No Jumper - The Bas Interview: Dreamville, J Cole, Street Rap vs Conscious Rap, Fashion & More

Episode Date: July 21, 2021

Bas talks about his latest single, working on a new album, working with Gunna, taking notes from J Cole, Dreamville dynamic, moving to LA and more! https://www.instagram.com/bas/ https://twitter.com/Bas ----- NO JUMPER PATREON http://www.patreon.com/nojumper CHECK OUT OUR NEW SPOTIFY PLAYLIST https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5tesvmDS8h50LkjnSAWMOs?si=j6sJD6DkR4mk5NZZWnlK7g FOLLOW US ON SNAPCHAT FOR THE LATEST NEWS & UPDATES https://www.snapchat.com/discover/No_Jumper/4874336901 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 iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/no-jumper/id1001659715?mt=2 Follow us on Social Media: https://www.snapchat.com/discover/No_Jumper/4874336901 http://www.twitter.com/nojumper http://www.instagram.com/nojumper https://www.facebook.com/NOJUMPEROFFICIAL http://www.reddit.com/r/nojumper JOIN THE DISCORD: https://discord.gg/Q3XPfBm Follow Adam22: https://www.tiktok.com/@adam22 http://www.twitter.com/adam22 http://www.instagram.com/adam22 adam22hoe on Snapchat Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

No Jumper. Coolest podcasts in the world. And today, we got Baz on the podcast. Yes, sir. And so, okay, Baz, not Baz, which is how I've been always saying it every time I see your name in my head for all these years. Yeah, it happens. I've heard a few iterations.

Hmm. But Bias, yep. I feel like I'm just inclined to do more of like an eh sound than like a a sound for whatever reason. Like, I don't know what that is, like that I just kind of grew up with that being like the default way of saying the A sound. Yeah, I mean, my. My real name is Abbas.

Oh, okay. And to do that chick fillet yesterday called me ab-ass. So you're doing all right. I mean, do you have to deal with that constantly, though? Like, if you go to Starbucks and do an order, do you, do you, what, you just write BAS? I just pick fake names now. Really? Yeah, sometimes I'm Fred.

Sometimes I'm Mark. I make it easy for them. I respect that. Because people constantly mispronounce my last name and my girl's name. And at a certain point, it's not like, I'm not trying to educate the world. Yeah, like, I'm just getting ice coffee. Yeah, just give it to me. I'm going to make this as easy as possible for you.

For sure. Okay, so do you have a new album coming out, or are you just sort of doing press in relationship to the single that's out? Yeah, you know, I do have an album coming, but it's really all about the single right now. Okay. Yeah. Interesting.

Yeah, because when I heard that you were down to do an interview, I was like, oh, damn, all right, interesting. He's going to have a new project and listen to that. And then when I go on Spotify, the most recent project was like 2018. Right. Yeah. You know, I've been doing, at least for my fan base, like I'm known for my albums and, like, cohesive bodies of work. And I'm, you know, I'm proud of that.

But I was just challenging myself this year. Like, all right, like, you know, what is the next frontier? I'm trying to conquer. I'm like, damn, I want some smashes. I want some hits. Right. So I just been lining a few of those up. Interesting.

Do you still see, like, the value in an album? Because just for instance, I was interviewing Hobson the other day. And, I mean, he ain't put out an album since, like, 2017. team, but he drops music videos that'll get 20 million views all the time. And he just, even though he's super capable of, like, and totally capable of, like, thematically putting the album together, he just ended up feeling like the fans don't really care about the album format so much. I think, you know what? Consumption kind of changed all of that. Obviously, like, as an artist, that's still, like, your baby is, like, putting these projects together and putting your growth

into like this one concise body of work. And I still want to do that for myself and my fans, but you know, you got to look at the landscape a bit. And it's almost nowadays, like you put out your album and it's like the end of the buzz train. You know what I mean? It's crazy how things change because now people, even albums are being carried by singles.

Like people are doing crazy numbers, but it's really like two or three songs that's just getting stream nonstop, you feel? Right. So it definitely changed the landscape. But for me, I guess it's, It's just like a personal bone to pick. Like, I got to make sure the album's tight.

Definitely. But, like, if you're really thinking about kind of just doing singles this year or whatever, like, does that change the recording process? Because, like, there's a lot of songs that you probably make that you would never think would work as a single. This is the album track. This is a song that I care about, that I respect that I'm doing just for the art of it. And maybe it'll make a great song 14, but it's not going to be, you know,

the song that we want to spend all this money doing a video for or whatever. Right. It depends on what point because I started working on this album probably like before even quarantine started and then I caught a big chunk of it just locked in

you know isolating myself pretty much and I got real I think I discovered the body of what the album was going to be you know and in the singles I didn't start doing until later like I just did the Jackie in May when I was working on the offseason with Cole and that just came about in one of those sessions

you know and so it's just like if you know what your album sounds like, it makes it easier than craft singles that mold and fit into that sonic landscape. Did COVID simplify your life and turn you into just like a studio rat and you didn't have to balance all the other stuff that you're normally doing?

