WEBVTT - Vince Staples 0:00:00.320 --> 0:00:23.510 The Questlove Show is a production of iHeartRadio. Ladies and gentlemen, 0:00:23.570 --> 0:00:27.590 welcome to an episode of the Questlove Show. My name 0:00:27.630 --> 0:00:30.230 is Questlove. I'm going to be very honest with you. 0:00:30.990 --> 0:00:37.040 Most artists have integrity, their integrity meter that sort of flickers. 0:00:38.280 --> 0:00:41.879 And I feel like our guest today sort of pinned 0:00:41.900 --> 0:00:46.440 that meter on full. And I'll be honest with you, 0:00:46.500 --> 0:00:49.300 since day one, I've been a fan of his, but 0:00:49.620 --> 0:00:53.370 I'll make a confession here on this platform, which is 0:00:53.670 --> 0:00:58.010 that I was afraid to work with our guest today 0:00:58.690 --> 0:01:02.290 because I talked myself in my head that I would 0:01:02.330 --> 0:01:09.010 be the one blemish on what is otherwise probably one 0:01:09.030 --> 0:01:13.590 of the most, this is not brown smoke, you know, hyperbole, but, 0:01:13.690 --> 0:01:16.069 you know, I feel like his career is really like 0:01:16.130 --> 0:01:21.410 one of the most exemplary, remarkable runs of artistic growth 0:01:22.530 --> 0:01:25.450 that an artist can hope for. Like you've seen artists 0:01:25.470 --> 0:01:28.310 that will evolve forever. from point A to point B, 0:01:28.350 --> 0:01:29.970 and then they make this Radical record, and then they 0:01:30.020 --> 0:01:31.940 make a Departure record, and then they make a Jazz record, 0:01:31.959 --> 0:01:36.140 and then they make whatever. But, you know, I've watched 0:01:36.180 --> 0:01:42.880 him pull off, like, musical impossibilities, like, in this entire career. 0:01:42.900 --> 0:01:48.750 10-plus projects, be it LPs or EPs or mixtapes or whatever, 0:01:49.330 --> 0:01:53.910 and somehow he's managed to turn all types of emotions, 0:01:54.010 --> 0:01:58.380 be it fear, anger, surrealism, and to a kind of 0:01:58.400 --> 0:02:02.970 cathartic means of expression. And, you know, he's also armed 0:02:03.030 --> 0:02:07.390 with wit, humor. Really, I mean, his number one weapon, 0:02:07.550 --> 0:02:13.070 I would probably say, is honesty. And it does it 0:02:13.110 --> 0:02:17.989 with absolute bullseye execution and manages to sort of speak 0:02:18.010 --> 0:02:21.679 to every generation from references that only boomers would know, 0:02:21.780 --> 0:02:25.060 that Gen X would only know, that millennials would only know, 0:02:25.080 --> 0:02:28.359 and alphas and whatever, so on, And especially on his 0:02:28.440 --> 0:02:32.150 latest album, which, you know, one could say is rock leaning. 0:02:32.270 --> 0:02:35.669 Cry Baby is no exception. I didn't bring him here 0:02:35.770 --> 0:02:39.770 necessarily to figure out like what makes him tick. But 0:02:39.850 --> 0:02:42.000 I kind of brought him here so I could learn 0:02:42.040 --> 0:02:46.860 something because I'd need people to follow suit. And I 0:02:47.000 --> 0:02:50.000 really hate over-praising people in front of them because I 0:02:50.060 --> 0:02:54.560 think it makes them uncomfortable. But I feel like a 0:02:54.600 --> 0:03:00.230 genius of his order really needs to be studied and followed. 0:03:00.250 --> 0:03:02.710 And I don't feel like the world really puts him 0:03:02.750 --> 0:03:07.270 in the conversation of, you know, artiste or, you know, 0:03:07.330 --> 0:03:10.929 italicized artist enough. And he kind of makes the rest 0:03:10.990 --> 0:03:15.400 of us out here feel like we're cosplaying as artists. So... 0:03:15.790 --> 0:03:18.450 I want to welcome someone that I really admire as 0:03:18.490 --> 0:03:19.930 a fan, Vince Staples. 