A$AP Rocky

00:00:00
Speaker 1: Request Left show is a production of iHeart Radio. Actually I did have like, you know, the typical multi hyphen it achievement.

00:00:18
Speaker 2: Scroll for you.

00:00:20
Speaker 1: But we were kind of mid small talk conversation. Go ahead, finish what you were saying and then I will introduce you as if you need introduction, But go ahead.

00:00:27
Speaker 2: Well, first off, it's an honor to be here. Good sir, mister Love you know, mister Rock, how are you? Oh man? Never better man? Like I was saying before, I'm gonna let you do your lass introduction. But we were just talking about trying to keep the chee the energy functually in one room. So I was just, you know, explaining to you how I can't even sleep without a night light and all the doors close. Where does that come from? From? A fortune cookie? It said, the ones you love, even the ones that's not here with you, are always looking over you. Oh I believe that. I'm like even when I'm in the bathroom, like, oh dude, I'm okay.

00:01:07
Speaker 1: So I had a medium situation like I was gifted a medium for my fiftieth birthday and a shout out to Larlen Jackson.

00:01:16
Speaker 2: Which is like a type of like psychic ability.

00:01:19
Speaker 1: Well yeah, I mean initially I thought it was something closer to like what will be Goldberg was on and Ghosts and Ghosts. But yeah, Larlen Jackson is I knew nothing of that world and she has like the most popular Netflix show or whatever. I was gifted her for my birthday and the stuff she was communicating to me. As far as the ancestors that are walking with us right now, yes they're amongst us.

00:01:43
Speaker 2: That's exactly why that center scene is so epic. Yes right, yes, yes it is, so make that introduction all right, Here we go.

00:01:52
Speaker 1: Our guest has redefined the landscape of music and fashion, most notably perception of New York City in terms of culture hip hop of course, but just beyond that, I can attest that his critically acclaimed albums, notably.

00:02:12
Speaker 2: Long Live Ave Sep.

00:02:13
Speaker 1: And I will say that at Long Last A Sep, It's good to finally have this conversation with you, because for Tarik Black thought, at Long Last a Sap was always his backstage ritual.

00:02:26
Speaker 2: What oh dude, get the fuck up?

00:02:28
Speaker 1: I think even by osmosis, like I know everything by heart, Like what.

00:02:32
Speaker 2: Literally I mean you played drums on the Feudals when we did right Jimmy Fallon back in the day.

00:02:38
Speaker 1: But yeah, yeah, no, no, no, no, massive, massive man, massive maan. But I'll basically say that our guest today has really been.

00:02:48
Speaker 2: The paradigm shift of the culture of hip hop.

00:02:50
Speaker 1: I'll say that you'll probably believe the last Mohican of the mixtape rappers now that we're totally in the streaming era.

00:02:58
Speaker 2: Of course, you co shared.

00:02:59
Speaker 1: The met Galla, my second one. I was on it, the super fun Tailor in Black style. Not to mention pushing boundaries and your acting starting in Spike and Denzel's highest to Lewis, I love Roseburne to death, so I believe that she's going to have an oscar and her collection for if I had legs.

00:03:22
Speaker 2: I kick you. She deserves it.

00:03:24
Speaker 1: You're currently serving creative director right now for power Asse brands like Ray Band and Puma, and now you're right on the cusp of your next journey in music, curious title. Don't be dumb. I like this and I don't know. I'm just so excited to have you here a sev Rocky coming to the Quest Love Show.

00:03:44
Speaker 2: Thank you man, thank you for having me. Brother. How are you all right?

00:03:47
Speaker 1: So I want to know what's the first thing you did in the first half hour of your day to day.

00:03:53
Speaker 2: I usually wake up, brush my teeth, check my phone, show my kids. That's how I started my day, you know, not in any particular order, but it varies, like one day, depending if it's like if I go to sleep busy, wake up busy, sort of like this week and next week, I wake up and I just answer whatever emails and text messages I forgot to the previous night, and you know, I just go see my you know, get my common sake, converse with my lady, and go see my kids in their rooms.

00:04:28
Speaker 1: And you know, now that you're about to release this record, it's the cycle different now, like are you in promotion mode right now?

00:04:34
Speaker 2: Or yeah, I'm in promotion mode, man, And it's like now I just I wake up and get straight to it. I try to go for like a job, hit the gym and get my mind right, you know, hit the sauna, sweat out. Were you born in Harlem?

00:04:49
Speaker 1: Now I'm just finding out that you were also Pennsylvania residence.

00:04:53
Speaker 2: When did this happen? So? I was born and raised in Harlem and Bronx the Bronx New York and when I was around eight nine years old, I moved to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, well actually Hershey rather for a Pennsylvanian, then in Dauphin County. Then I was living in harris back and forth from New York to Harrisburg, North Carolina, places like that. But I might have lived in PA for about like I would say a significant amount of time, maybe like six years, you know, five six. When I was a.

00:05:23
Speaker 1: Kid, going to Hershey Park was always like a treat, you know, like if you get a good report card, if something will take you to Hershey. I'm you know, I'm a Philadelphia and so always there. So were you a Hershey Park regular.

00:05:34
Speaker 2: Or regular that chocolate factory smelling all the cocoa and city, you know what I'm saying. It's just a crazy experience when you know, they measure the kids off of like different candies, right, So it's like if you really short, you like a Twizzler, and if you toiler in that, you're a reces. If you toiler in that, you're Hershey's Hershey's chalkol. Like I think it's the smallest is a kiss Hershey kiss man? You bringing back memories and you're making me hungry right now. I say, what.

