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Excerpted Interview With Westside McFly (11/16/18)

Interview occurred on the “No Pulp Radio Show” with DJ Odyssey, Ishaan Pota and Lily Frankel

This interview has been transcribed edited for concision with some questions edited for clarity by Lily Frankel

DJO: So for those who aren’t familiar with you, who are you, where are you from?

WM: Yeah, well, I grew up in South Central, man. I’m from Los Angeles, you know what I’m saying. Right there on the east side. Everybody kinda get confused by the name and stuff like that, but you know it’s Westside McFly I’m from the West Coast, but I grew up on the east side, Los Angeles.

DJO: And what was that experience like, growing up in Los Angeles?

WM: Man, it was crazy, you know what I’m saying. You know, obviously, the album is out, and the title of it is, “South Central Ain’t 4 Everybody.” I feel like, that experience, growing up in South Central, is really difficult, and I wanted to... kinda let the world know what’s it’s like, and how, you know, it’s kinda hard to make it, where we from.

DJO: And seeing what you’re saying, it’s so hard to make it, coming out of South Central, what do you think is the most notorious challenge of trying to get out?

WM: Well I mean, obviously, you know, when you think about South Central, you think about LA, everybody already think about the gangs, the violence, the drugs, the police. You know what I’m saying, when you think about like, NWA, and all, like, fuck the police, you know what I’m saying, like. So growing up, where I grew up, you see that a lot, you know what I’m saying. It was drug dealers, it was gang bangers, it was—I mean, we, you know, we don’ faced it all. We don’ dealt with the police, we done all of the that, you know what I’m saying. So... um, you kinda come from a different cloth when you gotta go through that as a young kid and you see so early, and there’s no way for your parents to kinda like shield you from what’s going on outside, in the world, you know what I’m saying. My granny lived on 81st and Central, the school I went to was off of McKinley and 83rd, that’s like two blocks up! So just walkin from my granny’s house to school, you could either run into somebody that’s gon ask you where you from, you might see a cop roll by, and they, you know, the cops—like, people always kinda confuse that, like, “oh, they gettin harassed by the cop, they gettin beat on by the cops,” it’s not that, like you could just get flashed by some police, and we take that as harassment, you know what I’m saying, cause I’m just mindin’ my business, just walkin up the street, what you got to flash me with your light for? You know what I’m saying. So it’s a lot of things that... I would say, made me who I am today, and... bring the music out.

DJO: Was music always the first option, or did you wanna be something else?

WM: Nah, nah, I would say that was like my first option. I come from a family... you know, basketball players. Actually my cousin is actually Baron Davis. So I come from a basketball family, it was all sports. For me, I was that kid that was like... I had my little composition book and I was writing poems. You know what I’m saying? Like my pops, he lived in Compton, so he lived right off Piru street... I was at his house one day and I was writing like, little poems in my little composition book. And then like the neighbrohood bum, you know, he came through or whatever—think he was asking my dad if he could wash the car or somethin’, and he was askin’ me what I was doin’. And I was like, “what?” And he was like, “man, what you doin?” And tell him, I’m like, “man, I’m writing some poetry, you know what I’m sayin, just workin on my stuff.” He was like, “ahh, let me hear some stuff,” so I spit it and he was like, “man, you sound like you rappin!” And that was kinda like my first, like, “damn, like, it kinda do sound like I’m rappin.” And then I kinda took to it more cause my grandfather was a DJ, my grandmother, she collected like, old school 45 records, and stuff like that, so music kinda just always been there for me, you know what I’m sayin?

DJO: So mentioning how you got a DJ in your family, mentioning that, you know, your grandma had the 45s, like, what were some of the musical influences that you grew up listening to, like what was Grandma spinning, what was the family spinnin?

WM: Damn. Alright so, back then? I mean you thinkin’ about like the The Temptations, you think about Diane Ross, Minnie Riperton. That’s what she was into. Al Green, Marvin Gaye—Michael Jackson was her ultimate favorite [laughing]. She had every Michael Jackson record you could think of. All the way back from Jackson 5, little Michael, to like, Billy Jean, Bad Michael. Like, she was a huge fan of Mike. My grandfather, being a DJ I guess, his vibe was different, because the club setting is different, people here drinking and smoking, and all of that goin on or whatever, back in that time. So it was a little different, his records had a little bit more upbeat, but, I felt like, every time music came on, it gave you a different experience about life. And a different setting. And it put you in a different place. And for me, I just kinda always wanted to be a part of that world. To be a creator of that, you know what I’m saying? And kinda capture and cement the memories and moments of--of what we don’ went through.