It did. It gave me a lot of time to be with family. You know what I mean? My nephews, I flew my parents out here for like four or five months. It was just kicking it. And then, you know, prior to that, I was on the road since like 20,

13 or something, you know, like six, seven months out the year. Right. On road. So me and the homies were joking, like, I take that like once a decade, low-key, you know, without the pandemic. Right. But if we just had like six months off, it just kind of regrouped. With this Delta, man, it kind of makes you wonder if it's coming back around.

I really hope not, man. That would fuck a lot of shit up. For real, definitely. But, yeah, I don't know. Like, when I think about Dreamville, like, hypothetically, I kind of imagine y'all, like, posted up in the studio. not really socializing as much of some rappers. You do, okay.

I'll be outside for sure. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Is that important? That's a part of the process? You just need some life experience? It is for sure, yeah. Like, I do a lot of traveling, you know, regularly.

I like to, you know, just be in the clubs, feel the energy. It inspires you, let you know even as much as, like, what sonics are working. You know what I mean? You might lead a club like, damn, like, my high hat's not bright enough, you know, my 808's not fat enough, whatever the case may be. You kind of got to stay, I feel like you need to stay in tune, at least with the Sonics. And then, you know, artistically, you can get a lot more across if the Sonics are right, because, you know, otherwise the kids ain't trying to hear that shit.

But do you feel like even as like a grown-ass man that's been rapping for a long-ass time, and I feel like probably a lot of your fans are very lyrical rap fans that want to hear good rapping and sincerity and, you know, interesting topics and shit like that? I mean, as a rapper, you still kind of get caught up in the rat race of having to keep the kids happy to a certain extent? Yeah, for sure. I mean, you know, we're still in the music business. You know what I mean?

You're making your songs. I think that's the art in it, honestly. The art isn't just you expressing yourself freely. I hate to sound like, you know, but the art is presenting that in a way that's palatable to people. And, you know, hopefully as many people as you can get it across to. That's interesting because, like, I feel like a lot of rap fans, or at least maybe when I was younger. I think now people aren't even pretending that this is any other way, but

like when I was younger, it felt like rappers who did anything to be more commercial or change their style of for commercial reasons. It was always looked down upon. Whereas now, I mean, when you have a conversation with like a rap fan about where are rappers at in their career, I mean, it feels like the default is to talk about how they're doing commercially, commercially, not how they're doing artistically, you know? Right. Like, everybody judged themselves on that standard now. Yeah, it's kind of been, I mean, yeah. Because even, like, the consumption numbers are in front of you every day.

Like, you click Spotify. It's like, you got this many streams on this song, this many monthly listeners, whatever the case may be. It's hard for people to, you know, differentiate those things. Definitely. But, yeah, I mean, I guess I, you know, the success of the music is, like, impossible to separate from the art itself. I think that's the goal is like to get that success in a way where you don't feel like

you're compromising yourself or your artistic integrity. And you know, like I said, that's where the art is to me. But like artistically on this new single, it feels like you have kind of like changed your style up. It's more singing. It's less like straight rapping. Was that a contest choice? My last album, Milky Way was starting to explore melodies a lot more. and even like just a brighter sound.

And then I did this record with FKJ, French Kiwi Jews called Risk pretty recently. Another one with Galamette, this was a producer artist out of Denmark where my style's been kind of growing more melodic over the years as is, you know. So I'm sure to my fan base, they don't feel out of pocket. To someone who might just be like, you know, Dreamville-centric, it might be like, okay, you know, this don't sound like a Dreamville record. but that ain't necessarily my goal. You know, my goal is to make Bios records.

I mean, but is that, is there pressure associated with that? Because Dreamville, like, as a brand, it's like, you know, I think about, like, G-Unit to me when I was 18, if they had put out a G-Unit rapper who wasn't gangster, it would have been confusing. And if Dreamville, you know, as a Dreamville artist or somebody who's so closely attached to Cole, a big chunkier fan base probably expects you to follow a,

certain style, right? Yeah, I think so, but I also think that's what made me unique, you know, amongst our set. As far as my sound, I grew up, even the things I listened to growing up were, you know, I have four older siblings. They're playing me like Jamiriqui and Daft Punk and, you know, like UK garage, a real Eurocentric sound, you know, a lot of West African music. So I even have, on my last album, I have like two records that are like South African House, you feel?

me. So I think because it's not out the blue, because I've been, even my very first mixtape, my intro, I ripped the Jamirico I beat off YouTube and I rapped on that, you know? So from jump, I've been training my fan base from that

regard of like, there's really no box that I want to be put in. Yeah, sometimes do you feel like there's a risk and like, you know, sometimes I feel like Spotify is sort of like flattened the sound where it's like everybody's just sort of incentivized to sound the same and risk taking is not rewarded as much and everything, which is

kind of a sad state of affairs because I feel like the rappers who are really going to win are the ones who are willing to take artistic leaps and make something that doesn't sound like everything else that's popular right now. But sometimes it feels like the industry is geared in such a way that that is just not really prioritized. Yeah. Again, that's a consumption thing. Like playlist, you go through the big playlist that you kind of feel like you're listening to the same record over and over. What I will say is those artists that do take a chance, you see it when they go on tour. You see how quick their tickets blow out. You see how quick their albums do.