00:06:07
Speaker 1: Are your fond memories of Harlem? Or did you have fond memories of Harlem?

00:06:11
Speaker 2: Lots of fun memories, man, I mean to this day. I was just in Harlem yesterday out of school and you know, just chilling with the kids for some fourth graders, teaching them how to rap. I love Harlem, man. Right after that, I want to go see my grandmother three blocks away from there. Chill well, health for the rest of the night. You know, Harlem is just in my DNA. What I picked up from Harlem. It made me a renaissance man, you know what I'm saying. Yeah, Harlem is the shit man. It's just so much culture to adopt from and adapt to, you.

00:06:47
Speaker 1: Know, you know, for all the boroughs I meant. You know, I'm pushing my twentieth year of kind of denying that I'm a New Yorker. I think one I asked to live here for twenty years at least ten.

00:07:00
Speaker 2: Well, you were born here, so you're native New York.

00:07:02
Speaker 1: Yeah, all right, I've you know, I'm pushing year eighteen. So you know, Philadelphia is a very jealous city, so I at least do twenty years before I do it.

00:07:12
Speaker 2: So this is how you measure a different like, you know, being able to like claim a different region. Right, Okay, you take your age, okay, and you say, with my age, you know, was I living you know, in this location for predominantly more than you know this location? And so say if you're like thirty years old, right, and if you've been living in Philly for fifteen years, in New York for fifteen years, I mean right, this it's a little toss up. But say if you're living in New York for sixteen years, Philly for fifteen I think you can claim New York.

00:07:50
Speaker 1: All right, give me, give me, give me four your dog. You you already know Philly is known for booing.

00:07:56
Speaker 2: I can't. I don't want to do it. You want no trouble man.

00:08:00
Speaker 1: So I used to scratch my head often. And you'll hear this about like sports cats, like basketball dudes, and even like some rappers I know where, you know, especially in the eighties and nineties, like they would go back to their old projects, or they would go back to their old neighborhood and whatever, and I'd be like, why would you ever want to return there? But then one day I started doing that where I'll just get in a car, I will drive down the Philly and just look at ghosts or like old neighborhoods or whatever. Now that Harlem is what I.

00:08:31
Speaker 2: Think it is. I mean, you know, it's very gentified. So totally yeah.

00:08:34
Speaker 1: I was going to say, like super gentrified. Not my block though, can you still go home?

00:08:39
Speaker 2: Or is it just not the same anymore? Oh man, nothing is the same. Everything changes, right, But I'll say this, I think the older I get significantly, I have this kind of innate passion to you know, kind of go back to with or started. So at the end of the day, let me give you a prime example, Like if you were like, how were you when you first got your first record deal and you guys like blew up, that was twenty two, all right, So if you were twenty two when you left the block talking about chilling with God, Like depending on the type of person you are, but like typically chilling on a block, friends, cousins, whatever it is doing you know, block activity, right, chilling, smoking, drinking, joking, rolling, dice, holing at you know, girls or whatever the case is. Right, when you actually find you know, success in what you like doing and it keeps you preoccupied. Subsequently, it is a period of your time or a moment where you kind of outgrow those activities. Rightfully, so, right but I haven't been a teenager for almost going on twenty years now. You know what I'm saying, I'll be forty in three years. You believe that shit, you know.

00:09:58
Speaker 1: So it's a good thing, yeah, because most of us never make it past that line.

00:10:02
Speaker 2: For sure. I know I look twenty six, but I'm honest with you. I thought you're still eighteen. But you know, I'll take it as a compliment. But you know, at the end of the day, I just let me give you an example. Like my grandmother refuses to move out of Harlem. She's a true from Barbados. First place she moved to was Harlem, back and forth from the Bronx to Harlem. She refuses to move out of her building. Everybody's like a community, and it's still like a community, you know, neighbors, neighborhood. So you want to upgrade her, but she still insists, She insists she you know, I love how humble she is. I just paid the rent for everybody in her building this month and shoutouts to build, and you know they were also graceful and thankful and just appreciative. But the point I'm making is I'm in position to go back there now to do something that is actually, you know, fundamentally positive in a sense, opposed to me just going back and doing the same old ship. Right. So I went to drop her off last summer, I was she was at my hotel and I went to drop off me and a couple of family members. And you know, not the brag. You know, I don't go when I go to hallm I take the train or I take like an anonymous that much. Yeah, yeah, you know what I mean, because I don't want to hurt nobody, Like why would I do that. I'm glad you said that. I still have my first car and it's raggedy. Is I have a sign man? You like Warren Buffett dog like? Okay, So I'm glad you do that. I get the significance of it. And that's the word of to day significance. I'm gonna use that a lot. But you know, I think every time I do that, we got to take a sip of tea or something like every significant got some coconut water? Is I can tell man, looking cloudy is good for you. So when I come through, I don't want to flex. Yeah, I don't want to do a lot. I gotta keep it pushing brose for you to blend in hell no, look at me. Well, I mean, but that's the thing. Would you roll in this mood to Harlem all the time? But I take the train. I put a pool shisty on. I take the train. Sometimes I'm by myself, sometimes I'm with security. I take the train and keep myself grounded. Gotcha, it's not even like trying to be cool and shit. I take yellow taxis, you know, because like Ubers, they do wear shit sometimes that they recognize you. They'll call you back there, do stalky shit, try to give you a car, be extra, you know what I mean, take a record in front of I mean, I take a yellow taxi. I'll walk there, I'll ride a city bike, you know what I mean. Like I'm from here, I should be able to just go back there and relax, you know what I mean. And when I go back, I'm not trying to make brothers feel like my success is they demise.

