00:01:24.900He gets right up next to the microphone.
00:01:26.160I hear you can almost hear the eyelashes hit each other.
00:01:29.580You've never seen Italy so quiet as when the Pope gets up to wink on Halloween.
00:01:35.060Listen to Artists on Artists on Artists on Artists every Thursday on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
00:01:42.540I'm Lacey Mosley, author, actor, stand-up comedian, creator, and host of Scam Goddess Podcast,
00:01:48.180the true crime comedy podcast all about robbery, fraud, and those who practice it.
00:01:52.580Each week I bring on an amazing guest.
00:20:06.880Or if they're feeling or if it's like a more sad song, it makes them feel like there's hope or like they can learn something or gain something from that.
00:20:13.860Because to me, there's two types of sad songs.
00:20:16.280There's sad songs that let you like wallow in your sadness and just kind of throw yourself a pity party.
00:20:22.140or they're sad songs that that are going to help you get better and i want to make music that helps
00:20:27.280people get better not feel worse or stay in a bad place your music makes me feel great yeah that
00:20:32.120puts me in a great mood yeah very funny no but all of it all of it uh coco uh you just released
00:20:41.420one three two one which which is awesome so check this out i want to ask you maybe you've thought
00:20:46.400about this how do you avoid pigeonholing yourself so far in that lane of feel good like i don't
00:20:54.740call it bubble gum music but you know what i'm saying because it's happened it's happened to
00:20:58.360a lot of artists in the past three years is they only make that those like pop bangers yeah and
00:21:03.720then get pigeonholed into only doing a certain a certain thing have you have you considered
00:21:08.240branching out into maybe a little more feel so so mood and coco are probably the two most similar
00:21:15.340songs that i've released in succession of each other and that was just because like yo this worked
00:21:20.480and it felt good of course let me like put a more like rap twist on it than than pop but it's still
00:21:26.940kind of like the same vibe three two one is completely different from both of those two
00:21:31.620songs and if you look back at like my catalog before those songs are all different and with
00:21:35.800the album that i'm dropping it's got like a full spectrum of everything like i purposefully want to0.94
00:21:40.580mind fuck people with every release like damn i didn't know he could do that like i'm i'm you know0.67
00:21:45.640i'm gonna drop the exclusive right now but i got a song with future on my on my project and i think0.99
00:21:49.680that's something that people really wouldn't expect from me yeah but it's like we're no no
00:21:55.280human is just one thing you know we all have these dualities and these different sides of us and i
00:22:01.520think a lot of artists are afraid to for whatever reason to to show all the different sides and i'm
00:22:06.680like yo i'm a human before i'm an artist so my art has to be human too it has to be reflective
00:22:13.200of all the different sides of me and all my different experiences i'll be interested to see
00:22:16.800and i'm hopeful to see how long you can keep the attitude of staying true to yourself and your
00:22:23.820and your multifacetedness in this city because because especially uh for an artist a musical
00:22:31.860artist that is uh that does have a certain amount of like uh platformed based marketing and and you
00:22:38.520know obviously i've gotten a lot of help from tiktok and other places and the labels in the
00:22:41.640one ear and the platform and the audiences in the other it'll be interesting to see how long you can
00:22:46.580keep saying yo not just because that worked that's not who i am yeah and i'm a key and i'm
00:22:51.820gonna keep doing me will you like what are what are your biggest drivers towards staying true to
00:22:57.240yourself right now um it's the people around me that that allow me to to to be free and you know
00:23:04.000kind of explore and like bump my head and fuck up a little bit because i could put a song out and it
00:23:08.980doesn't do that well but that doesn't mean it's the end of the world you know it's just like all
00:23:12.860right well that didn't work let's try something else and when you're talking about like the city
00:23:17.060like oh it's it's hard bro because everyone has a different vision of what you should be or or how
00:23:22.600you could be and it's like getting pulled in 30 million different directions sometimes but
00:23:27.880just having like that core group of people around they're like yo gee being you got you here like
00:23:33.060just keep being you that helps a lot i've always said this my whole life i felt like i had a
00:23:39.440through line of happiness regardless of my success or my failures what does that mean
00:23:42.920i've just been stable with with how fulfilled i feel and how content i am with my life0.63
00:23:48.640regardless of whether i you know fuck up make a big mistake which i've done or one on an extremely
00:23:54.300high level as well it just it didn't really affect where i was at and i feel i'm i feel that from you0.63
00:24:00.040a little bit like you're you're very optimistic happy-go-lucky um which i think is going to
00:24:04.480contribute a lot to uh your success in hollywood but have you ever felt a moment where you i guess
00:24:10.600just doubted your future or yourself fuck yeah i i think any artist that says they never doubted0.99
00:24:16.480himself is a goddamn liar because bro this this shit isn't guaranteed like coming from1.00
00:24:21.880from where i come from everything that i've achieved up to this point beats the statistics1.00
00:24:27.580you know like didn't go to jail you know didn't have no serious problems like the making money
