Earlier this month, Lil Uzi Vert announced that his upcoming album, The Pink Tape, would arrive before Halloween. He said it was in the “mixing process right now” during an interview on the blue carpet for Jay-Z’s anniversary event at the 40/40 Club in August. But it now appears the wait will go on a bit longer than expected.
Lil Uzi Vert says Pink Tape will not release next week because he wants to make it perfect and doesn’t want to see people online saying it sucks pic.twitter.com/mh38ME3eMs
In a video posted on social media, Lil Uzi Vert revealed the upcoming album is delayed for creative reasons. When asked if The Pink Tape would arrive before Halloween, he simply replied, “No it’s not.” He elaborated, saying, “Then it drops next week and then it sounds like sh*t and I gotta hear it from, well not from you, but I gotta hear it from 100,000 people on the internet saying, ‘This sucks!’ So you gotta let me take my time!” A fan assured the rapper that the project would not suck and Uzi replied, “But I’m taking my time so it won’t suck.”
In the meantime, you can check out Uzi’s latest release, “Thankful,” from the compilation Culture Jam Vol. 1, which Kawhi Leonard co-executive produced.
Lil Uzi Vert is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
“Nearly six months after its release, Moneybagg Yo returned with a reloaded version of his fourth album, A Gangsta’s Pain, which added seven additional songs to the album’s original 22 tracks. One of those is “Switches & Dracs,” featuring Lil Durk and EST Gee. Now there’s a video, in which the rappers stand tall and flex heavy muscle while delivering rhymes about their loyalty.
The album’s extended version also includes new appearances from DJ Khaled, Lil Wayne, Ashanti, Yung Bleu, Ja’niyah, and Big Homiie G. They join acts such as Polo G, Kaash Paige, Pharrell, Future, Big30, and more, who appeared on the album’s standard version. Shortly after A Gangsta’s Pain was originally released, it topped the charts, becoming Moneybagg’s first No. 1 album. A couple of weeks later, it returned to No. 1, making it one of eight albums in 2021 to spend multiple weeks atop the albums chart.
Prior to releasing the extended version of A Gangsta’s Pain, Moneybagg released a sultry video for “One Of Them Nights” and got lost in the sunken place in his video for “Wockesha.”
You can watch the video for the new track above.
A Gangsta’s Pain: Reloaded is out now via CMG/N-Less/Interscope Records. Get it here.
Beyonce is preparing for another release through her beloved line Ivy Park, and it sees her partnering with Peloton, the popular fitness company. According to Women’s Wear Daily, the upcoming line includes lifestyle and performance footwear and apparel in neon, olive, and black colors. In total, 29 pieces will be available, including T-shirts, bike shorts, tights, sports bras, shorts, windbreaks, and cropped hoodies. She’s also releasing the IVP Ultrapack, a unisex sneaker that will be sold in sizes 4 to 14.
The line will be available on the Adidas website, in physical stores, and on the Peloton e-commercial sites on November 10. Prices for the apparel will range from $45 to $200 while IVP Utrapack shoes are priced at $200. She also shared a campaign video for the upcoming drop on her Instagram page.
Beyonce teamed with Peloton nearly a year ago for a multi-year partnership benefiting HBCUs, which gave two-year Peloton Digital memberships to students at ten HBCUs: Bennett College, Clark Atlanta University, Grambling State University, Hampton University, Howard University, Morehouse College and Morehouse School of Medicine, Spelman College, Texas Southern University, and Wilberforce University. Students were thus granted access to a library of fitness classes on the Peloton app. In a press release, the fitness company also promised to “build on its relationships with each of these schools to pursue long-term recruiting partnerships at both the internship and undergraduate levels.”
This year alone, French mega-producer DJ Snake has already released the tracks “Selfish Love” with Selena Gomez and “Run It” with Rick Rosst and Rich Brian off of the Shang-Chi soundtrack. But the world is not enough for the man and his latest drop might be the most worldly yet.