00:12:51
Speaker 1: So, as a New Yorker, do you have spots that are like where that feels, where it feels like home, where it feels like absolutely.

00:13:01
Speaker 2: I go see my brother Tawhia on the east Side shout out east Side ta Wi Johnson projects. I go to a K. You know, I ain't been the ak in a minute, though, But I go to Hump forty if and Lenox my grandmother block all the time. But if I'm just hanging out, hanging out, I go to Melws. If I ain't in Melos in Harlem, I'm downtown a small's. If not, I'm at Django, you know, at the Roxy watching the nice movie or you know, joint the shit is fly. You know, I've rent, yeah, and to avoid or something, let's you know, call some friends and we just you know, chill out over there. Like that's the kind of ship I'm into. I'm in the dive bars, I'm in the lounges. I'm in the pubs. I'm not in the clubs. The club coach is dead. Why the hell you want to be around a bunch of motherfuckers having a steering contest? What I'm flexing on you for about to pay ten x how much your fucking beverage licks of course and liquor store and go over there and they want to charge you a million dollars for a bottle of cos Amigos in nineteen forty two. Get the fuck out of here. I could do this in my living room. Call some friends over, avid gathering, no widdows around, play some cards, some crazy eights, call it a day. Y'all could smoke in peace, y'all could tell it. We could crack jokes on each other in piece. It ain't you know, But that's just where I'm at to everybody having fun out there, getting paid and laid, do your thing. I ain't judging flock or love you because at the end of the day sometimes it's like occasional. But I feel like when you're living in a club and you not a promoter, you're not a dancer or bartender or whatever the case is, it's like, you know, that's kind of you know, it's just and more really backwards for a nigga like me. Man, you know what I'm saying, Like, that's all.

00:15:00
Speaker 1: The obvious white elephant in the room. You were christened with a moniker with a name of God rock him. I just recently learned that your sister's name is Erica bets. When I first heard the origin of your name, I was like, shit, did you automatically feel destined or Christen that this was going to be?

00:15:24
Speaker 2: Like? When did you first learn who rock in? My law was? When I was like three or four?

00:15:29
Speaker 1: So you just asked like, why did you name me rock him?

00:15:31
Speaker 2: Or we're people telling you? Yeah, my pops in them was said. So I used to be obsessed with Michael Jackson's Moonwalker ever since I was like maybe like six months same. My mom would put me in a rocker and I'll just fall asleep to us and put it on. Yeah, I was watching it till I turned two. And I remember I had memories from being two and three years old to this day. Right, I remember when my aunt had a fight on a hundred sixteenth from Mornerside and when she got sliced all type of shit. Right, But I was maybe three or four years old and I was three and rock Kim I think Juice was out right, So what year did Juice come out? Got ninety two, ninety two? So I all right, look eighty eight, eighty nine, ninety one two, like three four years old. At least you know I ain't lying the ledge was on the TV right and Rock Kim had the bucket, had Cano join on. He was with Eric b in my PASTA was like, that's Rock Kim, that's who you naked after. You named after him. I just was like, damn, that motherfucker got swag yo, Like I thought that as a young guy, like I was just damn part my language. I'm just a little comfortable right now. Well you should be, yeah, thank you, thank you. I appreciate the hospitality.

00:16:45
Speaker 1: I'm big on time travel, astro traveling like that sort of thing. If you could live in any time period, where would you go.

00:16:55
Speaker 2: I would go to Maley Empire around eleven hundreds. Oh damn, okay, explain, I mean Massimosa. Right, Like at the end of the day, this is around the time that Africa, you know, they try to make it legend, but this is around the time where Africa was getting a lot of like European countries out of debt and stuff like that, right, And this is predates like a lot of like you know, the Western nas and you know the colonization, you know, slavery, you know the colonialization and shit, right, And that was when it was just like moors around they were actually like the king of like Spain was a black man and all of this other stuff. And you know, I would have loved to see how like life was before history was rewritten for all of us, before we were all brainwashed and stuff like that. And yeah, you know, I wonder what they had in the Vatican. Like for me, it's just like some things you can't like erace. You know, some things are just like inevitably there and obvious and just blatantly in your And I would have loved to like see like maybe even earlier than that. I would love to see how they fucking built pyramids, man, because I'm still curious, Sam, how about you?

00:18:13
Speaker 1: My level of time traveling has more or less to do with the acts I want to see. Probably the one period that really isn't truly documented, well that's legendary is kind of the Harlem Renaissance of man jazz.

00:18:29
Speaker 2: Yes, you get on my nerves. I wanted to say that. Sorry, See I got all philosophical, you got all cool, you know, cat daddy on me.

00:18:39
Speaker 1: You know, I just you know, some of the best music ever created really really wasn't documented all that much.

00:18:47
Speaker 2: It wasn't and Linkston Hughes the first rapper, of course he was.

00:18:51
Speaker 1: Yes, absolutely, So, I mean, yeah, I would say that that's I'm curious about that time period as like the creatives.

00:19:01
Speaker 2: Really, I just want.

00:19:02
Speaker 1: To see how Charlie Parker and probably John Coltrane operated. So that's why I would want to go probably to the forties.

00:19:12
Speaker 2: The thirties or forties.

00:19:14
Speaker 1: Well, I would say the forties is when when Bob really started to you know, get.