00:24:33.800like i'm making now like that is not supposed to happen statistically for someone like me so it's
00:24:38.420like like it's it's very easy to be like well am i an imposter you know like the whole imposter
00:24:44.640syndrome thing and and i think everybody goes through it sometimes more than others and some
00:24:51.680people more than others but like for for the most part i'm able to to keep a level head i like this
00:24:57.300thing good it's it seems like and just like touching on the fact that like not every single
00:25:02.760thing you put out is gonna be a banger it's not possible for that to happen but to see
00:25:07.420you at 20 like already understanding that because that's something that like it takes
00:25:11.660creators some you know a lot of social creators too like when they start to see view counts dip0.89
00:25:17.120or they see a video that doesn't perform here and there it's the end of the fucking world but it's0.78
00:25:21.240fucked up because i felt that way before like i've i've been at a place where every morning i'd wake0.94
00:25:26.340up and check my spotify artists and if the streams went down i would have a way worse day and it just0.95
00:25:32.200kind of took some time for me to realize like yo i can't i can't let my my emotions be controlled by
00:25:39.000these external factors that there's nothing i could really do about it like all i can do is
00:25:43.380make the best music i can that represents how i feel and let the world decide whether they like
00:25:48.740it or not remove yourself from the numbers you will become happy forever yeah but it's hard
00:25:54.540though it's really hard it's so hard and some days it feels like oh i don't care about that0.96
00:25:59.140shit at all and other days it feels like the biggest thing in the world you know yeah yeah0.98
00:26:03.120Yeah. I can imagine after you released Mood, hey, you're on a high, right? This song took over. I remember the first time I heard it, I was like, this is a smash. A thousand percent is going to the top. I think I said it to my group. I was like, this song is amazing. Thanks for the promo.0.99
00:26:17.720yeah of course but but after that after the high ends how you follow that up if if i'm being honest
00:26:25.120with you guys like mood was probably one of the most like tumultuous challenging periods in my
00:26:30.960life because this this thing of getting a number one song right there's artists that have worked
00:26:36.020decades and and have huge songs and huge careers that never got a number one and here i am at 190.62
00:26:42.700getting it off playing a fucking call of duty game so i'm like well what does this mean like0.80
00:26:48.140what do i do now you know and i remember like i i really vividly remember like i just bought a car0.97
00:26:54.100this is my first car that i bought since i was in high school you know and i'm like well i got the
00:26:58.880number one song i got a car i i have everything that i've been working for or that i think i've
00:27:04.820been working for but for some reason i don't really feel happy like truly happy about it
00:27:10.280and that was that was like a big wake-up call into like you know what is really important it's
00:27:15.300the relationships that you have with the people around you that love you and it's you know making
00:27:20.040stuff that you're proud of and making an impact and doing stuff that's going to change other
00:27:23.680people's lives this kid's like out here spitting crazy you're wise behind your ears no no and he
00:27:29.240has said that to a number of guests but i'm in full agreeance with him today like you you really
00:27:33.680you really are and understand like the way the way that you put it and and people should understand
00:27:39.260is like this is a long game right and so like all those little slip backs or like ones like you look
00:27:45.800at the big hits the ones that brought in all of these new people that didn't know who you were
00:27:50.020and then the next one comes around and maybe 60 of them are were there yeah but there's if you look
00:27:55.160at the song that came before it's a 20 increase from the one before it and you start to notice
00:27:59.880that yo the big hits just act as marketing materials for your long-term climb and every
00:28:03.940time you pick up some more core fans exactly because that's that's really like the the only
00:28:08.720things that matter as artists is the music you're putting out and does your real fans are you growing0.54
00:28:13.940your true fan base and and are they still fucking with you you know because at the end of the day0.77
00:28:18.980you know people are going to come and go go when you're hot and when you're not but it's like the0.85
00:28:23.460true people that stick around with you and are going to love you do the good the bad and ugly
00:28:26.680those are the ones that that matter more than any any you know temporary love yeah i hate to
00:28:33.380keep going back to this one moment but it seems so pivotal to me uh was was mood do you think the
00:28:40.480beginning of the career that you thought you'd always have no i think it started a lot earlier
00:28:47.900than that which is mood is probably the first song that people heard and were able to put my
00:28:52.620face to it but people forget i have two platinum songs before that i had valentino and city of
00:28:57.880angels i wanted to ask about this because i i was one of those people i forgot i was like yo i know
00:29:02.400i know this sound because you have a very distinct sound but but from where and from
00:29:06.360what and how and um sorry there's a little tight kick the wire there we go um and i i was wondering
00:29:16.260why because even when mood was released i think a lot of people thought that was ian's song