On “SG”, DJ Snake united cross-cultural artists in, the Puerto Rican reggaeton superstar Ozuna, Houston native Megan Thee Stallion, and K-Pop queen Lisa of Blackpink (who’s actually originally from Thailand). Ozuna drives the track vocally with his benevolent life of the party delivery. Meg pops in to slay a verse, as forward as ever, punctuating with, “I gotta get the head before I let you get the tail,” and then Lisa — who just last month released her debut solo album Lalisa — rounds-up the all-star appearances.
The grandiose music video directed by Colin Tilley, who has worked with DJ Snake a number of times, as well as Justin Bieber, Halsey, J Balvin, Post Malone, etc. The visual features the typical Latin trap video trope set in Miami with a luxury yacht, palm trees, fancy pools, and of course, the club.
Watch the video for “SG” above and check out DJ Snake’s upcoming tour dates below.
10/23/2021 — Las Vegas, NV @ EDC Las Vegas
10/28/2021 — Chicago, IL @ Tao
10/29/2021 — San Bernardino, CA @ Escape Halloween
10/30/2021 — Las Vegas, NV @ Zouk
10/31/2021 — Montreal, QC @ New City Gas
11/05/2021 — Las Vegas, NV @ Zouk
11/06/2021 — Cancun, Mexico @ Ozuna Festival
11/11/2021 — Las Vegas, NV @ Zouk
11/13/2021 — Leon, Mexico @ Festival Internacional del Glabo
12/16/2021 — Saudi Arabia @ Soundstorm Festival
12/28/2021 — New York, NY @ Marquee
12/29/2021 — Los Angeles, CA @ Academy
12/30/2021 — Denver, CO & Phoenix, AZ @ Decadence Festival
12/31/2021 — Dallas, TX @ Lights All Night Festival
01/01/2022 — Las Vegas, NV @ Zouk
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Chicago rapper Mick Jenkins is back with another new single to promote his upcoming album, Elephant In The Room. After kicking off his latest buzz cycle with the video for “Contacts,” Mick addresses the disappointment of going through a relationship feeling like a second-place priority with “Scottie Pippen.” Named for the NBA Hall of Famer who has famously been committed to the annals of history as just being Michael Jordan’s sidekick despite being one of the greatest players of all time, the song is aptly named.
For the rollout to Elephant In The Room, Mick has created a nifty website mirroring his phone’s calendar, contacts, notes, and photos apps, using it to offer insights into the album and the tracks that have been released so far. Of “Scottie Pippen,” Mick writes, “Scottie Pippen never got the recognition he deserved when playing next to Micahel Jordan. He is often relegated to just a sidekick, but he was just as important in those championship games as Mike. Sometimes no matter how hard we try we’ll just be number two to some. And no matter how great the work is, it goes underappreciated.”
Relatable content. Speaking of, there’s also a reminders list on his site with a link to pre-save the album, as well as reminders to “CALL YOUR MOTHER” and “Drink More Water,” which, y’know? We could all stand to do a little more.
One of the more amusing/annoying things about Twitter is the preponderance of food opinions and the rigor with which users debate such weighty and controversial topics as pineapple on pizza, whether hot dogs are sandwiches, and drumettes vs. flats. It generally tips further into annoying, though, when folks get snooty about things like bottled water brands as indicators of wealth (it’s a whole thing; you can read about it here). Unfortunately, it seems no one is immune from the judgment of the Twitter peanut gallery — not even young artists as universally beloved as Chloe Bailey.
The 23-year-old singer recently attended the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks vs. Dallas Mavericks game, drawing attention for two major reasons. One was her immediate neighbor on the courtside seats: Atlanta rapper Gunna, whose reaction to Chloe’s recent VMA’s performance of her debut solo single “Have Mercy” went viral. And the other was her choice of beverage — a bottle of water. As photos of the couple(?) began circulating on Twitter, the water began drawing even more attention, mainly due to the name on the label: Dasani, which according to some Twitter users is an inferior brand (the ingredients are H2O, people, it shouldn’t be this serious).
