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A$AP Rocky and Rihanna have two kids together — sons RZA and Riot — but the Harlem rapper knew she was the one since they connected when they were just emerging stars.
Rocky detailed his special connection with RiRi and gushed about the mother of his children while gracing the cover of W Magazine on Tuesday (Oct. 8), which was shot by Rihanna.
“I knew from when we were younger,” he said of when he knew the nine-time Grammy winner — whom he called his “perfect person” in his Billboard cover story — was the one to be the mother of his kids. “We both did, I think. So it was only right when we got older. We just kind of reconnected.”
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The “Fashion Killa” rapper also recalled a time when he was kicked out of a nightclub, and Rihanna came outside and stuck up for him to the staff to let him get inside. Rocky added that they began dating prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, around “2019, 2020.”
“It’s a lot of history between us. I was kicked out of this nightclub,” he said. “They wasn’t giving me no access to it. This is when I’m just starting out, so nobody knows me. I was with Matthew Williams and Virgil. I was getting into it with the bouncers, and she came out. We just locked eyes. She didn’t even know us, but she was like, ‘Yo! Why y’all not letting him in? What’s wrong with you?! Let that man in!’”
A portion of the interview was conducted across the street from Rocky’s NYC apartment, where the late creative Virgil Abloh shot the “Fashion Killa” music video in 2012. Rocky shared, “This is very special because this is the first place she fell in love with me.”
RZA was born in 2022, and Riot followed the next year. The A$AP Mob frontman credited having his mom and Rihanna’s parents around to help them. “I’m so happy that I at least still got one parent,” he stated. “If I didn’t have the support of our [his and Rihanna’s] parents, I don’t know what we would be doing.”
Rocky has been busy on the music side as well as he prepares for the release of his anticipated Don’t Be Dumb, which was delayed until the fall. He’s charted a trio of singles to the Billboard Hot 100 with “Hijack,” (No. 89) “Tailor Swif” (No. 84) and the J. Cole-assisted “Ruby Rosary” (No. 85).
Rihanna Photographs A$AP Rocky for the Cover of W Magazine Vol. 5 | The Originals Issue
Rihanna for W Magazine
GloRilla and Yung Miami lead the way as the crop of performers slated to hit the stage for this year’s iteration of the BET Hip-Hop Awards. 310babii, 2 Chainz, Big Boogie, Bossman DLow, E-40, Juicy J, Roscoe Dash, Soulja Boy, and Trina will also be in the star-studded lineup.
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Fat Joe will host the annual ceremony for the third consecutive year, but with a caveat: instead of taking place at its usual stomping grounds in Atlanta, the BET Hip-Hop Awards will be at Drai’s Nightclub.
“Joe Crack is back for the three-peat, night night baby,” Fat Joe said in a statement last month. “It’s been a dream to host the BET Hip Hop Awards the past few years, and I’m looking forward to taking things to the next level in Las Vegas. We’re going to be in a new city and location, but the excitement and entertainment at the awards will be even bigger than ever.”
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From an award perspective, Megan Thee Stallion leads the way with 12 nominations, followed by Kendrick Lamar with 11 nods and Drake with eight. Nicki Minaj, GloRilla, Cardi B, and Metro Boomin each have seven. Future and Scott are close behind with six. Scott, in addition to his nominations, will be honored with the prestigious “I Am Hip Hop Award.” This recognition underscores his “creative genius, cultural contributions, and incredible talent, which have catapulted him to the top of the game as one of the most innovative forces in music and popular culture,” says BET in a press release.
The show, set to tape this Tuesday (Oct. 8), will air on BET one week later, on Tuesday, Oct. 15, at 8 p.m. ET/PT.
Hidden up a wooded hill in the sprawling backyard of his suburban Los Angeles estate, Dijon “Mustard” McFarlane is on the tennis court, perfecting his forehand.
