The Green Room: NLE Choppa

Rolling Stone

Watch The Green Room: NLE Choppa - Rolling Stone on Dailymotion

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00:00First of all, bro, glad to be here with you and I want to start it off by congratulating

00:08you because I don't think most people understand, the average fan understand how it takes to

00:12reach the level that you've reached in such a short amount of time, so I want to congratulate

00:16you for real.

00:17Obviously, you slept me out too, going crazy.

00:18As soon as I heard the first couple seconds, I was like, just knowing your flow, I'm like,

00:22you're going to go crazy.

00:23But the instrumental is obviously different from a lot of tracks that you've been on and

00:28I love when artists like that challenge themselves, but I want to know, how did you know what

00:31beat exactly to put that concept on?

00:33Man, you want to know something?

00:34I'll pray to the most high, he the perfect creator and he aligns all, so it was funny,

00:40I came up with what I wanted to say, I ain't going to lie, like how I was just taking selfies

00:46over here?

00:47Yeah.

00:48I was in the car, I took a selfie of myself and then I looked at the picture after I got

00:53done and I was like, man, if I was a bad bitch, I want to fuck me too.

00:58That go crazy.

00:59But I was dead serious.

01:00And then after that, I said, I want to put it in the song, and then I said, I just need

01:06the right beat.

01:07And then the next day I got the right beat, I didn't even ask for it, it just was there.

01:11You showed up like in a pack?

01:12Yeah, man, God, I'll pray to the most high.

01:15All your shows are hot energy, I mean all your tracks, but for Slept Me Out 2, how fun

01:20is that?

01:21Is it performing that song?

01:22I also want you to teach me that dance too, it kind of go crazy.

01:26I got you bro, I got you.

01:29Performing it, it's electrifying for real, it's like really one of the most fun songs

01:35that I've performed in my career.

01:37So I think like, you know, all of the adversity that was surrounding it really drove it to

01:44where like when I perform and I appreciate it much more because I really be feeling like,

01:50people counted it out a small bit.

01:53So you feel me?

01:54Seeing everybody rock with it and seeing how the Madison's gonna rock with it, it's gonna

01:57be a blessing.

01:58I'm just honored to receive it.

02:01Absolutely.

02:02I mean, moving in more to the music, you dropped Certified earlier this year, and obviously

02:07you know, bangers on there, walk them down.

02:10I mean, you've been doing this throughout your career, but what stood out to me most

02:13is they try to, you know, say that younger artists don't really pay homage or not really

02:18up on that.

02:19And I've always seen that from you, but it's two tracks on there where you sampled Nelly

02:22with the high here, and you sampled Pac.

02:24Can you talk about like, how like, if that's important for you to kind of like, know your

02:28roots within hip hop?

02:29It's extremely important simply because not only hip hop music is what I'm studying, I'm

02:35studying rock, I'm studying reggae, reggaeton, afro beat, I study all genres of music because

02:44I'm not a person that discriminates against art, you feel me?

02:50So whenever I hear a song, I be like, if I don't like it, I wouldn't say like, oh, it's

02:56trash.

02:57I'm also say like, it's just not my preference.

02:59So I just go through all spans of music, and that's what I love.

03:03Nah, I definitely agree with you in that sense of like-

03:06Damn, it don't matter how much I get away from Memphis, fool.

03:08Every time I say music, they all gonna hit the sign.

03:10It's gonna hit.

03:11Speaking of Memphis, too, I kind of wanted to move in that direction, obviously that

03:17being your roots.

03:18And I always thought that Memphis was just as central to hip hop as New York.

03:22Speaking of that, I wanted to know, because I think Memphis is on that level of like,

03:26if you have a Mount Rushmore of like Memphis, hip hop people who influenced you the most?

03:31See, I'm young, so I gotta go with the people where when it was like I was on the verge

03:37of my breaking point, I was looking at.

03:39Block Boy JB, number one.

03:41I gotta put him number one in my eyes, because he was the last person to blow up out of Memphis.

03:47Yeah, he had that new energy.

03:48He was bringing it, yeah.

03:49And then after him, it was me.

03:52So I feel like it was just like, I was kind of next in line for a huge blessing.

03:56I saw him receive it, and I was so proud of him when he received it.

04:01And man, by God's grace, I was like the next person there.

04:04I ain't gonna get into a top five, because I don't want to leave nobody out, but Block

04:08Boy JB, he was really like, he was my inspiration.

04:11Yeah, and that's why I'm like, with the Mount Rushmore, it ain't even like a number.

04:15It could be whatever you wanted, but I appreciate, you know what I'm saying, you keeping it like

04:18that.

04:19Speaking towards that, I actually spoke to Tay Keith when Her Loves was dropping, and

04:24just the way his genius, like the way he attacks producing, always like, kind of was like crazy

04:31for me.

04:32With, y'all have a crazy chemistry, and his chemistry with like all of Memphis artists,

04:37to me, is crazy.

04:38Even artists outside of Memphis.

