort of like bleached of any sort of interesting shit. And even a lot of the risks that he takes. Like, you know, like, when you put gigs on an album, you know that a lot of people are not going to get gigs as flow. Yep. A lot of people are.

It's important risk to take. Very. You know? Because he sees it. He sees it and he hears it. Like, like way before I or normal people do, I swear, man. His hearing for things is totally different, man. Totally different.

That's dope. Yeah. So you guys become cool. What's like, there's got to be a part of you that's like, I'm my own man. I don't want to just be hanging out with somebody else that has their own shit going on. But he's meanwhile, like, fully embracing you and being like, come on road with us do all this stuff how do you sort of find your way to fit in in that kind of situation well well in the beginning man like like I was doing the

quote-unquote security thing right and I was like yo you know I just got I had to figure out my life I mean I'm not gonna do this forever you know what I'm saying and I was just I was doing a lot of things trying to figure out things I even tried to do the label thing like I was telling you about and then by me doing that that's how I found myself because I grabbed a whole bunch of kids and I started doing this music thing. I wanted them to start making music because my goal was for them to make as much music as possible and then just bring it to OVO to Drake and be like, listen, this is what my plan is.

Can you guys help me? Can this happen, you know, and go from there. That's smart, yeah. Right? But in the midst of that, these kids, shout out to Haipa, these kids wanted me to go into the booth one day because they they must have put on a beat and I was just snap and to the beat. I was like, yo, go in the booth and say something. I went in there and I laid some crazy shit down. Crazy shit for me because I've never done it before and I was on time. Everything just, it just flowed nice. I mean, the bars were probably shit, you know, but just the fact that I felt in my mind that I could flow and I could keep the timing and I felt that it sounded

amazing. Had you not spent much time freestalling or even trying to write stuff? Nothing. Nothing. Wow, that's talking. Nothing. But you could have that skill sort of on deck, but then meanwhile, you're just not even you're thinking about everything around rapping aside from actually rapping

and then it actually works out. Yeah, which is crazy. But I just, like, that's why I bring that back to my father, like him playing all that music while I was a kid, all those melodies. Because sometimes I'm in the studio and melodies come in my head off like I'll hear a beat and then a melody will just pop up in my head I'm like how

and then I have to remember like this is why man like when I was a kid and all those songs were beating in my head for all those hours and days and nights that's why it's like a subconscious education a hundred percent that's crazy because yo I was saying to myself yo when I tell you I love music I really love music I have a passion for it but I was also upset with it as well because I'm saying okay I love it and all this stuff why it won't why don't I know how to play an instrument why can I sing why can I rap like I was just confused with it you know and then here we are today started to work out so yeah you get on that track or you start making music it's it's funny when you said it too because

that's that's almost exactly the same story as how Gucci first started rapping he had like some younger dude that he was trying to push brings him to Zaytovin and then he ends up getting sort of frustrated with this other guy he starts rap and Zatowin's like no no no it's all you. That's crazy. Yeah. That's crazy. Great minds think alike. Yeah. You kind of are the Canadian Gucci man, I feel like, anyway. Yeah. Got a little record. I keep hearing that, man. But yo, could I be honest with you, man? I look up to Gucci. When I got out of prison, I was listening to a lot of Gucci. And when I was listening to Gucci, when he dropped that song with Gizi

Yo, I took a lot of Flack, man, from my friends and stuff like that. They're like, yo, this shit's whack. They're like, you ain't so icy. Yeah, you know? But bro, I just, I don't know. It's just about, I could just tell he was a real one, bro. Just in, even

even if the words weren't like blending how they should be, like how he is today, just the shit that he was saying was resonating with me. That's crazy. You know, him and Drake had a couple songs back in like 2009. And there was talk of doing a mixtape together, but then that never happened. And I feel like it was probably one of those things where Gucci just says whatever he wants to happen and just hopes it all happen.

Yeah, yeah. That's hilarious. So, yeah, at this point, okay, so that one song, though, was it like that song was the one song that you were like, this is what I want to push? Or did you sort of like just present a bunch of your stuff to the team? Oh, you mean when I started rapping? The music, yeah. first song that I made. I didn't present that song. Okay, so you kept grinding. Yeah, I kept grinding.

But what happened was when I, when I was grinding, the boy, because my friends, like, we're all friends, you know, so like, like say the boy says, yo, we're doing dinner at my crib tonight. Tell them to follow it over. So everybody will be over there. And then, like, he'll probably be in the studio in this house somewhere doing something and we'll be over here, or the guys will be here doing shit and playing

music and just run one of my songs that I did. Yo, Bach, I just did a new song. Listen to this. And he'll be in the next. And trust me, this guy does not miss a beat. Okay? When you think he's not paying attention, that's when he's really paying attention. Because we're thinking he's over there doing something totally different to what we're doing.