DJO: Does it piss you off when you hear a younger rapper, or people who pretend to be from “the hood,” to use that—when they haven’t actually seen it.

WM: Yeah, I definitely, it makes me mad, when that happens. Because, you know, that’s not anything to be glamorized, in my opinion. When you really from a place that’s like, it’s trife, you know what I’m saying? And it’s really like, yo, you could really lose you life, livin out here. It’s... it’s kinda difficult when that happens, cause you got people that are kinda like, fakin’ it. And for me, I take it as disrespect, because it’s kinda like a badge of honor to be able to say, “look, I lived in this city, I grew up in this neighborhood, I seen my friend get shot right here, I don seen this happen right here, I don—duh duh duh duh duh.” And for somebody to come along and just kinda fake that, and want to be part of that cause it look cool—it’s like, nah, I’m not wit that, you not gon come make money off of our struggle, you know what I’m saying? I ain’t having that.

DJO: Especially when you livin’ it day in, day out.

WM: Day in’ day out! And I still got friends that’s livin in the hood, you know, I still got aunties, I still got cousins, so—it’s not always pretty, but it ain’t always ugly, like don’t get it twisted, the hood ain’t just like a “scary” place. Like if you get a chance? Fo sure, go take a trip down to Watts, go take a trip down to South Central, go see what it’s like. Go breathe in the air. You know what I’m saying? Go see what the people is like, so then you could really understand it. And I feel like people that are infatuated with like, Compton and Watts and South Central, they should go do that. If they really like—you know, if you really wanna know about it, go see about it. That’s what you gon do when you—if it’s a pair of Gucci shoes out that you want, you gon go to the Beverly Center, you gon cop them Gucci shoes, you gon go see how they look, you gon put em on your feet, you gon walk in them. So go do the same thing with the neighborhood, you know what I’m saying? Lily: Do you feel like people have certain misconceptions about South Central, or that area in general?

WM: Definitely. Because of—I think it started when the riots happened. When the riots happened—there’s certain things about, you know, East LA, that we can’t control. And what the media puts out about East LA, we can’t control it. You know what I’m saying? We don’t have those platforms. And... the last big artist to make it from the east side.. [long pause] I don’t—dang. In my opinion, you’d probably have to say like, NWA, Snoop came from the East side of Long Beach, you know what I’m saying? Like, who can speak on that major platform, Snoop made it to that major platform, where he can kinda give you a different outlook of how the hood is, you know what I’m saying? Is it dangerous? Yes. Is it a whole bunch of, like, just crackheads and crack babies? No. Like, you know what I’m saying? Like, yeah, you gon see a few. But, we didn’t have no money to bring crack there, you know what I’m saying? How did it get there? So you go back to Reaganomics, and you go back—like, everything started back then. And I feel like the perception that the media painted for the city, you know what I’m saying? We cleanin’ it up. The youngers that’s coming out, you got a lot of people that’s coming out... from Watts, from Compton. When you think about Kendrick Lamar—Kendrick Lamar, you know, his grammy performances and everything like that, that’s changing the perception of people, you know what I’m saying? Like of what they think about Compton. Back then it was “fuck the police,” and now you watchin Kendrick, you know, at the Grammys, on stage, and you lookin’ at Compton a whole different way. You know what I’m saying? So... I feel like the perception is definitely changin.

DJO: So let’s talk about your album, you know, “South Central Ain’t 4 Everybody.” With that title in itself, it’s just like, it seems like you’re just tryna like, “yo, let me set the record straight.”

WM: Yeah, definitely. Quick story. I was in the studio, man. And I wanna say at the time, the album was maybe like, 75% done, and I was playing records for people, just tryna get reactions and stuff like that, and I had this one particular A&R that was there, I’m not gon name drop. [Laughs.] Yeah, that’s for snitches, I ain’t gon name drop. But, he actually heard the music, man, and he was like, yo, I really think you should do like this type of sound, you know, you should do what’s in right now, what’s hot. You should do that other record that you did. And because I write for people, I have a different—a wide-range, I should say, of records in my catalogue. So at the time, he had probably heard like some trap record that I had wrote for like TV or film, or whatever. And I remember just telling him like, Bro, that ain’t me. That’s not the picture that I’m tryna paint, that’s not South Central, that’s not what I’m about, you know what I mean. And I remember leaving the studio, it was me, my engineer, and my little cousin. My little cousin’s maybe like 15, he go to Crenshaw High. And literally we was having a conversation about it, and I’m like damn, I really can’t understand why people don't understand... you know, where we come from, and why that’s, like, not mainstream enough for them. And I remember my little cousin saying to me “yo, South Central ain’t for erybody, cuzzo.” And, at that time, I was just like, yo [laughs], that’s what I’m naming the album. [...] It was just like, yo. Simple and plain, bro, like, South Central ain’t for everybody. There are certain people that can make it here and certain people that can’t. And this album will give you a piece of that, like, so you can understand it.

