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R&B/Hip-Hop

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06/14/2023

Billboard counts down the best hip-hop groups ever in honor of the genre’s 50th anniversary.

06/14/2023

Killer Mike wants to invite you to church on Wednesdays.
The invitation is for Killer Mike’s Midnight Revival, a private first listen of his next album Michael that serves as a “midnight mass” held at The Cathedral in Austin during SXSW on March 15. Inside, the refurnished 1930s church has hand fans on benches for cooling off. A program with a foreword reads: “Killer Mike gets recognized for many things – being an Outkast protégé, a member of powerhouse Run the Jewels, one of Atlanta’s biggest advocates, a Bernie Sanders whisperer, and perhaps most importantly, a voice of reason in an increasingly insane world.”

After a serenade of worship songs from his choir, Killer Mike steps up to the podium. His gold chain, with a large statue of St. Michael Slaying the Devil, stands out. His audience is music industry professionals, artists like Blxst and Scotty ATL, and his Loma Vista Records label reps. He’s an eloquent speaker filled with passion, inviting us into his place of worship.

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“I am proud to be a Southerner,” Killer Mike says. “I’m proud that my grandparents raised me in the Southern tradition. I’m proud my grandfather made me highly skeptical of preachers. He also taught me if you catch 50 fish, you keep 25 for yourself and you separate the other 25 for your neighbors.”

“I’m proud that my grandmother…” he continues — before pausing to fight back tears, sparking encouragement from the audience to keep going. “I’m proud that she took me to these little churches every Sunday and on Wednesdays.”

In his speech, the rapper/activist talks about growing up in a neighborhood “started by Black people for Black people” and how they understood the power of community. He is proud of Collier Heights and proud of the teachers who believed in him. Most of all, he is proud of Atlanta.

“I’m proud that God has put me before you tonight to play what I’ve worked on for two years,” he continued. “It’s not to see if you like it or not or if it has a club jam, it is simply for us to commune together and celebrate 20 years of a relationship that I’ve had with many of you.”

Over the course of the evening, supporting characters make their cameos in his self-described “audio movie.” There’s narration by Rico Wade. Cee-Lo Green appears on “Down by Law.” Backed by church organs and pianos, Dave Chappelle intros “RUN,” featuring Young Thug. Chappelle arrives late to the church service but is embraced nonetheless. 

The Dungeon Family homages continue with “Scientists & Engineers,” featuring André 3000 and Future. Curren$y, 2 Chainz and Kaash Paige put together a banging Cutlass anthem over an Honorable C.N.O.T.E. beat for “Spaceship Views”. Blxst puts you in the heart of Adamsville and right by Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd on “Exit 9.” Run the Jewels returns with thankugoodsir, the formal introduction of Virginia songwriter Harold Lilly Jr., on “Don’t Let the Devil.” Detroit songstress Eryn Allen Kane lends her angelic voice to “Motherless.”

Michael’s release date is this Friday (June 16), after it was initially planned for April 20 on Killer Mike’s birthday. It’s a few days after Mother’s Day when he speaks about the album again over Zoom. “I consider myself fortunate that I’ve stayed hungry,” Killer Mike says. “Being denied something lights a fire in you, and being denied a proper opportunity to be me in full on an album has been much of the driving force [for making Michael] — I just want it to be understood, and seen for who I really am.”

In 2023, Killer Mike is celebrating several career milestones to celebrate that speak to his longevity in the game. Earlier year, Killer Mike’s debut studio album Monster turned 20. Run the Jewels is celebrating its 10th anniversary with a fall tour. And 11 years after 2012’s R.A.P. Music, Killer Mike is getting deeply personal with Michael, and rolling out his first major solo trek with the High & Holy Tour starting in July. The memoir-like tracks are chapters in his life, exploring his beginnings as a nine-year-old boy growing up in the religious South and on the West side of Atlanta, his teenage love and the abortion that came after, being exposed to depression and addiction, leaving his dope boy life behind, and finally his transformation into the beloved rapper, political thinker, and activist that he is today.