00:19:20
Speaker 2: It all the way. Yeah.

00:19:22
Speaker 1: So what would you say, is professionally speaking, at least, what is the single moment that changed your life?

00:19:33
Speaker 2: The single moment that changed my life is when I was introduced to a Savims. Tell me about it, man, rest in peace to the homie. Man. You know, A Savims was like responsible for all the peopot Wal moments in my career. I got a few moments that kind of changed my life. Man. You know, when I was five, a stranger, you know, in a very racist town, white men say me from drowning. Yeah, man, I didn't even know his name. I was in a very racist where. What I was in North Carolina, what I don't remember. It was like right outside of Charlotte. It was the sticks, you know, he saved me me and my family were supposed to walk out together to the pool. Being from New York, I never been in the pool, so I was eager, so I thought they was behind me. And I did some home alone with Cola, cok and shit, and I just walked out and they just let the door close and I went there, and I was practicing in my bathtub, so I thought I could fucking swim. You give what I'm saying. Come on, bro, Wow, Okay, it was significantly accurate. As a kid. You got to take a toast to that significant all right, But this is the lish you know, I left out and I'm sitting there, got my you know, legs in the water tee to tie the tee like, and it's this guy with his family, right. He had like two daughters and they were like significantly older than me. And basically he was like, hey, hey, buddy, you're not a swim sport. I was like, yeah, I know a swim He's like, yeah, for sure. So his son jumped in, and son is like a year or two older than me, jumped in. It was like eight feet went or like popped back up. So I decided to try it. When I went in, it wasn't until like maybe like five seconds. Panic just you know what it feel like. I felt like I was drowning, but it was just like panic setting and I was just like you know what I'm saying, I'm screaming under the water, so you know, lost a lot of breath. And I'm talking about like obviously in the tub, you don't open your eyes. My eyes are open underwater, you know, Black folks don't open their eyes, and no chlory, Like my eyes are open and I just see blue and I'm just like agreement. And I swear to god, this motherfucker popped out like thor. I don't know how. He wasn't swimming. He came like this, gave me his arm. His arm was haryeus. Fuck. I grabbed it, and that motherfucker's like we was at sea World or some shit like that, like just bought me up a bottle of water, put me on the sideline, left me there. I'm on the side crying to the point where I go back home my mother. Damn they wanted to whip me again. And my father's like, man, he already been throughing nothing. Little motherfucker almost dry and let him.

00:22:36
Speaker 1: Man, even when your life is on the line, like there still might be a whipping waiting for you.

00:22:40
Speaker 2: Like is that? Like, I'm glad you're alive. Now, go in your room. Oh, she was about to whip me right then. And there wet, soaking wet, So it's gonna be a bad one.

00:22:53
Speaker 1: Has this uh discouraged you from swimming or it's a fucking louly You have not done it since I learned how to swim at thirty So you waited.

00:23:04
Speaker 2: That long to jump back in the water. Hell, yes, damn, I'm traumatized. Man, How are you with it now? Oh? I'm a great swimming okay, and six feet you know what I'm saying. Don't give me nothing more deep. It's quiet, so you'll take it just a little bit as long as I could touch a toe, pop back up and I'll be all right, you know what I mean. Nah, I'm a good swimmer. I just learned, like you know, uh, density and stuff and going and you know, to see, you don't really have to know how to swim and float. You just use your body and salt and salt water and shit like that. It's really cool when you think about the physics of it. But you know, I'm a decent swimmer though, all jokes aside.

00:23:45
Speaker 1: All right, So I have questions, of course about your latest project. And yeah, I'm kind of raging with a little bit of jealousy because you were able to pull off a trick that I've not been able.

00:23:58
Speaker 2: To pull off. What's talk to me?

00:24:00
Speaker 1: How the hell did you manage to get with on a writer out the house? Yo, I've been phone friends with this person for years. She'll never come out the house. How did you get her out the house?

00:24:14
Speaker 2: God? God, God, man? God? Is everything is a lining right now? Like everybody from Tim Burton's Ethos, from Tim Burton himself, Danny Elfman with on a rioter, a couple more people that I can't say as yet because it's still a surprise, but like, okay, oh damn yeah, Like Tim Burton played a really big part in this whole project. And she was so down. She was so cool, yo, She's coolest shit. She had her own fucking merch, she had old fucking Beavis and butt Head and Pink Floyd shit. Like, she was so cool, man, And I can't wait, Like, hopefully, with the grace of God, I could share the silver screen with her one day, and I will be honored to do it. Like yo, she as cool as fuck. She gets so much cool points in my book.

00:25:06
Speaker 1: Man, you worked with another hero of mine, with just Danny Eufman, and you know Tim Burton of.

00:25:13
Speaker 2: Course, is also the hero.

00:25:14
Speaker 1: First of all, why did it take you so long to I know that you were talking about like sample clearances and all that stuff back a few years ago or whatever. Why did it take so long for this album to come to fruition?

00:25:26
Speaker 2: Dummies? Keep leaking my shit?

00:25:30
Speaker 1: You recorded the next thing you know, it's out just like that. So now you realize that you're at the level where you have to protect your shit.

00:25:39
Speaker 2: And man, I realize I'm at the level where I gotta change my number every three months, you know, And I make everybody around me change their numbers and emails for real frequently, because once one person is breached, it's like a virus. You wanna spread that shit, It's contagious. What they do is they trick you. They'll put like asat Rocky at all com and if you're not really clicking it, and they'll know they'll have intel. They'll be like, you know, they'll talk about a record I don't know how they know, and you're not smart, you'll click on that and you breach. Yeah, okay, just like that.

