“I love people so much to the point that, the only thing that will make me not love you anymore is betrayal,” says Young Thug as he towers over GQ’s Zach Baron in a perfectly landscaped garden, which sits next to an eccentric taxidermy-filled mansion on the East Side of Los Angeles.In October of last year, the rapper Young Thug walked free from the Fulton County jail in Atlanta, concluding one of the strangest and most fraught spectacles in modern music. In May 2022 as part of a complex RICO case, Georgia prosecutors alleged that Young Thug—in addition to being the head of a record label, YSL—was also the leader of a gang of the same name. What followed was the longest criminal trial in Georgia history. Since getting out, Young Thug has mostly laid low, to the point of sometimes wearing a mask in public. He has not said much about the last few years of his life, or about anything at all, really… until now. This is the GQ Video Covery Story with Young Thug.----------Director: Cole EvelevDirector of Photography: Carter RossEditor: Robby MasseyTalent: Young Thug; Zach BaronProducer: Sam DennisLine Producer: Jen SantosProduction Manager: James PipitoneProduction Coordinator: Elizabeth HymesTalent Booker: Tracy ShafferSteadicam Operator: Greg GustafsonCamera Operator: Jon Corum; Taylor Frontier1st Assistant Camera: Adam Lee2nd Assistant Camera: Jacob MarianiGaffer: Noah SpieceKey Grip: Jack MotterSwing: Kevin ShumDIT: Lauren WoronaSound Mixer: Justin FoxProduction Assistant: Spencer Mathesen; Lily StarckMake-up Artist: Hee Soo KwonHairstylist: Christy IvoryProduction Designer: Cedar JocksPost Production Supervisor: Jess DunnPost Production Coordinator: Rachel KimSupervising Editor: Rob LombardiAssistant Editor: Fynn Lithgow
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00Ten minutes before we start recording this, news broke that the state of Georgia is seeking to revoke your probation.
00:07You might not know a lot right now.
00:10Do you know anything?
00:13What kind of jacket is that?
00:15That's Young Thug, but you probably knew that.
00:17Since breaking out in 2011, he's defined the sound of Atlanta rap, which means he's defined the sound of rap music in general.
00:24His roving, restless voice, his out-of-this-world style, his playfulness, all of this has led him to the very top of the industry.
00:32He's sold a lot of records and influenced a lot of other artists.
00:35He's also had about as dramatic and difficult the last few years as a person can have.
00:39In October, after spending more than two years in jail before even being convicted of anything, he accepted a non-negotiated plea deal and a complicated and drawn-out RICO trial.
00:49Since then, he's been in Miami and here in Los Angeles working on a new album called U.Y. Scooty, named after one of the biggest known stars in the universe.
00:57Right when we were about to start filming, something happened.
01:00Here is me that night trying to explain what we knew about the situation.
01:03So I'm standing on the set of our Young Thug video cover shoot.
01:07Literally ten minutes before our interview started, news broke that the state of Georgia was seeking to revoke Young Thug's probation.
01:16We don't totally know what that means at the moment. I don't even think he does.
01:22But Young Thug wanted to do the interview anyway, so we did it as you'll see.
01:27I don't think anybody knows what's going to happen, so take this as what it is.
01:32A specific and very chaotic moment in time.
01:37Dramatic, right?
01:38Less than 24 hours later, a judge denied the motion.
01:41That night, Young Thug was courtside at a Lakers game.
01:46I think we're gonna give you two ways.
01:48You ready?
01:49You ready?
01:49What do you want to say?
01:51I'm gonna give you two ways?
01:51Sure.
01:52Okay.
01:53You ready?
01:53I'm gonna say Vertate three.
01:54Okay.
01:55Take one.
01:56Do I gotta close it?
01:57Whoop.
01:58Boom.
01:59Nice.
02:00Vertate three.
02:01Action.
02:02Hell yeah.
02:03Action.
02:04I think I have to ask about the mask first.
02:15I don't feel like people should see me. I mean, I'm science making just like fucking
02:20reconstruct, like do something with the mask and like get a clear picture, but just like,
02:24I don't know, hidden scars and just like, just hiding things, you know?
02:28There's gotta be like a vibe or a spiritual feeling or something that is channeling you
02:32into this place.