0:03:20.450 --> 0:03:21.630 Thanks, man. I appreciate that. 0:03:21.889 --> 0:03:22.290 Yeah. 0:03:22.530 --> 0:03:23.310 That was kind of you. 0:03:23.550 --> 0:03:26.850 Because I believe that you have not even high standard, 0:03:26.910 --> 0:03:30.500 just a general standard. And sometimes people will say this 0:03:30.520 --> 0:03:34.800 to me often. They'll often say to Roots, like, oh, man, 0:03:35.200 --> 0:03:36.800 I feel like a fraud in front of you guys. 0:03:36.820 --> 0:03:41.010 And there's always been an isolation thing. For you, though, 0:03:41.130 --> 0:03:44.790 do you... feel as though you have community support or 0:03:44.830 --> 0:03:47.710 is it just like the if you know you know 0:03:48.530 --> 0:03:50.750 thing that sort of fuels the gas in your car? 0:03:51.330 --> 0:03:54.630 I think it really depends on what you consider community 0:03:54.670 --> 0:03:57.380 to be and what you consider support to be. Right. 0:03:57.640 --> 0:04:02.500 I think aspiring is a strong motivator for a lot 0:04:02.540 --> 0:04:04.940 of people even if we don't notice it. So people 0:04:04.960 --> 0:04:07.860 can only support you within the boundaries of what they 0:04:07.900 --> 0:04:12.260 want for themselves. So if people want to get out 0:04:13.100 --> 0:04:15.160 of the hood and they feel like you've gotten out 0:04:15.180 --> 0:04:18.800 the hood, then they'll support that. If they support, I guess, 0:04:18.820 --> 0:04:21.839 your creativity or they support your background, if they support 0:04:22.360 --> 0:04:24.900 the financial elements of it or whatever they think your 0:04:24.920 --> 0:04:27.140 politics might be, then they'll support that. So I think 0:04:27.180 --> 0:04:30.760 that we do have, or I do have a decent 0:04:30.800 --> 0:04:33.720 amount of support and community, but I think it's scattered 0:04:34.260 --> 0:04:39.380 because people kind of view me in different lights. You know, 0:04:39.420 --> 0:04:42.080 it's not like an overall consensus of this is how 0:04:42.140 --> 0:04:43.740 I feel about this person with me, I feel. 0:04:44.140 --> 0:04:46.560 I've learned this myself. I'm definitely in the zone where 0:04:46.580 --> 0:04:50.299 I'm like all things to all people. And I have 0:04:51.240 --> 0:04:56.930 first five Roots albums only people I got. I was 0:04:56.990 --> 0:04:59.409 seven when you guys did that song on Yo Gabba 0:04:59.450 --> 0:05:05.010 Gabba people. I had people that, you know, only saw 0:05:05.029 --> 0:05:07.870 like my Finding Your Roots episode. I mean, for you, though. 0:05:08.540 --> 0:05:10.380 there's different ways that we enter you. I know people 0:05:10.400 --> 0:05:13.110 that just know you just for your Netflix show. I 0:05:13.140 --> 0:05:15.810 know people that know you because you give like one 0:05:15.850 --> 0:05:19.010 of the greatest interviews ever. So like your sizzle reel 0:05:19.210 --> 0:05:23.130 of just your quotables on your interviews alone is like, yeah, man, 0:05:23.150 --> 0:05:25.830 he's crazy. He's funny. He's like, you know, that sort 0:05:25.850 --> 0:05:29.970 of thing. Does it frustrate you that sometimes they don't 0:05:30.250 --> 0:05:33.830 look under the hood to see what it is that 0:05:33.890 --> 0:05:34.570 you really do? 0:05:34.910 --> 0:05:39.300 When I started making music, it wasn't, that many people around. 0:05:40.200 --> 0:05:42.480 I think that's kind of carried over to today. So 0:05:42.500 --> 0:05:47.420 when I first started making music as a teenager, I 0:05:47.420 --> 0:05:50.900 don't want to miss anybody, but there was a guy 0:05:50.960 --> 0:05:55.230 named DJ that lived near me. His rap name was 0:05:55.330 --> 0:05:59.610 Lavish at the time. This guy named Chuck Rubin. Rubin's 0:05:59.650 --> 0:06:01.950 producer name was Chuck One. And there was a guy 0:06:01.990 --> 0:06:07.620 named Emmanuel. I think his rap name was E-Mans. And 0:06:07.640 --> 0:06:10.339 there was a studio on 60th and John across the 0:06:10.380 --> 0:06:14.540 street from Bret Hart local school. We recorded there and 0:06:14.560 --> 0:06:18.840 it was pretty much only us. And then after that, 0:06:19.540 --> 