Hey, my name is Dave. I live in Santa Monica, California. I’m from Philadelphia. I rap professionally—every day I hope to bump into my soulmate.
My favorite meal is called “company chicken” and “company noodles.” Because my mom would make it when company would come over.
That’s me in a nutshell.
My album ‘Professional Rapper’ is out on iTunes now
PROOF: http://i.imgur.com/rxcvTll.jpg
The AMA team is helping me out today—we’re filming and it’s being transcribed so my text tone might not be intact!
How the fuck did you get Snoop to do a song with you?
I sent him the song.
I’m at a point where my managers can reach out to anybody’s managers. There’s no artist that we can’t at least get in front of, in terms of speaking to their management. And then if it’s a respectable product, that product will then go from management to artist. Artist will hear it, decide if they like it. In this case, he liked it, the idea of it and all that, and he did it.
What’s the greatest experience with a fan you’ve had so far?
I mean, I’ve had sex with one, so…probably that.
How did friends and family react when you made the switch from a career to rapping?
Well, my parents (before I put stuff online) and my girlfriend at the time, Molly—I was in Hawaii with all three of them, and they kind of all jumped on me at dinner and said that they don’t want me to put this stuff online. They were really against it because the thought was, if it doesn’t go well, it might impact my ability to get future jobs, the internet’s permanent, the stuff’s pretty racy material, etc.
But as soon as I put stuff online, it blew up immediately. Like “Ex-Boyfriend” made it to the front page of reddit and got a million views in the first day. So it became a very quick “I told you so” moment that I didn’t have to wait very long for. And now everybody’s completely on board and they get why I’m meant to do this type of stuff.
Most embarrassing moment of your life?
Oh, there are so many. But the one that comes into my mind is…I’m watching TV in my parents’ room, on my mom’s and dad’s bed. There was only cable in their room when I grew up. I don’t know why. So I was forced to watch TV on their bed. And I was in my boxers. Nothing else but my boxers. And my mom walked in and said, “Dave, you’re open.”
I said, “What?” Not thinking at all about what she’s talking about.
And rather than saying, “The flap in your underwear is open and your penis is exposed,” she decided to just simply use her hands and close the flap herself, and walked away as if nothing had occurred.
I’ve actually never talked about that with her, because it’s ridiculous. I don’t think she remembers it. But it was a horrifying moment in my life. That was the worst day of my life, I think.
What is something your fans don’t know about your collab with Snoop?
They probably don’t know that I had a wish list of people that I wanted to play the part of the interviewer in that song. And he was the actual number one person on my wish list, so it feels great to have my ideal boss to play that part in my job interview. He created, to me, the ideal version of that song, which is a very satisfying feeling.
In “Molly,” you rap about a girl whom you still love despite an unfortunate breakup due to a difficult decision regarding your career. Just how hard was it to make that decision and do you now think it was worth it?
It really wasn’t that difficult of a decision because I knew what had to be done. I knew that I had to pursue my dreams before anything. Going for music wasn’t something that I regret and it wasn’t something that I debated really. Me and Molly aren’t going to get married at this point, but even if it was my absolute soul mate, at the time I don’t think I would’ve been able to put her in front of me accomplishing my dreams.
So the decision wasn’t the difficult part. It was living with the realities of the outcome.
How does being a rapper affect your tinder dates?
Well, typically by the time I go on the date, I’ve had the usual small banter talk in the app. I try to steer that conversation towards profession, and whenever they ask me what I do for a living, it’s always great to say I’m a rapper. And they say, “What?? Really??” And I’ll send them a link.
So by the time that I actually go on the date, they typically have seen some Lil Dicky, which certainly has to give me a leg up.
I feel like there is no way in hell /u/Here_Comes_The_King actually waited 4 minutes and 55 seconds into your introduction to ask if you wanted to smoke a blunt. You guys would’ve been on at least blunt 3 by then right?
I actually didn’t meet Snoop until after we made the song–we weren’t in the studio together when we made the song. The first time I actually met Snoop was at the BET Celebrity All Star Game, so I met him like on the court. And it was great he’s like the nicest guy in the world–really a larger than life figure and spirit, super funny and talks to everybody. He was one of the coolest people I’ve ever been around. We didn’t smoke any weed together because it was held in an indoor facility and police and children were there.
Girl Meets World has been out for over a year now. Do you think you’ll ever be able to make the transition from jerking off to 14 year old Topanga Lawrence to the 34 year old Topanga?