00:26:15
Speaker 1: So you're saying that what we're getting, well, when this comes out, the album would have been out already. So for you, though, you felt that because it got weak to the public or whatever, that it was still tainted even.

00:26:27
Speaker 2: A work of art like yourself from it. To be honest with you, and like, you know, I'm not indecisive as much as people would assume. I just evolve. So like what you made yesterday, you might be over it by next week or next month or next year. So sometimes when you sit on stuff too long and get leaked and all this shit happens, it'll be over you onto the next one. And sometimes, like your sound, it evolves and changes with you, so your taste preference changes and you might be over this kind of sound and you go onto this kind of sound, experiment with that. And I think with this album too, you know, it's not only just that it was getting leaked. Like I was waiting on Tim he was doing Beauty Juice Part two and Wednesday and all type of shit. So it was just a role about the right moment for me.

00:27:17
Speaker 1: You know, what's your favorite work of Tim Burton's, Like, why did you choose him to collaborate with on this record?

00:27:23
Speaker 2: I chose him because I'm heavily inspired by German expressionism. That's like his go to aesthetic. When you look at him, you could tell. The reason why I think German expressionism is amazing is because if you think about it, it's almost equivalent to how you think about sci fi. What I would say is, like, German expressionism is equivalent to sci fi. You don't have any ghetto saphi, you don't have any ghetto expressionism. Okay, that's what I could provide, and I put my take on it and develop something new, which is genre bendon and which is like forthcoming knew of its own It's new in its own light. You know. You take two components that are pre existing, mash them together as like infuse them and make a hybrid of something that's brand new. Hip hoppers mostly don't really you know, know about German expressionism, which allowed me to offer something new to them, to my crowd, to my people and shit, And you know, I think that he's the king of that shit and the film that I fell in love with first My first film that I fell in love with was a Nightmare before Christmas. My dad bought me that and I had that on mute, and I had Vincent his first college film. You know, I had it all on mute while I was recording the album, and all of the songs would kind of go to that, and you know, my boy who that was a visual you know, I use motion pictures as a move board.

00:29:02
Speaker 1: Yeah, congrats, man, because that, to me is what I would call it.

00:29:07
Speaker 2: Come up, Thank you man, a great come up.

00:29:10
Speaker 1: What's the thought process or the inspiration that you go through in order to determine this is the sound that I want to go with, this is the visuals I want to go with.

00:29:21
Speaker 2: And the art I want to go with. I've always been this way, man. I mean, eleven years ago I made a song named LSD. That same year, I made that song in twenty fourteen, released it in twenty fifteen. The same session is when I recorded the song Sundress that Everybody's in love with, so and I didn't release Sundress until twenty eighteen, and so it's always just been in me and I try to make what we considered timeless music so that you can't really put a time stamp on it or expiration date on it, because music needs to outlive the artists, you know. And that's why you got Jefferson Airplane, you got you know, Pink Floyd and Jimmy Hendrix, and you know, great people like Nat King Cole and like, you know, even going back to the early Renaissance days of people like Louis Armstrong, etcetera, etcetera. List goes on, Billie Holliday, all of these people are toomless. Frank Sinatra, they make thomless music. And the music that I wanted to affiliate my brand and my lineage and my like whole catalog desciography with was jenre Bendon from the start. And if there would be no asat Rocky if it wasn't for experimentational music or cloud rap or trail shit or you know, when we first came out, they never knew where we was from. Are they from Cali? Are they from the Midwest? Know where you from? You know? I'm like, okay, you know Memphis? Like where these motherfucker's from New York? Hall them in the Bronx with the fuck gold teeth braids. Now that's the standard that's regular.

00:31:26
Speaker 1: This particular project, Don't Be Dumb is inspired by the the personas that you and Timberton created. Can you talk about the origin of shirt Head, like the characters that you have.

00:31:38
Speaker 2: For Okay, so they all inspired by just aesthetics that I created in the past, like seven years, right since my last album. So the last album I did was called Testing and it had crash Dummies. That was the whole esthetic crashing out right, This is the answer to that. After the Crash Dummy was the Babushka Boy. After the Babushka Boy was the shirt Heads. The shirt Heads is significant to the moors. We could get into that later, you know. Shout out to brother Tyrek. I don't know if you guys seen hidden colors, but I get a lot of like my edgumication and my information, you know, from watching what he did, reading up on like different professors that he would you know, recommend, and talking to brothers like him, you know. So you know, it's a lot of like hidden black history and that goes across the whole globe that we don't really know about. So I try to embed that or include that into my esthetic without feeling like I'm preaching the motherfuckers. You know, it's just a little like if you know, you know kind of situation. And so after that was this Rocky Rugahan, the Pearl King persona where I wear like, you know, multiple genes and stuff, and that's me getting into ghetto expressionism. And after that is the guy that's sit in front of you today, which we call mister Mayors. You know, the dad, the entrepreneur, the multi faceted talented rapper, director, actor, handsome fella, fashionisto, etcetera, etcetera.

00:33:10
Speaker 1: You know, that's a mic drop movement for me. I don't got nothing else after that.

00:33:15
Speaker 2: So those are all the characters that Tim Burton depicted on the cover, all the personas and alter eagles of myself.

00:33:22
Speaker 1: Who is your creative north star? Who would you say your top three heroes are just in terms of like the creatives that you not even hip hop, just in life like but okay, I'll say.