Look at someone like Tyler. You know what I mean? Like, we've seen Tyler's growth every album to like where now he's a top billboard blowing out all his shows type dude, you know? And it's like if you stay consistent, if you keep building that sound, they're going to grow with you. And then I feel like there's always that breaking point where we see it just like cross. over to the mainstream. Yeah, Tyler's whole career is pretty shocking. You really think about it because he just has such a hardcore fan base

that they're going to follow him whatever genre he wants to touch. Yeah, but even for someone like me who was like casual like Tyler fan with some of his earlier stuff, you feel me? Like some of his later stuff I feel is as he's matured as an artist, as a person, as a producer. And I'm like, oh, damn, this is like, this is the vibe. This is shit like I was growing up on. This remind me a nerd.

It remind me of Farrell, but it's like, it's new. It's Tyler. It's like a whole new iteration of it. So, you know, it's like hats off the bro. Like, it's hell inspiring. Yeah, I like that he brought it back to the rap shit on this project a lot. Like, I was kind of shocked, but it also was just, I don't know. It was like a real breath of fresh air after he took another project to do sort of all this experimentation.

Right. But the production is still like, it's still experimental. You know, it don't sound like a bunch of trap beats, you know. is he's experimenting with his sound. Definitely. When you're picking beats or when you're figuring out what you want your project to sound like,

what's the process typically like? Because it feels like on any of your songs it could kind of go in a million different directions sonically. It must be kind of overwhelming picking out the soundtrack. Yeah, I got to be my A&R. You know, I think I always know it's about balance for me.

So if I know I have a certain amount of songs that are, you know, doing this like melodically and bright and just make me feel good. At the end of the day, I like to make, like, real feel-good music. Like, my shit, not sad like that, you know? It's just, like, I want to make people feel good. But, you know, I'll know, like, okay, I need a joint where I'm snapping

where I can rap aggressively because the album is lacking that, you know? Or I need a joint. Maybe that's got more tempo that they can dance to. And then I try to find those records within, like, the sonic landscape or the rest of them joints just so you know the goal is for people to be able to play your shit through even even though that's not how music is consumed now you know it's like it's a few stars next to the songs and people are clicking those songs because they see a star next to it you feel me um but they know that's not how I create it I feel old sometimes when I'm around people and I put on an album and I click track one

let it play that's how I take it in bro yeah no me too me too definitely um I think uh a lot of people like on more of a mainstream level probably kind of first saw you or first like most recently like thought about you in the context of that down bad record with with young nudie and shit i know like from my perspective we think of like what young nudie's doing and what dreamville's doing as kind of being like on just other opposite sides of hip-hop that don't typically overlap um how did that song come about and what did you think about, I don't know, the way it all came out? I think now is the whole point of Revenge of the Dreamers 3. It's like, you know, Dreamville's always been kind of, you know, on its own, off to the left, you know, left of industry in a sense.

And we were like, let's go to Atlanta. Let's link with a bunch of people. Let's bring him to our world. You know, let's collaborate. We all got a really open, collaborative process when it comes to creating music. So we were down there, Nudy pulled up. I think he did a couple joints when he came to the sessions, you know, and down bad was just like, I was the one. Right. What do you think of street rap in general? Like, are you a fan of it? Do you sort of look at that stuff? I mean, I probably listen. I definitely listen to more street rap than I listen, like, conscious rap if I'm keeping it above. Really? Yeah, yeah, for sure. I mean, it just gives me energy. And then I like, you know, I think there's a lot of, like, creative things they're doing.

Even like the Brooklyn drill scene, I'm heavy. That's what I play, like, when I'm in my wit. Really? And I'm trying to hear some turn of shit. You know what I mean? I'm tapping into all of them. So, yeah, I mean, future is, like, top three to me, most influential artists ever, if you look at his tree of, like, you know, kind of offspring in a sense. You think that that era of, like, conscious rap is supposed to be, like, against street rap or whatever? You feel like that's kind of old school and that kids don't think about it that way?

or do you think your fans think about it that way? I would hope not. I mean, shit, Kodak to me is a conscious rapper. He's a street rapper, but he got songs where you're like, damn. Like, I feel exactly where he's coming from. I feel his struggles. A young boy, NBA young boy, like, yeah, they're considered street rappers. Those dudes are conscious as hell if you listen to some of the pain

and the shit they're putting in their records. Like, I ain't never been through what they've been through. You know what I mean? So I'm getting it through them. I'm learning that through them. It's crazy because I just grew up thinking of those as being like completely separate poles and rap. Like there was to live quali and the roots and shit. And then there's just whatever's going on on the other side of shit.

And you would never even hear, you know, 50 cent or somebody like that like mentioned the other side of rap. It's just they didn't really overlap that much. And now it feels like that shouldn't exist. Like there's no reason for that. It's kind of like an arbitrary distinction. Right. Maybe it's social media because we're like everyone's tapped into each other's lives now too. Like you're tapped into everything that's going on.

You know what I mean? And I don't think 50 in them had that. They probably was just very insulated in whatever world they was in, you know. But for us, it's like, you know, if I follow a couple accounts. If I follow your account, if I follow no jumper, I might see what those dudes are doing or what they're dropping, what they're releasing. And like, everything is so connected now that, you know, you can't really avoid it. And then you'll be like, well, shit, I actually really rock with this dude. For sure.

Was there something about Lil TJ in particular that you wanted to have him on the project? Did you get it? I hit the fly, but I didn't. That fly didn't give you your business. But I didn't kill it. God damn it. TJ, well, the song, really, when we did the song, I was explaining Nicole, the Jackie's, you know, well, he knows, but the Jackie's is a parkway that goes from Queens to Brooklyn.