0:06:26.740 whether that's working very specifically with Mike G or Sid 0:06:26.779 --> 0:06:30.240 and Matt that later kind of formed the internet or 0:06:30.279 --> 0:06:34.979 working with Earl Sweatshirt or Speaks or kind of these people, 0:06:35.670 --> 0:06:39.560 there were never that many people around So there was never, 0:06:40.260 --> 0:06:44.469 I guess I would say crowdsourcing. There was never like 0:06:44.610 --> 0:06:47.150 a brainstorm, like when it came to making music. And 0:06:47.190 --> 0:06:47.770 I think that. 0:06:47.970 --> 0:06:49.710 So you never did like focus groups? Like, what do 0:06:49.730 --> 0:06:50.330 you think about this? 0:06:50.610 --> 0:06:53.770 Yeah, never. So I think I just was kind of 0:06:53.830 --> 0:06:57.729 stuck with my own perception of things and the way 0:06:57.750 --> 0:07:00.369 that I view the world or kind of my own thoughts. 0:07:01.390 --> 0:07:04.539 And because I was from such a different, I guess, 0:07:04.570 --> 0:07:08.159 background and everybody else, I didn't have any relatability factor. 0:07:09.050 --> 0:07:12.570 When it came to if people thought it was good 0:07:12.590 --> 0:07:14.030 or not. So at the beginning, I really didn't have 0:07:14.070 --> 0:07:16.830 any connection to music because I was just, I would 0:07:16.850 --> 0:07:18.230 say the middle part when I got with like kind 0:07:18.270 --> 0:07:20.420 of sitting in my, just was making whatever kind of 0:07:20.480 --> 0:07:22.600 fit into their world just because I didn't really have 0:07:22.620 --> 0:07:24.500 anywhere to go. And I wasn't going to school and 0:07:24.520 --> 0:07:26.100 stuff like that, to be honest. I was just like 0:07:26.140 --> 0:07:27.820 hanging because I had a nice house and shit. So 0:07:27.840 --> 0:07:29.760 I was like, I don't want to kind of spoil 0:07:29.780 --> 0:07:31.620 that because it was cool. And then mom cooked and 0:07:31.640 --> 0:07:33.160 it was a bunch of like cool stuff going on 0:07:33.200 --> 0:07:35.880 over there. So I think that was a big part 0:07:35.900 --> 0:07:39.060 of it. But when it came time to actually make music, 0:07:39.170 --> 0:07:41.850 I kind of only had my own thoughts. So I 0:07:41.930 --> 0:07:45.070 never had anyone say, this is too dark or this 0:07:45.150 --> 0:07:46.750 is too much. It was a really weird thing to 0:07:46.770 --> 0:07:49.130 where anyone that I worked with knew me on an 0:07:49.690 --> 0:07:54.300 extremely personal level. So it wasn't as bad as it 0:07:54.600 --> 0:07:56.420 kind of could have been or wasn't as dark as 0:07:56.460 --> 0:07:57.880 it could have been, I guess, if we want to 0:07:57.920 --> 0:08:00.180 talk about the darkness of it. But I think that 0:08:00.780 --> 0:08:03.200 the thoughtfulness that's kind of applied to the music is 0:08:03.260 --> 0:08:06.700 an entry point thing. So when you think about just 0:08:06.720 --> 0:08:07.720 to kind of round out what you were saying, the 0:08:07.740 --> 0:08:10.520 interview shit is like, all right, people kind of get uncomfortable. 0:08:10.540 --> 0:08:13.500 When people get uncomfortable, they laugh. Or it's like, oh, 0:08:13.540 --> 0:08:15.640 I can't believe he says whatever he wants to say. 0:08:15.660 --> 0:08:20.100 And it's like, that's kind of funny. And then the 0:08:20.120 --> 0:08:23.040 show shit is just an easy entry point because when 0:08:23.080 --> 0:08:26.020 we think about how people digest music, especially hip-hop music now, 0:08:26.050 --> 0:08:28.580 it's not kind of what it used to be. When 0:08:28.620 --> 0:08:30.170 I was younger, if people would ask me if I 0:08:30.590 --> 0:08:32.330 was into music or I listened to a lot of music, 0:08:32.370 --> 0:08:35.050 I would have said no just because it meant a 0:08:35.090 --> 0:08:37.950 much different thing. But now, You have people that listen 0:08:37.970 --> 0:08:42.030 to thousands of songs and they don't necessarily covet them 0:08:42.130 --> 0:08:45.320 as much as I might have coveted the couple songs 0:08:45.360 --> 0:08:47.140 that I knew no matter where I got them from. 0:08:47.660 --> 0:08:50.880 But I think I would probably have more music logic 0:08:50.920 --> 0:08:54.199 than would be considered typical for someone that makes the 0:08:54.280 --> 0:08:56.620 music I make within the genres that I make it. 0:08:57.210 --> 0:09:00.250 So I think it's just kind of a snowball of 0:09:00.290 --> 0:09:03.150 just time passing. And I think that I've been dated. 