21 Savage

21 Savage

Photo: Timothy Norris/Getty Images

Interview

21 Savage On 'Issa Album,' Jay-Z, & Business

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The "Bank Account" rapper talks about his debut full-length, lists his favorite ATL rappers and drops his hip-hop philosophy
Nate Hertweck
GRAMMYs
Oct 12, 2017 - 11:32 am

At this point in the rich history of rap music, it's abundantly clear that there are many styles of the art form, with many more yet to be explored. The through-line is that successful rappers seem most confident at being one thing: themselves.

21 Savage On Jay-Z's Ability To Stay Relevant

Enter 21 Savage. The Atlanta-based chartbuster with two No. 1 singles already, and a style — and swagger — all his own has been the man in-demand this year. Basically, if you haven't heard "Bank Account," or any one of Savage's collab hits with Drake, Post Malone or Future, you haven't been listening.

His debut full-length, Issa Album, just dropped in July, and it's all Savage — no features, no guests. But the rapper downplays this bold statement of standing on his own. "The way I look at it, it's just new music," Savage said of his latest release during a recent visit to the Recording Academy headquarters.

Issa Album also had the distinct pleasure — or perhaps challenge — of dropping the same day as Jay-Z's 4:44. Going toe-to-toe with Hova like that could not have been easy, but certain high-profile fans such as Los Angeles Lakers point guard Lonzo Ball gave 21 the edge. Ball said, "21 Savage's [album] is bumping more" than Jay's, causing quite the storm of reactions from the hip-hop and sports worlds. Savage's reaction to Ball's bold claim? Simple.

"That's how he feels, that's what it is. He likes it, that's his opinion."

But make no mistake, the young rapper has plenty of respect for Jay-Z.

"He grows, his music grows with him," Savage says of Jay-Z's ability to stay relevant. "He ain't just rapping about the same thing he was rapping about when he first came out, so that's what keeps it interesting, because as he grows as a man and does more stuff business-wise, he applies that to the music, so that's why I think he's been able to grow like that and stay around."

The album's first hit is also 21 Savage's biggest to date, "Bank Account." According to him, the process in the studio was a straightforward one.

"[Producer] Metro [Boomin] helped me make the beat and then he pulled it up and I started recording."

Savage and Metro have come up together, and both have become highly sought-after collaborators. Forbes recently even went as far as to suggest Metro might be "the next big star in hip-hop."

The raw bravado and fierce individuality behind 21 Savage's music has also helped him out on the business side. The deal he leveraged is remarkable, as he was able to stay independent with his label Slaughter Gang while landing distribution with Epic Records and keeping 100 percent ownership of his masters.

"I just go in with my best interest at heart," Savage says of the unprecedented terms he secured. "We went back and forth until we could get it to where I was comfortable. That's just the way it goes."

A native of Atlanta, Savage is quick to name his top five ATL rappers in the game right now: Future, Young Thug, Gucci Mane, Migos, and Young Nudy. But Savage's style stands out, reinforcing his philosophy.

"I feel like the game just don't respect us like they're supposed to. Y'all want everyone in the rap game to rap like each other," Savage told Genius. "Respect all the music the same, just because a n***** is not lyrical, that doesn't mean that it's not a good song, or it's not good music. If everybody was lyrical, everybody's songs would sound the same."

This philosophy on hip-hop opens the door for 21 Savage to go anywhere he wants from here. His next move takes him on a 22-city U.S. tour that starts Nov. 16 in Austin, Texas, and includes an appearance at the first ever Rolling Loud Festival in San Bernardino, Calif. alongside Future, Lil Uzi Vert, and Rae Sremmurd.

While Savage’s lasting impact on rap remains in the balance, his infectious shot of success this year is undeniable.

Jay Z performs at Austin City Limits 2017

Jay Z

Photo: Gary Miller/FilmMagic

News

Jay Z Takes On A World Tour At Austin City Limits 2017

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Dropping hit tracks from a career stretching all that way back to 1996, the legendary lyricist reminded a packed Austin, Texas, crowd why he is one of the most honored rappers in GRAMMY history
Ogden Payne
GRAMMYs
Oct 8, 2017 - 10:57 am

For Jay Z, timing is everything. Throughout his two-decade-long career, his affinity for punctuality has trickled down to his fans, largely due to the extensive timepiece collection he often references, and the titling of his latest album.

Jay Z, Linkin Park Win Best Rap/Sung Collaboration

Privy to this detail, festivalgoers at Austin City Limits 2017 sprinted across Zilker Park to ensure they did not miss the opening notes of his set, scheduled for 8:15 p.m. But as the official call time passed, it was apparent that for Jay Z fans, patience is a virtue.