I don’t think that I’m gonna be jerking off to the 34 year old Topanga Lawrence. Just because I don’t know, I don’t think there’s enough compelling footage out there.
Would you be willing to work Eminem if he were interested?
100%. What a dream!
I’m just wondering how much thought you put into your “AKA ______” intros to your songs. Is it just kinda the first thing you thought of or what? I always find those hilarious.
Thank you. It certainly varies. Sometimes something will come into my head on the spot. Sometimes I’ll think of something as I’m walking down the street and write it down and say, “I gotta use that for my next AKA.” Or sometimes I’ll take half hour out of a day and just brainstorm AKAs. It really comes in different forms.
“Pillow Talking” was a work of art. Any plans to make a music video?
I will 100% be making a music video for “Pillow Talking”–when? I can’t tell you, but every song you think deserves a video on my album likely will get a video over the next calendar year, we’ll say.
Could you please compare apples to oranges?
Yeah. Oranges–the peeling process is a bit more cumbersome and I think people are less inclined to eat the peels of the orange as they are an apple. They taste completely different. But at the end of the day, they’re both circular fruits.
I don’t know. I don’t really eat fruits. I don’t have much to say.
Have you ever released any songs that weren’t as popular as you had hoped? Like you thought it was amazing, but upon release it just did okay? Vice versa too, you thought it was okay but everybody else thought it was amazing?
It hasn’t really happened for a song, but I thought the video for Jewish Flow was one of my best – and the view count didn’t really reflect that. Sometimes the views don’t go your way. Sometimes, they do.
How was working with Fetty Wap and Rich Homie Quan
it was great – i am such big fans of both. And both were so nice to me, so into the song, etc.
I’m curious if Pillow Talking is in any way based on an actual experience you had? My girlfriend and I have a hard time breathing while listening to it.
So “Pillow Talking” isn’t based off of one single true story, but there are definitely a few different conversations I’ve had over the course of my single life, being in bed with a girl, where I just realized that we kind of philosophically differed. You’re just sitting there after you have sex and you end up talking and you end up learning a lot about the person. So it was based off, I suppose, true experiences and conversations, but it wasn’t one single night gone wrong the way the song is.
How was Hannibal Burress? You made my comedy/hip hop worlds collide–so thanks for the mini stroke.
I also love Hannibal Buress. Hilarious dude. My pleasure to make your comedy and hip-hop worlds collide. It was a true treat.
Firstly, holy shit Lil Dicky I’m glad you blew up. Professional rapper was an amazing album and I will be a dedicated dickhead for years to come. I got to meet you in Dallas on tour and your show was brilliantly played. I was the guy who made a painting of you and gave it to you at the end of the show. https://i.imgur.com/uAoysUv.jpg What are your plans for future comedy rap? Like, I know you said you wouldn’t be doing songs like Lion King anymore but which direction are you taking your rap style? Also, if you drop by Dallas again, can we smoke together and get too fucking high? Keep up the good work, bruh! Year 3 here we come.
First and foremost, you should know that your painting is hanging in my living room, so it’s going to good use.
http://i.imgur.com/4k9iLV0.jpg
Secondly, my style is constantly evolving as a rapper—I don’t even know where it’s going, all I know is that I hopefully plan on including a lot more of the rap game within my concepts in the near future. I think the bigger I get, the more opportunities and windows will open up with producers or other rappers. And I think utilizing my concepts within the entire realm of hip-hop could be super interesting.
As far as smoking weed together and getting too high, you must have completely misinterpreted my song “Too High” because being too high is literally the last thing I want to be. I’ve toned it down—I’ll throw a high-five at you though, and smoke super casually.
Where do you hope to see your music in five years?
I honestly don’t know, and that’s crazy, right?
Here’s what I do know. I’m not like, a music guy. I have very little experience. And all of the music you’ve heard, it’s been me by myself doing it. I need a top notch producer, like Pharrell or somebody, to take me in for a week, and figure out what my sound could/should be.
I want musical help. I think it would make things even better.
i can sing too – I think you’ll see more singing. I love singing.
If you got to collaborate with any artist, past or present, singer or rapper, who would it be?
Well, I would probably pick someone who’s no longer an option, because that seems more advantageous than picking someone who’s alive and potentially a possibility. So I’d probably pick Biggie because he’s one of my favorites ever, and it’s just completely impossible to do a song with him at this point. I’d rather use the hypothetical laws of this question in my favor.