“I’m an extremist,” the 34-year-old producer explains as he warms up his top spin. “I play every day, sometimes two times a day.” The L.A.-born musician, who shot to prominence at 21 when he produced Tyga’s 2011 hit “Rack City,” beckons his coach to serve again. After some rallying, Mustard slices a ball that nearly hits the Billboard cameraman kneeling beneath him, trying to get a close-up shot. “Oh, sorry! Man, you’re brave for sitting there,” Mustard says.
“I play, too; it’s cool,” the photographer replies, unfazed.
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“Aight, you’re one of us,” Mustard says with a grin, pointing at the man with his racket. For a second, it feels like the sportier version of a knighting ceremony.
He may still be polishing his tennis game, but after more than a decade of making hip-hop hits, Mustard scored an indisputable ace this year, reaching his highest career peak to date as the beat-maker behind Kendrick Lamar’s Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 “Not Like Us” — the biggest hit in Lamar’s spring beef with Drake. On the track, which cemented Lamar’s victory in the court of public opinion, the Pulitzer Prize winner is at his most venomous, using Mustard’s pop earworm of an instrumental as a Trojan horse for accusing Drake of being an Atlanta “colonizer” who steals sounds from local rappers and to resurface the serious allegations of Drake’s supposed predilection for underage girls.
But for such a hate-fueled anthem, “Not Like Us” also proved to be a uniting force for the world of West Coast hip-hop — unity by way of a common enemy. “When I was growing up, I watched 2Pac, ‘California Love,’ Dr. Dre, Snoop, the Death Row days,” says Mustard, who was born and raised in L.A.’s Crenshaw neighborhood. “It’s like being a part of that again, but in this day and age.”
The release of “Not Like Us” did plenty to galvanize the West Coast scene on its own, but Lamar further cemented its place in hip-hop history when he hosted The Pop Out — Ken & Friends, a Juneteenth concert at the L.A.-area Kia Forum. It was a show that was so sacred to L.A. natives that rival gangsters danced and sang to “Not Like Us” practically hand in hand onstage. To warm everyone up, Lamar enlisted Mustard to DJ a bevy of hits. But before literally popping out from under the stage, Mustard, a lifelong DJ typically confident in front of crowds, found himself on the verge of a panic attack. “I was nervous as s–t,” he confesses. “It just didn’t feel real.”
Aaron Sinclair
It was a full-circle moment for the producer, whose wide-ranging résumé — encompassing rap, R&B, EDM and pop — also includes hits like 2 Chainz’ “I’m Different,” Jeremih and YG’s “Don’t Tell ’Em,” Tinashe’s “2 On,” Ella Mai’s “Boo’d Up,” Lil Dicky and Chris Brown’s “Freaky Friday” and Rihanna’s “Needed Me.” “When I was a teenager, I’d write with YG in Inglewood [Calif.]. He used to live right across the street [from The Forum]. I made ‘Rack City’ across the street from there,” says Mustard, shaking his head in disbelief.
To start his set, Mustard walked up to his turntables, appearing calm and collected, even though he secretly wasn’t. After he fiddled with the knobs, the audio of a viral TikTok began: “The real takeaway from the Drake and Kendrick beef,” the voice of TikToker @lolaokola said, “is that it’s time for a DJ Mustard renaissance.” The crowd began to roar as the audio continued: “When every song on the radio was on a Mustard beat, we were a proper country. It was happier times. The closest we have ever been to true unity.”
After “Rack City” became a smash in 2012, the artist-producer then known as DJ Mustard seemed unstoppable. There was something about his simple formula of “a bassline, clap and it’s over… maybe an 808,” as he puts it, plus that catchy producer tag “Mustard on the beat, hoe!” that attracted pop purists and hip-hop heads alike, making his work go off both at the club and on the radio.