And I remember the day, like, they played the song and he came into the room and he's like, who's that? And I said it was me. And that was it, bro. Right. That was it. He basically told me like, yo, like, keep making music. Don't stop because at that time, too, even though my friends were playing the music,

there was a lot of my friends that didn't like the fact that I was doing this. Because they're looking at you as competition. No, no, no, no, no, no. I honestly feel that two things. I feel like they didn't want me to fail, right? I look stupid in front of the world because I am Baca, not nice. The street cred's already there. Why are you going to go fuck it up?

and look like a loser rapper, because that's what could happen. Because if you really came out and sucked, then it's kind of like, you gotta be that for the rest of your life, yeah. You know what I mean? So the credit, all that credibility might go out the window now. You'd rather be a good street dude than a good street dude who then kind of fucked it up with the rap thing, you know? Right. But it's like, yeah, God, you're lucky they both.

Yeah, the both seem to be working out. That's awesome. That's crazy. Okay, but so then from your perspective, and you just keep working, and then did you figure out that that song would be the song? Was that your thought process or like this is the one that I want to push? No, not until I made the song that I wanted to push

which was Live Up to My Name. Right. But all the other songs like they were just like I was, it was like going to school for me it was like because man my flows in the beginning right were pretty crazy

right. So it was just like learning it was teaching me because I would, you know, one thing I would say if anybody ever asked me about if I had advice for an artist, like, yo, just make sure you like your own music. Make sure you love your music. And that's how I feel about my shit.

When I make music and I like the song, I love the song. So if I love the song, I believe that that song is a good song that I can put out to the world that everybody will appreciate because I feel in my heart that it's a good song because I know music, you know? That's a big challenge as a rapper is to be real enough with yourself to have an honest opinion about your stuff because a lot of people like young kids in particular they make one song and they love themselves so much that they think that that song is it and they sort of lack the understanding to be able to say okay maybe this song's all right but i need to work on this

i need to work on that that's that's kind of the gift that you had is because of the fact that you have this long life ahead of you where you weren't just being the self-absorbsorbed musician that you were able to maybe take a look at the game from a fairer perspective Real talk. And you know what? Honestly, man, one thing with OVO sound, one thing with Drake in particular, yo, if it's not right, he's not going nowhere. Right. It's just like either you just shelf it or you start over again. Right. Period. And when it comes to my music, all my music, I make sure that he hears my stuff first before I do anything. I want the criticism. I can handle it. That's the difference between me and a lot of these guys. I guess you can't tell these guys that their song is shit, you know, and them not feel offended by it.

I mean, you might not have to say it like that. Right, yeah. But, you know, I take criticism and I want my boys to be real with me. It's not going to work if you're not. Don't be a fucking yes man to me. I mean, if somebody who's as busy as he is and has as much on his plate and has so many other important things that you can put his time towards, is even willing to give you a drop of criticism, you should be extremely thankful. Because guess what I have to say when the average person shows me their fucking video. Nothing.

Why? Because I really don't give a shit. I don't have anything to gain from helping you. But if he actually cares enough to even be critical, I mean, that's like a gift. It's a gift, man. It's a gift. That's crazy. What do you think about, like, the thing that you sometimes hear pundits, people who talk online about music say, is that they try to say, oh, OVO, if you end up signing with OVO, you end up giving your best shit to Drake.

Do you think that there's any truth to that? No. Do you think you're seeing it from a different perspective because you weren't like hired as a songwriter or a producer or something? No, I just know him as an individual, you know? He's not going to, especially if a man's like, okay, let me put myself in the situation then I make a hit song and he knows it's a hit song for me. He's not going to come and be like, yo, I need that song. He's not going to do that. A hundred percent I know this and I've never even heard of him doing anything like that.

So my personal take on it is it, I don't know him to be like that. Right. You know, he wants his artist to thrive and to flourish and to be great. He wants that. Like everybody at OVO wants that. And what's crazy though is that to a lot of people who may have a less mature perspective, they would say, well, why didn't he hop on your song when it was blowing up? But I think the reality is that, yeah, that would have made the song bigger, but he probably

wouldn't have been doing you any favors in the long run because getting under that massive microscope that quick We've seen a lot of people whose careers couldn't handle the weight of the Drake feature. Exactly. And yo, so I'm glad you brought that up. Yo, I honestly, I want features from him. But early in the stages of my career, I didn't want it. I swear to you, I didn't want any features. You don't want it until you're ready.

No. I didn't. I feel like because bro, what am I going to do? Go on and start doing features with rappers all over the place and get blown out of the water. Like, that's not going to work, you know? Plus, I wanted my fans to love me, bro. Love me. You love me?

Then all that other pretty fancy stuff, we can get into that later. But in order for me to know that I can last in this business, you got to love me. You got to show me that you love me. Because then that makes me know that I'm doing something right. So then, like, the features and all that stuff, that can come later. Fall in love with Baca first. Get to know who Baca is. Right.

Because it's like you know that you'd rather be a great version of who you really are than trying to become. That's the problem with so many robbers are coming to the game. They try to become this inflated version of something that they're realistically not even ready to be in the first place. But that's, you know, they want to be standing next to, you know, whoever the next person to do a feature with is or whatever. They want to be standing next to them so they can seem just as cool. And they lack the self-awareness to realize that they're not that cool yet. Right. So listen, this is what my dad told me since I've been a kid.

