- 6 months ago
Don Toliver sits down with Billboard’s Mike Saponara for the Superstar Q&A at SXSW 2026 to chat about his chart-topping fifth album, ‘Oktane.’ The Houston artist reflects on the album debuting at No. 1 with 162K units, all 18 tracks landing on the Hot 100, his evolution into producing, the story behind "Body" and sampling Justin Timberlake's "Rock Your Body," Travis Scott's last-minute verse on "Rosary" and their 5-album collaboration streak and more!
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00:00What's going on, everyone?
00:02How we feeling? How we feeling?
00:03The Soundplot?
00:06I'm Mike Sapinara. I'm a staff writer with Billboard.
00:08We got the great Don Tolliver with us.
00:10Hey, yo, yo. How y'all doing? How y'all doing? How y'all doing?
00:15Don T, how we feeling?
00:16I'm feeling good, man. You know, we in Texas, man.
00:19It's my state. You know, it feels good to be home,
00:22and I'm just soaping up the energy for real.
00:24Hell yeah. Do you come to Austin a lot?
00:27Like, what was your relationship with the city?
00:29I don't come to Austin a lot.
00:30You know, I'm from Houston, but when I come here,
00:32it's like the craziest energy.
00:34Some of my craziest shows have been here,
00:36and just coming here over the years,
00:38it's always been like a crazy experience to come from,
00:42you know, Houston and just vibe out here for real.
00:45I love that. You know what today is?
00:47Side by Sideways.
00:48Yeah, that too. But I was going to say,
00:50it's the sixth anniversary of your debut album.
00:52Oh, right.
00:53You think about that?
00:54You know, I'm going to tell you something about that.
00:55Like, really? It feel like I got so many albums now,
01:00and, you know, these anniversaries be coming up,
01:02and I don't really be knowing how to feel about it.
01:04I've seen it, Heaven and Hell.
01:05It's been like my craziest album of my whole life,
01:09besides Octane.
01:10And I just look at it crazy.
01:13I looked at that story on one of my fan pages today,
01:16and I was like, that's crazy, but I don't know.
01:19But yeah, nah.
01:20Today is a historic day for me, for sure.
01:23Hell yeah. I mean, I think back to that time.
01:24I feel like that was right before the world shut down.
01:26Bro, it was crazy.
01:27Like, it was really insane.
01:29Like, I had to like...
01:31I literally flew to L.A. the day they shut it down,
01:35my album dropped.
01:36That was like...
01:36That was a crazy feeling.
01:38Crazy, crazy.
01:39Yeah.
01:39Now is the start.
01:41Now to album five, Octane.
01:43Octane to the vein.
01:45That's right. I love that.
01:46So for just some context, like, I interviewed Don
01:49about three or four days before Octane dropped.
01:52And now I just look at six weeks since, you know,
01:55went crazy, debuts at number one, 162,000 units.
01:59All 80 tracks hit the Hot 100.
02:01I guess, like, how do you feel about it?
02:03How do you feel about how the album's been foreseen?
02:06I feel like, honestly, it's a blessing.
02:08I think it's been a long time coming.
02:11You know, I put a lot of work,
02:13a lot of, like, brain power,
02:15and a lot of, like, attention to detail
02:17into making this album.
02:19So it feels good for it to be doing what it's doing.
02:23All right. It's dope to see.
02:24I feel like, how does it feel to be like a star in this era?
02:26To me, like, you made that leap into the A-list.
02:30Honestly, I always felt like I pioneered the game,
02:32but I just really just kept my head down
02:34and made sure that, you know what I'm saying,
02:36the music was going to be heard before I really had to speak on.
02:39And now it's just a thing where, you know,
02:41the A-list is, it sounds beautiful, it feels great,
02:45whatever you want to call it.
02:46I think now we just had a point where I'm being heard
02:49the way it needs to be heard,
02:50and we finna just take off from there.