Killer Mike talks about the inspiration for Michael comprehensively because it is autobiographical in nature. Nearly a half-century of life is a lot to compress in 14 tracks, so each detail is purposeful. He tells us the history of his family from Tuskegee, Alabama, and how they all raised him together, being proud of his lineage and where he comes from. His grandfather is Willie Burke Sherwood, who died in 2003; his grandmother, Bettie Clonts, died in 2012. His mother, known affectionately as “Mama Niecy,” passed in 2017. He speaks highly of all of them, including his family members less familiar to the public eye, like his father, his non-biological father, his uncles, and his sisters LaShunda and Lovie.

Reflecting on what church taught him after going to service with his grandmother, Killer Mike starts by examining the relationship between his grandmother and mother. “My mom was a beautiful spirit, but she was a wild child,” Killer Mike says. “Her mother was strictly adherent to Southern Pentecostalism and Southern Baptist. She spent years thinking that her daughter just did not accept it. But her daughter was a spiritual presence in so many people’s lives and carried in a different way, a campaign of helping people much like Jesus did, that my grandmother simply didn’t understand. And it took me years to reconcile that both women had made such an impact on me that I was in part a product of both.”

“I learned a lot in church. I learned a lot about the character of Jesus as a revolutionary in matters of how he loved. I always admired him, and I loved the music that came out of the Black Pentecostal church experience because it was so moving,” he continues. “It was literally I couldn’t sit there and be still. I couldn’t sit there and not shout. I couldn’t sit there and not be overwhelmed with emotion to cry. That’s the power of music and that’s what I wanted to do. I just had to understand how to fuse that with a hip-hop-like experience, and I mastered that on Michael.”

Killer Mike began working on Michael in 2021, starting as a collaborative mixtape between him and Cuz Lightyear — who was his mentee under the name SL Jones, and a part of the Grind Time Rap Gang. As they were working on the mixtape version of Michael, Lightyear had an idea one day while they were in No Face No Case Studios in Atlanta. “Cuz was like, ‘Aye man, I think you oughta work on your solo album,’” Mike recalls his collaborator saying. “‘You got these solo songs and stuff and this s–t is really good. I’m gonna put my career on pause and I’m gonna spend the next year, two years totally focused on helping you be what you need to be.’ When somebody sacrifices themselves for you, you owe them to do your very best.”

Determined to put his best effort forward, Killer Mike says he called his manager Will Bronson and star producer No I.D. to let them hear Michael. “Will had heard it and was loving it already,” he says. “He always wanted No I.D. to produce a project for me. No I.D. DJ Toomp, and El-P were three of the people [where] he loved hearing me on their beats. So, I called Dion, ‘Hey man, I’m not doing nothing, I got something that I want to let you hear. And I need your help making it great. It’s good, but I want to make it great.’”

No I.D. came on as a co-executive producer on Michael, suggesting Killer Mike “deal with professionals” — meaning bringing in top-tier talent like Harold Lilly Jr., who did work on eight songs; Dammo, who played bass throughout the album; and Eryn Allen Kane, who worked on five songs. Commitment to the same team of “pros,” as Killer Mike calls them, resulted in free-flowing creative sessions with little pressure, which made the sound cohesive and pushed him to be a better musician. Lilly Jr., who is credited as thankugoodsir as a token of gratitude to an MC he respects, called the rapper a bluesman after he heard Michael.

“There’s no age on blues singers,” Lilly Jr. says. “And they are not selling you on anything. They are just telling you what happened. So, when I’m listening to his music in the studio, I said, ‘Hey man, you’re Muddy Waters.’ He said, ‘What? What you mean?’ I said, ‘Hey bro, you are a blues singer.’ I said, ‘Blues singers, all they do is tell the truth.’”