Meanwhile, as some more astute folks observed, the brand of water being served is controlled by the venue, not the guest, and they were rightly amused at the water snobbery on display.
people who’ve never left the house are mad she has a Dasani in an arena where only Dasani is served https://t.co/Vl3GBJPPNf
I guess it just goes to show that you can’t do anything right as far as social media is concerned. Also, y’all need to drink more water, I promise it’s better for you than whatever sweet drinks you’re guzzling — no matter what brand it is.
After nearly four long years, Majid Jordan has returned with their third album Wildest Dreams. In normal circumstances, it’s longer than fans would’ve liked to wait in between projects, but if the last 20 months have taught us anything, we’re not at all dealing with normal circumstances. A once-in-a-lifetime pandemic brought the world to a standstill for the better part of a year. With that being said, it still leaves the following question unanswered: Where has Majid Jordan been these past few years?
“I think we almost played like 100 shows in a year in 2018 right after The Space Between came out. We were constantly on the road, living out of suitcases for about a year,” Jordan Ullman, the producer half of Majid Jordan tells me during a Zoom call. “It was a tense time of constantly thinking that we had to keep this music going. It’s like you released a project and people are like, ‘That’s cool, but like what’s next?’” He adds, “I think we’ve always tried to slow that process down and I think releasing this album and just being more in the moment of like engaging with people is the whole idea of where we want to take it next.”
The answer is Wildest Dreams, which arrives this week with eleven songs and guest appearances from Drake, Swae Lee, and Diddy. For Majid Jordan, there’s nothing but gratitude for the fans who, despite their thinning patience, stuck around with them over the past few years. “We wouldn’t be here without you,” Majid says earnestly. “We won’t let you down. You are not forgotten.” Jordan echos the same message and adds “there’s a lot more” on the way that their supporters will be able to enjoy in the coming months.
A key figure in helping Majid Jordan live out this dream is Drake and his OVO Sound label, which signed the duo back in 2013 and brought them to the national spotlight through tracks with the rapper like “Hold On We’re Going Home” and “My Love.” Contrary to social media theories that the Drake and Noah “40” Shebib-led imprint restricts their artists, Majid Jordan says exactly the opposite happens at OVO headquarters. “There’s no one who can say like, you can’t go and make music today,” Majid points out. “There’s no one who can tell us that. We can do everything on our own.” He adds, “The thing is, when you’re dealing, on a global scale, with a team that’s like that, it’s gonna just take a little bit longer than having 100-150 people behind you pushing everything all at the same time.”
The duo released two singles in both 2018 and 2019 before seemingly fading into the background. It was a well-needed and intentional break to slow down their creative process, as Jordan mentioned. Majid Al Maskati, the voice behind Majid Jordan, noted that last year’s pandemic further postponed their return as they were unsure of the health risks behind reuniting to create music. It’s here that Jordan shares how else the pandemic altered their plans. “We were very close to putting out an album, I would say we were wrapping it up end of 2019, early 2020,” he says. “We had a whole body of work under a whole different name, it was kind of like a fragment of an album.”
It’s a roadblock that many artists faced throughout 2020: share their art without being able to present it the way they’d like or hold off for an unknown amount of time. For Majid Jordan, the decision was easy. As their music is so attached to a live experience that amplifies and provides a completely new experience to the music fans heard in the comfort of their own home. It makes sense the duo placed a lot of focus on live performances and touring. Sonically, Majid Jordan is extremely diverse. The duo thrives in a pop world that keeps a foot in the R&B lane, allowing their work to be stretched and pulled into several sonic directions. Evidence of this lives on their 2014 EP A Place Like This and their two albums, Majid Jordan and The Space Between. Majid Jordan has grown in more ways than one and displays that growth on Wildest Dreams.
“There’s definitely an experimentation outside of the sound we’re usually known for [on this album], which I think is great for us,” Majid notes. “I think it’s being proactive in that sense of not being afraid to put the first foot forward into unfamiliar territory and just feeling it out, not even in private, but under the watchful eye of an entire world.” This is evident on tracks like “Forget About The Party,” a stripped-down, guitar-driven ballad that calls for “divine intervention” to redirect a lover from a party to their arms instead. It’s a song that Jordan believes is “at the center of who we are as musicians.” He adds, “I think it makes people remind themselves of a time in their lives. Anytime I listen to that, it really makes me go into a world of myself and memories.”