“Being a DJ, being in front of people and parties, I know what makes people move,” Mustard tells me between volleys with his coach. Every element of a Mustard track is done with clear intention to propel the song, not to clutter it. “I always used to tell Ty [Dolla $ign], ‘Man, you’re so musical, bro, but that s–t does not matter if they can’t hear what’s going on,’ ” Mustard recalls. “Simplicity is key for me and bridging the gap between that and the real musical s–t — but it still needs to be ratchet enough to be fun, too.”
Aaron Sinclair
He learned to use turntables from one of the best: his uncle and father figure, Tyrei “DJ Tee” Lacy, an L.A. DJ who frequently soundtracked parties for Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg and other local legends. Later in the day, I follow Mustard to Lacy’s restaurant, the District by GS on Crenshaw Boulevard. “This is where they got into it in Boyz n the Hood!” exclaims Mustard, gesturing to the street in front of the restaurant.
As he walks through the staff entrance and the kitchen, he daps up each person, his diamond-encrusted chain with a Jesus Christ pendant swinging as he moves. He sits down in a corner booth, and Lacy comes to join him. Mustard orders the usual: fried catfish. “Mustard as a child is the same as Mustard as an adult,” Lacy says. “He always cared about his craft — always.”
When Mustard was growing up, Lacy would often bring him along to his DJ gigs. One time, when he brought his nephew to a party in the Pacific Palisades, he had an ulterior motive. “I actually had [intentionally] double-booked myself,” Lacy says. “ ‘Don’t leave me,’ Mustard said. But I was like, ‘Oh, you’ll be all right. Just play that and play this, and you got it.’ ” Three hours later, he got a call from Mustard: “Come get me! The party was so cracking, they busted all the windows!”
From then on, music always paid the bills for Mustard, and he became the hottest DJ at Dorsey High School in Crenshaw. Within a few years, he would be one of the hottest producers in the world.
Amid the height of his early success, Mustard remembers a conversation he had with another radio-defining producer: Timbaland. “We were talking about the music industry,” he recalls. “He’s just like, ‘I want you to know, man, you’re not going to always be hot.’ ” Even though Mustard says he never let his ego get out of hand during those first years of success — his mother made sure of that — the caveat felt unfathomable at the time.
By the end of 2014, just two years after the peak of “Rack City,” Mustard seemingly had it all: 23 Hot 100 producer credits already, a new mansion on a hill outside the city, beautiful jewelry, even his own line of DJ Mustard mustard bottles. (Actually, he regrets that last one: “That was not an ‘I made it’ moment; that was a dumbass moment.”) Still, Timbaland warned him, “There’s going to be a time when nobody picks up your [calls] — soak this all in, and when that time comes, save your money… don’t panic,’ ” Mustard recalls. “And then it became a thing. And I was just like, ‘Ah, this is what [Tim] was talking about,’ and thank God I was ready for it.”
Mustard photographed September 16, 2024 at Johnnie’s Pastrami in Culver City, Calif.
Aaron Sinclair
As the decade wore on, his number of Hot 100-charting songs each year declined, from notching 14 in 2014 alone to between one and five each subsequent year. Still, a colder period for Mustard was better than what most musicians can ever dream of. And as time wore on, Mustard made the conscious choice to evolve. He focused on developing himself as not just a producer, but an artist in his own right. He started his own record label, 10 Summers, which launched the career of Grammy-winning R&B singer Ella Mai.
“I think with any producer, the ultimate goal is to break an artist. I believe that’s the hardest thing for a producer to do… I’m always for the challenge,” he says. It’s certainly something he has proved an aptitude for time and again, producing career-breakthrough tracks for artists like Mai, Tinashe, YG, Tyga and Roddy Ricch.
“You can’t be hot forever,” Mustard explains. “Even the best in the game… You have to reinvent yourself. And that’s what I did.”
Every hip-hop fan remembers where they were when “Not Like Us” dropped. Released the day after two other Lamar dis tracks, “6:16 in LA” and “Meet the Grahams,” no one saw it coming — not even the beat’s producers.