00:33:35
Speaker 2: To go with hip hop. It's too many people for me to just That's why you got to pick a category or margin or something more just.

00:33:41
Speaker 3: Like a okay, in music, I mean in music, if you want to talk about dance and stuff like Bob Fosse, fred Astaire, Charlie Chaplin.

00:33:52
Speaker 2: Well, I mean he was film. But music genres psychedelics, mod psych, I can roll fucking of course, hip hop, rap, you know gangst the rap, the Golden Age, you guys, you know, soulful music. I just think it's just I'm a fucking sponge. I'm inspired by every fucking thing. If I get inspired by something, I know how to use that to my advantage without appropriating or biting or stealing. You know what I'm saying.

00:34:26
Speaker 1: You filter it through your own creativity so that it comes absolutely.

00:34:29
Speaker 2: I like how you wrede it. That very eloquent of you. Hey man, that's that's what I'm here for. Thank you.

00:34:35
Speaker 1: Okay, let's let's go a year before your first album. Let's go to twenty ten. What was in your mind, in Rockhem's mind in twenty ten, what was your definition of making it? Like, I want to get into the game, and this is what I think making it.

00:34:56
Speaker 2: Is everything that happened to me is without no define, is making it all the blessings all of so.

00:35:05
Speaker 1: Even in twenty ten, you have the foresight to know, sure, this is the path that you're going to travel.

00:35:10
Speaker 2: For sure, two thousand and nine, I knew.

00:35:13
Speaker 1: You gotta understand that that's I think that's a beautiful thing. But I came up in the generation before in which like literally, like if you listen to Biggie's lyrics and Juicy really making it was just like having a dope video game system, place, a place to swim in your backyard.

00:35:36
Speaker 3: I mean that's making it and getting a good review in a.

00:35:40
Speaker 2: Magazine like five mics in a sauce.

00:35:43
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, like for real, Like jay Z's the first rapper who even uttered words that most rappers lived at home with their mama, you know what I mean, Like easy, he's talking about boys in the hood, you know, God, get.

00:35:59
Speaker 2: Drunk, gonna start a BII about my friends.

00:36:02
Speaker 1: Right and even snoop like six, my mama ain't home. But jay Z like owned property, And to me that was a big deal in ninety seven, like, oh, he's dreaming a property, So we weren't. I mean, statistically, I don't think black people are ever wherever taught to dream because we had the.

00:36:20
Speaker 2: Hustle, you know what I mean.

00:36:22
Speaker 1: And jay Z was a hustler, yeah, but then he became a dreamer, you know, and back then I just thought, like, well, they're just lying. They don't have that stuff. But now call it, we call it manifested now. So but for you, this is the path that you're on right now is exactly what you wanted it to be back in twenty ten when you first started.

00:36:44
Speaker 2: I was referring to twenty eleven and twelve when I was when I was talking about twenty ten. God, yeah, like I was just like I knew it, you know. And to be honest, I'm not trying to sound like I'm a fake psychic on some miscleo shit, but I knew, like I can't settle for less. I can't settle for this. If I'm hopping the train right now, that's right now, because I know like it's going to happen. It has to. I used to just be like these motherfuckers, it's corny. I'm like, they need me in life. I knew they needed me. I knew I wasn't normal, you know, not to just come across so cocky. I'm full of myself. But the truth of the matter is I'm quite accurate. Like I think it's something it's cocky at all.

00:37:30
Speaker 1: Yeah, Like, if anything, I think we need to be more in the space of owning it, right, because again we've been taught to be humble, but my small.

00:37:36
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, for sure, you know. And I just was looking like, man, this shit needs me. You know, our culture has been exploited and you know so many times, right, and to the point where you can't even identify no more or really kind of you know, connected to any what we attribute or just contributions. It just don't even like, you know, correlate to the culture anymore. What is the culture? What does that even mean? Right? So it's just like it's to a place where I just want to just you know, show people how to just be the best them, be the best artist, you know what I mean, because we come from an era where you have to keep it real, you know what I mean. And mostly all the real niggas I know is dead in jail. True, it's no space, it's not a climent to be real, which if you really keep it to yourself, because the moment they sniff that out then for you.

00:38:33
Speaker 1: Yeah, man, it took me like five years reacclimate myself with the word failure.

00:38:41
Speaker 2: Like first I thought failure was.

00:38:43
Speaker 1: Like a bad thing, Like ah, I feel now I embraced failure as a lesson, learn not to do that again. What's the biggest rejection you've ever gotten and how did you overcome it?