For Majid, the song that fits that category is “Sweet,” the album’s closer, pointing to a string of lyrics from it to explain why. “Be about me and I’ll be about you / Sing a song from your heart for me,” he sings on the track. “Leave a space in your heart for me / We’re not so different, but we’re moving differently / I feel it every time you leave / I never knew that love could be so sweet.” In short, “It’s that eye-opening feeling where it’s like we aren’t really different,” Majid says. “We’re just doing things differently to get to the same place the same end goal, that same dream we have for ourselves.”
Majid Jordan is unique as the duo is comprised of a singer and a producer, although there are similar acts including DVSN and They. It allows for Majid Jordan to create with just each other rather than relying on the availability and interest of another party. It’s a quality that the duo admitted may have contributed to their longevity. “When you start working on a project it can go many different ways, but I think we as two people are coming together in a way that the stuff we’re able to accomplish musically man?” Jordan says. “I couldn’t even dream of really doing it you know 10 years ago so I think in that way it’s getting easier.” However, that doesn’t mean that they won’t call on other artists when the occasion calls for it.
“We have a collaboration with Diddy, he’s featured on a song called ‘Sway,’” Majid notes. “He FaceTimed us like, ‘Yo wassup, I just wanted you to see the reaction to the song in real-time,’ and he’s dancing on FaceTime with his family. They’re all enjoying the song.” Another too-good-to-be-true moment came on “Dancing On A Dream,” the album’s opener which features Swae Lee. After multiple failed attempts to get the Rae Sremmurd rapper on the song, Majid Jordan submitted the album without the feature and returned to their everyday lives with Majid deciding to fly back to Bahrain, his birthplace, to spend time with family.
Days into his trip, he noticed an Instagram Story post from Swae Lee of him notifying his followers that he was on his way to Dubai, a city just an hour flight away from where he was staying in Bahrain. The singer knew he had to chase down the rapper to secure his vocals for “Dancing on A Dream.” “I have this duffel bag with just a mic, my laptop in it, whatever and I’m like I’m going to go find Swae Lee,” he says with a laugh. “I get there and I’m staying at a place that’s four minutes from his hotel. I find a way to reach out to them and he’s like, ‘Yo come through.’ I play him the music and he’s like, ‘I’m gonna destroy this.’ We basically party for three days, and on the third day, I get them to lay down a verse.”
From the young college students with a dream to the well-established duo that signed to Drake, made music with Diddy, and chased down Swae Lee in a foreign country, you can say that Majid and Jordan are living out their wildest dreams. However, what’s next? For Jordan, it’s opening doors for a marginalized community in the music industry. “I definitely want to make a concrete actual studio in Toronto, and I want this studio to be run by women,” he reveals, adding that his younger sister aspires to be a producer just like him. “Two percent of women are producers. It’s something that as soon you really put it into reality and understand that, it’s pretty ridiculous that it’s still like that.”
Majid also has noble aspirations that will hopefully make careers in the fine arts world more attainable and realistic for people in his home country of Bahrain. “A dream for me is to be able to give people where I’m from access to just arts programs — music, visual arts, drama, anything — and bring them over to this side,” he reveals. “Also, take people who are experts and connections that we’ve made, artists that we know, [and] bring them over to that side to give people that exposure and that connection.”
The duo’s unlikely success due to their unique beginnings contributes to their desire to help those who have the odds against them. It also serves as another point of inspiration behind Wildest Dreams. “When I left home, I left there with the dream of building a sustainable career — creating myself from nothing in another place,” Majid says. “So that dream, we’re still in the process, we’re on the cusp of it and now we’re putting out this album, we’re still kind of feeling it out. The struggle is knowing that it’s not a guarantee, and yet, pursuing it and persevering through the most difficult times.” Jordan emulates a similar thought from a broader point of view. “‘Dream’ in the initial can be such a blissful, built identity that isn’t in reach,” he says. “It’s just this idea, like [a] utopia. Then there’s also the reality of what do you dream of from other human beings and from yourself? I think the duality of that is found on [the album].”