At first, Killer Mike didn’t get the connection, but it inspired him to approach his future albums differently.

“What greater tradition to walk in than that of a blues singer?” Lilly Jr. says. “And these blues singers were children of slaves. They go north and then they have these careers. They go to Europe for the first time and when they step on the ground in Europe, they are treated like kings. The Rolling Stones, they just want to look at Muddy Waters. They just want to shake his hand. The Beatles, they just want to look at Louis Armstrong!

“Why do they have so much power?” Lilly Jr. continues. “They are summoning some power. They got their own clothes on, and they say their own words. They have their own opinions about things. And Killer Mike… man, listen. That’s why I told him that.”

On May 11, Killer Mike debuted a two-part short film tribute to his late mother, conveying a nostalgic homage to the parties she used to throw at her home in “Don’t Let the Devil,x” and a powerful video to cope with his loss on “Motherless.” Eryn Allen Kane’s presence is especially felt in “Motherless.” Her involvement in Michael came through a mutual friend, comedian Hannibal Buress, who suggested to Killer Mike that she sing the hook for “Motherless.”

After Buress called her to come to the studio, she said, “It was cool because I didn’t know anything before I got there. They told me once I arrived, ‘There’s this song that Mike is going back and forth on, do you think you could deliver? He wants this feeling of the song ‘Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child.’”

“Luckily I knew the song,” she continues. “I sang it when I went to high school. I was in a performing arts school, so we had to sing it in different competitions, singing Negro spirituals and whatnot. So I knew that reference. I started to do it and I was a little nervous. And he came into the room and explained to me, ‘This is about my mother, and I just need it to feel like I can feel her presence. I know you can’t relate to this, but channeling the feeling of losing someone near to you — maybe you can relate to that.’”

When it came time to shoot the video for “Motherless,” Eryn Allen Kane remembers things weren’t going right with the production, and she was starting to feel uncomfortable. But Killer Mike’s encouragement helped her flip a switch and pull off the performance on camera. “He came in and he was just like, ‘I started telling people when you come in the room, [it’s] like God is in the room. It makes me level up when God is in the room. Your voice, God is speaking through you,” she recalls. “And I was like, ‘Thank you, I really needed that, because I’m nervous!’”

Eryn Allen Kane feels a spiritual connection with Killer Mike, because they both learned about music through the Black church, despite coming from different parts of the country — Detroit and Atlanta, respectively. “When he mentions loss, I thought about those things myself, and the things I’ve been through,” she says. “I think the church connects us all… I think some of the greatest artists come up through the church.”

No I.D. says Killer Mike was holding something back when he played him “Motherless.” The reason it was the last song recorded for the album is that Killer Mike hadn’t uttered the words “my mama dead” since her passing. When asked why the record is so important to him, he tells vivid stories about vulnerability after death, threading together various memories of conversations he’s had with his family, and how he’s had to step up when they’re no longer with them. It dates back to his great-grandmother Truzella, carries on to his grandfather Willie, then to his grandmother Bettie, and finally, to his mother.

Killer Mike recalls the moment when he learned that his mother passed away, processing her death again in real time. After learning she was in the hospital for her kidney disease, he decided to finish business in Europe for Run the Jewel, before taking a flight trying to make it back home. She died while he was on the plane before he got to say goodbye. “I felt like I had chosen my wants and ambitions over my mother. I felt like I had accepted the role of her as big sister, when I truly in the moment of her dying understood that this is my mother,” he says.

He explains that as a child, you feel resentful for the decisions your parents make. His mother was only 16 years old when she was pregnant with him, having to let his grandparents raise him with his two sisters. “I had to realize that this is what my mother did for me and for us,” he says. “It turned out to be totally the right thing to do. My grandparents raised three wonderful children: me, my sister LaShunda, and my sister Lovie. But what that said, we never as children understood the sacrifice.”