00:38:57
Speaker 2: It started out with a girl. The first time you get rejected by that one girl, you like, damn, she kind of could crush your pride, right, Like the fuck is it me? You know what I'm saying. Then you'd be like, look at me and look at yourself, sweetheart, Like you got to tell yourself, like you're bugging, You're lost. Right. So that's how I take anytime, like I do something that I'm positive about, you know, confident about, and if it quote unquote fails, I take it as a lesson learned, just like what you just said. Man, Like, I definitely was in a place where if I did something that was considered a failure, it hit me hard because I'm so compassionate about everything that I do or everything that I'm involved in. You know, it's not just about putting numbers on the board and just saying how I did that. I did that for bragging rights. Nah. I love this shit, and you know I'm a renaissance man, so I care about it. You know, I care a lot. So if I fail to somebody else's standards, but to my own and visual standards. You know, sometimes failure and success could be subjective, you know, as long as you feel like you succeeded. But if it's something that you did feel at, if you're gonna keep pursuing it, just make sure you bigger and better next time, stronger and faster and smarter next time. How do you deal with creative blocks? Smoke weed? Okay? If not, like work with people that like are very creative. Like you know, I've ran into moments where I had a lot on my plate and I would have The Baby come through, Big Sean come through, and I'll just parish Texas. I had these guys come through, and I'd be like, hey, throw put a flow down, like some guys wouldn't even say words dribberish, and that could inspire you and push you to write your own shit, you know what I'm saying, Like, you know, I'm not really too keen to like ghostwriters, but the Baby is one of the first artists that I ever collaborated with on some bars, and the last artist too. You get what I'm saying, Like I don't. I guess I come from an era where that's just a that's just a no. But when you you block yourself from creating by having an ego and shit like that, that's when you your own worst enemy. And when I let my guard down and he was listening to me about how to produce, he produced his own first record. He was like, yo, bro, we really feed off of each other's energy. Shout outs to the baby man. He's one of the illis MC's and lyricists. I know, man, you know what I'm saying. Like I think writers block. If you put a powerful component in the room with you, it'll help. It doesn't matter if you're a novelist, a journalist, a poet, or rapper, a lyricist. You put a cool motherfucker that you could bounce energy off of, like in the same room as you, you're gonna come up with something good. Man, Trust me, man, question what's up?

00:42:01
Speaker 1: What's the last lie that you told?

00:42:06
Speaker 2: I mean, I used to be lying like a motherfucker, man, I mean, in what kind of contexts you're talking? What's the best lie you've told? The best lie ever told? Let me think, I mean you say all type of lies to get some pussy. Back in the day, I mean, but like now, I try not to lie. Man. I might fabricate a little nowadays, but I try not to lie because it's like I don't lie to God. I don't lie to my mother, my woman. I ain't about the lot of these motherfuckers. Like when you tell the truth and own it, nobody could bust your burst your bubble, you know what I mean. They can't really blow your spot, pull your card. They can't because you already owning it. You owning that flaw, like you know what I'm saying. And like if it's a situation where you doing something that you couldn't bear to live with, don't do it. Or if that's really you living your truth, that's it. You know what I'm saying. If you were a killer, you know what I'm saying, I wouldn't recommend self snitching on yourself. But like you, if you know you a killer at heart, you just gotta like accept the fact that you might do life in prison, you know what I'm saying. I accept the fact. Like if you're a prostitute, you know what I'm saying, and you sell some pussy and shit like that, whatever, you just admit it to yourself that you're a hooker, Like that's just it, Like you're simple as that. You know what I'm saying. Shout there, all sex workers out there, sex POLTI all right.

00:43:43
Speaker 1: So when I first got my advance, the very first thing I did was I went out purchased twelve pairs of Pumas and every color spectrum.

00:43:56
Speaker 2: I was young and dumb, but yes, I went out in person.

00:44:00
Speaker 1: The way you're looking at me right now, it's the way my dad looked at me.

00:44:05
Speaker 2: Like, Yo, what the fuck? Where did you buy these sneakers from?

00:44:10
Speaker 1: Talk about your collaboration with Puma, like how did that come to be? Why did you look? We all know that you're the fashion god. So for you, I know that if you loan your credibility to any brand that it's official. Why did you choose Puma and talk about that collaboration?

00:44:31
Speaker 2: I chose Puma because Puma was family. My girl already did like crazy work with them, inspirational shit, like I don't know how many years ago, twelve, thirteen years ago. You know, my manager, Jay Brown, my brother Henry Jones, jay Z, my family at Rock Nation, they all helped like usher that deal for me. Here we all because It's just like I need to be able to get out my ideas my main first priority.

00:45:02
Speaker 1: Who's your top five best stressed best stressed?

00:45:04
Speaker 2: What I gotta get specific? Yeah, because it's a lot of best stress motherfuckers?

00:45:08
Speaker 1: Man, Who do you respect in terms of jess? Okay, it's one thing when you're doing promotions or whatever, do you dress like this? Just want to regular every day? Like if you weren't doing promos. Yeah, all right, you got to be my mentor mant I'm saying shit with Greg Lauren or whatever.

00:45:25
Speaker 2: But nah, I feel like, I mean, come on, that's Ralph learning nephew man.

00:45:29
Speaker 1: Yeah, but I feel I gotta I gotta step my game up. But for you, who are the five people that you respect their fashion game?

00:45:41
Speaker 2: Yeah? I seen Big Kanye West most he made the list. Of course. Nice Man was rickied out. So I got my name Pretty Flaco from him. He gave it to me. You know that I did not. He gave me permission because a Dominican girlfriend gave it to me when I was before I was famous, and then when I got famous he named me. That's why my name is Lord Pretty Flaggle. Jody the second because he's the first. You know, that's big bro right there. Shout outs to the most death Man, it's my big brother, but basically him, it's it's more than five though, So can I just soon someone get offended they're not on your list. They might, but I'm sorry just again. Alright, So yay Pharrell, Grandpooba most Deaf Fabulous dip set.

00:46:29
Speaker 1: I'm glad Pooper made your list because people don't acknowledge that, you know, he's really I think the first rapper would swag.

00:46:36
Speaker 2: In terms of I fuck with cool Keith. Who else was a fly slick Rick? Slick Rick was a fly bro to me. I mean, came, mightn't have more money, but he wasn't fucking came to fly nigga. But who else? Even j Man? He had his like the T shirt on the head. Jay Z used to do that. Man, you know what I'm saying, the Yankee fitted tilted. Is there a fashion trend that you regret following? Yeah, as a Harlem night, did you have to go through your pink period? Yeah? Yeah, but I still I'm still on my pink shit. Okay, it's Harlem. I think uh a fashion trend, fashion trends that I tend to start, is what I regret sometimes. You know what I'm saying, But because you don't get to shine on your own shit. Nah, because some of that shit looks ridiculous fifteen years later. You know what I'm saying.