Wildest Dreams is out now via OVO Sound/Warner Records. Get it here.
Majid Jordan is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
With the artist formerly known as Kanye West running around in spooky masks weeks before Halloween and pulling other attention-grabbing stunts like renting a room at the stadium in which he held the listening events for his latest album, it’s getting harder and harder to understand where the once-relatable artist is coming from. However, if anyone were to have a shot at coming close, it would be one of the two artists who most recently worked with West to secure a No. 1 hit record.
In a new interview with British GQ, Jack Harlow — who worked with Kanye West and Lil Nas X on the hit single “Industry Baby” — takes a stab at explaining Ye’s oddball behavior of late. “I think he sees himself as Mozart or Beethoven,” he guesses. “I think he’s worried, not about what it looks like now but what it will look like in 100 years. Take what happened with the Taylor Swift situation: at the time it was all pitchforks, but now people treat that as iconic. I am always fascinated to see what he does next. This Donda roll-out, people are going to remember that for years.”
People may remember the rollout, but the music itself received a lukewarm reception from both critics and fans. You can read Uproxx’s review here. Elsewhere in Jack’s interview, he addresses his often fraught relationship with race as a white hip-hop artist. “I think what has worked for me is that my music has never been about the fact that I am white,” he hypothesizes. “I don’t try to lean into the, ‘Hey, I’m the white boy.’ I try not to make it a novelty. I rap from the heart, rather than trying to do a white version of the art form.”
The RX is Uproxx Music’s stamp of approval for the best albums, songs, and music stories throughout the year. Inclusion in this category is the highest distinction we can bestow and signals the most important music being released throughout the year. The RX is the music you need, right now.
Over the past year, the pandemic utterly upended any number of artists’ plans, forcing many to push back their projects, change them, or abandon them altogether. The latter almost happened to North Carolinian Dreamville artist Lute, who was in the midst of his rollout for his new album Gold Mouf when quarantines and lockdowns forced the shutdown of most of the music industry.
For Lute, it was also the beginning of a months-long depression that had him questioning his place in the game. Sure, he’s signed to Dreamville, the label project founded by fellow North Carolinian J. Cole and modern equivalent to one of the Big Three rap labels back in the day — you know, Roc-A-Fella, Murder Inc., Ruff Ryders — alongside Top Dawg Entertainment and Quality Control. Dreamville is where emerging superstars like Bas, JID, and Ari Lennox have honed their craft over the past several years.
It’s also where Lute released his own debut album, West1996, back in 2017. But in today’s modern rap landscape, four years is a long time for a new artist to have to wait for a follow-up — even with a standout performance on the Revenge Of The Dreamers III compilation alongside label head J. Cole and another then-burgeoning NC standout, DaBaby. In the meantime, many of his labelmates have released projects and generated buzz for themselves, threatening to turn him into an afterthought of the roster, lost in the wash.
Fortunately, for Lute, Gold Mouf is more than worth it and proves equal to any project from his compatriots, including last year’s Spilligion, which featured Dreamville standouts JID and Earthgang. A vulnerable, confessional, relatable jaunt through the past four years, the project is not just a paean to his personal growth, it’s a beautifully produced, well-sequenced call for us all to check in on our mental health. Songs like “Birdsong” with JID and Chicago rapper Saba unearth lyrical gems from the muck of the past year, while “Changes” featuring BJ The Chicago Kid diagrams survival through myriad struggles.
The secret sauce is sequencing from yet another North Carolina native: Phonte Coleman of Little Brother and Foreign Exchange, who stepped in and offered to help sequence the album and make it the heartstring-pulling affair that it became in preparation of its delayed release. On a Zoom call with Lute, the rapper details the origins of his Gold Mouf< character; discusses the importance of self-care; and reveals his most wild remembrance of the legendary Revenge sessions.