And I'm, like, growing up in Queens, when you used to go to, like, another borough to see a girl, and you'd get to her block, and you'd start getting a looks from all of it. the dudes on the block. Like one dude might have been her first boyfriend. Like, this dude got a crush on her now. You know, one dude's her neighbor who's been crushing on her forever. And, like, there's always that tension when you get on the block. And so then, you know, I was explaining that story to him and we're like, well, shit,

we got to get another in New York dude on here. And TJ came, you know, rep in the Bronx. So we had to do that. Definitely. Yeah, I remember, like, when I lived in Astoria back in 2003, 2004, that I met a Puerto girl who lived in the Bronx and she was talking about her neighborhood or whatever and I was like oh I should pull up so time she was just like no yeah yeah yeah you absolutely could not come to my block and I had she's explaining to me like my like my brother's of blood like all his homies like they

would press you like they would like it just would not be some chill shit yeah I got my tired slash going to see some girl in the Bronx back in the real oh my god I wish I had a car back then I could have a story like that yeah yeah it's real it's real it's real don't I don't go to another borough to see it, shuddy, like, you get caught up. That was one thing that was amazed me living in New York all those years was just how many people I would meet who, like, were from Cheapshead Bay, and they had never been to Manhattan. They had never been to Queens. Like, they went to Manhattan one time on a school field trip, and it was, like, something

to talk about. Right. Like a real tale. I've never seen the Statue of Liberty. Really? To this date. Not really pressed to, neither. That used to be my thing, is that if I had to take a girl on a date, I would take her on the,

on the Staten Island Ferry, and you could, like, see it, and that felt like it was something. That's smooth. Yeah. Cheap. That's a good, yeah, yeah, that's a good date. Yeah, I had no money. A little halal plate, little street meet. Then we've got to sit on the train, go off to like 50th street or some shit to get like one of those really famous halal places.

Yeah. That's a good date right there for the law. Yeah, for sure. Nowadays, they don't want you spend money on them. Yeah, you know, you gotta go to Nobu and shit. So I hear. You get into that? What?

I mean, L.A. turned me into that a little bit. L.A. It's unavoidable. There ain't no free date that I can pick up out here. No, we're going to walk around the park, so I'm going to beat your ass. Yeah, you can't do none of that. You can't do none of that.

For sure. Wait, how long you've been in L.A.? Like five years now, five, six years? You're fully accustomed to it? Do you like it? Yeah, yeah, I like L.A., man. It's real comfortable, you know, and I was able to do a lot more with the space here. I got a studio in my crib.

I was staying in the East Village before then. It was like six, seven of us in the three-bedroom, like just grinding, trying to get to this point. So, you know, as soon as I got a little space and I could kind of, move my operation in-house. It just made more sense. The whole question is what's better for the music, like the struggle of sharing an apartment with a bunch of people or the serenity of being in L.A. and having a backyard and being able to walk outside and smell the flowers in the morning? I think it's probably the struggle.

That's why I still go home all the time. You know, I go home, I walk around, I take the train, I ride cab. It was like no car service type shit. I walk through the Lower East Side and bar hop, bunch of spies, just see what the vibes are. Like, that's what inspires me for sure. But, you know, you need a space to create. Like, I feel like L.A. is like a creative campus. You know, everyone comes here to kind of unload all these things, all these inspirations they're grabbing from all over the world,

link up with artists, producers. You can't really do that in New York. You might be in the studio on the seventh floor, and the artist you want to link with it is like on the ninth floor. You know, you're not even going to cross paths. Right. You know, whereas in LA, I can't tell you how many just random artists I ran into, like, in the hallway. Like, yo, I fuck with you. I'll fuck with you, too.

Like, get your math and then, you know, something can come from that. There's, like, a certain energy in the air in New York that you just can't avoid. You wake up and you just got to, like, get on it. Don't matter if you're on, like, three hours sleep. It's just that fucking energy. And then the way that everybody's forced to live, where you're just, you're like everybody else walking on the street and going to the same store to get a drink and shit like that. It's just like, L.A. is so different because you could, you could live in Beverly Hills for 20 years and you'll never have to see what's going on in Skid Row or Compton or whatever.

Like, it just feels like everybody's sort of separated into their classes way more. Right. Yeah, that's a fact. You should see New York right now is insane. Just because everybody wants to be outside. They're back outside with a vengeance, bro. I hear. If you got a week, a few days, go catch some of that energy. I need that. I still like a month back home. I couldn't leave. Really? I was going to go for like a week.

I just kept extending my shit. Just what would you describe as the thing that was keeping you there? Just the energy? The energy. Yeah, it was so inspiring. You know what I mean? Here, it's like you said, like I could be in the crib. I can go in my studio.

I don't have to leave my house at all. I was staying. I had a hotel on the Lower East Side, and it's like, I'm hearing the shit outside my window. Like, I'm hearing the bikes revving. I'm hearing the people in front of the bars at like 3 a.m. I'm like, man, fuck this. I'm getting dressed.

