I had to realize that you can't try to get money, support yourself, and grind doing whatchu need to do at the same time. The music is the grind. You really gotta grind. You gotta find your way around. You can't be stuck tryna get there.
A Boogie wit da Hoodien
When I was 13, before I got in high school, I was writing mad raps. I didn't really know if it was good or not, so for a year, I just held them. When I got in high school, I started spittin' bars.
I found my sound through exploring. I was in the studio yelling, going low, trying things, and that's how I found that I have a lot of sounds.
Even though I can't dance, that's, like, the one thing I wished I could do growing up. I used act like I was MJ, doing the moonwalk, tip toes, leg kick, all that.
I pick and choose what I want to put on what. Instead of just dropping a single, I like putting projects together.
Me and Tory Lanez got good chemistry together. We could make a song so easy, but we always like to figure out what we're really doing. We can make a good song, but it gotta make sense.
Growing up in Highbridge was real. Me and all my friends, we never really went to any other places in the Bronx but Highbridge. We always just stayed in Highbridge. It was like territory, to be honest, because Highbridge is like a town.
Some of my songs are turnt up, but that's just 'cause I have to make 'em like that so the clubs can play them.
I started off throwing out 'Artist.' I made that my first mixtape. Then, I threw out 'TBA,' which means 'To Be Announced.'
This is the most fun thing in the world to me, making music. Sitting down, I can make songs and not leave the booth, ever, and I love it.
Highbridge - everybody rap in Highbridge; everyone grew up rappin' or playing basketball.
You can't say I don't sound like a N.Y. rapper - it's because I don't wanna sound like nobody else.
If it wasn't for the Internet, I don't know where I'd be.
2017 was crazy when I made the 'Freshman' cover 'cause I looked up to it, and I really wanted to be in it. It was motivation for me after that: I kept on going, and I grinded.
Everybody was always telling me to rap and freestyle. I used to go to the park and spit on the mic. If I go to the park, they always gonna give me the mic.
I wasn't really comfortable going to college.
You always gonna feel me. That's my main thing. When I'm speaking in my music, you gotta feel me.
People's hustle in the Bronx is real.
One day, walking through the Bronx streets, I just realized that people were stopping me, taking pictures, and noticing me from across the street. I can't even use public transportation anymore, so I kind of stopped going places and started going straight to the studio, going home, and telling people I can't go anywhere anymore.
Partnering up with the Monster Energy Outbreak Tour marks a milestone moment in my career.
My first mixtape especially - that came from a heartbreak.
I was trying to make my name just Artist in the beginning, but it was weird at first, because I wasn't an R&B singer or nothing. Not an R&B singer. I didn't do no melodic songs, none of that yet.
I was always writing, since I was, like, 12.
I never knew Artist was going to get this big. When I was making it, I put my all into it. But you never know what's going to happen with something you make.
A lot of people don't know that: that Artist is my name.
New York sounds like something that I could really listen to. It's like a vibe; it's a hit song. It's a song that you could listen to in five years and still like.
Everybody should start listening to love songs.
'Remember the Time' and 'You Rock My World' from Michael Jackson were two of my favorite songs ever. My mom used to bump them all the time.
I was inspired to shoot 'Look Back at It' in a high school because I'm like a voice of the youth. When the youth sees me in a classroom, I want them to be inspired to accomplish their dreams. I was just like them in a classroom at one point. It all starts in a classroom.
I got so many people that have my number. It's crazy. I just don't feel like texting anybody back after I get, like, 30 text messages in three hours. I just be chilling.
Everything I do is me. I don't like taking ideas from people unless they're the G.O.A.T.
Being self-made means putting yourself in position to help others put themselves in position to be successful.
I can't even lie: Sometimes, I be antisocial.
No matter where I'm at in life, whether I'm in the music industry, rich, poor, everybody need love in their life. Gangsta or not, everybody need love in their life. You can't act too hard about that.
Every time I step on stage an' see all of the lights or hear fans singing the words to my songs ,it's a surreal moment for me.
Perfecting your craft is one of the main keys in being successful.
Why do you think my name is Artist? I'm an artist.
I just wanna be relevant.
I overloaded myself with work. I give myself work to do so I don't give myself time to chill and have free time to chill with the family as much.
I'm not really worried about the flashy stuff. I don't got chains and cars. I spend what I need to spend. It doesn't faze me.
My mom is proud of me. My pops proud of me. Everybody keeps motivating me.
I look at goals, like, what do I want to do and where do I want to see myself. What position to I want to be in going forward.
Its crazy: my name is Artist, and I dead can't even paint.
I don't wanna learn about more science and math. That's not why I'm going to college.
I want people to really recognize that this is what I am naturally good at: I'm really good at making music and describing your feelings vicariously through my experiences, through my past and my future. I want people to relate to me in multiple ways and be versatile in my music.
I'm not really rocking with mixtapes no more. EPs and albums - that's it.
'A' comes from Artist. And 'Boogie' from the Bronx. 'The Hoodie' part came from just having a hoodie on a lot.
Having a daughter made my music, I guess, more meaningful. It made me see more of life when I had my daughter.
If you listen to me, it's real stories. It's catchy and something you can relate to.
Me and Thugger could make nine songs in a day and then choose which songs we like the most and think is gonna do something. With other people, it's like, we pick one song, and we hope it's the one.