Mustard, for his part, was “on [my] way to a baby shower. Somebody sent me a message, and I was just like, ‘Oh, s–t,’ and then I hung up in their face, and I was just playing it over and over.” When he arrived at the baby shower, he could already hear the neighbors blasting it from over the fence.
Fellow “Not Like Us” beat-maker Sean Momberger was getting his car towed by AAA after a flat tire. “My friend texted me that Kendrick had dropped again,” he says. “I clicked on the link and heard our beat, and I was just shocked. I FaceTimed Mustard, and we were yelling and laughing.”
Mustard and Momberger were never in the studio with Lamar (or Sounwave, the song’s third credited producer and a longtime collaborator of the rapper) to make “Not Like Us.” The song started with Momberger sending Mustard some sample ideas and Mustard doing what he does best — “infectious” and “catchy” production with “a simplistic beauty driven by bouncy drums and West Coast undertone,” as Momberger describes it. But while the track stays true to the Mustard sound everyone knows, it also embodies how he has iterated it over the years to be fuller and more sample-driven.
Mustard texted it, along with about six other beats, to Lamar — who said nothing but reacted with a “heart.” Though he wasn’t in the room with Lamar this time, he had been in the studio with him before, years ago. Once, he says, Terrace Martin, a core musician on Lamar’s 2015 album, To Pimp a Butterfly, took him to one of that project’s sessions. “I remember seeing that s–t and being like, ‘Whoa, that’s a lot going on.’ With me and YG [Mustard’s most frequent collaborator], we didn’t have that many musicians around. That was my first time seeing s–t like that. Thundercat was there, Sounwave was there. Terrace was there… I knew [that album] was going to be some crazy s–t, but I didn’t know it would be like that.”
Though he couldn’t have predicted the impact To Pimp a Butterfly would have on culture, Mustard says he has a good intuition for hit records. “I don’t want to say I’m always right, but I’m pretty much on the money,” he notes. Mai agrees: “Mustard’s greatest strength is his ear.”
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For all his success producing radio-ready singles, however, one-off collaborations don’t move Mustard like they used to. “I can do stuff like ‘Not Like Us’ every day,” he says. “I can do that with my eyes closed… In my next phase, I’m not doing singles,” he insists, though he does admit he would do “Not Like Us” again “100,000 times” without hesitation. “I’ll do [a single for an artist] if I can have the whole album or the majority of the album, but other than that, I don’t get anything out of that.”
It’s why he dropped his own album, Faith of a Mustard Seed, this summer, which features Ricch, Travis Scott (whose “Parking Lot” with Mustard went to No. 17 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart), Ty Dolla $ign, Future, Young Thug and more hip-hop heavyweights. Mustard reckons the album (named after a suggestion by his late friend Nipsey Hussle) took him five years to perfect — the equivalent of a lifetime in popular music, especially hip-hop. During that time, rap went from being constantly atop the Hot 100 to weeks, months and even a whole year passing without a rap No. 1. Top players like Thug and Gunna went to jail; Nipsey, Young Dolph and Takeoff died; Ye went rogue. New faces like Yeat and 4batz popularized new styles; Afrobeats and reggaetón seeped into the American rap mainstream.
Still, Mustard believes Faith of a Mustard Seed warranted the wait. “There’s nothing on that album that I feel like in 10 years I’ll say, ‘Damn, I wish I did that better,’ ” he says. “I hope it teaches kids that you can take your time and do the right thing. You don’t have to rush it out. I think [the industry] today is just so fast-paced.”
Mustard hopes the perfectionism that drove both Faith of a Mustard Seed and “Not Like Us,” including Lamar’s own multifaceted bars, will encourage artists to “really rap now… I think now it’s opened the door for … the real rappers that love rap music and lyrics and the double, triple, quadruple entendres and all that s–t cool again.”