0:09:04.250 --> 0:09:08.069 stylistically or just in the way that I perceive music 0:09:08.130 --> 0:09:11.750 since I came out. And that's because people kind of 0:09:11.770 --> 0:09:14.230 knew who I was three or four years after Tyler 0:09:14.250 --> 0:09:20.490 and Earl and all those people. So I was newer 0:09:20.770 --> 0:09:23.430 in 2014, 15, 13, but I had been making music 0:09:23.670 --> 0:09:24.630 since 2009, if that makes sense. 0:09:24.809 --> 0:09:29.130 Yeah. Like the way that the whole idea of the 0:09:29.170 --> 0:09:32.630 concept of our future, when it was first presented to me, 0:09:33.080 --> 0:09:36.080 Weird enough, it was presented to me back when the 0:09:36.120 --> 0:09:40.380 Lonely Island guys were still on SNL. And they would 0:09:40.400 --> 0:09:44.079 come down and suggest shit and whatever. So they were 0:09:44.140 --> 0:09:46.340 explaining to me, like, yo, there's a new collective out 0:09:46.380 --> 0:09:48.720 there with all these rappers and everything. And then one 0:09:48.760 --> 0:09:50.290 night I went to go see them perform, and it 0:09:50.300 --> 0:09:54.090 was just like 30 people on a New York stage. 0:09:54.330 --> 0:09:56.390 And then I learned that later, like, these are different 0:09:56.410 --> 0:09:59.209 collectives and whatnot. Like, were you ever officially in? 0:10:00.059 --> 0:10:02.780 In that circle? No, I just knew them. Yeah, I 0:10:02.800 --> 0:10:06.840 just knew them. And Sid had a studio in her 0:10:07.360 --> 0:10:08.220 guest home. 0:10:08.580 --> 0:10:08.800 Right. 0:10:09.000 --> 0:10:11.310 And a lot of people recorded there. I just think 0:10:11.450 --> 0:10:14.330 I'm one of the people that was able to sustain 0:10:14.410 --> 0:10:16.110 something on my own. 0:10:16.590 --> 0:10:16.710 Right. 0:10:17.390 --> 0:10:18.810 Not on my own as if I didn't have help, 0:10:18.850 --> 0:10:21.250 but just outside of that collective structure. And I know 0:10:21.270 --> 0:10:23.609 that's very, very important to hip hop. At least it 0:10:23.670 --> 0:10:26.480 used to be. So it's like you have to be 0:10:26.500 --> 0:10:28.660 tied to something, even if it's just like in theory. 0:10:29.020 --> 0:10:33.160 Right. Well, I love the idea of a collective. That's 0:10:33.179 --> 0:10:36.440 what I try to do with Soulquarians. And it was 0:10:36.480 --> 0:10:40.450 never on purpose. Literally, the Soulquarians ended the day we 0:10:40.470 --> 0:10:43.510 did that vibe shoot. We did a thing, it was like, 0:10:43.530 --> 0:10:47.170 you know, D'Angelo, me, Erica, most, like, all these little suspects. 0:10:47.750 --> 0:10:51.370 The day we took that photo, immediately, that's when our 0:10:51.450 --> 0:10:55.410 powers kept, like, oh, wait, we're a collective? And then 0:10:55.450 --> 0:10:59.030 that's when it fell apart. But for a good four years, 0:10:59.370 --> 0:11:02.250 it was just, you knew that you could use the 0:11:02.290 --> 0:11:04.530 bathroom at Electric Lady because the three of us would 0:11:04.570 --> 0:11:07.750 have all the studios locked down. Mm-hmm. And then you 0:11:07.770 --> 0:11:09.680 get on keyboards and start jamming and the next thing 0:11:09.700 --> 0:11:11.640 you know, the tape is running and you're making a song. 0:11:11.740 --> 0:11:17.880 But I just always like romanticize the idea of a collective. And, 0:11:18.760 --> 0:11:20.980 you know, I kind of, in my mind, and I 0:11:21.000 --> 0:11:23.160 guess that might be a Gen X thing. Like I 0:11:23.200 --> 0:11:26.440 just wanted to see that thing again that I saw 0:11:26.800 --> 0:11:29.290 Wu-Tang do. And then I saw the Native Tongues do. 0:11:29.350 --> 0:11:31.069 And that, you know, so. 0:11:31.290 --> 0:11:35.430 And I think music translated from it being something that 0:11:35.450 --> 0:11:38.369 you don't, needed other people to do to kind of 0:11:38.410 --> 0:11:40.030 something that you were able to do in your bedroom 0:11:40.510 --> 0:11:42.730 on your own through splice loops and things of that 0:11:42.790 --> 0:11:46.170 nature and YouTube and social media. So like my first 0:11:47.250 --> 0:11:49.809 projects didn't have like a home. It was like media 0:11:49.850 --> 0:11:51.809 fire links and things of that nature that you just 0:11:51.830 --> 0:11:55.990 put on the internet. Right. And, um, so as time changes, 0:11:56.250 --> 0:12:00.110 these things change, but I feel like it's all historical context. 0:12:00.150 --> 0:12:02.949 Like if we're trying to reference something that happened yesterday 0:12:03.030 --> 0:12:05.890 or last week or last year or last decade, We're 0:12:05.910 --> 0:12:07.630 going to need a name for it. It's just a 0:12:07.670 --> 0:12:12.010 human thing. It's never bothered me. But I've never worked 0:12:12.150 --> 0:12:15.270 closely with anybody, to be honest. I don't think I've 0:12:15.320 --> 0:12:17.880 ever worked with anybody for more than maybe a project 0:12:18.000 --> 0:12:19.180 and a half, if that. 0:12:20.220 --> 0:12:22.280 I can tell that. And the fact that you can 0:12:22.320 --> 0:12:25.000 make it. Your albums do sound like it was created 0:12:25.020 --> 0:12:28.300 by one person. You know what I mean? And that's 0:12:28.320 --> 0:12:30.840 what I admire the most about it. Now, that was 0:12:30.880 --> 0:12:34.350 my pre-question. My first real question is to you. What 0:12:34.410 --> 0:12:39.270 is your idea of perfect happiness? And do you believe 0:12:39.330 --> 0:12:42.550 that it's genuinely obtainable? 0:12:43.130 --> 0:12:47.530 I think happiness is allowing yourself to be content within 0:12:47.550 --> 0:12:51.960 your circumstances. And, you know, the success and the failures 0:12:52.030 --> 0:12:55.380 of life and just being content with that. So I 0:12:55.400 --> 0:12:57.819 do think it's attainable. I don't think a lot of 0:12:57.840 --> 0:13:02.540 people want it. I feel like, especially within a creative medium, 0:13:02.580 --> 0:13:05.480 you kind of need chip on your shoulder or you 0:13:05.500 --> 0:13:07.699 just need something to kind of propel you forward yeah 0:13:07.720 --> 0:13:10.870 the conflict is important so um but for me I 0:13:10.990 --> 0:13:14.010 don't I'm not like a competitive type person like I've 0:13:14.030 --> 0:13:16.270 never been that kind of person so I think it's 0:13:17.150 --> 0:13:19.610 relatively easy for me to find some sort of happiness 0:13:19.670 --> 0:13:22.790 or peace you know in life like I'm very realistic 0:13:22.850 --> 0:13:27.050 about where I am like creatively financially um I've been 0:13:27.120 --> 0:13:30.060 able to sustain a lifestyle and take care of my 0:13:30.120 --> 0:13:34.090 family with having music that most people don't know Or, 0:13:34.130 --> 0:13:36.130 you know, be in a face that most people don't know. 0:13:36.390 --> 0:13:40.569 More people know me from Abbott Elementary than my two-decade-long 0:13:40.610 --> 0:13:41.189 music career. 