00:47:28
Speaker 1: Okay, So is there a piece of clothing that you know you should get rid of but you can't let go?

00:47:34
Speaker 2: Remember that? How our sentimental are you with? Nah? Man? That shit is out the door? Remember that brand? Kate Easy? Yes, that shit was garbage, but you loved it. I used to wear that shit. Man. Have you ever gotten roasted for any of your outfits? For sure, some people don't be getting a vision, But I mean you can own it now. I mean you're I appreciate that. Man. Do I look big of roast me? They could cook me, they can deep fry meat, they can saltee whatever they want. I'm not nigga Like, it's nobody who could fuck with my fashion sense and my taste is impeccable. I'm just like, I impressed myself a lot.

00:48:17
Speaker 1: What is your proudest non work achievement, non music achievement.

00:48:23
Speaker 2: Like your family? Man, just being like a dude to like show guys like yo get you a nice girl, chill out sometimes because like look at look at Shannon's sharp look at you know, girls be you know, I don't want to throw people under the bus or nothing like that, but like they have to get you right now. You can have a little bit of money, you have a lot of bit of money. You gave a little bit of fame. Could be very famous, you could be it's anonymous or anonymous, but they out here to just you know, make a name for themselves. Dudes is worse than females these days. You gotta do. That's having sex with girls and then going on podcasts to talk about it. You know, it's just like everybody got the game fucked up. It's these youngsters. So I ain't outside like that. Like they scared me, you know what I'm saying, And I think I got out the game at the right time.

00:49:16
Speaker 1: You feel me for me, I'll say that one of my weak points was people pleasing. You know, when you start thinking of other people's feelings, managing their feelings before you.

00:49:25
Speaker 2: Even That's what got me to this place. People pleasing. Given the fuck having survivors remorse or survivors guilt and fuck that shit. Look, life is like this. We evolved, We're born to evolve. You gotta realized. That's why they show you the man evolution from primemate to caveman. Now, even though I don't think that any of my incestors with caveman. But that's another story. But basically, I feel like if I'm in a place where I'm evolving creatively or my integrity or my creative integrity, or just I'm maturing at a certain pace, if my peers who are really close to me aren't growing at that rapid pace at the same time, I mean, it's quiet. There's nothing I could do because I'm gonna have to really come down to your level to really see you out of eye at that point. And I'm not trying to step on nobody and make it say I'm a big man like that because of my success and you know, accolades Man. Snoop Dogg told me this in twenty thirteen on the interview. He told me, you're gonna have friends that's gonna stay here and you're gonna go there, And the only way for y'all to be friends, you gotta come back down here. Man. Fuck that shit.

00:50:48
Speaker 1: I ain't doing that no more, how easy is it to spring queen to let dead weight go?

00:50:58
Speaker 2: Oh? I do you saw about my closets? Oh? You mean literally? Oh yeah, Oh, I mean I spring cleaning the winner and fall all that. But but I mean I know what you mean.

00:51:09
Speaker 1: Like, you know, if I'm the smartest guy in my circle, then I'm like, I need a new circle.

00:51:14
Speaker 2: You know, I never really fucked with that theory and concept. Really, you know why I don't fuck with that? Why because every circle need a leader. The leader has to be smarter by default who you're gonna follow. That's kind of like you planning that my head, key, low key, that's not that's there's nothing wrong with that. Like Asam James was a month younger than me, right, he was my leader, he was my mentor, and were was the same fucking age right now. Robert Gallaoto, Happy birthday to you. That's my brother. Today's his birthday. Happy birthday, bropirthday. He is my creative director and mentor. To this day. I got mentors like my my lawyer, he's my big brother, my manager. Then I got personal people who mentor me. I'm never ever too old or too big or too cool to learn or follow somebody else's lead because you can't know everything, man, And that's the thing, not how much pressure it is being the leader. You know, I've been the leader of a crew for over fifteen years. You think I wanted that shit? I did my best for everybody to look at us equally. Are you reluctant leader? Are you comfortable with leading? If the shoe fit, I wear it. I don't never want to be labeled as such. I do what I do and if these motherfuckers follow suit, then that mean they look as good as I look. All right, man, man, and you gotta rock him.

00:52:50
Speaker 1: Thank you man for coming on The Quest Loft Show, and we will see you guys on the next go round.

00:52:54
Speaker 2: All right, Peace, blessed, don't be dumb.

00:53:00
Speaker 1: The Quest Love Show is hosted by me a Mere Quest Love Thompson. The executive producers are Sean g Brian Calhoun and Me. Produced by Britney Benjamin and Jake Paine. Produced for iHeart by Noel Brown, Edited by Alex Conroy. iHeart video support by Mark Canton, Logos Graphics and animation by Nick by Lowie. Additional support by Lance Copan. Special thanks to Kathy Brown. Special thanks to Shuman Steve Mandel. Please subscribe, rate, review, and share The Quest Love Show. Wherever you stream your podcast, make sure you follow us on socials that's at q LS. Check out hundreds and hundreds of QLs episodes, including the Quest Love Supreme Shows and our podcast archives, The Quest Loup Shows auction of iHeart radioh