Aaron Sinclair
And he’s hoping — or rather, manifesting, sometime between waking up and hitting the tennis court — that this dedication to his craft will yield a Grammy next year. “I definitely speak it into existence every morning,” he says with a laugh. “The highest reward we can get as musicians is a Grammy. I know that people talk like it’s not a thing, but it actually is. It’s like Jayson Tatum right now saying, ‘I don’t want to win the NBA Finals.’ Like, if that’s the case, then go play at Venice Beach.”
Regardless of whether he takes home a trophy on Feb. 2, he knows he has something monumental to look forward to precisely a week later, when Lamar headlines the Super Bowl halftime show — where “Not Like Us” will no doubt get its biggest showcase yet. “Of course I’m going,” he says. “I’m going to go and be in a box and watch… I just can’t wait… I might shed a tear!”
Yet despite surreal moments like that, Mustard says his life is “still the same” as it always was. “I don’t take no for an answer. I’m persistent. Every day, I’m doing something that has to do with the journey of trying to get to where I’m trying to go. At this point, I don’t know how far I can go. I don’t think there’s a limit. I’ve always been like that. That’s how I got ‘Rack City’ — just waking up every day, making beats… and hoping.”
This story also appears in the Oct. 5, 2024, issue of Billboard.
Hidden up a wooded hill in the sprawling backyard of his suburban Los Angeles estate, Dijon “Mustard” McFarlane is on the tennis court, perfecting his forehand. “I’m an extremist,” the 34-year-old producer explains as he warms up his top spin. “I play every day, sometimes two times a day.” The L.A.-born musician, who shot to […]
Fashion designer Don C sat down with the Ghetto Runways podcast for an extensive two-part interview recently and spoke on how he met Ye and the late Virgil Abloh. He credited music executive John Monopoly with originally connecting everybody.
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“John put me on, put Ye on, and put Virgil on,” he said about Monopoly. “And John intentionally introduced me to Ye and Virgil… At 14, 15 years old, this man John Monopoly is like, ‘Man, I got a cousin, man, he into fashion, if he add some sh—t to what you doing Ye, you gonna be on another level.’”
He also spoke on the viral fashion photo of himself, Ye, Virgil, Fonzworth Bentley, Taz Arnold, and Chris Julian at Paris Fashion Week in 2009, and revealed they took the photo to make a statement for not being let into a venue. “Man, we were just trying to express ourselves. When I look at that picture now, we was lookin’ crazy,” he started. “We had the courage to do that, so I’m happy we did. It opened the doors for everybody.” He then said the picture was Ye’s idea. “Ye was a true visionary because he was intentional about it… He was saying like, ‘Man, we gotta get these pics, too, because it’s gonna be like moments in history.’”
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Adding, “We couldn’t get into fashion shows when we first started wanting to go to fashion shows. But being from Chicago, a guy from the nightlife community, you know how to parking lot pimp. You know how to clown at the door… I don’t know if you notice, but that street shot wasn’t at no fashion show. That was outside a fashion show. We was just making a movement because they wouldn’t let us in. And guess who let us in? Karl Lagerfeld.”
Don C reveals the infamous 2009 Paris Fashion Week photo was Kanye’s idea & was taken because they couldn’t get into any shows”That wasn’t in no fashion show. That was OUTSIDE a fashion show. We was just making a movement because they wouldn’t let us in” via Ghetto Runways pic.twitter.com/sssUM9tnqj— Andrew Barber (@fakeshoredrive) September 25, 2024
Don C also mentioned that he’s working with John Monopoly about properly telling his story, so that his friend can get his flowers.
You can watch the full interview here and here.
In a series of Instagram Story posts over the weekend, Foxy Brown attempted to debunk rumors that she and Jay-Z had a sexual relationship when she was underage.
Brown famously made her debut in 1995 on LL Cool J‘s posse cut “I Shot Ya” alongside Def Squad’s Keith Murray, the late Prodigy, Fat Joe and, of course, LL when she was just 19 years old. However, most remember her getting her start opposite Jay-Z on the 1996 hit single “Ain’t No N—a,” from his debut album Reasonable Doubt, and the two continued to feature on each other’s tracks, where she would often play Bonnie to his Clyde in terms of themes and subject matter.
