I don't know if there's anything Kanye West can do that can erase his influence on me, because it's here. It's already there. He can't even reverse that himself, because it's just so ingrained in me.
— JPEGMAFIA
The idea of me being an icon or something is a very funny thing, just because of my own weird insecurities. But, yeah... probably because I toiled away being nothing for so long.
When I first heard 'Pearly Gates' by Mobb Deep and 50 Cent growing up, the rapper Prodigy had a line about wanting to beat Jesus up. I wasn't religious, but I'd never been introduced to something like that. I was scared and mad, but then I asked why I felt like that.
Liberals allow right-wingers on their platforms to have a 'civilized discussion,' but there's no reasoning with racists. I don't want them to have a platform that humanizes them. I want to talk down to them and meet them exactly where they are, with absolutely no respect.
Everything I say is true and from the heart. I exaggerate some things, but the core base of it is just facts.
Now that I have a little platform, and there are more eyes on me to release something, all that does is challenge me and put me under pressure, and I love being under pressure, especially musically. I might fail, but I'm excited about the possibilities.
I think it's important for black people in general to be aware of what's going on and do what you got to work around it. Not bow down to it publicly.
I don't have a manager who's secretly on Interscope. I'm the complete opposite of an industry plant.
There are so many odd things that happened that are centered around Britney Spears it's kind of amazing. There's just so many cultural moments centered around her existence and nothing else.
When I released 'Veteran' and the reception was good, it was the first time I ever worked really hard on something and had that hard work reciprocated back to me.
The U.S. army is pretty terrible. Never join it!
Black people are not a monolith. Black people have different thoughts. And sometimes people just need to hear the harsh truth - even myself. But you can't manufacture a hard truth and place it on somebody. When Kanye says slavery was a choice, that's not a harsh truth.
Originally my entire goal with music was for it to be my job. When I sit down to make a beat, I wanna know that I'm gonna get paid from it, and that I can pay my bills and still have money left over to be a person.
The way I make music, I know what I'm doing, because I been doing this for so long. This is the only thing I'm good at.
I'm always just gonna do whatever I want. I don't feel any pressure to appeal to anyone in particular.
I want to work with Danny Brown but also Cannibal Corpse and Maroon 5.
It just seems like Baltimore, talent-wise, nothing can touch it.
I'm going to shock you with the truth. I'm just going to give it to you raw, and however you take it, I'm just going to watch your reaction.
Rules limit you, and once you start thinking about what the audience wants or expects, it becomes a trap that a lot of artists fall into.
The first time I ever went to Texas was on a bus with curtains draped over the windows. I just joined the military and got shipped off to basic training in San Antonio.
I'm not some patriot. I didn't have some yearning to defend my country or anything. I was poor.
I'd never been to a festival till I played one.
I just wanted to write about music if I wasn't going to make it.
I am used to experiencing so much trauma, that when I see it, I have to speak out. I don't think rappers have a responsibility, but if you don't say something or be silent or avoid it, I believe it shows your true real character to the world. It's like, if no one wants to rap about gentrification then I am going to fill that void!
America to me is where I grew up: in Brooklyn, around other black and Latino people who helped and loved each other. I just want to show people that America doesn't have to be this 'I'm in the NRA, blah blah blah' type of place.
I don't want anyone to expect anything from me. I just want them to know that I'm gonna put 1,037% into whatever I do. If I tell you I'm gonna release a folk/reggae/country album, just know at bare minimum there's gonna be 1,010% put into it.
Everyone has a little niche in rap, and I just wanted to carve a piece out of it for myself.
I used to get stop-and-frisked every time I walked out of my house.
Kendrick Lamar is 10-times the rapper I am, but I just feel I'm the best at getting my own point across.
I'd rather be dead than work in a warehouse.
If Kanye was not in the equation, I literally wouldn't even be here. His music pushed hip-hop - the man is a master at taking a complex idea and presenting it in a way that is accessible for everyone.
A lot of these dudes in metal, they're just mad at the world because, like... who even knows?
If you listen to my music, you know who I'm talking to, what I'm talking about, and exactly what my message is.
Veteran' is an exercise in editing because there is a lot of moments I took out and some that almost didn't make it.
Punk is all about doing what you want and being yourself. And that's what rap is too.
I don't think rappers have a responsibility, but for me, I gotta say something. I can't just look at injustice and keep quiet.
We need true free thinkers, people who really say what they feel and have good, genuine intentions.
