197testing my boundaries seeing, Ooh, let’s see what I
can get away with? Being a Crip and making
music like “Studio” and “Collard Greens,” you
don’t hear people where I come from who talk
about gangster shit and all the shit that I talk
about make songs like that. I wanted to see if I
could get away with it. It was also another thing
where I was, like, this is my first album. I do not
want to give them the typical “I’m a Crip this
that, that, that.” For most artists, Blank Face
woulda been their first album. Me personally,
I didn’t want them to put me in a box right off
the jump. That’s why I’m gonna keep you on
your toes. That’s why I came with what coulda
been my first album, second, because I just
didn’t want people to put me in a box.
What sets CrasH Talk apart from the
rest of your catalog, in your mind?
CrasH Talk, it’s more of a black album is
what I call it, a ghetto black album.
More fun, more summertime. I never
made summertime music like that, you
know? It’s, like, dark summertime,
summer nights type shit. It’s way more
party friendly, way more bouncy than I
ever made. My voice is different. I’m just
proud of it and that I can constantly come with
new shit and it’s all because I dropped Oxymoron
first. I didn’t let them put me in a box and I
wasn’t insecure to make these type of records.
Even though to me Oxymoron was my worst,
I think it opened the door for me to create the
way I create. You just can’t let them put you
in that box, man.
In the track “Crash,” you talk about
kicking game to the younger
generation. Rap has changed in the
past years as well as it has seen the
loss of a few key players, including
your good friends Mac Miller and
Nipsey Hussle. Do you feel more
responsibility to your younger
audience these days?
I think my legacy is already there,
man. I think I just gotta keep doing
what I do and keep growing. I feel
like there’s more gangbangers out
there like me who gotta hide who
they are because it’s not the norm. If
you put me in a room with a bunch
of gangbangers, I’m just like them,
but I’m way different than them, you
get what I’m saying? There’s kids out
there like me but have to hide it so I
have to constantly be pushing the
boundaries—the art boundaries too. Don’t be
scared to meet new people. Like me and Mac
Miller being friends or me and Tyler, The Creator
or me and A$AP Rocky—they ain’t
gangbangers and shit but they are some
of my closest friends. Just pushing the
boundaries that you can meet new
people and do new things and
that keeps your creativity
level up. You never stay
the same person.
Every time that
you meet
someone
you take a piece of them with you. If we never
grow up we constantly stay in our village and
never leave the village. So me personally,
I have a job to constantly keep doing
me. Constantly switch it up and show
kids that, you know, that you can
be from the streets and do
something super, super
creative. Don’t be afraid to
make that street shit too—
I do have a responsibility
to keep going.