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Brown initially posted and addressed a screenshot of a tweet alleging Jay made her sign an NDA, among other things, calling it “fake news.”
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“In icon business! Miss me wit that fake news,” Foxy wrote. “NDA? Ain’t a MF alive could stop my story. NDA on my sh– gon’ run 100 mill.”
She then posted a screenshot of a YouTube video saying she’s breaking her silence about Jay-Z and references one of her IG Stories where she tells someone, “My story will shock to your core! I don’t play victim. But I had to step away for a min, for my sanity, or I would’ve been dead,” in response to a fan giving her positive words about here resolve.
“Stop playin’ wit my name, dyin’ for a comment,” Brown said. “Can’t spin me with the sucker sh– to take Hov down. Betta ask bout’ the cloth I’m cut from.”
Unfortunately Foxy Brown had to take to Instagram and clear up those disgusting rumors about her and JAY-Z. This is about the 4th time she’s had to do so. pic.twitter.com/2EkeZMtAcY— 💎🍾 (@TheRocSupremacy) October 6, 2024
She then added: “Comprehension is a lost art” and “Y’all want me to be anti-Hov so bad. FOH. Post that.”
They want Foxy Brown to be Anti-HOV so bad. 😭😂😩 It’s never gonna happen, she is cut from a different cloth. 🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/3gU4HizBsQ— Foxy Brown ☆ (@withslantedeyes) October 6, 2024
The rumors about their relationship started when Nas mentioned their alleged relationship on 2001’s diss song “Ether,” on which he rapped, “Foxy got you hot ’cause you kept your face in her p—/ What you think, you getting girls now ’cause of your looks?”
The rumors have ramped up on social media since Diddy was arrested.
Davido will celebrate his 32nd birthday in style this year. The Lagos-raised star is returning to his hometown of Atlanta for a Davido & Friends birthday bash concert on Nov. 21 at State Farm Arena. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Tickets for the concert presented by […]
As if the beef between Drake and Kendrick Lamar wasn’t already historic, the saga’s most enduring track, Lamar’s “Not Like Us,” enters the record books with an unprecedented 21st week at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Rap Songs chart. The single, released on pgLang/Interscope/ICLG, surpasses Lil Nas X’s 2019 juggernaut, “Old Town Road,” featuring Billy Ray Cyrus, for the most weeks atop the chart since its launch in 1989.
“Not Like Us,” released May 4 amid the height of the rappers’ feud, reaches the record through continued strong performance in the three metrics that inform the chart: streaming, sales and radio airplay.
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It wins a 20th frame at No. 1 on the Rap Streaming Songs chart thanks to 17.1 million official U.S. streams in the latest tracking week (Sept. 27 – Oct. 3), according to Luminate. With its newest week on top, it matches “Old Town Road” for the third-longest command among all titles. Desiigner’s “Panda” and Psy’s “Gangnam Style,” share first place, at 23 weeks each.
For sales, “Not Like Us” registered 2,000 downloads in the tracking week. Despite a 10% decline from the prior week, it pushes 4-3 on Rap Digital Song Sales, a list it previously ruled for nine nonconsecutive weeks.
Lamar’s smash also repeats at No. 7 on the all-genre Radio Songs chart, with 45.4 million in total audience impressions, a 3% slide. (All radio airplay, regardless of genre, contributes to a song’s rank on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs.) The single dominated its core format this summer, with 15 nonconsecutive weeks in charge of the R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay list.