DJO: You said there are some people who can make it and some people who can’t. What are the characteristics of somebody who can make it?

WM: You gotta be tough. Erybody ain’t gotta be a gangster to make it in South Central but you gotta be tough for sure. You know, you gotta be real. You gotta stay loyal, you gotta ride for your people. You gotta... I mean, you just gotta have like, the ambition and hustle of... a real hustler, like for real. Because ain’t nobody like, gonna give you anything, where we from. We weren’t given anything. You know, to begin with. Like I said, like, watchin’ my momma struggle, she had four kids. She had no handouts. She had no help. You know what I’m saying? She had to work hard. And... watchin the strength of her, put it in me. Like alright, I gotta get up and go get it, especially if pops ain’t around, and—you know what I’m saying? So you kinda go through a lot of different phases as a young man, growing up in South Central, right, where you gotta now—I gotta help my moms, and my sisters, I want them—you know what I’m saying? And especially if you wanna be on some fly shit yo self, and you wanna look fresh and you don’t wanna go to school looking like... you know what I’m saying? You got—kids is mean! [DJO laughs.] Let’s think about it, come on man, the 90s, what? You was gettin clowned if you was comin to school with some busted shoes. But if you had some fresh whites on, you was the man. And you had a nice outfit, you was—you know what I’m saying? Fresh cut, all of that, so—moms couldn’t always afford everything! So sometimes you gotta go get up and go hustle up some stuff with homies and—ay, mom, I just bought my own shoes, like you feel me? She don’t gotta know where it came from. There’s a lot of things we don did that, of course your parents ain’t gon be proud of, you know what I’m saying. But at the same time, you do what you gotta do to survive. Yeah, so I think that survival instinct, it comes.

DJO: Take me over when you were composing these two songs [“Bitch Please” and “Piece of My Love”], what was going through your mind? Because in listening to “Bitch Please,” and then “Piece of My Love,” they’re on both ends of the spectrum.

WM: One of them’s far left, the other’s far right. Yeah, definitely. So a lot of people was... disturbed when they first heard “Bitch please,” cause they like, “ahh, you talkin bout women.” I’m like, nah—okay, so to break that down—and I feel like men know what’s up when it comes to this—you got women out there, sometime, that like—not all women are bitches, like you know what I’m sayin, but you have some that you come across where you’re like “man, bitch please,” like you’re feeling yourself a little too much, and there is certain women that are just so into themselves where it’s like yo, you gotta kinda like bring em back down to earth, but besides that, you got women out there that are like just gold-diggers, clout-chasers, like you know what I’m saying? They just want to be around, and be in the scene, or they might wanna talk to you, or get with the homie, and those are the women that I’m talkin to on “Bitch Please,” the trifling ones. There’s a separation between real women that’s out there, doin they job, and really gettin to a bag, and hustlin, and providing for themselves, they not lookin for no man for nothin, so it’s a separation, and that’s what “Piece of My love Is,” for that women that really deserve that, because not every woman, you know what I’m saying, really deserve that from you. There’s certain women out there that you gonna throw ones at, it’s certain women out there that you gonna go buy, you know, a gucci bag, or a ring, you feel me? It’s different types of women in the world, so. That’s just me bein real.

L: So you’ve written songs for other people, and you write your own music. What is the difference for you in that process, between when you’re writing a song for somebody else, verses when you’re focusing on your own music, do you feel like there’s a difference?