Killer Mike begins to cry. He now understands what his grandmother was going through when she couldn’t accept that her mother and husband passed away.

“I miss my mama. I miss her so much,” he says. “I wish I could call her and tell her how much people love this record. I wish I could tell her having me listen to Curtis Mayfield influenced the first song on this record and the vibe of this record. I wish I could tell her how much her encouragement means to me. And I said all of this while she was alive. I told her she was dope. I told her, ‘Aw Ma, I love listening to Curtis Mayfield, The Isleys and Willie Nelson with you,’ but I didn’t understand how to let her know until she was gone the deep reverence I have for her. I revere her and I wish I had the opportunity to share that with her. She’s the only human being I hold that kind of reverence for. And that’s how that song makes me feel every time I hear it.”

Killer Mike regains his composure and smiles. He knows she’s proud of him. “I have no doubts of that. I don’t question it. I don’t have any regrets.”

We’re just two days away from the release of “Attention,” Doja Cat’s new single, and the teases just keep on coming. She debuted the song’s bloody cover art Tuesday (June 13) without revealing the title, then subtly confirmed it through pre-save link after initially announcing the then-unnamed track. The “Get Into It (Yuh)” rapper followed […]

Snoop Dogg and The Weeknd have expanded their brands in dozens of unique and intersting ways, from investing in tech, hawking clothing lines, books and wine to starring in HBO dramas. But the one business the pair have not yet been able to crack is the NHL. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See […]

If anyone can make Made In America extra special this year, it’s Lizzo and SZA. On Wednesday (June 14), the festival announced the two “Special” collaborators as its 2023 headliners. From Sept. 2-3, 2023, the two Billboard Hot 100 chart-topping cross-genre stars will entertain fans at Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia. This year’s festival will […]

Amazon’s Amp is launching a new emerging artist program, The Come Up. The live radio app developed the program in collaboration with veteran industry executive Kenny Burns.  Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news With a focus on Atlanta-based hip-hop at its launch on June 15, The Come Up will give creators […]

Eminem‘s daughter, Alaina Marie Scott, celebrated her wedding to Matt Moeller on Tuesday (June 13) with a series of pictures from the couple’s Detroit nuptials. “June 9, 2023 simply one of the best days of my life🤍 in this lifetime and in the next, my soul will always find yours,” the bride wrote in an Instagram post that featured glamour shots of the happy couple.
The roll opens with an epic snap of the pair on a rooftop, with Scott’s billowing veil blowing in the wind behind her as they kiss, followed by a more intimate shot of them smooching in an elevator and then again outside their vintage limo. In other pictures, the pair show off their wedding rings by flipping a finger to the camera, share a slow dance during the reception and pose with their wedding party, including Alaina’s sister, Hailie Jade, who served as the maid of honor.

Famous dad Marshall Mathers — who adopted niece Alaina, 30, more than 20 years ago when her biological mom, Em’s ex Kim Mathers’ sister, Dawn Scott, died of a suspected drug overdose — did not appear to make a cameo in the pictures. She has, however, been memorialized in his lyrics over the years, including in 2004’s “Mockingbird,” where he raps, “Lainey, uncle’s crazy ain’t he?/ Yeah, but he loves you girl and you better know it/ We’re all we got in this world/ When it spins, when it swirls/ When it whirls, when it twirls, two little beautiful girls.”

In a 2004 interview with Rolling Stone Eminem talked about their relationship, saying, “I have full custody of my niece… my niece has been a part of my life ever since she was born. Me and Kim pretty much had her, she’d live with us wherever we was at.”

Alaina also posted a brief video in which she wears a feather-decked white silk robe while flashing her engagement ring — before the scene switches to the wedding day — with the caption, “Love, Mr & Mrs Moeller.”

See the wedding pics below.