As “Not Like Us” resets the leaderboard on Hot Rap Songs, here’s a review of the songs with the most weeks at No. 1 in the chart’s 35-year history:
Weeks at No. 1, Song Title, Artist, Date Reached No. 121, “Not Like Us,” Kendrick Lamar, May 18, 202420, “Old Town Road,” Lil Nas X featuring Billy Ray Cyrus, April 13, 201919, “Industry Baby,” Lil Nas X & Jack Harlow, Aug. 7, 202118, “Hot Boyz,” Missy “Misdemeanor” Elliott featuring Nas, Eve & Q-Tip, Nov. 27, 199918, “Fancy,” Iggy Azalea featuring Charli XCX, May 3, 201418, “Hotline Bling,” Drake, Oct. 10, 201517, “Panda,” Desiigner, April 23, 201617, “Mood,” 24kGoldn featuring iann dior, Oct. 24, 2020
The colossal single extends Lamar’s recent near-monopoly on Hot Rap Songs, with the rapper in the No. 1 spot for 27 of the last 28 weeks. Before “Not Like Us” took the throne, the Pulitzer Prize winner, Future and Metro Boomin ruled with their collaboration “Like That,” a six-week champ. In the past six months, only Eminem’s “Houdini” interrupted the Lamar blockade, by sneaking out a one-week rule in June.
Tee Grizzley’s relentless work ethic has led him to releasing at least one project every year of his career since first exploding onto the scene with his classic “First Day Out” single in late 2016.
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The Detroit resident checked off 2024’s box on Friday (Oct. 4) when Post Traumatic arrived 11 months after his last album, Tee’s Coney Island.
When Tee and his team were in the process of whittling down the 40 to 50 tracks he recorded for this LP, he noticed something consistently peering through from his lyrics — his pain. That’s what led Grizzley to titling his fifth studio album Post Traumatic.
“I feel like this is my best work,” he confidently declares over a Zoom call to Billboard. “After they hear this, they not gonna want to hear nothing else from nobody.”
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It’s fitting that Tee is cathartically letting go of the decades of pain and trauma endured throughout his life, as he recently had surgery on his middle finger to remove part of a bullet fragment lodged into his hand since he was 14 years old.
Grizzley followed up his “Swear to God” collaboration with Future by grabbing another rap A-lister to spar with in J. Cole. What started out as a friendship where Tee wanted to have the Dreamville boss join him to play in his GrizzleyWorld RP on Grand Theft Auto, ended up in the thumping back-and-forth of “Blow for Blow.”
Earlier this year, Cole essentially executive-produced the track, when finding the eerie Pi’erre Bourne beat and ripping it before sending the track over to Tee. “When I heard it, I was blown away by his verse. Like, ‘I can’t half-step on here,’” Grizzley describes his reaction of listening to “Blow for Blow” for the first time.
Give the rest of our interview with Tee Grizzley a read as he details the oral history of teaming up with J. Cole, working with Kanye West in Mexico and what’s on tap for GTA 6.
What happened to your middle finger?
I was playing with a gun a long time ago when I was 14. It had went off and I had a piece of fragment in my finger. It been there this whole time and I finally got it removed.
Post Traumatic — what led to this project coming about?
You know I’m always working in the studio. Just trying to perfect my craft. A lot of the songs I realized I heard a lot of my pain in it when I was coming up with the album title. I come up with the album title after I make the songs. I was listening back like, “I been through some s–t.” I was in Detroit most of the time. I recorded a couple songs in L.A. I just want my core to be super happy with this work and I want to gain some new fans.
Have you noticed a difference creatively since trying ayahuasca?
Nah, I don’t really feel like ayahuasca helped me with my creative. I feel like ayahuasca helped me with life in general. It was deeper than being more creative. It was a life help.
I feel like that could go hand-in-hand.
For some people — but for me, it showed me what life was and how life works. It ain’t gonna write the music for me.
“Blow for Blow,” how was linking up with J. Cole? Tell that story for us.
I was trying to come up with the perfect song to do with Cole. I don’t want to just put Cole on any song. He helped me with that process like, “I already know what we should do. I got the perfect one for us.” When I heard it, I was blown away by his verse. Like I can’t half-step on here. Usually I go to the studio and go with the flow a little bit. This one I had to sit with it and really figure out what I want to say on here. Ain’t no matching Cole. He gave his sharp pen and I had to get my sharp pen for my world.