02:33I just feel big, you know? My album is UY Scudie. I feel like I'm one of the biggest
02:38stars. I did a lot. Foundating this culture and, you know, like the new rap game that's,
02:45you know, that's happening right now. I'm like out of this world. Not like God though.
02:50Not like God though?
02:51No.
02:52Just like an artist?
02:53Yeah. Under God. Under God, for sure.
02:55Was there a moment when that realization arrives?
02:58Yeah, I was actually in court. I was on trial.
03:01Oh, you were on trial?
03:03Yeah.
03:04I didn't know.
03:05You didn't know I was on trial.
03:07You had lyrics of yours used against you in court. How'd that feel?
03:11I feel kind of crazy and cool. Cause it's like, oh, everybody listened to me, you know?
03:18Yeah.
03:19But crazy. Like the first fucking amendment is freedom of speech. Like it's crazy.
03:23Well, third or fourth, but like the first, the top five.
03:26If I understand correctly, part of the terms of the probation are like, there's certain
03:29things you can't talk about. Right. And on records now.
03:33I can't do nothing like gang things or stuff like that on the internet.
03:37Right. I could, I could really talk about what I want to talk about in music.
03:39Oh, you can. Yeah.
03:40Okay. So it didn't feel inhibited in any way on the new record. Didn't change the way.
03:46Nah. I normally like rap about cool things, you know?
03:52I just got like a few lyrics where I just rap about street stuff.
03:56And those are the lyrics that they try to use against me.
03:58But most, most of the time I don't rap about that type of stuff, you know?
04:01Does it make you think twice about rapping about street stuff?
04:04Yeah. Because just like the impact that you got on the community, the youth and not,
04:08not because of like the law, it's more so just like realistically,
04:13like kids actually listen to us. Like, all right, we got to like dumb it down.
04:17So, you know, I listened to like new rappers now and I'm like,
04:22my kid can't listen to that. That's great.
04:23Really?
04:24So I'd be like, damn, like so contradictory.
04:26What can you say about the experience of being incarcerated for more than two years?
04:31It was real.
04:32Yeah.
04:33Don't want to deal with it again, but definitely it was real.
04:37Were there moments if you wondered if you would ever get out?
04:44Yeah, for sure.
04:45Yeah, yeah.
04:47Do you think about, are you thinking about yourself, your family, your career?
04:51Like, where does the mind go?
04:52Family, kids, just, you know, career was like last.
04:59I was like relevant.
05:02Really? Because you like, I mentioned this before,
05:04but like you went in at the, kind of at the height, the pinnacle.
05:10I could see wondering like, oh, am I going to get that back?
05:12Yeah, I'm pretty sure we'll get it back.
05:14Because as an outsider, it was crazy to watch.
05:16It's like, oh my God.
05:17Yeah.
05:17This guy is like at the top of the craft and now he can't do this thing that he does.
05:22It happens like that sometimes.
05:24Does it happen like that?
05:25I said sometimes.
05:26Sometimes.
05:28I think it would be human to feel in that situation like a great injustice is being done to me.
05:37Did you ever feel that way?
05:38Absolutely.
05:39Every day.
05:40Really?
05:40Every day?
05:41Yeah.
05:41And it's a man.
05:42It ended up being the longest criminal trial in Georgia history, I think.
05:47Yes.
05:47Something so crazy that never had happened before happened.
05:51And you were at the center of it.
05:53Did it feel personal?
05:54Yeah, of course.
05:54Yeah.
05:55Hopefully personal.
05:56Yeah.
05:57But, shoot, we made it back.
06:00Is that a crazy feeling to be like, I'm this big and I'm also in a cell?
06:07Yeah.
06:08I think I'm too big for jail, but I think like I'm not too big for God.
06:12Yeah.
06:13So like God could put the biggest person in there.
06:15I feel like I'm taller than the jail, but somehow he could just like squish me in there.
06:19I think it was like God, a God thing.
06:21Just showing me like, you know, situations, real friends and who you with, who with you and
06:26how to move and how to be.
06:28Because you are U.S.
06:29Scooty.
06:30Tough to feel bigger than the jail when you're in the jail.
06:33Yeah.
06:33It's just like how I was treated and how the officers treated it.
06:36It's just like, damn, I don't got no bitch here.
06:37Like the fucking officers who work in the jail are fans.
06:41Like they were working.
06:42They're 20 years old.
06:43It's like, man, you're a kid.
06:44And they're telling me what to do.
06:46Telling you what to do.