How many times a day do you get recognized on the street?
I don’t really go outside that often—I’m usually kinda holed up working. When I do go outside and I’m walking around, I would say, in reality, 99% of the world doesn’t know who I am. And I can go hours upon hours without somebody stopping me. But, you know, if I went out on a Friday night to a place where 18 to 25 year olds are, I’d be getting recognized all night and taking pictures. It’s definitely picking up more and more everyday.
What’s your favorite song on the album?
My favorite song on the album is “Pillow Talking.”
How do you feel about having any discussion of you or your music banned from Reddit’s largest hiphop community, /r/hiphopheads?
Yeah, I don’t know, I feel like it’s unjustified–I don’t really know why it is. From my understanding, there’s a belief that I’m gaming the system but that’s the furthest thing from the truth. So, I suppose it’s disappointing. I’d love to be a participant in that subreddit.
Edit: I’m being told that no one can see the other comments I’ve made on this and I want people to hear me out, so I’m adding a link to the rest of my side of this:
https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/3hlu9f/im_lil_dicky_i_just_released_my_album/cu8gp44
https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/3hlu9f/im_lil_dicky_i_just_released_my_album/cu8k92r
What are your top 3 TV shows?
Fresh Prince, Curb, The Wire
Was there a moment during your rap career that made you think “Damn I finally made it.”?
No. It still hasn’t happened yet. In truth, I do not feel like I’ve “made it”.
I think there’s a moment where you become mainstream famous, where everyone knows who you are. For Macklemore, it was thrift shop, for example – even though before thrift shop, he was probably even bigger than I currently am in terms of popularity. I haven’t had that moment yet.
I think my next music video may end up being that moment for me.
How did you get Brandon Urie to sing? Did you know him or was that just a random person you were like “yo that dude csn sing”
he tweeted at me one time, and i replied back telling him i was a fan, and then i had this song that i thought he could sound good on (molly), he came in the studio that week, and man oh man…was he the perfect guy for the song.
How did you react to Anthony Fantano’s review of Professional Rapper?
I haven’t even seen it. I am sure it’s horrible – I can tell he doesn’t find me amusing. But, it doesn’t really phase me – it’s impossible to please everyone. As long as my fans are happy, then I’m happy.
What was your undergrad like? Obviously you were interested in Rapping but still focused on your school.
very focused on getting good grades. I didn’t love freshman year, so I got my grades up then and there because I thought there was a possibility I’d transfer. I didn’t, but then my grades were so high, that I didn’t want to let them drop. So I became obsessed with maintaining my GPA, which ended at 3.93.
Do you listen to podcasts?
I don’t really listen to podcasts, no. I started listening to Serial and then learned halfway through that the case wasn’t even resolved in real-life. I couldn’t have been more disappointed with that fact, so I was just completely discouraged from continuing to listen.
Other rappers talk about being the one from their crew that “made it”. Now that you have “made it”, how’s your relationship with your crew? Are they all in Philly or spread out/do you crash on their couches when you’re in town doing shows? Are you still in a fantasy football league with them?
My relationship with my friends at this point is really no different than it was when I was working at an ad agency in San Francisco. Because, you know I was removed from all my East Coast friends living out in California anyways after college. I guess now, I don’t really socialize as much on a day-to-day level, where as before I was living with a lot of my good friends and we were watching Sportscenter at 9pm every night – now I don’t really do that. But I see people more than I probably would’ve otherwise because I’m constantly touring the country and I’ve got friends in all these places. Like, I would never visit my friends in Colorado more than once every two years just as a normal dude, but now I’m going on tour and I’m in Colorado twice a year and I get to see people that I wouldn’t see. In a weird way, it’s allowing me to see people more but spend the casual, quality time less.
What’s the recipe for “Company Chicken” and “Company Noodles”?
I’d have to dig super deep into my emails to find it from my mom. I know sour cream is involved. I know baked whipping cream is involved. And there’s like…parsley, oregano, chives, and mint in the pasta. But that’s all I can really tell you. I don’t think that’s going to do you much good.
Hey man, just saw you at Summerset and your show was amazing! You said that you were going to go do some Molly. How was that?
Okay, so here’s what happened with my molly experience. I began feeling it a lot within an hour, to the point where I actually puked. I know that’s not necessarily what typically happens on Molly, but it could have had something to do with having just played a set, being jet lagged, whatever.