I'm going outside. right now. You know, like I miss that energy, like something about hearing everything going on around you, you know, all the noise, all the sounds of the city, it just gets you outside. Yeah, definitely. Can you compare that to, like, how much time, I know you spent time in Paris and Sudan growing up and stuff? How, like, contextualized that against the New York vibe or the L.A. vibe in terms of, like, what you would feel like going to spend time in those places now. Yeah. I mean, I still go off and Sudan is ill because Sudan is, like, you kind of always get to chill, you know?

You know how we said the pandemic gave us like a second or all chill? That's normal pace there. Yeah, that's normal pace. Like you're chilling with family, you're chilling with, especially me, I can see all my elders. They got like stories, you know, the history of our whole family. You know what I mean? You're learning so much. I'm seeing like, you know, I'm just getting to chill.

It's really relaxing. It's like detox. You feel, me? Like, especially after touring for so much. Like, you just always need to chill. That's one of the reasons I left. New York. Because I was like, if I'm touring and I'm doing the after parties and I'm getting fucked up

every night and then I'm coming home to New York. And it's like tour times too, because I'm out now to like 8 a.m. Every fucking night. I'm like, nah, this shit ain't sustainable. Right. You know, so I got myself out west and it was, you know, it was like detox, bro. Have you been keeping an eye on the protests that been going on in Africa recently? I've seen South Africa's going up right now.

I got a lot of homies in South Africa. Mad love for South Africa, first of all. Right. It's my favorite place to tour in the world. I went to Cape Town for a week one time, and just the, like, we were just out there riding bikes back in the day, but it just, like, occurred to me, like, holy fuck. The income disparity just, like, stood out to me so much that it just made me, like, so much more curious about learning about the history of the country and stuff, and now seeing

that they're having this uprising, I mean, I know that on the surface, it's just because the president got locked up. or something on his words, but... He got, like, convicted. There's a lot of, like, ethnic beef out there, you know, because there's a lot of different ethnicities, and a lot of, like, the political lines are drawn along that. And I ain't, like, no expert.

I just speak to a few of my homies. I thought, yo, what's going on? It looked crazy, and they're trying to, like, kind of give me the news. But, yeah, I guess the ex-president got convicted on something. But it's a lot of corruption out there, you know? Like their COVID, all their COVID relief from what I've heard, all those funds like disappeared. You know what I mean? And so that's why they're so far behind with the vaccine.

They're on what? Their fourth lockdown. They've been locked down two years. So I think there's a lot of things just boiling up to the surface. Like, yo, you know, the government been doing this greasy. Yeah. And, you know, it's bound to happen. Yeah, I think like the oversimplified version of it is just that the people are so fucking fed up with just everything regarding their circumstances and how unfair there's a situation.

is and shit. Like I watched this this clip on Twitter earlier today where a dude was like loading up TVs that he had just stolen from this business or whatever and they're asking him why he was doing it. And it was like he was really saying like this is the first time that I've really felt free. Like it's not about these possessions. It's not about like any specific reason that we're here. But like in this moment, I really feel like we're free. And like I actually feel the sense of relief of being able to even just make this small ceremonial gesture against the, the, the, the, the, the, circumstances that I've been raised in. Right. I think you saw a lot of that here with all the Black Lives Matter protests that was going on. And that happened to coincide with the pandemic as well. It was just like people being inside, being fed up, you know what I mean, and being able to use all that pent up energy on something that was like really fucking bothering them, you feel me?

So I feel like, you know, it's not the same because they're fighting for a different cause. But in a lot of sense, I mean, they have their whole history. of apartheid, you know, which is what only ended like 30 years ago. So like that shit is super fresh. So it's hard when all these ethnic groups don't trust each other and there's nothing really unifying them. And from what I've seen, it's like their political parties are really drawn along these ethnic lines.

Definitely. Yeah. Like when you see like a bunch of kids looting a fucking footlocker, it's like they might not be politically minded necessarily all. of them, but you definitely understand that they just feel like they're part of a society that's set up against them where they don't have a voice, they don't have a chance. They don't have the shot at changing their financial situation that like my parents took for granted. Like my parents knew they could go to college and be able to make quite a house, buy a house, buy a car, have a family,

have more money than their parents had before them. And that was like taken as a, as a, just a given. And that is 100% not taken as a given for the generation now where it just, feels like you're up against something that you can't possibly rise up against, you know? I just read something crazy this morning, actually, my homie sent me a link to this article. It said that if you're making minimum wage, you can't afford rent anywhere. I saw that. Anywhere. Anywhere.

It's like, yo, what are you supposed to do? Like, it's just, it's wild. When I was making five and a half bucks an hour growing up working at the grocery store, that probably was true, too, in like the late 90s. You know, it probably, I don't know that I could have had an apartment where I grew up making five bucks an hour either right yeah i was i was i doing i was working out of the country club that wouldn't have got me no crib no it would take a long time but they want to convince you that like it's just a matter of you saving more money right you not buying that extra coffee right right

working a little harder yeah yeah nah that ain't it um one other thing i wanted to ask about that video though is that i felt like i noticed like a very clear uh swag upgrade because like I was watching your older interviews like you're talking to ebro you're just wearing a t-shirt and I'm watching that video I'm like oh he got the belencia jacket he got his hair done he got sunglasses I'm like to you was that a natural progression or was that you kind of thinking like all right like rappers get fly I'm gonna get fly for this video yeah you know I think it was like growing up in New York that's what we did you know we just was always getting fly um but I think sometimes you get a little comfortable I think that's what I