02:52Word. Obviously, when you talk Octane,
02:54you got to talk about your love of cars.
02:56Like, where did that really start from?
02:58My love of cars.
03:00My dad has always been, like, a car guy.
03:04You know, he always, like, tripped about, like,
03:07being Ram 2s and all these crazy off-road vehicles
03:09when I was a kid.
03:10And I just grew up listening to, like, Currency heavily.
03:15And a bunch of other artists that kind of influenced my style of cars
03:21and just the whole energy of playing music that I love the most
03:26and nostalgic moments in a vehicle and the particular vehicle.
03:32It's a lot that goes into it, but yeah.
03:34Sure. I just want to touch on a couple tracks.
03:36If you could just explain to the audience, like,
03:39how something like Body came together.
03:41Body was honestly, it was just really all off a feeling.
03:46And Jasu, I just literally randomly called him, you know,
03:51to be a part of me cooking this whole album up.
03:56I only, like, met him, I want to say, like, once or twice before
03:59he came to this session.
04:01But I just always knew he kind of had this energy.
04:04And honestly, honestly, he played that track and I just,
04:09it just happened right there.
04:11The energy kicked off.
04:12The microphone's right there.
04:15I was kind of, I remember him playing it and I was rapping what I was saying,
04:19the whole, like, thing.
04:20And I, like, screamed and told the engineer to come to the studio.
04:24Because he, it was literally like that.
04:26I was, like, rapping.
04:26I was like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
04:28Pull up, pull up, pull up, pull up, pull up.
04:29He jumped on the computer and I just started recording it.
04:32Then it was over with after that.
04:33Yeah.
04:33What'd you think about that sample for off your body joint?
04:36Oh, man.
04:37Like, it's kind of crazy because when he, when he first did, like,
04:41honestly, I love Justin Timberlake a lot.
04:43Like, my mom, she played him and, like, Pharrell and Outkast and all these crazy great artists
04:50when I was growing up as a kid in the car.
04:52I got a lot of, like, fond memories of that.
04:55And that Justin Timberlake is always one of my favorites.
04:57I just, like, justified that album is literally, like, in my top ten favorite albums of all time, man.
05:07Honestly, honestly, I didn't really, like, I understand what it was.
05:12I understood the energy of that moment was going so crazy.
05:15I understood what the sample was, but it just sounded so crazy.
05:19I didn't think that deep into it.
05:21But as I had this song and I sat with it for, like, a week, I was like, hold on.
05:25This is literally one of my favorite songs of all time.
05:28That's crazy how that moment's out.
05:30Like, Rock Your Body is really literally one of those songs that just really, like,
05:34triggers it, like, endorphin in my body when I hear it.
05:37Right.
05:38Like, rewires your brain or what.
05:39Right.
05:39You know what I'm saying?
05:39So, to put those two together was so iconic for me.
05:44It's such a special moment, you know what I'm saying, to do.
05:48For sure.
05:50Another thing I wanted to touch on was, like, you talked about, like, in our interview,
05:54this, like, appreciation for Y2K pop and that kind of era.
05:58If you could just take us back to, like, what you were listening to then or anything like that.
06:03What I was listening to, I mean, when I think of it, I have, like, a crazy fond memory of
06:11just, like, being young,
06:12watching, like, the Spice Girls.
06:14Like, they had a crazy little energy.
06:17Like, I think they were, like, really, like, one of the key moments of that.
06:20The Backstreet Boys, they was crazy.
06:23That was a crazy little band.
06:24They went out there and did their stuff.
06:26NSYNC, all of that.
06:28Literally, it was just, like, the vibe of it takes me back to, that's how I am with music.
06:33Some music I just love because it brings back, like, a memory of that time.
06:39And it just makes me love the music even more because I think about, that's kind of the only way
06:43I can remember
06:44that far back into my brain is when I hear, like, the music from that era.
06:51That's dope, yeah.