06:47Yeah.
06:47Which is not a bad thing.
06:48My kids tell me what to do.
06:50My girl.
06:50Everybody tell me what to do.
06:51But like to actually just sit like, like why I'm on punishment?
06:56And you, you guys are my parents.
06:58You guys are my parents, except you're going to go home and listen to the record.
07:01Maybe.
07:01Yeah.
07:01You like parenting me and telling me like, you the fucking one, bro.
07:05Like what'd you say on this?
07:06Like what?
07:07It's just like so crazy.
07:08That must be a very insane feeling.
07:10Yeah.
07:10I think God put me in there for a reason.
07:12And I think I know.
07:13Yeah, what's the reason?
07:14I think, I don't know.
07:16I think like, because I always felt like I was a good guy.
07:18So it was like, why do I got to go to jail for you to like, show me something?
07:22Why you just can't tell?
07:22I guess I was just hard-headed.
07:24And I think I love people so much to the point where
07:28the only thing that'll make me not love you anymore, or just like dislike you is like
07:37betrayal, like real life betrayal when life is dependent on it.
07:40Is that something you felt like was happening?
07:42Betrayal happened every day.
07:43Yeah, absolutely.
07:45Yeah, absolutely.
07:46Yeah.
07:47You know that.
07:49I mean, you got to ask.
07:50I feel betrayed.
07:51I feel fucking jaded.
07:52Like it's crazy.
07:54Does it feel good to be standing here right now then?
07:56Yeah.
07:57Yeah.
07:57Absolutely.
07:57Yeah.
07:58To be out.
07:59Like they're like, you're like, you knew you were going to see that again.
08:01Absolutely.
08:02I would like talk on the phone with my lawyer and things, and he'll be like,
08:05he got like houses in the mountains and things.
08:07He'll show me all this, so I'll be still like kind of seeing the scenery.
08:10It was two and a half years.
08:11It was crazy.
08:12Yeah, it was crazy.
08:12Yeah.
08:13Going from this to like a jail cell.
08:14It's nuts.
08:15I can't imagine.
08:16I can't imagine.
08:17And then back to this.
08:18Made it out.
08:19Yeah, yeah, yeah.
08:22You may be constrained in what you can say and not say, but you ultimately did decide
08:26to plead guilty to six counts.
08:28Is that a difficult decision?
08:29Absolutely.
08:31Just pleading it to something you know that you didn't do or that's not yours is crazy,
08:37but you get a chance to keep fighting and then worry about the jurors' faith.
08:45Faith or you just go ahead now.
08:50Go home.
08:50It's like shit.
08:51Go home.
08:52It still feels like the right decision now?
08:53Yeah.
08:56Are you like domestic?
08:57Are you in the house?
08:58Yeah, for the most part.
09:00My girl, she leave.
09:01Your girl's from Mariah the Scientist, right?
09:02Yeah.
09:03Are y'all like on the couch watching shows?
09:06Absolutely.
09:07Really?
09:07Absolutely.
09:08Just like total domestic.
09:10Sometimes you got to come get me from where I'm at though.
09:12Sometimes I don't want to go home.
09:13She's just like, oh, she's got to come grab you.
09:16Right.
09:17She was in court supporting you, right?
09:19Yeah.
09:20That must have meant something to you.
09:21Absolutely.
09:22There's a song on the record that is like so
09:27raw where you guys are basically just singing to each other.
09:29Yeah.
09:30So confessional that I was like, I wonder if they thought twice about sharing this with people.
09:35No, it's music.
09:37It's just like there's people all over the world going through that.
09:40It felt very intimate though.
09:42Right.
09:42Yeah.
09:42Yeah.
09:43Is something there that relate to you?
09:45Yeah, of course.
09:46I mean, you hear.
09:46That's good.
09:47All right.
09:48That's your point, right?
09:49That's art.
09:49That's good.
09:50Yeah.
09:50But it's like you're putting a lot of yourself out there in the art.
09:53You know what I'm saying?
09:54Yeah.
09:54That's your job.
09:55You think so?
09:56As an artist, that's your job.
09:57What else is it to talk about?
09:59You want to talk about clothes and shoes or you want to talk about real things?
10:03Like things that people could feel forever and like come see.
10:06Yeah.
10:07Yeah, although there's a great tradition of songs about clothes and shoes too.
10:11Oh, for sure.