realized, too, like, I don't want to be doing no interviews and just a t-shirt. Like, treat it a little more seriously, you feel me? I think, you know, and a lot of that is also the lifestyle. Like, we're going from tour to this, to that. And then you're like, oh, I got to do this interview, and you just kind of, like, show up, like,

let me do this. And, like, and, you bro, somebody I'm mad comfortable with. It's, like, talking to the homie and shit. But definitely me and my team, you got to just be more image conscious, whether you want to or not. You know, whether that's what you naturally want to do or not. Like I said, like we are in the music business like this shit a lot of this shit is smoke and mirrors at the end

of the day you feel me but are you partially like influenced by the fact that the guy who kind of helped usher you into the game is like basically one of the kings of not giving a fuck about swag like that like Cole just don't feel like he has to play that game at all and it's clearly working out for him yeah but that's something we talk about too like yo that's you know we all kind of came in there's a lot of things we do as dreamville that that that coming in we took, you know, from coal in a sense. And then after a while you realize, well, shit, like, I would do shit differently. I would do shit this way.

I'd do shit that way. So you start to do that, you know, you feel me? It's like, that's him, but that's not necessarily me. Right. You know, so I think a lot of Dreamville figured that out. And that's beyond just like artists, you feel me? Like, just even as a label, as a company, like, now you're seeing people growing to their roles and take ownership of that and be empowered and that, you know, that's healthy for all of us.

Right. Yeah, I mean, it's taken as such a given that people just dress real good and rap music that, like, I've seen like multiple memes about that video, the Jackie's that were people were just kind of like marveling at the fact that Cole was just wearing like a regular hockey jersey or no chain or whatever, and you and T.J. are dressed nice and shit. And, like, you know, that people in rap like can't help but, like, be shocked and in awe of that. Yeah, I think that, but that's part of like his legend. Cole has a very, like, unique legend, like, you know?

So they want to see that. It won't be like, man, like Cole's so humble. He only got no jewelry on. Yeah. Like when he pulled up to my spot on Melrose when we used to have the shop there, it was like, the thing everybody was talking about afterwards was not partially it was like, wow, what a nice guy. Like he was so cool and chill and taking photos with everybody.

But it was also like he didn't have a security guard. He didn't have, he was just wearing some regular ass sweatsuit. like he just wasn't his vibe was so peaceful and he just didn't feel like he was trying to like justify his existence through his possessions at all which that was like the talking point once he left that's what everybody was talking about he had that phase though yeah you know we had them tours we would have a bottle of henny on stage and the ice style jesus piece you know what i mean right and then and then he grew he grew past that you know i think he earned that he kind of got to that level where it was like shit i don't have to do nothing i don't want to do nothing i don't want to

want to do. But, you know, that's not the reality for everybody. He had a, a fucking story that went kind of viral at one point where, like, a stylist gave him, you know, a... That same Gucci. Yeah, or Jimici, I think, like, sweatshirt. And then, like, B.T. and Tray song.

I remember that day. Both had it on, too. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I remember that day. It was hot, but it was funny. Like, it was all cracking jokes about that. I feel like I learned, I had, like, a witness. Sometimes I feel like, very rare. By the way, not to cut you off.

I think that's where you saw the end of that for Cole, by the way. Yeah, yeah. I think that very moment was like, it's a rap. I ain't playing this game no more. Right. Yeah. Because, I mean, it's one thing to get fresh. I respect people who want to dress nice and stuff,

but when it comes to just listen into a stylist and just letting the stylist sort of create who you are, so then you accidentally end up looking exactly like a bunch of other people, it's like, doesn't that take the whole point? Like, the point of style or fashion, if you're going to put attention or time into it, is to have your own. differentiate right if you don't really give a fuck like that about the clothes then I guess at a certain

point you're gonna just end up wearing the same shit as everybody else yeah facts like I remember when I first like I first started to like kind of get money I uh bought this like Gucci windbreaker windbreaker and then I felt like the industry or that the the the universe actually kind of told me to fall back on that because then Cole had that one video where he was basically dressing and acting like a SoundCloud rap or like a corny ass rapper, you know? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you know what jacket he was wearing in that video?

That one, my first ever Gucci windbreaker. I'm like, this is weird. This really feels like this. That's the universe. The universe is trying to tell you that this is not it. That's hysterical, bro. Kind of blew my mind. I don't know.

Okay, so I also wanted to talk about, are you still, like, heavily invested in the fiends brand? Because I never knew that that was your shit because I seen people wearing. it all over the years over and over. Yeah, yeah, that's me. That's me and the homies. That's like our creative collective. It started, like, in the West Village in New York, we had this one crib called

a Carter. Uh-huh. We just called it the Carter? We called it the Carter. We called it the carter. It had a crack house vibe? Kind of. Not the actual crack. But we definitely, you know, did our fair, like, experimenting with drugs in that household.

Oh, okay. And at the time I had dropped out of college, my manager Derek was, Let's go into NYU, and he was managing the basketball team. So they had this crib down there. We should just throw parties on the rooftop, just go crazy. That's why I literally wrote my first raps on, like, some 6 a.m. faded. Let's open up Garage Man and start rapping type shit.