All that being said, I think I may have ended up puking out the Molly, because I took it in water form, and as soon as I puked, I ended up not really feeling it much. So I was underwhelmed overall, but it could have been because I puked. The thing is, it was on such an extreme trajectory, that I’d be nervous about what would have happened had I not puked. My DJ’s face was twitching. I hate being too high.
How leftward sloping is your penis actually?
I mean, it certainly depends on the humidity, along with several other factors. Like right now, there’s no slope. It’s just like…imagine a thumb resting atop two…I don’t even know if it’s two. Right now, my testicles feel like one thing. Honestly, my penis right now is a soft penis… I’ll just show you. It looks like an inch. There’s no slope. It’s just there. So like I said, it depends. Right now, it’s essentially like an extended clit.
What was it like working with Snoop and which other rappers out there would you like to collaborate with?
It was great working with Snoop. He understood what I was trying to do immediately. It didn’t take him long. He was into it.
I’m just like you guys in terms of how I perceive Snoop Dogg. I’m very much like what an icon that guy is, you know what I mean? Meeting him, he couldn’t be more of a dream in terms of what you’d expect him or hope that he’d be. He’s like the ideal version that you’d hope for in your dreams. That’s who he actually is. So it was very wonderful to meet a guy like that who you have such high hopes for and he actually exceeds them.
In the future, there’s a lot of rappers I want to work with. Right now (and it’s not just because I said “in the future”), my number one rapper to work with is Future.
Oh look. Snoop Dogg just tweeted at me. Which is cool. But like, I do have a song with him, so I shouldn’t be that excited about a tweet. But it is the first public acknowledgement of that song, so it does feel good. I’m going to retweet it.
How often does your credit card get declined?
right now ALL THE FUCKING TIME. BECAUSE THE GODDAMN MAGNET STRIP ISN’T WORKING, AND I NEED TO GET A NEW CARD, AND IT’S SO ANNOYING. LIKE 4 TIMES A DAY, IT GETS DECLINED.
Digimon or Pokemon?
You know what, I was never into the Pokemon world. That being said, I am very into, visually, what I’ve seen out of Pikachu, in terms of his image. Like, I like the yellow look. He seems like a guy I can very easily get along with, so I have to lean Pokemon—but like I said, that’s without knowing the traits of these characters.
As a white comfortably middle class jewish guy that looks exactly how you would expect someone with that description to look (I’m a self depricating jew myself so I absolutely love your look and vibe) , do you ever worry about being accused of cultural appropriation or not taking an art form that has been used to express civil unrest and incite change seriously? This has happened to several artists as the rap genre expands (not that this is an exclusive problem with rap, it’s just rap is a new enough genre that it is still actively used by the socio-economically oppressed whereas many of the other genres created in similar situations have been around long enough for it to be less controversial) and each artists has handled it differently, so I’m curious if you’ve thought about how to handle it if the situation does arise where you get called out for “not knowing the history of rap” or making a joke out of an art form that is used to take on serious issues for the under privileged. (I doubt any of this would actually happen since you seem to be genuinely yourself in your songs and aren’t trying to create this image of a thug, but you never know in this day and age)
this issue is something that i dont take lightly at all.
I hate it if/when someone says I’m making fun of hip hop, because that’s the furthest thing from the truth. I love hip hop. It’s given me my voice. It’s truly where I found out who I was. It’s everything to me.
Just because I’m taking one art form that I love (comedy) and applying it within another art form that I love (rap), it doesn’t mean I’m devaluing the importance of the genre. I don’t think anything is “above” being influenced by comedy. Who doesn’t enjoy laughing? Can you imagine if comedy wasn’t ever accepted as a part of film? We’d have no comedy movies.
I understand people being confused, but I think you respect hip hop by a) going hard every song and rapping your ass off. and b) by being your complete, original self. Realness is one of the most important factors to hip hop, to me.
And I think I do both of those things. Which is why yes, even though a lot of my songs are funny, I think I deserve to be taken seriously in the rap world, regardless of race, class, gender, anything. If you go hard and are true to yourself, and people enjoy listening to your music, it’s real.
I’ve successfully gotten multiple of my female friends (all 3 of them) to become fans of you. Are you proud of me? We were at your concert in Bloomington, IN and it was nuts. You’re the man, keep it up. Do you have any plans for an upcoming tour with all of your new material? I have no clue how you would perform a song like Pillow Talking but I can’t wait to see.