06:52Another thing I was going to touch on was, I remember when I interviewed you, you said Travis was cooking
06:56up.
06:57Still.
06:57So, he wasn't on Rosary yet.
07:00I guess if you can just tell us, like, how he ended up hopping on there at the last minute.
07:05Well, Travis, it's like, me and him, we always see each other.
07:09We talk.
07:10You know, I really try to keep it, you know, relationship that me and him have, like, you know, as
07:17far away as just, like, from music as I can sometimes.
07:21Because, you know, at the end of the day, we are human beings and I don't like to just make
07:25our, you know, like, meeting of each other every once in a while just be about music.
07:33So, I was just, you know, running this music.
07:35I really let him take his time.
07:37I really didn't even, this album, I was like, yo, whatever Travis want to do, he could pull up however
07:42he want to do it.
07:43I ain't really, I just wanted to make sure that he understood my journey with the music when I played
07:49it for him.
07:50It was never the intent to play a song for him to get on it.
07:53It was always like, yo, I want to play you this just to let you know where my head is
07:58right now and how you feel about it.
08:00And, you know, I would see him records from the album and he would come back to the studio at
08:06certain times.
08:07But he just caught a, he just caught a vibe for Rosary and he understood, you know, my idea for
08:14it.
08:14And it was crazy.
08:17I really love his verse on that song.
08:18Yeah.
08:19So that was like super last minute.
08:21He hopped on there like Thursday night and then the album's out Friday?
08:25Thursday night.
08:26I don't know about Thursday night, but it was definitely last minute.
08:29It was definitely like one of those things where I was like, all right, bro, where you at?
08:33All right.
08:34You know what I'm saying?
08:35He be, he be moving around.
08:37I just love that energy though.
08:38Like I think it's just more, it's more of a, it's more of a thing of, it's more of a
08:46thing of excitement, you know, to not really have that type of urgency for me.
08:52I like the fact that he kind of sit there already, lock in whatever you want to lock into.
08:58Yeah, for sure.
08:59And he's loving the album.
09:00I just saw him post on his stories like three different tracks yesterday.
09:03I guess, take us into some of your conversations that, is he like proud of you or how he feels
09:07about the album?
09:10Yo, he loved the album.
09:12He loved the album so much.
09:13And I'm just happy that he able to enjoy it.
09:16Like at the end of the day, I got, like I told you in that interview would take me back
09:20to that time where like, he used to listen to that music and I would just hear it.
09:24Now I see it.
09:26Feel what I'm saying?
09:27Yeah.
09:28That's so dope, man.
09:29Damn.
09:29It's crazy how it's come eight years later now.
09:32Right.
09:33You more?
09:33Yeah.
09:34It's even crazy.
09:35It's like.
09:36What's like the, the biggest thing you think you've taken from Trav from like a mentorship standpoint?
09:44Um, I was just, I was just know, you know, who you are, bro.
09:50I always know who you are and never, never really let, never really let a room, you know what I'm
09:56saying?
09:57Dictate your ceiling or your floor.
10:00Yeah.
10:00Never let nothing kind of tell you where you can go or how you can go about it.
10:06You know what I'm saying?
10:07It's kind of what, what I always picked up from here.
10:09Wow.
10:10I love that.
10:10We kept the streak going five for five, Travis on Don albums.
10:15We tried to keep it going.
10:16It's like the undertaker streak at WrestleMania right there.
10:18Trying to keep it going.
10:21Something I found super interesting when Octane started to take shape, you and your right hand engineer producer 206 Derek
10:28went to Miami.
10:29And he told me like, that's when he got you to kind of dive into producing for you for yourself.
10:34I guess if you could just talk about that journey and kind of adding that, you know, to your repertoire
10:39as a producer on this album for the first time.
10:42Um, to be honest, I don't know if that journey started in Miami.
10:47I don't know.