This year, the 44th anniversary of the monthlong celebration of Black music’s rich legacy and influence carries an extra special meaning for the observance’s co-founders: Kenneth Gamble and Dyana Williams. That’s because — by presidential proclamation — the name of the annual June campaign has been changed back to Black Music Month after also being called African-American Music Appreciation Month in recent years.
President Joe Biden signed the proclamation on May 31, 2023. It reads in part, “During Black Music Month, we pay homage to legends of American music, who have composed the soundtrack of American life. Their creativity has given rise to distinctly American art forms that influence contemporary music worldwide and sing to the soul of the American experience.”

In tandem with the proclamation, Biden and first lady Jill Biden are hosting a Juneteenth concert on the South Lawn on Tuesday (June 13) at 7 p.m. ET. Performers include Jennifer Hudson, Ledisi, Audra McDonald and Method Man. Biden signed bipartisan legislation two years ago that established Juneteenth as a federal holiday. Celebrated on June 19, Juneteenth commemorates the end of slavery in the U.S.

“I’m elated that President Biden issued the proclamation,” says Gamble, co-founder of legendary label Philadelphia International with songwriting-production partner Leon Huff. “Black music represents a multibillion-dollar business and cultural asset that informs human beings globally. When we established the Black Music Association in the late 1970s, it was our intention to galvanize different aspects of the Black music business, along with the all-important consumers, to elevate our industry and garner respect for the creatives and professionals. Black is more than just a color; it’s a frame of mind. All genres of music created by Black folks in America are our heart and soul gifts — as well as a universal language widely felt and embraced worldwide.”

The first observance of Black Music Month, which also featured a concert on White House’s South Lawn, occurred on June 7, 1979, under President Jimmy Carter. Inspired by the efforts of the Country Music Association, which had established October as Country Music Month, BMA members Williams, Gamble and Cleveland radio DJ Ed Wright enlisted the assistance of then-Motown president Clarence Avant, veteran label executive Joe Smith and other industry professionals to petition Carter and launch an annual observance. However, in christening June as Black Music Month at the time, Carter didn’t sign a presidential proclamation.

“Had he done that, every American president that came into office after him would have done so,” says Williams, a veteran broadcaster/media strategist.

Dyana Williams

Whitney Thomas

At the suggestion of President Clinton’s administration, Williams began lobbying Congress in the late ’90s. With the help of Philadelphia Congressman Chaka Fattah, the African-American Music Bill was introduced in the House of Representatives. It subsequently secured passage as House Resolution 509 in 2000. But over the years, confusion emerged about which name to use: Black Music Month or African-American Music Appreciation Month.

“I wanted to eliminate the confusion and re-establish the name Black Music Month because that’s how it has always been celebrated in the music industry and broader communities,” says Williams. So she began sending “countless” emails to the succeeding White House administrations over the years. And she kept writing until May 31 when Erica Loewe, the White House director of African American Media, sent her a copy of the Biden-signed presidential proclamation.

“It was a joyful moment,” says Williams, who will also be attending the White House’s Juneteeth concert celebration.

In the meantime, Williams’ and Gamble’s son Caliph Gamble is carrying his family’s music-activism legacy into the next generation as a co-founder of the Sons of Legends Foundation. Like the BMA before it, the foundation will further foster the importance of Black Music Month in addition to launching community initiatives and other projects.

“It’s an honor to have observed my parents’ work over the course of my life,” says Caliph Gamble. “And it’s with great pleasure that we look forward to establishing a blueprint of what they’ve accomplished, so generations to come can use their model as an option toward their own success.”

In lockstep with BMA’s mission nearly 50 years ago to annually recognize and celebrate the economic and cultural power of Black music, Gamble coined the slogan “Black Music Is Green.” Notes Williams, “Kenny was right 44 years ago, and he’s still right now. It’s a profitable business but one that doesn’t always get the respect it deserves. To my very last breath, I will be promoting this music.”