So that's where that whole thing started. It was a creative collective. So then some people would be doing, like, videography. Like my first videos was one of the fiend. Some homies were doing production. You know, I was rapping. Some homies were doing marketing. So it kind of became like our little crew in a sense.

So when it came time to make merch, I was always like, man, I don't want nothing like with my face their name on. I thought that show was corny because I don't really wear other people's faces on me unless it's like, you got to be a legend. You got to be like Bob Marley or some shit. You got to be like a real legend. You got to be like a real legend. Yeah. Otherwise, I'm not wearing your face. So we just kind of made that the thing.

And it's cool because now it's like a flag. Like my homie was like, he hit me. He was like, I was in Seoul, like in South Korea, and I was, like, online for the club, and I had a Feen shirt on, and he was like, these dudes were going in with, like, bottle service, and they saw me, and they just, like, pulled me in on some, oh, you fuck with the Feens type shit. I get those stories all the time now. Like, it's just been, like, like, a flag. Like, people find each other, and they'd be like, oh, like, you fuck with it.

All right, come on, like, I'm going to hold you down type shit. That'd be the coolest part to me. Hell yeah. I actually have a friend who has a bike company called Feend, and I don't know if you've ever, like, seen somebody wearing a share this at Feend and you're like wow that's weirdly similar that's one letter away from my brand i don't know if you ever spotted i and i haven't peeped it it's a bike bmx bikes oh fire yeah we gotta do something oh they probably know let's make a bike they could do it they make bikes that be hard that be real hard yeah you gotta connect me they could

definitely do that yeah for sure uh you fuck with the rapper fiend i'm not very familiar oh there's with no limit back in the day too i was wondering you said no limit yeah it was I wonder if there's any synergy that ever popped up there? Nah. Okay. Can't say there is. I feel you. Okay, so in terms of, like, where you're trying to go with the next releases off of, like, you know, from this body of work that you're kind of dealing with and stuff, like, you have this one song, you're pushing super hard.

Do you have other stuff that's in your mind in terms of, like, what the next? I got to send her with Gunner that's going to go crazy. Seriously. Wow, probably nobody expected to hear that. I know. That's what I'm trying to do, man. I'm trying to do some unexpected shit, but I'm bringing these people into my world. You know, so at the same time, my fan base could be like, damn, he did a track with TJ, but I fuck with it.

He did track with Gunna. Like you said, you know, Dreamville's probably not associated with those type of artists. And the way I'm trying to break that mold. So shout out the Gunner. We got, honestly, I like that song better than the Jaggy. I almost led with that. Okay. Shout out the Gunner.

Do you, did you actually get in the studio with him? Or how did that come about? No, it was over the pandemic. We got like mutual friends. Okay. You know, a lot of, a lot of homies in Atlanta. Obviously, we got Earth Gang and Jed in Atlanta and like their management. Shout out to Barry.

Since the 80s, them homies, they helped connect a lot of that. For sure. Yeah, like J.I.D. Earth Gang. Those are kind of artists that we sort of like think of you as being sort of on the same wavelength as, I guess. but yeah it's interesting so you're trying to branch out and doing stuff with somebody like gonna like when you think about gonna like he just kind of people think of him as being more of like a aesthetic guy rather than a lyrical guy bro he'd be rapping his ass off though like he's really really fucking good he's really good he's a really good rapper like i think people sleep on that

definitely um okay so what else you have uh going on your life that you're excited about it point or that's getting you I'm happy that you know festival season's coming back around I'm dying to do some shows I'm sure all my peers are dying to get back out there you know see the fans

get high and shit kick it with them it's gonna be a good time were you getting more or less high during the pandemic um I'll probably get more high right had less shit to do

you know these edibles this has kind of become a thing for me during the pandemic. I don't know if you wanted these fucking 20-20 rings, but bro. Say word. Currency, eight three of them on this podcast?

How'd that go? He was pretty fucking high. See, if I get too high, though, I won't have much to say to you. Yeah. Not out of some malicious intent. I'd just be that high where I just be like, man, I don't even got the effort to speak. But I've seen that happen with people who are seasoned, like, mega weed smokers

where they smoke weed immediately before the podcast, and they just kick kind of weird and they're just not really communicating the way that they normally would. Currency wrote it out great. He was just sliding. He was smoking his shit the whole time, but then the gummies by the end of it is set in. Like, you could actually, you really saw currency high as fuck, which I think you always see currency at a moderate highness level. Yeah, right?

You've never seen him sober. Yeah, he's always a little high, but like once he had ate in a few of those, then he was definitely, like, at a different stage. It was pretty impressive. I'm going to have to fuck with those. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Man, I just heard that the fucking opiate deaths were up like 30% during the pandemic in America. I've seen that.

They're putting fentanyl and everything, bro. Yeah. That's just scary. That is the shit. Even in, like, non-opias. Hmm. You can't really fuck with nothing these days. They're saying they put in the weed.

I'm kind of confused about how and why that is happening, but... I've seen that. I've seen, um, they're putting in, like, coke and shit. Coke. Oh, cocaine, yeah. Yeah. For sure. That only makes sense.

No, that's the opposite reactions that you're going forward. Yeah. that you're going for when you do go. It don't make no sense. I don't even know why you would do that, but they're really fucking the game up. Yeah. Stop putting fentanyl on this shit, man. Public service announcement.