10:49I kind of always wanted to produce, I was kind of been like the guy to direct everything I want
10:56to do with my music.
10:57I'm very hands on with everything I want on my music is like, I'm very, very, very like particular about
11:04the sounds that I put into my songs.
11:07But now these days, I think Miami, maybe I definitely last year, I will say around the time I started
11:15making this album as I put more effort into producing.
11:20And it's been crazy.
11:22It's really, honestly, I get some of like, my best work and some of the more songs that I'm proud
11:28of, you know, when I produce them.
11:32Um, I don't know, it's crazy.
11:34I just kind of got a knack for it.
11:36Like, you know, playing the piano, playing certain chords on piano, playing certain instruments that allow you to play chords.
11:44Yeah.
11:44Um, you know, quicker than I guess usual, whatever, a different type of, it's been, it's been fun.
11:53It's like, we're going to see more producing from you, maybe for other artists even or something.
11:56Yeah, for sure.
11:57Um, yeah, Don Tyler, our production, they playing, bro, we, we coming for everything, bro, 2027 and R.
12:04I love that right there.
12:06Um, I, I know like the album also started to take shape when you went to Carmel by the Sea
12:11and had this Airbnb and it was like this creative retreat right by the ocean.
12:15I guess, do you paint that picture for us and, and how that was inspiring you?
12:20Um, Carmel by the Sea.
12:23Um, yeah, so.
12:25It's called Castle Creek, right?
12:26That's what you guys called it?
12:28Yeah.
12:28So basically I went out to, I wanted to have a, so this is crazy actually.
12:35So I wanted to do a recorded camp for this album, Octane.
12:39And this was like the big camp for the album where I have been recording music for this, um, prior
12:46to this camp.
12:47But this camp was supposed to be like, all right, this is where I'm, I need to get like the
12:51bread and butter of this album, which I did.
12:53Which was E85 and body and a couple of sweet home.
12:58I got a, a lot of very important records out of this particular camp, but, um, it was just really
13:04supposed to be, um, you know, as close as I could be towards Big Sur and Monterey.
13:10Right.
13:10And I kind of like landed in between both of those.
13:13And, um, it was like this house that was like kind of on this cliff.
13:17And it, you know, um, it was like this, it kind of felt like this medieval feel to it.
13:23So I ended up calling it Castle Creek.
13:25I kind of give all my, um, like, uh, we kind of give all of my, uh, main camps certain
13:31names.
13:32But either way it goes, it was kind of like a racetrack for the cars.
13:35I had sent my, uh, the car, my Porsche down there, my, my Colorado down there.
13:40And it was kind of like a racetrack.
13:42I was literally like playing the songs and hitting that, um, that highway down, uh, whatever that is, down Big
13:48Sur.
13:48And just kind of listening to the music on loop.
13:52And, um, it was a vibe because I really loved those cars and I wanted them to be at the
13:57camp, but I didn't want to be particularly in LA.
14:01So this was a great medium.
14:03I shipped the cars down to the camp and it was just great to visually see them there at Castle
14:08Creek and to record the music because the cars had a very, very, very, very, very important piece within the
14:15visual concept of this album.
14:17Right. It all works within like the Optane Zeitgeist, I feel like.
14:20Yeah, for sure.
14:22Love that.
14:23And then how did you discover the Mount Wilson Observatory?
14:26Oh my God.
14:27Um, dude, dude, dude.
14:29The Observatory was a crazy piece.
14:30So with this album, it started with, um, it started with, to sum this up, it started with the idea
14:38of a group B rally racing.
14:41And I kind of fell in love with that because I love how the fans, uh, would spectate on the
14:47racetrack.
14:48Like that's why I got banned because the fans were literally spectating, like literally you'd be trying to get through
14:55a corner and there's a fan with like a camera, like right on the track.
15:00And it's like, it was getting ridiculous.
15:02And I got, I got intrigued by that.