At 8:27, the black veil covering the American Express stage dropped, revealing an oversized black balloon animal, shaped like a dog, sculpted by artist Jeff Koons. Shoulders swaying, Jay Z leisurely strolled to center stage, clad in a white T-shirt, black jeans, high-top Nikes, and his signature Roc Nation hat. As he scanned the crowd, a faint smirk appeared.

Jay Z at ACL 2017, Sculpture by Jeff Koons

As the quacking claps of his GRAMMY-winning song "Run This Town" underscored the deafening praise from the crowd, an unspoken pact was made: For the next hour and a half, Shawn "Jay Z" Carter called the shots.

While Shawn Carter may be a man of punctuality, Jay Z lives by his own rules. The two personas battle one another in an internal paradox that plays itself out in the rapper’s latest effort, 4:44, and oozed into his ACL performance.

The Brooklyn, N.Y., native used his set list to take Austinites on a round-trip flight across the world, beginning by lyrically listing his illicit activities in Marcy Projects to boasting about his aristocratic experiences in Paris. Songs of remorse and vulnerability were sprinkled in between his most popular cuts, including the GRAMMY-winning collaboration with Alicia Keys, "Empire State Of Mind."

At Jay’s behest, attendees across the park raised their arms and put their index fingers and thumbs together to form the immortal Roc-A-Fella diamond. Though the dynasty he built with former business partner Dame Dash is no more, Jay Z’s effortless mix of music and business permeated across cultures and prompted fans, some half his age, to commit his lyrics to memory. 

"His music grows with him," 21 Savage told GRAMMY.com of Jay Z's ability to stay relevant. "He ain't just rapping about the same thing he was rapping about when he first came out, so that’s what keeps it interesting, because as he grows as a man and does more stuff business-wise, he applies that to the music, so that's why I think he’s been able to grow like that and stay around."

"I told you [in] ‘96 that I came to take this s***, and I did!” Jay emphatically declared during his live rendition of "Heart Of The City."

At the time he originally recorded the track in 2001, the statement might not have been more than bravado. Now, his 21-year-long résumé confirms his spot atop hip-hop's throne. Since the release of his debut album, Reasonable Doubt, in 1996, Jay has garnered 21 GRAMMY wins alongside fourteen No. 1 albums, selling more than 36 million units worldwide. Just days before his highly anticipated album 4:44 was due, he received the title as the first rapper to be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Who Are The Top GRAMMY Winners Of All Time?

"I remember when rap was said to be a fad," he wrote on Twitter. "We are now alongside some of the greatest writers in history."

Jay Z's point of view often came from that of a have-not, "from the school of the hard knocks." However, his rock-influenced production of “99 Problems” and emotional tribute to friend and collaborator Chester Bennington proved that his vast catalog resonates with people from all walks of life.

Jay Z at Austin City Limits 2017

As hundreds of thousands of fans piled out of Zilker Park, phrases of awe pervaded conversations. In years to come, many will study the Jay Z blueprint in the hopes to replicate his savvy and success, while pondering what the key ingredient has been to his 20-plus-year career in the music business.

As he once told Forbes, "The genius thing that we did was we didn't give up."

See All Of Our Coverage Of Austin City Limits 2017

CyHi The Prynce

CyHi The Prynce

Photo: Robin Marchant/Getty Images

News

CyHi The Prynce On Kanye Brainstorms, Lil Wayne Tour, 'Nu Africa'

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The Atlanta rapper speaks on the music biz, owing his discovery to Beyoncé, empowering Kanye, and how his new album will change lives
Nate Hertweck
GRAMMYs
Oct 6, 2017 - 2:35 pm

CyHi The Prynce is not new to the game. The Stone Mountain, Ga., rapper's prolific decade-long career has yielded a steady flow of lyrical mixtapes, high-profile collaborations, and praise from the likes of Beyoncé and Kanye West. But with a bold, conceptual full-length debut album on the way, in a way Prynce is just getting started.

CyHi The Prynce: Writing With Kanye West

If his latest singles, "Movin' Around" featuring ScHoolBoy Q and "Nu Africa," are any indication, CyHi The Prynce's upcoming album will be impossible to ignore. While an exact release date for No Dope On Sundays is TBA, Prynce's concept of community in action is very clear. The five-time GRAMMY nominee — all five as a credited songwriter for Best Rap Song — plans to bring his Midas touch from behind-the-scenes to the main stage on his long awaited full-length debut.

In this exclusive interview with CyHi The Prynce, he speaks the truth behind the Atlanta rap industry, how he empowered West to speak his mind on hits like "New Slaves" and "I Am A God," recalls life on tour with Lil Wayne, and proclaims his love for some rather unexpected musical inspirations.