04:39Yeah, I mean, he just, that sound, he really carrying.

04:43I want to know, like, what is it, like, because you have a very distinct, like, I feel like

04:48every Memphis artist has a distinct flow, or they don't attack his beats the same way,

04:52and you don't.

04:53So I wanted to know, like, when you get that, Tay Keith, like, when that file come through,

04:57like, how do you kind of know the way you're going to attack it?

05:00Yeah, I'm an artist first, you feel me?

05:02I ain't never been no rapper.

05:03I'm an artist.

05:04If I ever, I hear something, I'm going to paint, it's just, whatever, I don't really

05:09know how to explain it.

05:10It's like a translation, it's like a language that's spoke, like a beat speak a language

05:15to me, and I just talk back to it.

05:18That's just really how, my best way to perceive it, is that the beat talk to me, for real.

05:24And I be talking back to that motherfucker.

05:27Your mom's Jamaican, your dad's African American?

05:29Yeah, my mom, yeah, yeah.

05:30I'm literally the same, my mom's Jamaican, and my dad is just African American.

05:35I wanted to know, like, kind of growing up in Memphis, because in Chicago, it wasn't

05:38that many, wasn't many people who was, like, multicultural, like, Jamaican, but when I

05:42came here to New York, like, everybody was like that.

05:45How was that growing up for you?

05:46It's beautiful, because it gave you a select few people to rock with, and that was just

05:50my mom and my grandma, for real.

05:52You got a favorite dish?

05:53For me, it's oxtail.

05:54Aki and sawfish.

05:55Aki and sawfish, yeah, with the fried dumpling?

05:57Yeah, for sure.

05:59Take that shit off.

06:00Nah, it's all good.

06:01So, I also want to, kind of going into your roots, like, you started rapping at 14, which

06:10is crazy to think about how far you got, like, in this amount of time, just as an artist,

06:16but personally watching your growth, you've grew so much, and to be honest, like, it's

06:21people who are older, who haven't even, you know, kind of grew in that way as an artist,

06:24but as a person.

06:25I kind of want to know, what do you credit that to?

06:28God.

06:29I mean, and my mama, and my pops, and my brother, and all my family that's always with me, but,

06:39I mean, first comes God, and then my upbringing, who I've been around, just been nourished,

06:46and that's God's work as well, so you got to give that glory to Him, too.

06:50Everything, you got to give it right back to Him.

06:52Absolutely.

06:53Yeah.

06:55Speaking on spiritual, you was talking about how you went to, like, the last funeral, and

07:00you was like, you kind of, in your mind, you know, like, this is not really what I want

07:04to continue to be around.

07:06Your spiritual journey, for your age, I think is definitely something to be acknowledged,

07:13and to be praised, but how was you able to kind of step out, even from your peers, and

07:20be like, I'm the one that's going to do this?

07:23Even you, as an artist, like, you very much a trendsetter.

07:26Oh, you fucked me up, you made me think about something I don't want to think about, but

07:34what separated me, or made me step out, is I'm just fearless, and I ain't going to lie,

07:39like, I'm the type of nigga, if I could walk up to the person that's holding my blessings,

07:45I'd smack the shit out of them and take it, so I just got a real big hunger, and real

07:52big persistence, and I don't like nothing getting in the way of what I want, and I don't

07:59like the word can't, or none of them things, like, I'm always can, can, can, man, like,

08:06I always want everything to work, so that's the type of person I am, so when you just

08:10train yourself to be that way, man, you got to win, what the fuck, because even when you

08:16lose, you're going to keep trying, I'm dumb as hell, I'm a tight nigga, keep trying, I'm

08:21going to keep trying a hundred times, a hundred times a hundred, yeah, but a lot of people

08:27will see, like, look at this door, motherfucker, you keep walking up to this door, he said

08:31the door ain't open yesterday, I'm going to come back the next day, and then I'm going

08:35to come back the next day, and then I'm going to come back the next day, and that door going

08:39to open, it's just like, you feel me?

08:41Yeah, speaking of doors opening up, you, as an artist, so versatile, and I kind of want

08:47to know, like, what's coming up next for you, as far as, like, if you see any, you

08:51know, roles, and acting, I know you got your shoot, you're going crazy in all endeavors,

08:56at a very young age.

08:57Yeah, bro, I'm sprinkling in, no eggs laying in one basket, we can't put eggs in one basket,

09:02I'm acting, I'm most excited about my non-profit, I'm starting though, giving back, well, we've

09:09been giving back, for real, before the non-profit, but just being able to do it in a professional

09:14standpoint is something I'm excited about, giving back to kids, and communities that

09:19need it the most, and really helping, bro, that's what we're in a position to do, when

09:23people scream our music, word for word, it's not because we're just artists, we're gods,

09:29and that's what we're put here to do, is to help people.

09:34I appreciate you, bro, I don't want to take more of your time, thank you for joining me,

09:38bro.

09:39No, for sure.

09:40For sure, appreciate it.

09:41Appreciate you.

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