15:04And that kind of like, I let that play on loop when I would make these songs.
15:09And I was like, okay, I got the vehicle aspect and I kind of got the soul of it.
15:13Cause I love cars, but what is going to be the, the home of this?
15:18So I was kind of like, all right, I want to go geodesic dome.
15:23I wanted to be, basically a geodesic dome was just like a, a glorified tit.
15:27It's like a tit that like you can see through.
15:30It's like one of those kind of plastic tits you might see at a, like a festival or something that
15:35they use.
15:35Right.
15:36So I was like, maybe I do like a whole little space where I just put a crazy huge tit
15:42and I got my cars out there in the woods and I'm recording music.
15:45But I was like, nah, I don't want to, I don't want to build that.
15:48That's expensive.
15:49And at the end of the day, I'm just going to have to shut it down.
15:52Right.
15:52I was like, let me find a place.
15:55So we started doing research, research.
15:57I was like, yo, this is pretty interesting.
16:00This, this me and my guy, Ralph, he was doing a lot of creative direction and helping me find exactly
16:08where I want to go.
16:08So me and Ralph, we did a lot of research and development and we ended up finding Mount Wilson.
16:14And what was, what would I thought was intriguing about it was.
16:17So what I thought was intriguing about it was the telescope that's been there for a hundred years plus.
16:24And the actual structure, because it opened up like the Astrodome for the telescope to see out of it.
16:31And it's fit completely 360, but the actual dome was kind of a geodesic dome because it was round.
16:38Yeah.
16:38And it was on top of a mountain.
16:40And they done rally races there in the eighties.
16:42I was like, bingo, this is my spot.
16:47And camped out there, get a ton of shoots, recorded music.
16:52And it just all made sense for me.
16:55Yeah.
16:55I thought it was cool when you said like, you know, astronomers and they're trying to like Edwin Hubble, he
17:00found that it's deeper, more galaxies than the Milky Way.
17:04Right.
17:04That's how it started.
17:05Yeah.
17:06That telescope was where Hubble found out that there was more than meets the eye in the Milky Way.
17:11And that was like one of the most biggest discoveries that kind of led to a bunch of other discoveries
17:16from that war telescope.
17:17But what I thought was cool about it kind of related to my life is that astronomers have to, you
17:24know, look into that telescope like sometimes three, four, five in the morning to see a certain planet because the
17:33Earth is, you know, moving.
17:36So that's kind of like the studio, like sometimes you might be in there cooking rhymes till three in the
17:41morning till you actually see what you want to see.
17:44And when you see it, you got to seize the moment, lock into it, and hopefully you get some out
17:50of it.
17:50So I kind of related to that story and that whole thing of just astronomy period.
17:55Right.
17:56Right.
17:56Just finding, trying to find that answer.
17:57Sometimes you got three, four, five in the morning.
18:00You're like, there it is, right?
18:01Yeah.
18:01Word up.
18:02How many tracks total you think you had for Optane before you had to whittle it down?
18:08Um, tracks.
18:09How many tracks did I have for Optane?
18:12I think I had, um, oh, I recorded over like hundreds of songs, you know, for this album, but, um,
18:2118 made it.
18:22Yeah.
18:23How tough is that process to kind of be like, all right, we want this.
18:25We don't want this.
18:26This kind of makes sense here.
18:28I think it was tough.
18:30You know, it's tough.
18:31It gets, it gets easier every year because I'm like kind of knowing I'm kind of getting
18:39better and sure of myself.
18:41Yeah.
18:41More confident with what I'm trying to do.
18:44Because at the end of the day, I'm not trying to do what somebody else is doing.
18:47This is all freely of off of my perspective, my take on music and my idea of what I think
18:53I want something to sound like.
18:55So sometimes as an artist, you don't know how people might take it.
18:59You might have heard ATM and be like, hey, yo, bro, what are you doing?
19:02But at the end of the day, that's how I felt.
