Music

There was never a Plan B for Lil Tecca, who is gearing up to unleash his Plan A album next Friday (Sept. 20). Ahead of the LP’s arrival, the New York rapper stopped by Billboard News to discuss all things surrounding his new project and much more.

Plan A serves as Tecca’s fourth studio album and boasts 18 tracks with a lone feature from Don Toliver and production from Taz Taylor and the Internet Money crew.

“I honestly got the name Plan A when I was about to finish Tec, my last album,” he said of the title’s inspiration. “I think it kind of summarizes where I was at in my life when I was probably 14 and I kind of decided that I wanted to rap and actually only rap. There would be people in class telling me, ‘Ay bruh, you know gotta have a backup plan and sh– like that.’ I’m like, ‘Not really, bro. I don’t really got no back-up plan.’”

Tecca added: “We recorded most of it in Miami. I was just in the studio every day with Internet Money, Taz [Taylor] and all of them. There were a couple songs I had did in New York and at the crib too. I didn’t produce a lot of it, but definitely my beat selection is what drives a lot of the production… The whole message is like decide what you want to do and do it.”

The 22-year-old also debunked the bizarre situation involving the Pennsylvania Army National Guard using his personal photo taken from his “Ransom” hit’s cover art as part of a recruitment flyer.

“That sh– is real,” he said. “I seen that sh– on Twitter — I’m like, ‘What is going on right now? … They got in contact with the people that was responsible and he’s like, ‘Sorry, we used the picture by accident.’ He used super-big words. Basically that’s what he was saying, ‘We didn’t know this was an artist.’ My thing is that picture doesn’t exist without ‘Ransom.’”

“Ransom” arrived in May 2019 as Tecca’s breakout smash when he was just 16 years old. It eventually reached the top five on the Billboard Hot 100 when it peaked at No. 4. The track’s currently 8x-platinum.

“That was my first time hopping on a beat that was not from YouTube,” Lil Tecca revealed. “That was my first time ever taking edibles in the studio. I had edibles and a drink from Starbucks.”

Juice WRLD eventually hopped on the official remix and Tecca reflected on being amazed watching a master at work in the studio with the late rapper.

“That right there was one of the craziest moments ever,” he said. “I remember when I first met him he was like, ‘Ay bro, this flow hard.’ That was my first time ever meeting someone that I seen online that was going crazy at the time and actually gave me an opinion on my music… It really meant a lot, bro.”

Tecca went on: “All the stuff he would say to me and actually seeing him work. Seeing it. Seeing it in person though — it was crazy… He did the verse. He did it in one take. It kind of fried me because I didn’t really know people were doing stuff like that at the time. I was really used to writing s–t and reading it off my phone.”

Plan A hits streaming services on Sept. 20. Watch the full interview below.

Lauren London sat down with Radhi Devlukia on the A Really Good Cry podcast and talked about how she’s been handling grief since her boyfriend Nipsey Hussle was murdered in 2019.

“I still feel like a mess, that’s the thing,” she said of how she’s been dealing with his death. “I guess I have to ask my friends how far I’ve come because I still genuinely feel like I have not arrived anywhere.” Adding, “I feel like I’m really heavy a lot, but again, I have to counter that to just, like, the grace of God, because if it was up to me, I would be sliding in here on my stomach, but I also don’t want to take away from the work that I’ve done from then until now. So, I don’t wanna do that, ’cause I’m good at doing that.”

She credited her kids and her community for helping her “push through” the pain. “God just placed people in my life that can kinda just usher me in and teach me and guide me. I always say the prayer of strangers held me up.”

London also talked about how she’s been teaching her two sons about dealing with losing Nipsey. “It’s so different with both of them, because one’s 14, the other one’s 7, so you know. I’m always, like, a container for whatever emotion they have,” she explained. “I’m just like, ‘It’s OK to feel all these things, you know? I’m holding it for you, I feel you, I understand, I hear you.’” Adding, “But also, playing his music. I’m always telling them to journal as well, like, write him a letter, tell him how you feel.”

Earlier in the interview, London told Devlukia that their love was “intentional, pure and safe” and talked about what she learned from him. “All the things he was saying to me made more sense after he left,” she said. “I’m such in my cave and a homebody, that he would be like, ‘People really need to hear from you. You have a lot of truth you should share.’ He saw me like my kids see me.”

She added, “But when he was here, just the reliance on God. He really relied on God, he truly believed in himself, he really did not believe in ‘Somebody else has the keys to your destiny as much as you and your creator does.’ And authenticity is something you can’t buy, it’s something that you can’t fake, it’s something that you can’t put on.”

On the fifth anniversary of his death, London shared a tribute on Instagram. “If you know me You know March is always tough for me 31 days of holding my breath,” she wrote. “This day decided to fall on Easter Sunday this 2024 Interesting…. considering your name #GodWillRise Energy never dies…. I love you. Eternal.”

You can watch the full interview here.