So proud. Great work. No plans yet, we’re figuring out the tour thing now. May headline, may try to go out with another artist. Pillow talking goes soooo hard, we just did it at a festival. Only 3 minutes of it, but still, hard ass 3 minutes. at an actual LD show, I’d consider doing all 11 minutes.
Mr. Original Pancake, loved Professional Rapper, what’s your favorite cereal?
You know what? The other day I was just thinking about how impressive our society is in cereals. There are so many cereals – or is just cereal? Maybe it’s just cereal. No, it’s cereals!
There are so many cereals that blow me away. Frosted Flakes are amazing. Frosted Mini-Wheats are incredible! Cinnamon Toast Crunch is unbelievable!! Like, the textures are all amazing. Honeycombs!!
I just think we’re so behind in so many areas of society, but like the one place we’re not is in cereal. I don’t think whoever is behind the cereal gets enough praise for that. So let me use this forum as an opportunity to thank, like, cereal and whoever is behind cereal. All that being said–I think I’d go with Kix.
Although I do really enjoy your music it gets old too fast. I think it’s the humorous aspect that wears on me. Don’t get me wrong please! It’s funny as hell, but you can only laugh at the same thing so many times. Your song Darwin is one that I can listen to over and over, and most likely because you left out the humor. In fact the lyrics make it sound like your true ambition is to make an album with no humor at all and still be respected. Well, I’m here to say PLEASE DO! You’re right, bro! Your flow is crazy! So my question is do you have any intentions of making a more serious album any time soon? I would be the first to pre-order!
I hear you – and totally get that the jokes may not be funny the 50th time around. That’s why I try to uphold the musical integrity throughout, to make sure it’s sonically pleasing.
I think there’s a lot of non comedy on my album. Only a few songs are straight up jokes. Songs like personality have a funny edge to them, but I see that less as a comedic rap song, more as just a rap song with some character to it.
But there are songs on the album that are dead ass serious too. Like Molly, Truman, Antagonist I and II, Oh Well…I tried to be diverse on the album, because there are as many people like you saying “I wish he was serious all the time” as there are saying “I wish he stayed funny and didn’t get so serious.” So it’s hard to please everyone. I tried to give everyone a little bit of something on this album.
One of the things I’ve always loved is all your nicknames and AKAs. I think I saw you say somewhere you’re just gonna keep making new ones because fuck it or whatever, and I like that. Which of those pseudonyms is your favorite?
(sighs)
I think ‘Firm Handshake’ is my favorite one ever. I think it was the first one I ever thought of. Like, cause I put ‘Lion King’ out the first day with ‘Ex Boyfriend’– that was the one I used in ‘Lion King’. And I just think it was the first time I did AKA anything and it was Firm Handshake and it was so ridiculous and felt so funny–I think without having that first one feel so good I might not have been tempted to do so many others later.
At your DC show, in White Dude, you said like Staples or something instead of ATT for where the people Adele has to date probably work. Different from the recorded song, and I could tell a lot of other people didn’t expect the change either. Do you have any thoughts on the differences between studio recorded work and live shows, especially with regards to how you personally perform in each?
Well, I try to improvise a little bit live and I try to give people something different from what they expected in terms of the exact jokes. You know, I make a lot of jokes in my songs–rather than use the exact same jokes you’ve already heard, I like to allow myself to improvise and make jokes up kind of on the spot, because I think it allows for legitimate laughter. If you know what’s coming it won’t be as funny.
What is your favorite lyric in one of your songs?
that’s a tough question. i really like “forget about your era, pat summit.”
In the antagonist you mention how the music you’re making now isn’t what you really want to be doing, what do you plan on doing in the future to separate from the comedic rap?
It’s not that the music I’m making isn’t what I want to be doing, it’s just the style of rap I love wouldn’t make sense coming out of my mouth. I love rap that shits on everyone else, all of the doubters, the people in their way, the struggle, and basically – in a swagged out way, discusses how they can’t be stopped.
That vibe would sound corny coming out of me. I have nothing to be angry at. Nothing to hate on. Nothing that’s really truly been in my way or preventing me from getting where I need to be.
Long story short, I love rap that has a chip on its shoulder, but I don’t really have justification for the chip. That was all I was saying.
