I'm from a middle class family. I didn't grow-up rich, but I didn't grow-up poor. Each guy has to stick to his own story.
Its just tryna impress the world and then realizing that, that doesn't even matter really, you gotta impress yourself.
I'm really just tryna bring it home for my city, I'm trying so hard to be the best I can be on every record I do, every feature I do and every different city I go to.
My struggle and my story is very much so somebody that was just kind of [an] underdog. I didn't have any cosigns, I wasn't even really good at rap, I'm one of those dudes that was never just crazy and amazing, I had to work my f***ing ass off to get good at this stuff.
Me, personally, I'm just happy. I have a great mother. I have two great sisters. I couldn't ask for more. I'm healthy. I do what I love.
I'm just starting to take some more voice lessons but hell no, I'll always stick into the hip-hop genre.
I think the new school is dope. Artists like Kid Cudi, The Cool Kids, Drake and Wale can come out of middle class homes and be on tracks with people like Jay-Z, who's from the hood and the street.
I think my music has a big message, and I think when people really get into it, it does help their life sometimes. It inspires me; it's my favorite part about my job.
I'm just gonna do my own kinda swag of kinda dumbing something down and speaking some knowledge.
My first official music video for "Who Am I." It's getting crazy traffic and a lot of hype. I got sponsored by a company called MATIX because of it.
Look at somebody like Drake, the guy is one of the most vulnerable. He says exactly what's on his mind and that's why I respect him.
I feel like I've got the skills to be at the top, I feel like I've got the mind-state, so basically what I'm saying is there's people all around me, there's artists all around me that are in my zone, but I still feel alone. I feel like I can't relate to them as much as I can related to maybe somebody that was a little bit higher up.
I work with a lot of production that's really positive and contains a lot of soul stuff. Those instrumentals project the happiness out of me. But, sometimes I get a darker beat, with some dark piano or something... and then I'll do darker tracks.
I'm always gonna rap. Rapping's what I started doing, I even sang when I first started rapping, when I couldn't really sing at all but I always tried.
I think every rapper should know how to sing, like a little bit. I mean common man it'll make your rapping better straight up.
Even if you don't sing on your tracks, if you know how to sing, it'll probably help you out.
Who knows what the future holds but I think I'll always be that dude that can run hooks, and do hooks for other artists, and really know how to make a catchy hook.
This album [Stroll] and all my songs that break barriers are more reflective of my personality.
Nobody's gonna ever like all my music but if your talking about the core hip-hop fans that like hardcore rap, they're still gonna feel some of my stuff cuz I rap hard a lot of the time.
It's basically me saying to the industry that I won't work within the walls in hip-hop. I want to put a twist on things, and that's what that song is all about. It's about putting a twist on stereotypes.
I found myself at a time in my career trying to impress everyone. I was constantly thinking about what everyone thought of my music.
Even when I write a song, lots of times I think - I wonder what my dad would think of this song.
I'm tryna put out the right stuff and just do me and not pay attention to who's hating and who's loving me and make the music I love to make, and make it the best I can.
I always use familiarity in my music, whether it's in my song writing or whatever.
Usually when fans find out about my music for the first time, they're like "Oh this guy's actually for real!" And it's just like yea, you found Waldo.
