Even though Prince wasn’t rapping and it was a whole different era, it shows how artists expressed themselves without saying too much, and that was the real beauty of the art.
Tattoos, for me, are like a timeline of my life. I could look at a certain tattoo, and it reminds of me of a certain time in my life and why I got that tattoo.
Just to stay focused on my path and not the path that other people or media want to put me in. Just to stay focused on my vision, because I put out what I want people to know about me. Everything else is what the media puts out.
Social media is so powerful now, and with all these blog sites and YouTube channels and videos, it makes it more and more relevant to bridge artists together.
I’m working on this fashion line that’s all inspired by Vietnam. I’m Vietnamese so a lot of the clothes are inspired by Vietnamese culture, and I’m trying to mix that with the streetwear style.
I could be going through something in my life that I might not want to talk about in my music because my music is the way that I escape some of those things.
I know what people want. I know what everybody wants – I know what the streets want, I know what the suburbs want, I know what corporate people want. I know what-all type of music these people listen to.
You’re not just making music for your personal use no more, just making music for your homies around you; you’re making music for people around the world. Kids in Alaska – like, you’re making music for everybody. When I make music, I just think on a larger scale.
Sometimes I’ll have a whole song done without having a beat – I’ll just rap on an instrumental tempo and recreate a whole new song just around the lyrics.
Lil Wayne would probably be a big musical inspiration for me, because growing up I was just the biggest Wayne fan and being able to be signed to him and watch his whole journey to the peak of his career is great.
I’ve always been into dressing and being stylish because I feel like that’s where I gained a lot of my confidence and swag as a rapper, so fashion goes hand-in-hand with music to me.