My fucker's trying to have a good time out here. I stopped putting drugs on my nose before the fentanyl wave hit, but, oh, I guess actually that's not true. But, you know, like, that to me now is like if I, if that already, if you didn't have a good reason to not be doing drugs like that, and that just stands out as such a- It's a crapshoot. You're playing a lot of. or get like a kit, test your shit.

But like, you know what I mean? Niggins be in the middle of the club looking for the plug. Like, who got a kit on them? Now me and my friend. Stop fucking with Randos. Wait, do they really be looking for the kit in the club? Nah, I'm just saying it'd be tough. It seems hard to imagine.

You're too hard to pull that off. But now me and my friends talk about like, remember back in the day when people would just give us a like Zans at shows and we just take them and shit. Take whatever people gave you. You take all kinds of five different drugs that five different people gave you. And when I think about that now, that's really pretty. pretty close to playing a Russian roulette.

Yeah, it's deadly. People will do that, they won't take the vaccine, though. They don't take some random drugs. You're a pro-vaccine? I mean, I just wanted the world to get back to it. I can't tell nobody what to do with their body. I got vaxed. Me too. You know?

I got vaccines and still got COVID, so. I heard. That's crazy. I've seen that. That Delta is out here. Yeah, I don't know. That shit was pretty crazy to me. I mean, what's interesting is that me and Wiss Califa have a mutual friend, A.D.,

who just, got tested. He didn't have it, but he was terrified because Wiz got it and I got it. And he had just been spending a bunch of time with both of us. And so he was fucking tripping thinking that he got it, but I guess he didn't get it. And Wiz says he didn't have no symptoms, even though I don't think he was vaccinated.

I mean, he tested for it? Yeah, he tested positive for it though. Damn, that's crazy. You should be so lucky because, man, I was sweating my ass off, fucking, like, you know, I felt like death for like one day and then felt all right after that. Yeah, my homie had it. He said it felt like a Like a Molly hangover.

Yeah. Is that accurate? It didn't have the like depression, misery, dopamine. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Man, I don't miss that at all. Nah, me neither. The Molly come down was a nightmare. Atrecious.

Yeah. Once that started to consume my entire next day, that's when I was like, I got to hang this up. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I feel you. I feel you. When's the last time you did Molly? Let's get an exclusive here for the podcast. Man, it's had to have been at least, like, was it the force? Drive tour? There was one tour.

The first time I went to Europe, or the second time I went to Europe with Cole, it was a bunch of was like drinking Molly Water every goddamn day. Every day. Pretty much every day. And then after that tour, I was like, I don't ever want to do this shit again. Yeah. In England, they're big on that. Or in Europe in general. I was banged up every

day. I was like, this ain't it. This ain't it. I was feeling good for like a few hours out of date. And then the rest of it, I was just so banged up. Molly Water is like weird branding where it's like, Oh, it's water. You're hydrating yourself. It can't be that bad.

Yeah, yeah. No, it's not it. It's not it. For sure. You're going to have some songs about Molly Water when the project finally drops? I probably made those songs already. I don't know if I'm revisiting that period in life, you know, unless I really go searching for the source and get some inspiration.

But I ain't got no reason. Who knows how I'm ag when these festivals come back, though? I feel like, you know, I'm a brand new nigger. I don't know what's going on. Yeah. Shit is crazy. because like now that I don't do drugs, nobody ever mentions drugs to me or ever offers me drugs and shit.

But I remember when I was doing drugs that people would be, people could just sniff it out on you and we'll just offer you drugs over and over. It is. And they can tell. Yeah. And when you're on them, everyone is like, you start thinking like, damn, everybody in the world do drugs. Yeah.

For sure. Especially like Coke out here. Or it's just like, there really is so many goddamn people that are doing it. It's real. Scary. But you know what sucks about, like, I've been in enough situations where you're like in a club or a party or some shit and you're totally sober and I'm looking at girls that are on Molly and thinking like if I was fucked up I would think that she was cool like

that she was just having a good time and that that it really is not what you're looking at there like actually she belongs in the hospital right now she should not be somebody that you're thinking about making out with or something like once you see it from that sober perspective I advise a lot of people, you've got to go out sober and just see how fucking crazy people look when you're in that environment. They'll make you think differently about the world, you know? Yeah, it's stressful watching. Being sober and watching people that's really fucked up, that should be stressing me out. They're screaming in your face and they're so excited about something.

And I'm just standing there like, what the fuck are you talking about? Sweat and profusely. Yeah. Like, nah, bro, I don't got the same energy as you. Yeah. I don't feel it. Yeah. And then you think, like, fuck, I got to take a couple drinks or something.

Yeah, yeah. You can't sort of getting your level. You can't be that bad right now. I feel it. All right. Anything you want the people to look out for, anything coming down the pipe that you're excited about? Man, just run it up on the Jackie.

We try and go out of the way with that one. You know what I mean? We're coming back with more singles. That's it, really. Everything Dreamville associated, look out for that. For sure. Keep an eye out. I'm excited.

Appreciate you, man. Yeah, thank you. Bye. No Jumper, coolest podcast in the world. Check us on YouTube. Producers are on the screen right now. Check us out on Patreon. Like, comment, subscribe.

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