So I guess, what’s been going on with you in those four years? Because you started out in one place, and now you’re in a different place. How have things changed since West1996?
I mean, honestly, it’s just life. Life changed, and life had been the… Just dealing with shit and anxiety and depression, and just everyday life stuff, bro. But at some point, I had to realize that in order for me to move forward with my life, in order for me to move forward with myself just as a man and as a human being, I got to get control of the things that keep me from blocking my blessings, like my anxiety and depression and stuff.
So just trying to figure out what’s the next step. Once I figured out what it was that I was going through and what I was dealing with, it’s like, “What’s the next step to kind of conquer those things?” And I went through all the steps, to be real with you, every last, even the bad steps. So just living and learning, man. That’s all. That’s all this album is really about is living and learning and holding yourself accountable.
Yes, sir. No, I certainly do hear that all over the album, especially on the joint with BJ and the joint with JID and Saba. Those were very beautiful songs. I want to talk about where this Gold Mouf character comes from because I don’t think that I’ve really been able to find a lot about the origin of it, why this was your-
Well, for me, I’ll put it to you like this. How can I explain it? Have you ever seen Nutty Professor?
Yes, sir.
So Gold Mouf is, to me, what Buddy Love is to Professor Klump. I deal with anxiety and depression and shit like that. So for me, Gold Mouf is like my highest level of confidence. I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s a mask, but another persona of myself that’s like top tier. And then on Instagram, I’ll be messing around sometimes. I call myself “Big Ugly.” So Big Ugly is like my low self-esteem type sh*t, and Gold Mouf is like me at my highest. So when I feel like my best, I feel like I take on the role of Gold Mouf, kind of like how Clark goes in the booth, and he turns into Superman.
Absolutely. One of the things that, I guess, struck me was this album had a very interesting release, right? Because you started the rollout in March last year (with “Getting Every Dollar“), and I was gearing up. I was like, “Yo.” I was talking to the people like, “Yo, let me get on the phone with Lute.” And then just, nothing happened, because everything shut down.
And that was also the beginning of me going through my depression, so that kind of slowed everything down. The pandemic hit, then I went through my depression. So everything really slowed down for me. And I realized that I was so used to moving that by the time the pandemic hit and it slowed everything down, all my traumas and everything that I was running from, or everything that I didn’t heal from, caught up to me.
It was easy to go through something and be like, “Well, I ain’t got to worry about it right now, because I got to go on tour.” Or, “I ain’t got to worry about that, because I got this show.” Or, “I ain’t going to worry about that, because I got to be at the studio.” But when all that shit shut down and you ain’t got nothing to do, now, you got to figure all that out. And then I lost my cousin during the pandemic, not to COVID though, due to gun violence. And I lost a childhood friend of mine. I almost lost my dad as well.
So a couple of other things happened that kind of set me down in a little spiral, and I just had to pick myself back up. I had to find a way to get back in the game. But for a minute, I was kind of tapped out. I didn’t think I was even going to finish the project. I thought that was just about to be the end for me. “I think I’m done. I think I did what I could. I did the best I could. And now, I think I’m just going to gracefully bow out.” But I felt like that was like me being defeated talking, and I kind of had to get that out of my head and just get my ass back up. I had to get back up. I had to get back in the game.
Well, I’m glad you’re still here, man. I’m glad you stood up because it was worth the wait. One of my parts of the early rollout was when you were doing the “Gold Mouf Chronicles” videos, which I thought were hilarious and very on point with the Wish Sandwich and the Lute Ross ones. What was the origin of this funny thing? In the process of doing it, did it reveal anything about your creative process to you?
I’m a very introverted person. But when you get to know me, I can be a super funny guy. I’m easy to talk to when I’m comfortable and I’m around people that I’m comfortable being around. So the “Gold Mouf Chronicles” was a way just to show my personality outside of my anxiety and me being or seeming very introverted. We felt like that was a good way to showcase my personality.
As far as the actual album is concerned, I know that as a North Carolina native, it meant a lot to you that it was executive produced and sequenced by members of Little Brother.
Oh no, for sure. Well, see Pooh is my manager.