10:11For sure.
10:12Sometimes you got to do that too.
10:14I do that to like keep people up to par with what to wear.
10:18So the young guys that's looking up to me, they want to know what coat this is and what
10:21thermals these are.
10:23Those guys could be like, oh, this is what heat.
10:25This is what it is.
10:26I do need to know what thermals those are.
10:28We're going to need to know.
10:29I'll tell you off camera.
10:30Okay.
10:30All right.
10:30All right.
10:30All right.
10:31I accept.
10:32You mentioned your own new record earlier, UY Scooty.
10:35Did it feel the same as it felt before?
10:38Like when you came back and started doing it again, did it come easy?
10:41Did it come hard?
10:44It came easy.
10:45I never lost it.
10:45I never lost it.
10:46I wrote music in jail and like, I just listened to music sometimes and chord and like things like that.
10:51So I never like lost it.
10:53I was still up to far on like what was going on, you know?
10:56Did it feel like making other records?
10:58No, it's just, it's a whole different feeling for sure.
11:00How so?
11:02Because you're just like, just in court, fighting for your life.
11:07Now you're like in the studio at home, surrounded by love and beats.
11:12One thing I noticed about the record is you can really hear like every word, hear your voice.
11:17It's like high in the mix.
11:18There's not a lot of effects.
11:20It's like the voice is right there.
11:21Was that deliberate?
11:24Is that something you thought about?
11:25Yeah.
11:25I've told like my manager, I told G off like things like, I just want to make music where you can actually hear me.
11:33Because I always talk shit.
11:34I always talk that shit.
11:35But like, sometimes you can't like hear it.
11:37Sometimes you're like, uh, what are you saying?
11:39You know?
11:40So it's like, now, like, I feel like I'm new.
11:44I feel like I'm a new artist.
11:45I feel like I just came in the rap game again.
11:47Another thing I noticed about the record is,
11:50and I mentioned the song of Raya the Scientist earlier, but it's a very confessional record.
11:57It's like you talk about your mom.
11:59You talk about your feelings about being in the news.
12:02You talk about crying on like more than one song.
12:05It's like very raw.
12:08Did you set out to do that?
12:11Or is that just what happened when you kind of wanted to make it?
12:14It's always natural.
12:15When I record, it's always just like natural.
12:18Like, how are you feeling?
12:20Some days I might just feel happy and I just make like lit songs.
12:22Some days I just be like, not so happy.
12:27It's funny that you say that because there was like a part of me that walked away and I was like,
12:31this is kind of a record about being rich and sad.
12:33But maybe that's just my takeaway and I'm not right.
12:35Yeah.
12:36I don't think I speak about like being rich, like enrichment in the song.
12:41Yeah.
12:42I think you just think that I'm rich and then I'm making a sad song.
12:46So I'm like, he's like, he's rich and sad.
12:51I have a big family.
12:51I know you guys are close.
12:53Yeah.
12:53Are you still around them?
12:54Absolutely.
12:55Well, I say, because if I understand correctly, tell me if I'm wrong,
12:58that like part of your probation is you can't go home, right?
13:02You can't go back to Atlanta.
13:03Yeah.
13:04Only for like certain things.
13:05Only for certain things.
13:06Do you miss it?
13:07Atlanta?
13:08Yeah.
13:09Yeah.
13:09It's home.
13:10Yeah.
13:10Sometimes I was already out of Atlanta before this case.
13:13Oh, really?
13:14Yeah.
13:14I lived in LA.
13:15Like fully in LA.
13:16Yeah.
13:16Okay.
13:17Since like 2017.
13:18So you don't really feel like you're in exile or anything?
13:22Yes.
13:22You do?
13:23Absolutely.
13:24Well, if you can't go back, then I guess by definition, right?
13:27Can't go home.
13:28It's crazy.
13:29Why does that feel like?
13:31It just feels like
13:35abuse.
13:35Before all this happened, I think Atlanta was like the center of rap culture.
13:41Do you think it still is?
13:43Absolutely.
13:43Yeah.
13:44We create the wave.
13:46We got other places just popping for sure.
13:48Like everybody's popping now.
13:49Yeah.
13:50But like everybody still like sound like Atlanta or like move to Atlanta or
13:56rap about Atlanta.
13:57It's like we got artists from a whole other place.
14:00Rapping about Atlanta.