WM: Yeah definitely, cause... when I’m writing for other people, I have to really put myself in that place, where they are in their life. And, I can’t always just be like yo, who is this person, what have they gone through, and write about that. It’s gotta be like, what could they possibly be going through right now, what’s next for them, you know what I’m saying? Sometimes you can go off past experiences but you just gotta put yourself in their shoes, for a second. And I feel like as a creator and somebody that’s a fan of music, that’s pretty easy to do. And I feel like most artists—if you’re a true artist, you can do that. You know what I’m saying? I’m not afraid to say I’m a fan of certain artists, you feel me? So to be able to step outside of who I am as a person, and as a creator, as an artist, and be like, well, let me put myself in this person’s shoes real quick and write a record, what would it sound like. You know what I’m saying, to me that’s fun... and it’s challenging at the same time. But it’s something that I’ve grown to learn—the whole like songwriting process, being a songwriter, it’s just something that I’ve learned, for sure, and I’m still learning! You know what I’m saying? I don’t even feel like—if you think about Quincy Jones, you think about a lot of like great musicians in the industry, right, they kept learning, they whole career, they just kept learning, kept learning, kept learning, so every day is a part of the process.

Ishaan: So when you go to the studio, what’s your process? Do you go in with ideas?

WM: Yeah, my process is kinda weird, I always feel like in order for me to create records, I have to live, right? So like, “South Central Ain’t 4 Everybody” was like a two year... two and a half year project. I put a lot of time into that project, you know what I’m saying? Like, you have a lot of different artists now that will just sit in they room for like ten days and be like “yo I got a mixtape and it’s the hottest shit out.” That’s not gonna be the case, cause you ain’t experience shit in that ten days, bro. You sat in that room by yourself, like, either smokin, or drinking, or eatin hot cheetos, whatever the fuck you was doin [studio laughs], and you just felt like—you imagined life instead of really experiencing it, like you know what I’m saying? So for me like, I felt like I have to go through shit in order to be able to go into the studio and talk about shit, so you gotta be livin like, every day, like you know what I’m saying? I gotta be able to talk about what I see my moms go through, sometimes you gotta get back to that. You know what I’m saying? And sometimes it be reality, like yo I just hung up with mom, she sick, yada yada yada, and now, you know what I’m saying, this is where I’m at mentality, it’s taking me back to when I was a kid, and now I’m writing this type of record. You know, or, it’s just one of them nights, where it’s like, yo, this chick, she trippin, she—she just worried about what Ima buy her and where Ima take her, and duh duh duh duh duh, and then you get records like “Bitch Please” and then like—you know what I’m saying? It’s all different types of moods and vibes, like lit, like I’m know, notoriously known, the come-up boys, we known, for like throwin parties like, house parties. [...] We also do a charity thing with the come-up boys, our movement, so this year we’re gon do a blanket give-back. Over the summer we did a food, hygiene, uh, care packs, and water, and soda. Um... so this December I think we’ll do food again, um, but instead of the hygiene pack—over the Summer we did like toothbrush, toothpaste, lotion, wipes, socks—this time we’re gonna do blankets and jackets. That’s the plan for the Winter. [...] It’s so crazy, the—it’s an ongoing problem, obviously, we have a lot of homeless out here, in Los Angeles. And I remember growing up, I went to high school, Hamilton, bro. And I remember one day I was driving up—I want to say I was driving up either Broadway or Main—and I seen somebody I went to school with, and bro was doing bad, man. Like bad bad. And I’m like, “yo, this is somebody I actually went to high school with.” So you kinda see yourself in that, cause it’s like, yo, this can easily be you, and we don’t know what happened in his life, you know what I’m saying, but obviously he need help, and, you know, I pulled over, I helped. There’s been times, you can ask my people, there’s been times I done gave shoes away, you know what I’m saying, if I got shoes in my cars, then forget it, if I got shoes in my trunk, forget it, you can have it. Shirts, money, all that, bro. Cause we gon get it back tenfolds over, you know what I’m saying. But you don’t know what that can do, just to help somebody else. [...] And that’s really important with our squad, because we know where we come from, so we know how hard it is to get it, we know how hard it is to lose it, and we always want to give back to those who don’t. L: So, it seems like with your music, the overall goal or theme is trying to convey what you were talking about earlier, like this is where you’re from and trying to portray it in an accurate way, would you say that’s your goal with making music?