19:04And I felt people loved it.
19:06And that's what keeps me pushing forward and keeps me sure of myself that I know what I'm doing.
19:14I don't, I don't need all of that.
19:16I can do what I want to do.
19:18And I know exactly what I want to do.
19:21And you know, I got a team to help me do so.
19:24So it makes me feel like, you know what I'm saying?
19:29I know what I'm doing.
19:30I love that.
19:30Do you think we'll get a deluxe?
19:32Like on streaming services?
19:34I don't know.
19:34Fair enough.
19:36I heard a couple songs that Rocket Power goes crazy.
19:41Oh, man.
19:42So as far as like, what's next?
19:44Have you started to sketch out ideas?
19:46Do you like, hey, I just want to take a break from this?
19:50Honestly, I really want to say this, but I will say this is that, oh, I'm just trying to take
19:58as much time as I can, you know, to lock it in my family, lock it in my son, lock
20:04it in my girl.
20:05And my family as a whole, but I am already working on my next out.
20:10And to be honest, to be honest, bro, to be honest, bro, I just realized within myself, I just love
20:21music.
20:22And I just feel like right now, if I don't put out anything, I just need to capture this moment.
20:30Because there's a lot going on in my life, but when I was making this album, and when it came
20:37out, and it's just fueling me to want to be as creative as I can possibly be.
20:45And even with like, you know, the balance, I was just trying to make as much time as I can
20:50for my family, but still making sure that I fulfill my duties as an artist and as a creator.
20:58And as somebody who really trying to push things forward in a way to continue to create.
21:06Right, right. I mean, if you got the magic, hey, let it keep it going, right?
21:10I'm trying to keep it overly going.
21:12Right, right. Do you feel any more added responsibility as like one of the, you know, the superstars in this
21:17ever now?
21:19Do I feel more responsibility as a superstar?
21:22Yeah.
21:24Well, I mean, in my eyes, I always felt like a superstar.
21:27I felt like every time I got on somebody track or every time I did something for somebody, I always
21:33performed, always proved myself to be, you know, a valuable player out here.
21:39But I think now, bro, I just want to keep it going in the right direction because I feel like
21:46I'm heard the way I need to be heard.
21:49And I don't care how long it took, it took till now. I'm trying to keep it going. And I'm
21:55just, I'm loving it.
21:57The real, it's time for just real music. Like, I think that everybody has an artistic, you know, idea of
22:05what music is or what they want to do or what it's supposed to sound like.
22:08But it's a bunch of junk out here in my eyes.
22:11I hear you.
22:12And I just want to be that guy to sit back and say, hey, this is what music is, bro.
22:18This is, this is, this to me, bro, is like what somebody want to listen to from all ages.
22:26Somebody would want to tap into to understand maybe a story behind it. Maybe there was some intention behind the
22:34album.
22:35I feel like some of the greatest artists of all time have all put detail and intention of what they
22:40try to do.
22:41So, you know, all I'm trying to do is keep that going, you know, and not lose focus on what
22:47that is for art.
22:48But I love that. So we got the performance tonight. Looking forward to that. It's my first time going to
22:54see you perform.
22:56That's going to be late. What can we expect from that?
23:00Honestly, man, just get ready to just get ready to go octane. I mean, honestly, is everybody here going to
23:07the show tonight?
23:09Hell yeah.
23:09Has everybody, has anybody in here not seen me perform before? Okay. So tonight, y'all will understand why I've
23:21been here doing what I've been doing and why they say the things about me.
23:27So we, we finna go up. It's finna be fun. I'm excited to see everybody there tonight and be safe,
23:34man. South by Southwest is crazy. Austin is crazy. It says a weird place. I love it. And we finna
23:42have fun tonight. So let's do it.
23:44I love it. I love that. Don, I appreciate you giving us some time today, man.
23:48No, I appreciate you.
23:55Appreciate y'all.
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