I ended up moving downtown with these three dudes that I didn't really know. I came into the house, and I didn't realize how things worked. From, like, 15-18, I was just fighting them. I fought, like, every day, and these were, like, older dudes. It was every man for himself.
— Tory Lanez
I never grew up on Jodeci. I never grew up on things like that 'cause my dad was a preacher, and he kind of kept us away from music like that.
When I get to a certain level, I'll start going by Daystar.
A lot of times, people won't be 100 percent real with their story, and I wanted to give people the drawn-out experience of the perseverance and the struggle that it took to get here.
I have a lot of fans, but a lot of people don't know who I am.
I just freestyle. I don't actually write the words on paper. It's just whatever comes into my mind. I'll record three or four lines at a time, get a good take, and do three or four more. It may be whatever comes into my mind. But I care about my craft a lot more than a lot of other people.
I try to make music, all kinds of music, whether it be singing or rapping.
Everyone is friends with each other, and you have to like what's hot. You have to do all these things as if there's no real feelings. As if you can't dislike something any more. We all just have to be buddy-buddy.
There's a different energy at one of my shows than anybody else's.
I always try to show there's a way for the kids that feel like they're lowlives. In anything you want, you can be the greatest at it, even without school, if you want. Know your route.
The whole 'I Told You,' there's nothing written. That was all out of the feeling. That's why the album is so incredible to me - it's all out of the heart; I didn't take time to pre-calculate it.
It doesn't take long to make catchy songs. That's not my problem.
I'm not a singer. I'm not an R&B singer. I'm an artist.
My favourite singers are people like R. Kelly and people like that.
Everything that comes out of Canada musically, I support. I support Toronto 100% because I'm on the side of the music.
I don't have a problem with anybody in Toronto.
It's not the fact that your single can sell. It's the fact that you can sell hard tickets. People will spend money to see you.
That's what made me a man, having to fend for myself and being in a situation where there is no dad, no grandma, and no mom to help you. It changed the person that I am today.
The only thing is, with me - this may sound weird - there are a lot of R&B singers from that era that I actually don't know. Like, I never grew up on Boyz II Men.
I believe later in life I'm gonna change my name when I start making the right music.
Swavey is a musical genre that I came up with to describe artists who are too talented to stay in a box with their music.
The reason why I called it 'I Told You' is because I wanted to show people that I have been doubted, and I have been in the face of adversity. Coming out of that situation, this is my 'I told you' moment.
Subconciously, the things you listen to and you believe in, those things are going to come out, you know what I mean? I think you take that and make it your sound; that's what I do when I'm putting together genres of music.
Reggae goes in and out. It sounds so good, it feels so good and feels so tropical, but the problem is not everybody is Caribbean. Not everyone is going to sound authentic doing it, and sometimes it comes off cheesy when other people do it.
I'm definitely more of a rockstar than anything.
I don't develop anything. I don't practice, I don't rehearse. I just go out there, and it's just amazing and unpredictable and spontaneous every single time. It's the most cultivating incredible performance that you can go and see live for the amount of money that you can see it for.
I love 50 Cent. I know it sounds weird 'cause a lot of kids might not say that right now, but I definitely want to work with 50 Cent, Jay-Z, Coldplay: I want to work with different artists that are going to push my music to a new level. Not just in urban music.
I don't write anything down - it comes from my head and my soul and my heart and my pain. That allows me to make the best music I can make.
I'm just a young kid.
I don't have no personal problems with nobody.
People live their lives through melodies. If you can't sing, then music is worthless.
I like the music from Drake. I like the music from PARTY. I like music from The Weeknd, Justin Bieber.
I'm getting money over here. I'm good, I'm young, I'm finally in a position to feed my family; please don't take that away from me.
I just pray to God and make sure I'm good with God.
I don't have beef with nobody... You know when it's beef, because then we just start playing scoreboard, and nobody wants to play scoreboard.
I have a lot of money, but I still feel broke. When I say I feel broke, I don't mean broke in a financial sense, but I still feel like that kid from the gutter who's still trying to get it, even though I'm at the place I want to be.
I'm thankful to God that my life changed, but I'm also still on my grind.
I started rapping because my mom died when I was about 11 years old, and I was a very rebellious kid. I've been kicked out of every school I've ever been in since 6th grade on, expelled and dropped out in the 11th grade. Music was the only thing that I could really use to express myself, so I started rapping.
'I Told You' is for all the people who've been doubted, the underdogs.
Swavey, it puts more than one genre of music together. That's the approach I have with all music I do.
I'm here to be the guy that rubs people the wrong way sometimes.
For me personally, my favourite part of performing is just going in the crowd and doing crazy things that they never expected to see. Challenging myself to do new things that I never expected to do. That's the biggest thing for me.
God put me on this earth to bring souls back to the Kingdom of God. You don't need to pray ten times a day - you just need hope. My music is going to stop war; it's the healing music. I see myself in Brazil, in Syria, in Darfur, and places where they really need hope.
I would like to work with The Weeknd. That's my boy, though; that's my friend.
I dropped out of school; I got fired from my job. Those were my roughest moments, but I always knew through it that I was going to be great.
I'm not a hater. I've expressed this before.
Swavey is the movement. Three words... It's Unique, it's true, and it's yourself. It's a very unique thing: it's true to yourself, and it's all about you just being yourself.
I like to turn the venue into a jungle gym, into my playground.
You're gonna know, if I have beef with somebody, then one of us is just falling out.
That's why, to this day, K.I.S.S. can sell out wherever they go... because they sell tickets, and they have that core fan base. You may not hear K.I.S.S. on the radio with a new single today. And they can still sell out anywhere.