What’s it like to be famous?
to be honest, i barely feel famous. there aren’t any real perks yet. I can’t skip lines. the other day, the night my album came out, i couldn’t even get into a bar in NYC. Went to 3 bars, they were all too crowded. Couldn’t even get in. Had the #1 album in the country too!
It’s nice to get complimented and recognized by people throughout my day, but it’s pretty low key right now. I haven’t popped off the way I think we all think I eventually will.
What is the tinder line you’ve had the most success using?
This is my go to online dating line.
So, I’ve been thinking on an opening line for a solid 4 minutes…haven’t come up with much, and at a certain point, you’ve just gotta move on with your day.
My new strategy is to inform you of my incompetence, and hope that you find it endearing.
It honestly works reasonably well.
It says on the album cover you studied abroad here in Melbourne! What did you think of your time here and can we expect to see you any time soon?
So my experience in Melbourne was like really unique, in the sense that it wasn’t at all what I expected to be. I expected to get off the plane, throw on a pair of board shorts, get picked up by some blonde dude with long hair and like, just really be outside in the sun for 5 months with girls. But Melbourne was kind of chilly and what I learned quickly is that Australian girls have no interest in American guys–I mean that’s what I gathered or whatever I was doing was not working. I think American guys flirt kind of in a forward way.
I remember specifically being in club, and like touching a girl’s shoulder being like – “Hi, how’s your night going?” and she just flinched just like “Don’t touch me!”. And the American girls couldn’t be less interested in the American guy when there like tons of Australian hunks walking around. So I’ve never gotten less female attention in my life than the 5 months that I spent in Melbourne. BUT, I was with these five other dudes who were going through the exact same thing and it was like a weird male bonding 5 month period where a bunch of guys just hung out and got drunk together like 3 nights a week. I don’t know why that’s that interesting–but it was probably like 3 or 4 nights a week. And we didn’t do anything but be stupid with one another. There were things like me being put in a shopping cart and thrown down a hill–that’s the kind of stuff I did in Australia. I need to go back and experience it as somebody that’s capable of hooking up with a girl.
As a current marketing student, I was wondering just how big an impact your degree has helped you out, especially in regards to your music career?
What I learned in school didn’t at all help me in terms of this, but I think what I got in school in terms of a degree got me a job at my advertising agency and working at the ad agency how possible it was to create content very easily and cheaply. We had an in-house production wing at my agency, so every day I was seeing these short little videos that they’d churn out that looked amazing that they did in 6 hours, for no money, and I thought ‘Huh… I wonder if you could apply this technology to your crazy ideas.’
Other than that, I don’t put much stock in the school/work life contribution to my rap career.
What was your favorite meal at D-Hall at Richmond? And are you a big WaWa fan?
Well, the one thing I always loved were the fries. I’d wait for them to dwindle and then I’d get the fresh batch because the fresh D-Hall fries, at least when I was in school, were unbelievable. So that was my favorite D-Hall move.
I was also into the panini station: roast beef, a little fresh mozzarella. But! My favorite move at Richmond was to go to the pier and you know how they had chicken finger sandwiches and they had buffalo chicken wraps, but they didn’t offer buffalo chicken sandwiches?
I was the first guy to suggest why not put the buffalo chicken that you put in a wrap on a bun? And I’d get that all the time and because it wasn’t a menu item, they didn’t actually have that prepared. So every time I requested it, they had to make it fresh—and I got a fresh buffalo chicken sandwich every time from D-Hall. And, you know, certain cashiers weren’t overly enthused by this, but other ones respected the hustle.
I was a huge WaWa fan until they stopped serving grilled chicken—now the only chicken I can get is breaded form and I don’t think WaWa is especially strong at the breaded chicken. So, you know, I love WaWa simply because it’s a northeast staple, but if I’m being honest about the type of food that I’m enjoying, WaWa doesn’t really satisfy me at this point.
How often do you check your gmail account, it is it only for booking ? I been trying to hit up since after your show in Dallas but haven’t gotten a response and didn’t want to offend you. Anyways keep doing what you’re doing , you’re so inspiring!
i check it but things get lost in the shuffle. i tend to only respond to friends or work related emails, or fan mail that really elicits a response out of me, if that makes sense.