0:13:41.610 --> 0:13:41.890 Same. 0:13:42.190 --> 0:13:44.050 And I don't look at that as if it's a 0:13:44.120 --> 0:13:46.040 negative thing. I look at it as, oh, I get 0:13:46.080 --> 0:13:48.960 to go to the grocery store. Or, you know what 0:13:48.980 --> 0:13:50.460 I mean? I get to go to the park or 0:13:50.480 --> 0:13:53.179 ride a bike or yada yada. So I think that 0:13:53.679 --> 0:13:55.219 there's something to look forward to in everything. And I 0:13:55.240 --> 0:13:57.400 think that's probably just because of my background and things 0:13:57.490 --> 0:13:59.969 of that nature. So you kind of do certain things 0:14:00.010 --> 0:14:02.949 and you live certain types of lifestyles. certain things just 0:14:02.970 --> 0:14:06.310 kind of be minuscule and like almost silly. So when 0:14:06.350 --> 0:14:08.190 it comes to like happiness and things of that nature, 0:14:08.230 --> 0:14:09.750 like if you can be content with who you are 0:14:09.790 --> 0:14:12.270 and where you are, I think that's a beautiful thing. 0:14:12.309 --> 0:14:15.449 But also I think it reflects in writing because you're 0:14:15.550 --> 0:14:19.360 able to kind of stay on you and your life 0:14:19.420 --> 0:14:22.000 because that's really what people care about, your perspective, but 0:14:22.020 --> 0:14:23.440 you're able to kind of give a new outlook on 0:14:23.460 --> 0:14:26.800 it because as you become more content with your surroundings 0:14:26.860 --> 0:14:29.729 and you're more aware of where you actually are, You're 0:14:29.790 --> 0:14:32.050 able to kind of have a new outlook on the 0:14:32.090 --> 0:14:32.710 same stories. 0:14:33.370 --> 0:14:37.890 Are you at all concerned about being typecast? I'll give 0:14:37.930 --> 0:14:41.450 an example. So I know that there's a sect of 0:14:41.490 --> 0:14:47.440 fans that love the idea of a depressed Mary J. 0:14:47.460 --> 0:14:52.500 Blige because she will then express a kind of blue 0:14:52.580 --> 0:14:55.600 misery that they themselves feel and that they can relate to. 0:14:56.660 --> 0:15:01.690 And then every two albums, Mary finds happiness and a 0:15:01.730 --> 0:15:05.090 bright spot. And then the fans are a little like, man, 0:15:05.130 --> 0:15:11.760 she's happy now. Fuck this. Do you ever worry that 0:15:12.300 --> 0:15:17.000 finding content and happiness might affect the product that is 0:15:17.200 --> 0:15:18.200 attracting us to you? 0:15:18.960 --> 0:15:22.740 It starts early, right? Because for one, you have family. 0:15:24.180 --> 0:15:26.320 So being an outlier within your own family, then kind 0:15:26.360 --> 0:15:28.780 of being an outlier within your community and like being 0:15:28.800 --> 0:15:32.390 an outlier within the kind of micro communities that exist 0:15:32.430 --> 0:15:35.470 in these communities. And, you know, being the weird dude 0:15:35.750 --> 0:15:39.470 from the weird gang in the weird city, music is 0:15:39.550 --> 0:15:44.270 relatively easy. The entire time I've made music, most people 0:15:44.310 --> 0:15:48.710 haven't liked my music. And I don't think it's because. Yeah, 0:15:48.750 --> 0:15:50.850 for sure. But I don't think it's because of. 0:15:51.840 --> 0:15:52.410 So I don't count. 0:15:53.010 --> 0:15:55.060 This is what I mean, right? We look at things 0:15:55.240 --> 0:15:58.560 from a certain vantage point. Okay, he's from California. Okay, 0:15:58.580 --> 0:16:02.359 he's from Los Angeles. Okay, he's a gang member making 0:16:02.400 --> 0:16:06.820 gangster rap. They don't look like that. Automatically, people are 0:16:06.840 --> 0:16:10.350 thrown off since I've started making music. So I think 0:16:10.910 --> 0:16:14.950 not really necessarily fitting into how people perceive things isn't 0:16:15.010 --> 0:16:17.270 a me problem and it's also not a them problem. 