Did you talk to Pi’erre Bourne? He was surprised when the track dropped [as the producer].
I never kicked it with Pi’erre before. That was all Cole’s doing. [The track] was sent back-and-forth. [Cole and I] talked a lot so it was like we was in the studio together.
What was the origin of your friendship with Cole?
Probably like a year. The way we connected it wasn’t even about music. I’m really trying to get bro on GTA. I’m trying to get J. Cole on GTA and we’re kicking it about the game and chopping it up about real life. I told him about my experience with ayahuasca and stuff like that. To have a friendship like that, I just decided to take advantage of that. I let him know I needed him. Even if he would’ve said no, nothing would’ve changed about our friendship. I still would’ve f–ked with him. I know he in the middle of working on The Fall Off. I would’ve understood. But bro made it happen for me. I wanna say this was March or April.
You reconnected with Mariah the Scientist for “Situationship.” You guys seem to have a good chemistry coming off “IDGAF” with Chris Brown, which hit the Billboard Hot 100 for her first entry.
I feel like the chemistry is there. I think I work well with female R&B artists. They bring a different type of soul to music. They melodies and voices and my verses — it just pairs very well.
Anything you wanted to do with the album that didn’t make the cut?
I did so much recording, and when we narrowed everything down, the best music was chosen. The way I usually do it — I make songs with a purpose. By the time I get to 15 or 16 songs, I’m confident in all of them. But this time, I recorded a bunch of music. Me and my time listened to all of it and chose the best 24. It was like 40 or 50 songs.
What else you got coming up the rest of the year?
I feel like this album gonna be in rotation for the rest of the year, and next year we got a tour coming. I feel like this is my best work. After they hear this, they not gonna want to hear nothing else from nobody.
There’s this leaked song with Kanye I think was supposed to be on either Yandhi or Jesus Is King called “Survive.” What’s the history of that? How was working with Ye? It’s a dope record. I wish people heard it.
When YNW Melly was out — free Melly — he had pulled up on Kanye. Melly had called me up when he was working on a mixtape at the time. He didn’t even ask Kanye if it was cool, he was just like, “Pull up.” I pull up, and Kanye was like, “I rock with you too. I want to do some work with you.” That turned into me going out to Mexico, and Kanye was out there and we started working and vibing. It was a super dope experience.
Touch on the gaming space, as far as what’s ahead and how lucrative it’s been for you.
It’s so much deeper than the money. I enjoy doing it. Before I was a rapper, I was a gamer. I grew up on it. It’s definitely lucrative if done right. In a sense that you gotta stream and repurpose your content.
What do you think about GTA 6 potentially coming out next year? Has Rockstar tapped in with you?
Yeah, I definitely developed a relationship with Rockstar throughout this GTA thing. I think GTA 6 is coming next year for sure. I’m super excited to play. I would like to see servers based off of GTA 6. I definitely hope that role play is incorporated into it somehow.
Have GTA and Rockstar embraced RPs?
They have. FiveM is the host for all the role play servers and Rockstar bought FiveM. Rockstar has a FiveM team that’s heavily involved with the role play community. [I’m taking off] three weeks.
What’s your favorite GTA of all-time?
I like Grand Theft Auto III. That’s the one I played the most. That was a game you actually rode around shooting people. San Andreas is a classic for sure. What made me fall in love with it was Grand Theft Auto III.
Do you have any community service coming up?
I’m going to the jails and the juveniles. Not only giving back, but talking to the people and younger generation. Trying to give them some game, and shine some light on the fact that it ain’t over for you.
Big Glo season has arrived. GloRilla looks to cap off her banner year with the release of her Glorious debut album on Friday (Oct. 11). Ahead of the project hitting streaming services, Glo revealed some of the superstar guests that will be joining her on the LP on Monday (Oct. 7). Explore See latest videos, […]