As someone who is destined for the corporate world, but not totally sure that’s what I want to do, I was wondering how you ultimately decided to pursue your passion and risk it all?
well, i didn’t really risk it until it was proven. I didn’t quit until i knew i was onto something. i did both at the same time. i think that’s the right approach, because going for it is obviously encouraged, but you may want to earn the right to go for it first. while maintaining practicality. there’s a lot at stake in life, and you can’t be reckless. but, i’ve always said, i would never settle for plan b until plan a failed.
How long did you work at a normal job for before you quit to pursue music? What made you decide that it was time to pursue this fulltime and not as a side project?
3 years. It was always the preference, and as soon as I put something out, it proved itself as worthy, with ex-bf getting a million views in a day. Once that happened on the first day, I knew then and there that I was meant for something beyond an office job.
How are your parents? They seem very supportive on the interludes, how was it performing in front of them for the first time?
they are awesome, i love them with all my heart. it was interesting performing. I withheld a few jokes knowing they were there, because I wasn’t interested in telling people sex stories knowing my mom was listening. But they are amazing, and only as an adult have I fully been able to appreciate how much they mean to me.
What would your life be like right now if you had not started a rap career?
I think i’d be a well positioned copywriter at an ad agency, writing commercials, probably in SF.
How has the industry reacted to you and your style of rap ?
everyone i’ve talked to in the rap community has really embraced me with open arms. I’ve seen nothing but love. rappers really respect what I’m doing because they know how different it is. producers can see the effort I put into song-writing, and beat selection.
As we all know, your outro game is on point. Do you come up with them on the spot? Do you have it written down? or do you just have general idea of what you want to say?
usually i have some thoughts to speak of, and i let it all come off the top. it’s funnier that way. i wanted my album to have a lot of outros, because i dont want yall to think im going mainstream or soft on the game
How often do blunts get passed to you?
It happens a lot at shows, and the issue is, I don’t like being high up there. It’s a lot of responsibility to be in charge of like, 1,000 people’s fun. I don’t take it lightly. I like to smoke right before Too High, because it’s usually like 3 quarters of the way done the concert, and it gives me a boost. But early on? I go out there dead sober. Way funnier dead sober.
Were you always interested in becoming a rapper, even as a kid? And how good are you a freestyling?
I was always interested in being a comedian, but I certainly was always walking around rapping casually, freestyling to myself. I actually did a 6th grade history report on Alexander Pushkin via rap over Clipse Grindin’ beat. So rap has always been a part of what I do, but my ambitions have always been rooted in comedy.
I’m ridiculously average at freestyling. It’s annoying.
Do you believe that you are one of the best rappers technically, like I do?
I don’t know – there are so many incredible technically skilled rappers out there that aren’t big because they can’t make a good song. It takes more than technical skill.
As a fan, I don’t even care about technical skill anymore. Which is ironic, because I think that’s what you guys value most from me.
But like i’ve been saying throughout this AMA, future is borderline my favorite rapper right now, and I don’t think you would label him as the most technically prolific rapper.
But he raps his ass off in a different way. His lyrics are amazing to me. It’s hard to explain, but until I got in the rap game, I wasn’t able to fully appreciate how beastly a guy like Future really is.
And as a fan, I care a lot more about that than lyrical prowess.
Can you tell us anything about the TV show you are currently writing?
I want it to be the best show on TV. I’m super driven to make this show. It’s like Curb, but for a younger dude, set in the rap game. Obviously, some Entourage ish elements to it as the rapper becomes more and more famous…essentially, it’s a scripted version of my life.
It’s been so entertaining since I’ve began rapping, and it will only get crazier once things actually take off in a bigger way.
Even if I never rapped, I would have wanted to showcase my comedic perspective on life. Like, if the character was just a dude at an ad agency, I would have loved to make a show. Now, with rap, I have a ridiculously entertaining backdrop
Is the rap life everything you expected it to be?
You know what, I feel like only now am I beginning to feel the rap life. I’ve been holed up working for the last 4 years on this stuff, so my success truly hasn’t impacted my lifestyle.
But like, last week I spent a day in Atlanta with Rich Homie Kwan, and it was one of the best days ever. So fun. Such a good dude. And for the first time, I felt like “wow, you really are a rapper.” So I’m looking forward to this year, because I think I’m gonna have a lot more fun than I had been having. The issue is, I’m so forward thinking that it’s hard for me to slow down and stop working until I get where I want to be, which is a long ways away. But purely for inspirational purposes, both for TV and music, I’m gonna make a huge effort to socialize more this year. So it should be fun!