WM: Yeah. And just speaking for the streets and the people that had to come from the streets, you know what I’m saying? And from, with a different perspective, cause like obviously, when you think about the gangs and stuff like that, everybody—you ain’t gotta grow up and be from somewhere, or be a gang-banger, to speak for the streets, you know what I’m saying? You ain’t gotta sell drugs to speak for the streets. Now mind you, there’s—like I said, again, there’s things in my life, that, you know, you don did, that your moms and pops may not be proud of, but you do what you had to do to survive, right, but at the same time, I just wanna be that beacon for the next kid, to be like, “yo, you can do it like me, and you can make it.” You know what I’m saying? You ain’t gotta succumb to what your homies want you to be, you ain’t gotta succumb to what the world think you should be, or think—who you are, you know, like sometimes the world may already have they mind made up about who you are. You could change that person’s perception, like you could change the perception of the world, you know what I’m saying, so I just wanna be that beacon that provides that message, through my music. [...] I mean like, just with the company itself, we do everything, like we got a catering service, you know what I’m saying? We have a, obviously, it was clothing line, originally. It was the record label and our clothing line, originally. And I wanna say after the first two years we expanded, we had a catering service. After that we started doing our charity give-back. And there’s gonna be more expansions, like we want to get into tech stuff, you know what I’m saying? That’s stuff that we into. Just cause we grew up in the hood don’t mean that we’re not entrepreneurs, we’re not smart, you know what I’m saying, like we don’t have, you know, any kind of vision behind our brand, you know what I’m saying? But we have these people like myself, like Q, my boy Jamil, my boy Trill, my boy Jax, we’re all like, you know, the main people pushing this brand. And even those up under us, you know—it’s so many come-up boys, it’s like 20 of us, to be honest with you. We gotta whole gang, for real, it looks like a gang. We move like a gang, look like a gang, but we ain’t a gang, you know what I’m saying? [studio and DJO laughing] It’s crazy.

DJO: I feel like it’s really important that your neighborhood see somebody like you that made it out, see somebody succeeding, see somebody who’s contributing and giving back.

WM: Talk that talk. I wasn’t destined to be here, bro. When I was born, I was born with sickle cell, right? So the doctors told my mom I’m supposed to die at the age of 10. So I’m already up against that, right? But then you grew up in the hood, you grew up poor, then you had to deal with the gangs, then you had to deal with the drugs, then you had to deal with the cops, then—you know what I’m saying? So you already up against everything, not to mention being black in America—it’s difficult. [Agreement from the studio.] You know what I’m saying? Like let’s just be honest. So when you look at that, and you be like, yo, this kid made it from here, and this is the success he attained over this amount of time, by putting in this work, staying true to who he was, staying true to his people and his friends that was around him, listening, learning, taking in everything, and then creatively puttin it out to the world to be like yo, this is what I’m about, you feel me?

DJO: Do you ever feel like, you know, because you’ve overcome so much adversity and so many obstacles in your life, like, you ever walk around with a chip on your shoulder? Or you always keep it humble. WM: It’s kind of like, you know how like, one side is the angel, one side is the devil? [Laughter in the studio.] I have the chip over here [gestures to left shoulder], but then I’m humble as fuck over here [gestures to other shoulder]. And sometimes it’s difficult cause you don’t know which one to listen to. You know what I’m saying, like is it stay humble, or is it walk around with that chip? But I feel like, when you grow in the hood, you already kinda got a chip on your shoulder, to prove that you’re more than what they’ve told people the people that come from the hood is about. You know what I’m saying? Like I said, going back to that perception that’s put out there by the media, you know what I’m saying? The way they talk about the hood is not always... proper. And so that perception, that people think about us, we already kinda have that chip on our shoulder, where we gotta prove people wrong,, you feel me? I think that’s always gonna be a part of who I am as a person and as an artist. You gon hear it in my music, you gon see it when I’m walking, you gon see it when I’m having a conversation with whoever, and then also being humble about where I come from, and about what I had to go through, and the successes that I attained. I’m still gon be humble about it cause I understand like yo, it could be here today, it could be gon tomorrow.

DJO: And what would you say—you know, respecting the process—what was the hardest part in your process?

WM: I think gettin out of my own way sometimes. Cause I’m a perfectionist. And I think the hardest part about my own process—like me and the homies, we don got into many arguments, about when to pick the music out, and what songs to put out, what videos to shoot, I don got in a lot of arguments with these dudes. But they brothers for life, you feel me? But sometimes I be in my own way, and I be like, overthinking. But that goes back to having that chip on my shoulder, I wanna prove people wrong. So I just got this burning ambition to be like yo, I gotta do it right, it gotta look good, it gotta duh-duh-duh-duh-duh, we can’t take no Ls, you know what I’m saying? Even though like, all Ls are lessons, but [laughs] like nah, for real, Ls is lessons, but you know for me, it’s like nah, we ain’t got time for that. We puttin points on the board. We gotta move correctly, you know what I’m saying? We gotta move proper, strategically, so I’m real big on that, and I’m the type of person, people can’t tell me no. You know what I’m saying? “Ah nah, we can’t do that! That’s impossible!” I can’t be around a motherfucker that’s like that. You know what I’m saying? Like, you... I’m not gon let anybody tell me that something can’t be done. Cause we gon figure it out, you know what I’m saying? And that’s just what it is.

