Dave East reflected on his growth as an artist during a recent interview with HipHopDX. He explained to the outlet that his focus is no longer on building the popularity of his brand but instead gaining respect from his peers. The New York rapper will be turning 35 years old later this year.
“I feel like the shit that used to excite me doesn’t anymore, and the things that were my early drive isn’t my drive anymore,” East revealed to the outlet. “My first drive was to get out the projects, and now it’s like what’s pushing me now?” He added: “What’s pushing me is the respect of my peers where they’ll see me and shout out what I’m doing or seeing fans from all backgrounds with a Dave East lyric tatted on them that tells me with the time I been in this shit, I did me enough to the point that someone bought into it and wants to see where else I take this shit.”
Dave East Performing In 2021
East added that he’s also working to sustain the success that he’s been able to find through this point in his career. Additionally, he wants to expand outside of advancing only himself. “Now I’m really trying to boss up a little more. I did me as Dave East, and I’m putting my hands in different things, shit I’m not even familiar with but always wanted to tap into,” he explained. “I’m trying to stay out the way and expand because now there’s others coming after me that’s family and little bros that have a vision, and I have a platform to help them with that.”
While best known for his work in music, East has been working on an acting career for years by this point. He appeared in BET’s Being Mary Jane and VH1’s The Breaks as well as Hulu’s Wu-Tang: An American Saga. In that series, he portrays the rapper, Method Man.
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