0:16:17.290 --> 0:16:21.090 That's just the gaze of how we understand things. So 0:16:21.720 --> 0:16:28.010 I think proximity and like your reality being defined like 0:16:28.510 --> 0:16:29.810 I don't want to say it in a negative way 0:16:29.850 --> 0:16:32.650 but just not being full of shit are important because 0:16:33.030 --> 0:16:35.380 if I know that most people don't understand these street 0:16:35.410 --> 0:16:37.880 dynamics I know most black people are good and kind 0:16:37.940 --> 0:16:40.260 and hardworking God fearing people that go to church every 0:16:40.280 --> 0:16:43.200 Sunday and have grandma with the groceries and I say 0:16:43.220 --> 0:16:44.600 that in a good way not to make it sound 0:16:44.620 --> 0:16:46.440 like a slight people just think I'm always being an 0:16:46.460 --> 0:16:52.170 asshole nowadays but it's the comedy shit but then I 0:16:52.190 --> 0:16:55.550 don't It doesn't bother me that people are probably more 0:16:55.590 --> 0:16:58.470 comfortable seeing this black woman depressed or more comfortable seeing 0:16:58.910 --> 0:17:02.500 this black man rap about the street or more comfortable seeing, 0:17:03.620 --> 0:17:05.119 you know what I mean? These kind of, I don't 0:17:05.140 --> 0:17:07.359 want to say stereotypes, but these kind of tropes that 0:17:08.200 --> 0:17:10.439 are very real in a lot of our communities and 0:17:11.480 --> 0:17:14.619 are the easier connection points. So I think that because 0:17:14.859 --> 0:17:17.480 of the people I started making music with, like, I 0:17:17.500 --> 0:17:20.540 remember when that stuff started with, you know, Tyler and 0:17:20.560 --> 0:17:23.740 Tebbe and all these guys. Most people locally called them 0:17:23.780 --> 0:17:26.240 weird and didn't support them. And to this day, it's 0:17:26.359 --> 0:17:29.900 very hard to find local people within our communities that 0:17:29.920 --> 0:17:34.280 support their music. A lot of people support the success 0:17:34.320 --> 0:17:37.380 that's been garnered from it, but people to this day 0:17:37.400 --> 0:17:40.679 still talk about if Tyler's a real L.A. artist or 0:17:40.700 --> 0:17:42.590 things like that when he's playing in Renions and it's 0:17:42.619 --> 0:17:47.270 kind of world-renowned. It's silly to me. So I think 0:17:47.290 --> 0:17:50.090 that I've always noticed that. So when it comes to 0:17:50.130 --> 0:17:53.500 people wanting things from me, I understand they're wanting something 0:17:54.100 --> 0:17:56.640 based on their perception of something that they have no 0:17:57.240 --> 0:17:58.180 idea of for real. 0:17:59.000 --> 0:18:02.460 Do you have a morning routine? And what is it? Like, 0:18:02.520 --> 0:18:06.090 what's the first thing you did in the half hour 0:18:06.119 --> 0:18:07.530 this morning? What did you do? 0:18:07.970 --> 0:18:10.110 Today I flew here when I got here. 0:18:10.670 --> 0:18:13.350 Oh, you literally landed and shit. 0:18:13.350 --> 0:18:14.310 8 a.m. All right. 0:18:14.850 --> 0:18:15.429 I appreciate this. 0:18:15.690 --> 0:18:19.169 No, it's all good, bro. Yeah, usually I wake up 0:18:19.290 --> 0:18:23.380 like 4 o'clock. let the dogs outside, do some stuff 0:18:23.420 --> 0:18:25.880 around the house, kind of do some family stuff. But 0:18:26.440 --> 0:18:32.850 I'm relatively simple, bro. I never thought I would do anything. 0:18:33.410 --> 0:18:35.910 So I never had any dream or aspiration or anything 0:18:35.930 --> 0:18:39.390 like that growing up. So life is pretty simple for me, 0:18:39.410 --> 0:18:42.369 as wild as that might seem. But I think it's 0:18:42.390 --> 0:18:44.889 important to think and kind of be within your own 0:18:44.950 --> 0:18:47.949 thoughts because that's kind of our job. So I just 0:18:47.970 --> 0:18:52.340 try to have as much... clarity as possible like I 0:18:52.380 --> 0:18:57.140 rarely work like on music I rarely I don't have 0:18:57.200 --> 0:19:01.060 meetings we don't do any of that Corey pretty much 0:19:01.100 --> 0:19:02.679 does everything to be honest. 