Rob49 has persevered through a lot more than the average 24-year-old trying to assimilate into adult life. Raised by his mother while his father was incarcerated for most of his childhood, the New Orleans native still knew his future wouldn’t be boxed inside the Big Easy’s unforgiving 4th and 9th Ward neighborhoods.

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Not many hip-hop stories begin with a stint in the National Guard and pivoting to pursue a nursing degree before finding success in the music industry, but that was indeed the case for Rob, who essentially fell into rapping after making a song in the studio with a friend.

The year 2022 proved to be huge in Rob49’s ascension, as he rode the relentless “Vulture Island” — which received a boost thanks to a remix from Lil Baby — to the biggest song of his career to date. It was all nearly taken away in January when Rob (born Robert Thomas) was reportedly one of 10 people injured during a shooting on the set of a French Montana video in Miami Gardens.

The Geffen Records signee didn’t spend much time on the mend in recovery as he’s been locked in the studio with the likes of Lil Durk, and returned to offer up his first project since the shooting with 4GOD II last Friday (June 9). Draped in an azure blue Amiri sweatsuit with crisp white Air Force 1’s straight out of the box, Rob49 is laid-back in conversation during his April New York City visit, where he could easily be mistaken for Knicks guard R.J. Barrett while walking around the Big Apple.

“As long as you’re doing better than what you did when you started this s–t,” he bluntly says of his mentality when it comes to gauging his current success. “I just want to make some music. I don’t really give a f–k about no fame or nothing.”

Find more from our interview with the rising star below, which finds him explaining why he deaded a Hurricane Chris DM, his appreciation for Lil Wayne and why selling vapes in the army nearly got him kicked out.

Billboard: How does the elevation in your career feel? This is a special time.

Rob49: I’m grateful. Just because I know — like I said, I got signed with 10,000 followers, and anything I drop right now is gone get over 10,000 views. So I really don’t give a f–k.

Not even sitting courtside at the New Orleans Pelicans games?

I’ve always wanted to sit courtside. When me and my cousin would get some tickets, we would always say, “We’re gonna sit courtside.” He said he was gon’ buy them — he had faith in himself that much. He winded up getting a good job in the oil business. He graduated high school before me I said, “I’m not making it to get that much money in three or four years.” I winded up getting it first. 

Are the seats free or do you gotta pay for them? 

Sometimes they invite you and sometimes you gotta pay. I been paying for most of them b–ches though. I be wanting to go to the games I want to go to.

[Curren$y’s] like Spike Lee down there.

That’s exactly what it is. They treat him like that. They treat me like that too. If there’s a three or something in the game, they’ll look at me. They f–k with me like that. They turned my [“Vulture Island”] up. 

The Pelicans just asked me to make a version of “Vulture Island” for them. I just ran into Zion [Williamson] at the movies. He’s like, “What you doing here?” I’m like, “What you doing at the movies?” We went and saw Scream VI.  

Who were some of your early childhood musical influences? What was your mom playing?

My mom was playing Beyoncé. I was listening to Lil Wayne, Kanye [West]. I like what 106 & Park had on. At that time, they were playing Hurricane Chris, “A Bay Bay.” He talking about doing a song [with me]. I’ll show you [the DM]. I ain’t never hit him back because he was looking crazy. He look like he lost all his sauce. That ain’t the same n—a. 

How about listening to Lil Wayne in that prime era of like 2006-2008? That may have been the most prolific rapper we’ve ever seen.

I liked the 2013-2014 Wayne, that Sorry for the Wait 2 and “Hollyweezy.” I listen to that s–t and I’m like, “Damn.” I don’t know nothing about Tha Carters. That skit with his momma on Tha Carter V was so hard. And the Free Weezy album too. I was like seven [during that mixtape run]. I wasn’t listening to no Wayne. I wasn’t listening to nothing but Beyoncé. All I knew was, “To the left, to the left.” No cap. 

What was childhood like for you? Were you playing a lot of sports?