DJO: So what would you say is one of those biggest dreams? Do you ever see yourself falling back from rap and being like, “I’m gonna make a label now”? I mean, we gon do way more than just a record label, like we already own our own record label, shoutout to Empire, we were able to get independent distribution through them, and own our own record label, we can sign artists, we have artists, you know what I’m saying, we’re looking for artists, um... but, even beyond that, we gon do films, you know what I’m saying? We gon get into the fashion business even heavier, you gon catch us at New York Fashion Week, you gon catch us at Complex Con, and you know, all these different places, like Come-Up Boys, the brand in itself, is gonna be way bigger than just music, that’s just our starting point, you know what I’m saying? [...] One of my favorite Jay lines, I would have to say, was when he was like: “If skills sold / Truth be told / I'd probably be / Lyrically / Talib Kweli / Truthfully I wanna rhyme like Common Sense / But I made 5 mil, I ain't been rhyming like Common since.” So to me, that right there was like yo, he lettin you know, lyrically I could be Talib Kweli, bro. Who was like one of the greatest, like come on! “Truthfully I wanna rhyme like Common, but I made 5 mil, I ain't been rhyming like Common since,” like that shit is crazy, bro. You know what I’m saying? It lets you know what he about, it lets you know the intelligence of who he can be, and who he wants to be, and him understanding that. Most people don’t get that, you know what I’m saying? They know who they want to be, you know what I’m saying? They don’t know who they can be, though. They thinking too small. So you gotta know who you are, in a sense. At the same time, when you moving in this game, no matter what you doing, I don’t care if you a radio DJ, I don’t care if you a English major, a tech student [L and I laugh], whatever, you gotta know who the fuck you wanna be, and know who you are. And know what it’s gon take to get there. Like you know what I’m saying? That’s just that. DJO: Especially like going to college here, you know some people feel like, they feel boxed in by their major, like they can only do one thing. WM: Ay, none of them people that’s running this school man, they didn’t call you and say ay, you can only have one major, or you can only do this. Look... here’s the pamphlet, here’s the book, you figure out who you wanna be. That’s what college is about, right? Okay so you gotta get out there, and you gotta try stuff, you know what I’m saying? You ain’t gon get it on the first go around. The first year you might have one major, second year you gotta switch to another major, whatever, you ain’t gon get it on the first go around! Don’t be afraid to fail, man! Michael Jordan said that, you know what I’m saying? And he got six rings! [Laughter in the studio.] This man is making billions off tennis shoes, and he just keep puttin out the same ones! [More laughter.] And I got a pair of em on, right now!

DJO: But I really think that’s the thing, like, everyone is so afraid of failure. Like, and I feel it’s like, not everyone, but like a majority, some people just afraid like “hey I failed I am gonna be discouraged I’m never gonna dip back into that again.”

WM: Check it, if you afraid to fail, you might as well give up on life. I don’t care what it is! You gotta be willing to fail. Every L is a lesson. It’s not a loss, it’s a lesson. Only thing you lose is time. And you can’t get it back, right? But that lesson gon make up for the time that you lost. Because eventually you gon have to learn what not to do, in order to know what to do!

I: What’s been your biggest L, and lesson?

WM: My biggest lesson. I’m gonna think. Hold on. Cause I’m gonna give you a good one. My biggest lesson... would probably have to be trust yourself. Cause some people, they don’t do that, and they start listening—like everybody gon have an opinion, right? If you in the studio, and it’s like ten people in the studio. Or it’s five people in the studio. Everybody in that room is gonna have an opinion about the record. Sometimes you have to be able to listen to others, and take parts of what they saying, and apply, and sometimes, some people gon say stuff that, just, nah. And you gotta trust yourself in the moments, you get what I’m saying? So it’s about knowing that. I wanna say that’s probably my biggest lesson. And it was a L! There’s been times where I did not trust myself and I listened to other people, and that shit got me in trouble! You know what I’m saying? I don lost money behind that [laughs], for real, I don lost money behind that, I don got in trouble behind that. So trust in myself, man.

Listen to the full interview here and give “South Central Ain’t 4 Everybody” a listen on Spotify now! Also make sure to check out the new video for "Bitch Please"!

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