00:29:21.520am i tripping i don't know i don't know i felt like he i felt like he got a lot of traction
00:29:27.600off of that um and rightfully so yeah but i don't know i uh it's i guess it surprised me that i
00:29:35.080hadn't heard of you until that song because you already had a presence in music that that was
00:29:41.200always really like like i think that was probably the biggest moment of both of our careers so far
00:29:45.680you know because and and that's some type of shit that you can't do by yourself like i'm glad we did
00:29:50.680that together because that's my boy and i want to see him win too you know but i think it's it's0.57
00:29:55.440definitely like it was always like a weird like a question for me like yo how come i got two hit
00:30:00.880songs like how come no one yeah like knows who i am like like that and and i was just like i'm not
00:30:07.160a one-hit wonder like i'm not like i'm a two-hit wonder now like shouldn't shouldn't something be
00:30:11.320shaking and moving but honestly bro it's like i don't have i didn't get any cosigns from the
00:30:16.220beginning it wasn't like i was part of a scene on the come up so to to develop my my fan base and
00:30:22.500and like my recognition we kind of just had to like build it from the bottom and
00:30:28.380everybody's artist career is different and that was something i had to learn to accept too like
00:30:32.920i cannot compare myself to any other artists because we all had different come-ups and all
00:30:37.200have different paths so i'm just like all right i don't know when it's gonna happen but all i can
00:30:42.300like all i can do is just focus on what i can control the music and like what i'm posting on
00:30:47.420social media and like putting out into the world in my opinion i think the slow steady and then
00:30:54.960exponential growth is the healthiest yeah i i i think it's uh it's the best for longevity in in
00:31:00.860the industry yeah we interrupt this program to bring you a word from our sponsors in a tiny
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00:31:28.200designed out of their california head colors i personally am going to get this one the starlight
00:31:33.780black just a slick black sleek color uh matches with anything they have an unbeatable price point
00:31:40.080and they have a look and quality of a $400 to $500 watch
00:31:43.480that you're paying for at a department store
00:55:22.920Like, if I gotta be the beacon, so be it
00:55:24.840That is the biggest lesson you ever learn in life.
00:55:26.840And trust me, there's nothing that the audience, that the people want to see more and can relate to more.0.99
00:55:33.140Because most of the people out there are going through shit.0.99
00:55:36.120Most of the people out there are suffering.1.00
00:55:37.600Most of the people in some way, whether mental, financial, whatever.
00:55:41.500And that idea of having a downfall and then a trajectory back up is like, that's everything, yo.
00:55:48.240That's what inspires people more than anything else.
00:55:50.200The comeback is like so much like the come up is very inspiring.0.99
00:55:53.640but to come back oh that shit is like damn you was up and down and back up again like well because0.99
00:55:58.980that's crazy when you're at that rock bottom it's only up from there true like i i noticed i am1.00
00:56:04.740actually more excited for my failures than i am my wins i don't really care about my wins anymore
00:56:09.320bro i i was told i was fighting floyd mayweather very excited cool right but like after the moment0.97
00:56:14.740i go back to just doing whatever the fuck i'm doing when you fuck up and fail on a level like0.97
00:56:19.880that you have to re-evaluate and with that re-evaluation comes positive change comes a new0.99
00:56:26.940you potentially a new identity new goals aspirations and a way to get there and that's fun so that's
00:56:32.100exciting shit what were some of like the growth and lessons you feel like you learned from that
00:56:35.560so many so many um so the the analogy i i use is uh some somewhere in my life i hit a fork in the0.97
00:56:44.800road. And I, and I went down the wrong path. I don't know if it was like my intentions were
00:56:50.820wrong. I was letting the wrong motives fuel me, whatever it was. I just like, I don't know. I
00:56:57.020couldn't see what was happening. And I just had to reverse my life. And I did so by trying
00:57:02.400everything, listening to people, talking to people around me, bringing him on board. You know, I
00:57:06.400didn't have a mentor or a big brother. I was, I'm the big brother. And so I just, I just started
00:57:14.280listening to people around me and to the world and uh being being a real student of the environment
00:57:20.200and and it changed me in a way where you know i'm really happy with the person that i became and
00:57:25.300am becoming still to this day because you know it's it's all a work in progress facts so funny
00:57:30.640the guests that come on this uh podcast i think it's two or three now they're like have you been
00:57:34.180to tokyo we love it so i mean that says something too that like it wasn't that long ago and most
00:57:40.480people kind of forgot that already well i think i've i'll go ahead and say i've given uh i've
00:57:46.320given them a decent amount of reasons to forget and it's not like i'm trying to make them forget
00:57:51.100like it's an important pivotal part of my journey and you know i'm all for taking accountability for
00:57:56.140my actions like in the past present and future yeah and uh i'm here to acknowledge it acknowledge
00:58:02.660the growth that it helped me uh do and move on keep on trucking man because this is yeah of
00:58:08.240Of course, because honestly, as long as you so cliche, if you if you don't give up, it's really hard to stop you.