I didn’t know that.
Yeah. Pooh’s my manager, and it was just a blessing for them to put a verse on. Because I chopped it up with Phonte a few times but when it came to album time, it was a blessing that they were able to put a verse on there for me. And the fact that Phonte wanted to sequence it, … If Phonte asks to sequence some shit, hell yeah. I’m not going to say no to that.
It definitely passed the car test.
You know, when Phonte passed it to Pooh, and Pooh gave it to me to listen to, to see what I liked or didn’t like about it, man, I almost shed a tear, because I worked on most of the project out here in LA. But I finished the rest of the half of it back home in Carolina. So when I was out here in LA, we were working in a studio almost every day. I had no idea what I had. I was just going into the studio, venting about the sh*t that I was going through and what I was dealing with. But when Phonte sequenced it, I had no idea. I didn’t even realize that I was building a story the whole time.
And the way he sequenced it, it’s like, “Man, this sh*t is beautiful as hell.” Because the way it’s sequenced is the way my life went. It’s like, I started off very optimistic about shit. Then you go through life, and you start dealing with shit. And then towards the end and coming out of my depression and shit, I realized that I love who I am. I love the person that I am. I love what I’m doing, and I love the direction that I’m going.
People don’t really realize how important sequencing is to how good albums are.
But that’s why I was very, very appreciative that Phonte wanted to sequence the album, because me, I’m the type of person when I drop bodies of work or projects, they tell a story, and that’s on purpose. I don’t want to have an album where you go through, and you’re just shuffling through this sh*t. I want you to listen to it from top to bottom. And sometimes, granted, you just still do, but at least you get the storyline. I want you to feel some sh*t after you listen to my album. I want you to experience something. I want you to have an experience. That’s why I love Kendrick’s albums, because they gave you a little story, and it just makes you experience sh*t.
What’s crazy to me is you have Cozz, you have Saba, you have JID, you have Boogie. On Dreamville you rapped alongside J. Cole and DaBaby. You’re surrounded by massive, massive lyricists. Do you find yourself challenging yourself to push harder when you are around these guys?
I don’t feel pressured at all. Only because I write from experience and being myself. I’m not an artist that writes every day or goes to the studio every day. And I sharpen my pen, but I sharpen my pen by living and experiencing and being present in my life. My inspiration comes from my day-to-day life. I was telling somebody the other day, even when I’m having a bad day, that sh*t sucks, but at the same time, when I really look at it, it’s going to make for a good song later.
I feel like at the end of the day, the only person I’m trying to be better than is myself. I’m trying to grow, I’m trying to learn and figure out all my quirks and stuff like that. So, as far as pressure… It’s definitely a friendly competition.
I think I’ve actually asked everybody, whoever was at the Dreamville Sessions if they have one good story to tell about the Dreamville sessions.
So much sh*t happened in that span. It’s not a blur, but everything is all jumbled in one. But I will say that the most shocking thing that I’ve seen… coming around the corner, looking over, and Chris Bosh is in the corner making beats and they were f*cking fire. The beats were hard.
So, I like to ask everybody, what’s the ideal outcome of your album rollout because I know everybody’s got different expectations and everybody has different gauges for success.
Just everybody being more self-aware about their mental health and taking more self-care and taking more time for themselves to grow and learn and hold themselves accountable so that we can progress and we can move forward. That’s literally all I wanted out of this album.
I was actually nervous to put this album out because I felt so vulnerable and exposed. But I realized when I was making these songs if I could be more vulnerable and more transparent or myself, then if that could help somebody else and also help me, then everything else out of it is just a blessing. That’s my goal, is just to help people be more aware of mental health.
I’ve made mistakes and I’ve held myself accountable on those things too. I’ve done things the wrong way and I also done things the right way. So, just holding myself accountable and just trying to move forward and grow. That’s really the whole synopsis of everything, man, just trying to f*cking grow and progress.
Gold Mouf is out now via Dreamville and Interscope Records. Get it here.
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(@SKRTOnZel) 
(@BellaInverno) 
(@Tathecatholic) 