0:19:03.300 --> 0:19:08.620 Um but it's like Corey hello yeah hello Corey yeah 0:19:08.640 --> 0:19:12.149 the people can hear that wave Corey Corey Smith I 0:19:12.410 --> 0:19:14.430 don't really ask for much bro but I think um 0:19:14.890 --> 0:19:18.700 stillness is kind of important quiet is important um Because 0:19:18.740 --> 0:19:23.480 without that, I can't really think. And I'm still in 0:19:23.520 --> 0:19:26.270 the same place where I grew up. I still know 0:19:26.290 --> 0:19:28.609 the same people and have the same friends where I 0:19:28.650 --> 0:19:32.990 grew up. So my life is extremely simple, bro. 0:19:33.369 --> 0:19:36.250 Got you. What time do you typically go to sleep? 0:19:37.690 --> 0:19:41.460 Like 9, something. Maybe 10 or something. Somebody call me. 0:19:41.980 --> 0:19:46.380 Every lyrical genius I know has the same routine, which is... 0:19:47.480 --> 0:19:51.419 They want to be in bed by... 8.39 so that 0:19:52.560 --> 0:19:55.780 they can get up. Tariq might get up at 3.30 a.m. 0:19:56.500 --> 0:19:58.980 just so that he can have four to five hours 0:19:59.240 --> 0:20:02.810 of no kids, no, like he gets the house to himself. 0:20:03.350 --> 0:20:06.210 And like silence is his favorite thing on earth. 0:20:06.920 --> 0:20:09.960 Yeah, and I don't have a lot of music. I know, 0:20:09.980 --> 0:20:11.899 of course, more now, and I try to study as 0:20:11.960 --> 0:20:13.700 much as I can, learn as much as I can, 0:20:13.760 --> 0:20:17.870 but my musical knowledge is few and far between. So 0:20:17.900 --> 0:20:22.130 it's like for me to be able to receive what 0:20:22.190 --> 0:20:24.149 other people are saying, what other people are trying to 0:20:24.210 --> 0:20:28.629 push musically, I think I have to know where I 0:20:28.790 --> 0:20:34.150 am at all times. Because even when it comes to translation, 0:20:34.190 --> 0:20:36.820 if I have an idea... I have to go find 0:20:36.840 --> 0:20:40.720 the music to explain it to someone. I don't have, hey, 0:20:40.740 --> 0:20:43.470 let's make an album that sounds like this. And I 0:20:43.490 --> 0:20:46.389 feel like that's very valuable, especially working with producers and 0:20:46.609 --> 0:20:50.650 things like that. So I just really need the time 0:20:51.470 --> 0:20:54.780 to figure out what I'm thinking and what I'm trying 0:20:54.840 --> 0:20:56.560 to not really say, but do. 0:21:08.560 --> 0:21:12.880 What singular event or occurrence that happened in your life 0:21:13.140 --> 0:21:16.200 was the tipping point? Like what singular event changed your 0:21:16.260 --> 0:21:20.570 life that brought you kind of here to this day? 0:21:20.590 --> 0:21:23.310 I think it's going to be hard just because I've 0:21:23.350 --> 0:21:26.169 kind of been an attentive person for a long time. 0:21:26.490 --> 0:21:32.900 I always notice like a certain complacency or just like 0:21:33.000 --> 0:21:38.450 a laziness in my broader family. And I knew I 0:21:38.470 --> 0:21:40.540 didn't want to do that. And I was going to 0:21:40.560 --> 0:21:42.020 kind of figure it out. I didn't want to be 0:21:42.080 --> 0:21:43.620 one of those people that kind of just let life 0:21:43.660 --> 0:21:46.419 happen to them. And there have been a lot of 0:21:46.460 --> 0:21:48.600 things that have happened in my family, to my family, 0:21:48.619 --> 0:21:50.580 to where I feel like I would have reacted differently. 0:21:51.359 --> 0:21:54.760 And I think coming from an immature place, being a kid, 0:21:55.800 --> 0:21:58.100 it was kind of like out of disdain for them. 0:21:59.180 --> 0:22:01.720 So ever since I was a kid, I kind of 0:22:01.790 --> 0:22:06.149 didn't relate to my family. Or like even my friends. 0:22:06.170 --> 0:22:07.950 I don't want to put it specifically on my family, 0:22:07.970 --> 0:22:12.389 but I think the people of my environment, I had 0:22:12.410 --> 0:22:14.879 an understanding of what the environment was and how the 0:22:14.900 --> 0:22:19.700 environment got there. I just didn't realize like, for example, 0:22:19.720 --> 0:22:21.520 this is an example. I grew up with no white 0:22:21.560 --> 0:22:25.869 friends or like white people around us, period. So it's 0:22:25.900 --> 0:22:29.730