00:58:15.140Yeah. Like if you're fucking relentless and refusing to let other people tell you who they think you are when they don't know you.0.93
00:58:22.980Yeah. It's going to be really hard to stop that person who abides by that.0.98
00:58:26.900Yeah. And that's what happened with me. I'm inspired.
00:58:30.000Thank you. I could tell you ain't going to make no mistakes, though.
00:58:32.900No, no, no. Everybody makes mistakes. Don't don't pay me to be this superhero because when I fuck up, you know,
00:58:38.240it's it's gonna happen eventually you grew up in a you grew up in an era where uh correct me if i'm0.97
00:58:44.620wrong where what you had people like me making the first round of mistakes cancel culture just
00:58:49.040blooming blossoming whatever you you kind of got a good idea of what was wrong and what was right
00:58:55.580from social because correct i would say for the most part like me i i definitely read into things
00:59:02.760more than the average person but there's a lot of people out there they get attention for doing
00:59:06.520things that aren't necessarily right too so just as there's people that are seeing something wrong
00:59:10.780and being like oh i shouldn't do that there's also going to be those kids out there that are0.96
00:59:13.920seeing like damn this shit got a hundred million views i'm gonna go do that you know it's yeah it0.98
00:59:18.180all just kind of depends on how you interpret it i think i think i guess what i'm saying is like0.99
00:59:21.760social media i think decreased ignorance yeah it's just more information out there exactly i0.90
00:59:28.420was ignorant it's fucking hell growing up because i mean no offense to my parents but there's a lot0.70
00:59:34.200of things they didn't tell me yeah and a lot of things that i just didn't know and now social0.98
00:59:38.140media even just listening to this podcast or any podcast which didn't exist 10 years ago so much
00:59:44.240information so many things to learn from and uh you definitely grew up in that generation where
00:59:48.700like when you were in high school i'm sure you had instagram and yeah youtube i like instagram
00:59:53.520like seventh grade or something that's crazy to me that's crazy i got senior high school year
00:59:59.060senior high school my my friends forced me to get it because i was just on vine yeah did did
01:00:03.960did the likes affect you at all um probably less than most people but it's now like i don't know
01:00:13.100a lot of the things that didn't bother me before started bothering me more once i got more money
01:00:19.580and fame and stuff like that which is kind of backwards you know because you think like well
01:00:22.940you didn't have anything before so it shouldn't bother you as much now but i don't know it's
01:00:27.100something weird that happens and it's like like like i remember there was time like if i didn't
01:00:31.500hit the 10% engagement rule on Instagram, I'm like, oh, I'm fucking up. Like, what am I doing
01:00:36.580wrong? And I kind of just had to readjust and reframe and be like, yo, if, if one person sees
01:00:42.200this post and it brings joy to them or it teaches them something or it inspires them, that's what
01:00:48.080really matters. Not, not the, the satisfaction I'm getting from making some, you know, beating
01:00:55.420something in the algorithm, like fuck with that. You know, you know, it's cause we talk about this0.99
01:01:00.080a lot all the time especially having like creators on the show but you said it was funny how once
01:01:05.140you got money and you got fame and all that stuff like you started caring about the social metrics
01:01:09.680more which seems backwards but in actuality that's when those metrics started to make the most be the0.95
01:01:17.600most important too because that's what fucks with your bag bro you know what i'm saying and so like0.99
01:01:21.320all those views all those listens all those downloads all those likes all that shit it's0.99
01:01:24.880part of the same engine that pays you yeah and at the end of the day when for me at least when0.98
01:01:29.180something starts fucking with my money then i gotta pay attention to it you know what i'm saying
01:01:32.580and so like it's not really that odd to start caring more once you go into the industry of0.98
01:01:38.180social media to make a living off of you know what i'm saying or or artistry it's it's like
01:01:42.500this toxic cycle though you know it's gross it's so gross it's toxic but it's part of the game and