14:01Even if you're not there, I assume you still feel like one of the kind of leaders of that.
14:05That's it.
14:06Yeah.
14:07Yeah.
14:08One of the guys that.
14:14Plowed.
14:16Atlanta into the rap industry.
14:17You put yourself in that category.
14:19Absolutely.
14:19Yeah.
14:20Who else would you put in that category?
14:22Future.
14:24Savage.
14:24Little baby.
14:25Migos.
14:28Tilt.
14:29Andre 3000.
14:30Gucci.
14:31That's the Mount Rushmore right there.
14:32Absolutely.
14:35We got a lot of kings in Atlanta.
14:36Have you kept up with like rap in general?
14:38What do you think of the current like state of the art?
14:42I'm a musician, so I don't think no music is bad or nothing is like wrong.
14:46Everything is just fire.
14:48Well, it feels like when you were away, it was sort of dominated by this like Drake
14:51Kendrick thing, you know?
14:53Yeah, for most of it.
14:54Which I don't know if you have like a side in that.
14:56Atlanta kind of even got dragged in by Kendrick, which is interesting.
15:00Yeah.
15:00He just like spoke on people's name in Atlanta.
15:02Yeah.
15:02Yeah.
15:03I don't know what that was about, but I'm like a Drake fan.
15:07Do you feel like it's like rap music in general is in a good place?
15:11Um, yes.
15:12I think the numbers could be better, but yeah.
15:14Oh, you mean like people could be selling more?
15:16Yeah.
15:17I've seen something about like the percentage in hip hop has like went down.
15:21Oh, really?
15:22I've seen something like that when I was locked up.
15:24So do you have a theory about why?
15:26I think a lot of people like rapping about the same thing and nobody is bringing like
15:31something that you can actually watch.
15:33You can enjoy the music and like enjoy the things that they do.
15:36But like we used to like make movies, you know, I think now it's just like quick.
15:43You got to get back to like movies.
15:45Like you got to get back to like to where like people respect it.
15:48Why do you think they went away from that in the first place?
15:51Because like it was just a big wave of like nothingness running the game.
15:56Like super simple videos, not really high priced videos.
16:00Like that wave like came in really strong.
16:02So even the people that was doing high priced videos, they started doing like
16:06regular videos because that was popping.
16:08Yeah.
16:09But I think now they did.
16:10We did it so long to the point where we like comfortable with that and we don't want to do
16:17stuff like this no more to take time.
16:20Now we just like, man, let's just go ahead and shoot the video.
16:22Let's, you know, instead of like a fucking day set, two day set.
16:26Yeah.
16:26Shit like that.
16:27Yeah.
16:27What do you remember about like your early days as an artist when you think about those days now?
16:34Just like being happy and like free.
16:36I've heard interviews where you talked about kind of bruising early encounters with the industry.
16:40Like your deal with Gucci was like kind of weird, right?
16:43Or like even Lior, I've heard you say like that was started out kind of weird, right?
16:48Yeah.
16:48Because we just didn't know each other.
16:50Yeah.
16:50We ended up being like good friends, mentors.
16:53Did you like hold those dealings against them, you know, later on?
16:58When I was younger?
16:58Yeah.
16:59Because I just didn't realize and recognize like people's point of view or
17:08way of hustling.
17:10Now I have some of those similar ways of hustling and points of view.
17:14So now it's just like, oh, okay.
17:16Even when we got cool, like me and Lior got super cool.
17:19Like even my mentor, like even when we got like super cool, like
17:24I still didn't understand some of the things he did that I felt like he did back then.
17:29But now just like growing older and like owning a record label and doing things like that.
17:33It's like, okay, cool.
17:35It does seem like you made a point though, with your label of maybe doing differently
17:40with artists than the way that people dealt with you.
17:43Yeah.
17:44I don't really like taking money from my artists and stuff like that.
17:47I just like, I just like to help people, you know?
17:50One of those artists was Gunna.
17:52You guys did a ton of songs together.
17:53Yeah.
17:54Very successful on your label.
17:56Yeah.
17:56He was arrested about the same time as you.
17:58I think a lot of people wonder what that relationship is like now.
18:01Yeah.
18:02I know everybody wondering that.
18:04What's it like?
18:05I don't know.
18:07I guess that's his own form of answer, huh?
18:08You like to like plow.
18:11I do.
18:11Absolutely.
18:12Deep into things.