I was playing football. I hated video games — I feel like they were for people I didn’t want to be like. I was outside all day stealing bikes and s–t. 

How about just keeping that relationship going with your dad when he got out of prison?

Immediately. My daddy used to get me from school. It was never about the money. He started working at Walmart and s–t when he got out. So he couldn’t go hard so it was more being a father figure.

What was life like during Hurricane Katrina?

First, we had tried to go to Baton Rouge and we stayed in a gym. They gave us these peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. We had went to Houston, so I remember Houston for three or four months. Then we came back home. I stayed in the projects so it was bricks. The houses were f–ked up but the buildings were okay. They was f–ked up but not unlivable.

Did you really go to school for nursing?

Yeah, I was trying to do my prereqs. That’s like math class and s–t. So people say nursing, but I didn’t do all that. I was trying to go to school for nursing, but my partner said he wanted to go to school for nursing. He told me I couldn’t. I went to Southern and he didn’t end up going to college. 

I did one semester, and then I winded up dropping out and making music. I went to the National Guard after [high] school to get into college. I think that was one of the best things that happened to me in my life for real. That s–t make you feel like you could do anything. 

You were selling Juuls and vapes in the National Guard?

Yeah, facts — and they ended up catching me. That was before I even knew about Juuls. I felt like we was the first ones to really discover that. We’d see everybody vaping. They was trying to do it where you don’t get caught because these dudes smoke cigarettes. I didn’t get kicked out for that. I was about to tell them people too. 

I remember my first time getting restarted, I had got into it with this dude. He said I called him a racial slur or something. I swear on my brother that he was deadass lying. They tried to restart us. They called me and my dog from Memphis. We go downstairs, and they like, “Pack y’all bags, too.” 

I’m thinking they ’bout to switch our company, because there was two companies starting together — Alpha and Bravo — and we got the same graduation date. Then they got Charlie started eight weeks after us. So we thought we were going to Bravo. We walked through Bravo and went to Charlie. I just dropped my bags like, “F–k y’all!” They had nothing but 40-year-olds and we were the youngest people in there. 

Were there girls in the army with you?

They got girls in there. Girls out their mind in the army. When I first went to my job schooling, they had a girl in there, and she had a Twitter — everybody like, “This girl from Twitter.” I’m thinking she popping on Twitter. I’m in my room one day and they like, “You saw the girl from Twitter outside lunch today.” 

I’m like, “Yeah, who is that? Show me her Twitter.” Man, this girl was ass-naked on all her Twitter. She playing with herself. She that type of girl. I’m like, “What the fuck?” And she in the training with us. I jumped in her DMs. The whole battalion knew her but me. 

You kinda just fell into rapping too, right?

My same partner that told me I couldn’t go to school for nursing, he was the rapper. I was trying to get behind him, but he was trying to sound like Roddy Ricch. I had made a song in the studio with him. They felt like I was good at it before I felt like I was good at it.

Me and him had gone to a party and they had some live performances. He’s like, “Let me pay them $250 to let you perform.” I tapped him, “Our time is gonna come.” I probably had like 1,000 followers. The same people trying to pay me $60,000 now. That was like three years ago. 

In Miami, we had paid for King of Diamonds for a section for my birthday, and my people had got into it with them, and they wind up not letting us in the club. We sitting out there looking stupid — but now they just gave me that bag to go in that b—h [a year later]. 

YoungBoy fans were pissed that you posted the photo of you working with Durk. They thought you guys wouldn’t collab now. Would you want to work with him?

I don’t know what they was talking about. I mean whoever f–king with me, I’m f–king with it. It’s music at the end of the day. I seen that s–t. 

What game did you take from Birdman?

He just texted me. I remember when he first met me and I only had like 5,000 followers, and he was telling me that I was going to be the one. He just told me to keep going. That’s the only game he ever gave me. 

What’s the “Yeet, Yeet” ad-lib mean on “Vulture Island?”