01:01:47.620it's like yo you're not going to be a successful artist or creator or whatever these days without
01:01:51.960having a social media following like except the ones who can wild think about think about what
01:01:58.340artists or people have come up in the last five years without using social media Kendrick Lamar
01:02:04.560no he came up in 2012 Frank Ocean came up in like I'm talking about in the last four years
01:02:10.700because 2017 is even way different you know landscape than it is now on social media like
01:02:16.140I think Playboy Cardi is the last mysterious artist that's going to be that level of successful
01:02:22.100but even like but even with even those artists without you may say like you know uh kendrick or
01:02:29.380or cole or whatever was without social but cole obviously further back but like kendrick for
01:02:34.480example like well who knows what he was aided by on reddit posts and facebook you know what i'm
01:02:39.420saying like it wasn't coming from him though right correct nowadays you can't just be an artist you
01:02:44.540have to be a creator you have to be a tick tocker you have to be a youtuber or at least that's what
01:02:49.300it feels like there's a reason why bill gates puts videos out you know what i'm saying like you think0.91
01:02:53.900bill gates need gives a shit what anybody fucking think but he's making content yeah you know like0.98
01:02:59.200i think i don't know if bezos does but like nah he got too much bread he don't give a fuck about0.99
01:03:03.820but even like elon right for example elon doesn't really he don't have to say shit0.97
01:03:07.820i like how elon plays with it though because he's having fun for him and it's boosting his every0.57
01:03:13.460time he makes a wave it boosts projects he's working on so everybody is harnessing the power
01:03:18.400of social media but i don't think i think if he didn't have as much money as he had right now he
01:03:23.140probably would be a lot more careful and like scared of like what to post because there's this
01:03:28.980weird like in between period of like starting to get money and being like filthy rich it's called0.99
01:03:34.460it's called fuck you money yeah elon has fuck you money he could say whatever he wants whenever he1.00
01:03:41.280wants to his investors to his shareholders to whoever the fuck he wants and he does it yeah1.00
01:03:45.300elon don't tell people that you're taking the company private again he's he'll say whatever0.98
01:03:50.340he wants doesn't care about that he's said so many things about going private public this doing that0.89
01:03:55.880doing and his advisors say yo don't do this and he does whatever the fuck he wants because he has0.99
01:03:59.920fuck you money yeah you know and and the how much money that equates to being fuck you money changes1.00
01:04:07.840by the like who knows what it's going to be tomorrow you know now it's like a billion you1.00
01:04:11.920what i'm saying like it's crazy i don't even think you need like a billion but like yeah a couple
01:04:15.460hundred like i mean even 20 million is is like you can you can if you put your money aside the
01:04:21.020right way you can live a very comfortable lifestyle for the rest of your life and still
01:04:26.120provide for your kids for sure like the best analogy i like to say is like you know in the
01:04:29.440game 21 the basketball game right how you get points and once you get past like 13 or whatever
01:04:34.280you can't go below 13 but if you're at 12 bro you can lose it all you know and it's and it's
01:04:40.080And it's being at that, you know, 10 to 12 range, that's the scariest because you're up so much, but you can have it all kind of crumble away at any moment's notice, it feels like.
01:05:53.540Like my days are so packed that I feel like I don't have the time and emotional capacity to really give somebody and to be the best boyfriend I could possibly be.
01:06:06.200And I'm scared of being hurt, too, bro.0.99
01:06:08.960It's a lot easier to be in the streets than it is to, like, if you do find the time or make the time to give it to this one person and then they hurt you, bro, y'all know that shit hurts.0.99
01:17:00.500He gets right up next to the microphone.
01:17:02.200I hear you can almost hear the eyelashes hit each other.
01:17:05.320You've never seen Italy so quiet as when the Pope gets up to wink on Halloween.
01:17:10.120Listen to Artists on Artists on Artists on Artists every Thursday on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.