He said, yo, he said, don't hang your coat where you cannot reach it. Simple. That's real. Yeah. A lot of people get into a position and then immediately start thinking about how they can get to the next position instead of getting good at playing their role. Being greedy. It's patience.

I learned a lot in prison. I think that's the sauce that I have that a lot of these guys don't. I have patience, man. I'll wait. And it takes a lot of patience, honestly, to be able to do well in the environment of being around a person who's a massive superstar. Massive. You have to be patient because you sort of are moving at their speed and you have to learn to be a soldier. You have to learn to be someone who can take yourself and put it aside.

You have to, man. You have to. Like, I fully agree with what you just said. Like, you know, sometimes there's too many chiefs and not enough Indians, you know. So I know to play my position. Listen, at the end of the day, man, Drake didn't have to sign me to OVO. He didn't have to sign me.

Drake didn't have to say, yo, come roll with me. He didn't have to do none of that stuff. He made that decision on his own. So my loyalty to him and this whole movement is different. A lot of people might not understand it, but it is what it is. So I'll know how to play my position. Because at the end of the day,

I will have my time. Everything's on timing. So maybe today's not my day. It might be tomorrow. It might be next week. But be patient. For sure. Now that, you know, you sort of are able to travel around more freely, apparently, and everything.

How are you feeling about the music right now? What are you working towards? Is it like a project in mind? Do you still working on that next big single? Where are you at right now? I have a few big singles right now. And so like I was telling you, like I just, this is my introduction to America. right now. Like, I was in Canada, I went to Europe and all that stuff. Now I want you guys to know

who I am. And then we can talk about the project. Definitely. That's dope. I feel like a lot of people are really fucking looking forward to it. I appreciate that, man. Yeah. Just being out here doing all this media and stuff is that kind of a... It must be kind of wild, though, just that feel like you are so in the game, but you haven't really gotten a chance to do a lot of the normal rapper stuff. like just being able to be out and in front of the people in such a way. Yeah, so, you know, not taking anything away from Canada or overseas Europe or anything like that, but I'm telling you, I didn't feel like I was actually an artist until I came to America because you got to do it here.

You got to, if you do it here, you can do it anywhere. Right. That's my take on it. You know what I'm saying? So I feel like I got to work really hard right now because this is my first time in America. Like, I mean, you guys have heard my music and stuff, but you haven't seen me. Right. You haven't gotten to know me yet.

And this is my chance to show you guys who I am. Yeah. And it's kind of crazy because, you know, too, like, I can tell the way you say, like, you know, a lot of Americans think Canada is like this or whatever. It's like still, it's kind of hard for people to accept, especially America. America is so fucking self-obsessed that it's so hard for them to book. believe that there are hoods in other countries, that there are real people who come up in other countries. I see it with England all the time where it's like everybody still, if they're not educated with like English rap, they feel the need to characterize it as being this

jokey-ass thing. And it's like, no, not at all. I interviewed a dude in England who got picked up for a fucking murder a week after I did the interview. They're trill out there. And then I kind of understood why he didn't want to talk about any kind of criminal stuff in the interview. Real talk. Yeah. And yo, just a quick little insight, man. Yo, like Canada, America, we're used to, like, guns and stuff. We got a lot of guns. Just remember, in the UK, it's not really like that. I mean, there are guns there, but these guys work with shibs and knives.

Right. And that's real up close and personal. That's an intimate shit. Type of individual. That's how I'm going to say on that. A lot of times when there's a shooting in L.A. or whatever, realistically, it might be two guys shooting down the block, and, like, they don't know who hit who. And, you know, anybody can tap a trigger a bunch of times, but to fucking really get up in there and stab somebody.

be a sick fuck. Intimate. That's crazy shit. Kids, don't stab anyone. That's my advice. Real talk. Try to avoid that. Yeah, so I really appreciate you coming through. Anything else that we need to know in terms of what you've got coming out in the near future? I got a lot of surprises coming. I can't really speak on it. But America, I'm here now. And it's on and popping. I'm going to show you what Canada is all about. Have you been up to Calabasas? Have you been at the spot? Yeah. We live all the.

Oh, I guess you were if I already been out there, plenty. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, we live out there. We got a house. He bought a house across the street from his house where we stay at. That's what's up. God damn, Nory is being so fucking loud outside. Drink champs on them outside.

They sound like drink champs right there. Oh, yeah, but just let me know I'm free to pull up in Calabasas anytime. Man, I just hit me up. I fuck with you, bro. Thanks for having you. I appreciate. I got to come tap in with the Utes. Yes, sir.

I'm going to chop the H off and shit so that everybody will think that I'm legit. Come through, man. There you go. Yo, make sure you come to OVOFest this summer. Oh, I'm big time down for that, yeah. I was just in Montreal, but I was just hanging out playing Pokemon Go. So I don't know if I got the full experience. I got you, man.

I got you. I appreciate it. Bacca not nice. No jumper. Coolest podcast all world. Check us on YouTube. SoundCloud. iTunes.

Like, comment, subscribe. Nojumper.com if you want some merch. Appreciate it, Joe.