18:13Yeah, I'm a pro.
18:15That whole speech you gave me earlier like,
18:17yeah, I'm new to this shit.
18:17All this shit was just cap.
18:19Oh, no, I'm new to the cameras.
18:21Oh, interviewing.
18:23Okay.
18:24I'm not remotely new to.
18:25Yeah.
18:25I thought you was going to lie because I saw you a few times as an interviewer.
18:28Those are the only ones I've done on camera.
18:32Do you have bigger ambitions for the label or just in general kind of going forward?
18:39Yeah.
18:39We're just pushing positive, positivity.
18:41I mean, and we're just going for the gust throw.
18:44We're trying to like kill the whole rap game and just like do it big and just help people in
18:50general, help society, help the communities we're from and just like be just so great.
18:54You know, we've been walking through this insane house and we have not commented on one single
19:01thing, but I feel like we have to at least know that there's a giant bear behind you.
19:06It's like, what is this about?
19:08Are you a taxidermy man?
19:11Do you remember how you first started rapping?
19:13Maybe like nine, eight, eight, nine years up.
19:17Really?
19:18It's a long time though before you started making records, right?
19:20What you mean?
19:20Like making songs?
19:21Like putting out albums.
19:22Oh.
19:23Mixtapes.
19:23Why do some people call records albums, records?
19:26Which one is confusing?
19:27Album is record or a record is album?
19:32A record is a song.
19:34Okay.
19:34A record is a song.
19:35An album is an album.
19:36Yeah.
19:36Bro, I'm 42 years old.
19:37A record is an album.
19:39I mean, I didn't want to put age in it, but I was, you know, record is crazy.
19:44Like, you shouldn't be saying a record at 42, maybe 60.
19:47Speaking of albums, I feel like, I remember when you started out, people make a big deal
19:53of the fact that it was like, oh, you wore a dress on the cover of an album.
19:56In retrospect, were you trying to be provocative?
19:59Or was that just kind of naturally like the way you came up?
20:02I think it was just like making people mad.
20:07Like by design.
20:07Provocative to a man that's crazy.
20:10I think I was doing it like just making people mad.
20:13Like intentionally?
20:14Yeah.
20:14Yeah.
20:15Yeah.
20:15Because it was fun.
20:16And where'd it come from?
20:17Where'd the idea come from?
20:21I don't know.
20:21Yeah.
20:22A lot of my ideas just come from U.I. Scooty.
20:26The stars.
20:27Just come from fucking outer space.
20:29Out of space.
20:29Now, I think when people kind of write the history of this era, they give you a ton of credit for that,
20:34bringing that super like melodic trap sound to maybe like more of the mainstream rap.
20:39I'm the first to do it.
20:41Yeah.
20:42Well, I don't know.
20:43Because I always think that I was the first to do things.
20:45But then I see like, oh, fuck.
20:47I see history and it's just like, damn, they did that.
20:49Like it's crazy.
20:50But it felt like you were the first to do it.
20:51Yeah.
20:52Yeah.
20:52A lot of that early stuff was like Rich Gang.
20:56It's like with Rich Kumi Kwan.
20:57What did that partnership end?
20:59I think we just like, just grew and became our own bosses and men.
21:05And then we just like, we didn't want to keep doing like the Rich Gang albums.
21:09We were getting bigger.
21:10So it's like, I want to like do my own shit.
21:14I want to like, you know.
21:15You wanted to do your own thing.
21:16I think he did.
21:17I was okay with it.
21:18But because I feel like I love music, but I don't care about song.
21:22I'll have a number one hit record song and I'll put you on it.
21:29I don't care.
21:30Right.
21:30It's just like, so what?
21:31Whoever goes to the top with you, go to the top.
21:33I don't care.
21:33You know, I never was the guy that cared about that type of stuff, you know?
21:36So I would have been okay with just like, keep doing it.
21:38And it didn't, it didn't, I still, we still was dropping our own music at the same time
21:42of doing that.
21:42And so it was just like, it really was bigger.
21:45But I guess like everybody couldn't see, see that.
21:48So people just do things.
21:51Make mistakes.
21:51Do you hear your influence now?
21:53Absolutely.
21:54Yeah.
21:55What do you hear that you're like, oh, that's me?
21:57I don't want to say everything, but like, and the crazy part is I can't say that everybody
22:05like do something that I did because it was a lot of things that I did in the beginning
22:10that somebody else did, but I never knew they did it.