Yeah, I made it up. That’s just some bulls–t I said on there. I thought it sounded good. It really was my ad-libs. I was just punching in trying to catch a vibe on the song. I remember playing it for my momma and she said, “That sounds so good but just take that yeet, yeet part out and say something else.” 

I’m like, “No.” She been a good A&R though. I remember playing “No Kizzy,” which is going crazy on TikTok. I think I was at 10,000 followers before I signed anything, and she told me, “Don’t release this song. The world not ready for this.” 

What’s the biggest purchase you’ve made in the last year or two?

Probably a chain. I didn’t even wanna buy that chain. I knew I had to get a chain, and I couldn’t keep coming with the lil’ boy chain — because they gonna look at you like a lil’ boy. 

How’d you go broke from your initial signing money?

I didn’t go all the way broke. I went close to broke. I don’t be tryna spend as much as I was spending. I didn’t have nothing to show for it for myself. At least this time, it’s not going to that no more, and I got s–t to show. Momma got a crib. I need to get a financial advisor because I don’t be looking at my account. 

Are you gonna drop another project this year?

Yeah, I’ma drop another project right after this. Probably like three or four months [later]. 

How are you moving differently after the shooting? 

Just moving better. Smart movements — everyone knows what smart moves are. I’m moving like [Drake]. 

The sky is clear and Fresh Picks is here. This week, we’ve got an array of sounds to get you through the week and beyond — from the R&B stylings of Maeta and Col3trane to rap anthems by Sexyy Red and Statik Selektah. Don’t forget to share the wealth and check out our June picks so far in the Spotify Playlist, linked below.

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See latest videos, charts and news

Maeta, “Cool Cat”

Maeta includes a cover of Queen’s 1982 cut “Cool Cat” — recently given a bump in exposure by an Amazon Prime ad — on her new EP, When I Hear Your Name. The Roc Nation newcomer adds her falsetto to the funk-rock song, making for a standout track alongside other impressive album cuts, including “Sexual Love” with James Fauntleroy, “ASMR” and “See You Around.”

Sexyy Red, “SkeeYee”

When Sexyy Red hollers “SkeeYee,” that means pull up. The St. Louis rapper has another hit on her hands with the track from her new mixtape, Hood Hottest Princess. She also shared a video to the song, in which her and GloRilla get lit at a strip club.

Sam Tompkins, “Time Will Fly”

After making a splashy entrance alongside Jnr Choi on the 2022 Hot 100 hit “To the Moon,” U.K. singer-songwriter Sam Tompkins blitzes listeners with his poignant single “Time Will Fly.” Tompkins aims for heartstrings as he ruminates about his humble beginnings over the melancholy soundscape. Up against the shot clock, Tompkins’ determination fuels his musical dreams, as he looks to take the next step in his burgeoning career.

Statik Selektah feat. Conway, Ab-Soul & Bun B, “Ain’t Too Much to It”

For this 10th studio album Round Trip, Statik Selektah loads up 20 tracks for his ravenous hip-hop fanbase. Armed with a crew of heavy bar-spitters (Logic, Joey Bada$$, Russ, & Benny The Butcher), Statik Selektah’s lush production and funky soul samples anchor the lyrical collection. Statik’s knack for clever pairings makes Round Trip an even better ride, as he puts together Ransom and AZ on “Historic” along with Conway the Machine, Ab-Soul and Bun B on “Ain’t Too Much To It.”

Tay Iwar, “Summer Breeze”

The title is self-explanatory, and boy, does it not disappoint. Tay Iwar captures the essence of summer on this recent offering, the trailing saxophone melodies and reverberating keys wrapping around Iwar’s perfectly wispy vocals.

Col3trane, “Moderation”

According to many, moderation is the key to a balanced life. On his latest R&B-pop cut, Col3trane agrees. The U.K. artist dips medicine in honey, delivering an important life lesson amidst summertime production and a relatable storyline.