22:13I just like did it.
22:15What's an example of that?
22:17Like wearing a dress.
22:17I never saw nobody wear a dress.
22:19Yeah.
22:19So like maybe somebody did, but you never saw it.
22:22Yeah.
22:22Then as soon as I did it, people like, oh, under 3000, this and that,
22:26this guy, and this guy, and this guy did, and this guy did.
22:28And it's just like, oh, now everybody did.
22:31So I can't say, you know, people flows or people like rhythms and things just 100% come from me.
22:37I think that it can.
22:40But like, if you listen to radio now, you're like, yeah, absolutely.
22:44That's me.
22:44Yeah.
22:44You hear some shit and you're just like, for sure.
22:47Make sure.
22:48Like you never sounded like that or you never rapped like that.
22:51What about style that you see your influence in that?
22:54I wore skinny jeans when everybody wore big jeans.
22:57The other one that comes to mind is like the choker, right?
23:00Where it's like the big chain becomes like the small chain.
23:03Right.
23:03I just never liked long chains back then.
23:05I got a lot of long chains now, but back then I never liked long chains.
23:10So I was probably the first rapper ever cutting chains, you know,
23:13but I see like old videos from like 94, 93 with Tupac and I'm on the short chain.
23:17So it's like, hey, I'm like, I thought I was the first person doing it.
23:20You know, do you know where it's going?
23:22I mean, I feel like maybe I'm looking at where it's going style wise,
23:26but do you like think people watch you very closely in terms like what you're wearing?
23:31Yeah.
23:32I'm just like one of the people that just like opened those doors for like us.
23:40Like people probably were scared the way I dress, you know, until me.
23:42I mean, the first time it happened was obviously under 3000 and whoever was before him.
23:48But yeah, this generation, this fucking time, I'm the person for that.
23:55You know, I guess it would be natural to want things to be the way they were before.
24:01You know what I'm saying?
24:02Like before all this stuff happened.
24:04Are you okay?
24:04Like if it's different now?
24:06Yeah, because it's different for like, for better.
24:12You think so?
24:13Yeah.
24:14In certain ways, you know, I'm smarter, I'm older.
24:16I know what jail feels like.
24:18I know what, you know, faults, betrayals.
24:23I know what everything feels like.
24:24And I know like how to go forward.
24:29I don't think anybody would opt for two years in prison,
24:33longest criminal trial in Georgia history.
24:35No one would choose to go through that.
24:37But do you feel at peace with all that stuff at this point?
24:41Yeah, I felt at peace with it when I was going through it.
24:45It's just the probation part that's like, kind of stupid to me.
24:49But like, I felt peace the whole time.
24:51Like I wasn't stressed at all.
24:53I really was chilling.
24:54I guess I just knew subconsciously that that wasn't the end for me.
24:59Because I got bigger plans for me.
25:00So you felt peace then.
25:01How do you feel now?
25:03I feel peace.
25:06Absolutely.
25:07I feel like more peace now.
25:09You can move with almost nothing over your head.
25:11You know, you got probation, but there's really nothing.
25:14I'm not going to violate probation.
25:15You know, almost like fully peaceful.
25:20Once probation over, then it's like, okay, cool.
25:22You know.
25:22Then it's full peace.
25:24It's full peace.
25:24For sure.
25:25And until then?
25:2790%.
25:29But maybe we'll take 90%.
25:30Absolutely.
25:31I'll take 10% peace.
25:34You're welcome.
25:35Obviously, I'm luck.
25:35Oh, my God.
25:37Oh.
25:37Go.
25:37All I'm up here.
25:38Oh.
25:38Oh.
25:39Oh, my God.
25:39I'll go.
25:39Oh, my God.
25:41Oh, my God.
25:41Oh, my God, let me know it.
25:43Oh, my God.
25:44Oh, yes, my God.
25:45Okay.
25:45I've been looking for this.
25:47Woo.
25:47Oh, my God.
25:48Oh, my God.
25:49I've been trying to see it.
25:49I'm just thinking about you,
25:52Oh, my God.
25:53Washing outside US mettacles?
25:55You know, oh, my God.
25:56Oh, my God.
25:57Now, my God...
25:58Oh, my God.
25:58Oh, my God.
25:59My God.
26:00Oh, my God.
26:01Oh, my God.