Your new album No Dope On Sundays seems like it's going to explode. Why do you feel it's going to change people's lives?
I think No Dope On Sundays is a great topic that's not just me rapping. I really wanted to be able to touch people in certain ways and touch my community in a certain way where we work on ourselves through our music. I think a lot of times when people listen to me, it's a very intimate moment. They might not have a lot of friends around or whatnot, but I wanted this concept to also be able to teach something and be able to learn something, and be able to learn from it, but also it'd be something where everybody can listen to it at once. So I put a bunch of different vibes … it's gonna reach every genre and every human being from every race, so I'm glad. I'm happy.

"Nu Africa" is bold, imaginative and fun. If you had to pick, which one of the hypotheticals in the lyrics is your favorite?
The first line: "Imagine if all the actors and athletes would go back and talk to all the ambassadors." You know what I'm sayin' … it's a lane that I feel like hasn't been tapped into and its potential hasn't been tapped into. I think there's a lot of things that me and my people are concerned about here, but there you could expedite it other places. Say in Africa where it's free [and] there's land. You could go back and tell them, 'Hey, this is what we're trying to do, we're gonna donate money, we wanna bring these resources,' and I think they'd be very inclined to it.

But I also wanted to do it in a fun way where it wasn't too heavy-handed, but also just giving them their imagination. … It's not like it's an exodus or something. It's something you can create in your own community. I feel like the Jewish community has a dope community like that, you might go to New York and they have Chinatown, you know what I mean? Just create that culture where if anyone wants to come get some culture from hip-hop or anything, you come to us and we can give you the inside scoop on it. So I think that's what the main reason for that song, and the main direction I was thinking when I made it.

Yeah, it's a real thought-starter …
I always say, "You can't tell nobody to cut their grass unless you cut your own." So a lot of times we have to also understand after we do express our differences and our concerns, how do we go back to the table and rectify them and just not just voice our opinion. That's what I like to do. I say I'm the Navy Seal of my community. The Army is those that march or those that speak out, but I'm the one who really goes and gets the job done.

Where does Atlanta sit as one of rap's capital cities now, compared to when you entered the game almost a decade ago?
Well, I think Atlanta has so much culture and you know I would like to say this — it's very touchy but I want to say it. ... You know, we don't have as many black executives or executives in Atlanta. It's just the executives are probably in New York and California and they'll fly there. So a lot of times we have to make our own executives. A lot of times that takes a lot of hard work and it takes a lot of, I would say from my culture, "penitentiary chances" — you know, where guys are doing anything to come up with this money to be able to fund their studio, to be able to market their project, to be able to do all these things. So a lot of times, people want to know why our city is flourishing because we have the hustle of doing it all ourself. So when you do it all yourself and you have different individuals you're rubbing shoulders with, and we're all into that, I think it builds up a platform that we can showcase our artists, and then other labels come down and, you know, joint venture deals and different things.

So I think in a nutshell, its just that environment of swag and talking crap and coming up with these songs and having fun. ... It's just very country but also soulful. I think that's how we keep it all together with all those different things around it that keeps the culture vibing.

So, Kanye told you that you owe your career to Beyoncé for telling him to sign you, but what do you feel you owe Kanye for the influence he's had on your career?
My life. I just think him just being able to teach me how to even communicate with the producers and the engineers [was so important]. Like I didn't know what reverb meant and 808s and 909s and toms ... it's just all these things that he knows and I thought most rappers don't know. But to be able to show me everything, how to put this album together, how to put these songs together and being able to communicate with the writers and the artists and the producers and the engineers, I just think that education is invaluable, like I can't put a price tag on that. I just learned so much and I'm still learning every day, so I think he's the greatest.

With the five GRAMMY nominations as a writer for Kanye songs, what do you feel he's learned from you?
At the end of the day, I think I'm a very out-of-the-box thinker. A lot of people don't know, if you listen to my mixtapes and you listen to his albums, you can tell there's a conversation going on in the studio, and that's what he likes. He likes to come in the room with different people from different walks of life and brainstorm, and that's mostly the album. Eighty percent of his albums are brainstorm. There's only 20 percent of us actually doing something. Most of it's like, the thoughts, the thoughts, the thoughts. The easy part is executing them, but the hard part is really coming up with what he wants to do.

What I like to do is challenge him, like, "Naw, you can't say new slaves. Yeah you can say I'm a God." "What you mean, you can't say that?" "Oh, you, what you wanna say, I'm a gangster?" When he said that, that was a real conversation. "What you a criminal? What, you a n*****? Like, what is it? Oh, you want to think of yourself to be the highest being, you shoot for the moon and fall among the stars." That is what we were talking about … people were in the room who were Christian and who were other different religions that were rubbed the wrong way and we had to have those conversations, so that is what I think that he got me in there for — to really cut that ice, you know what I mean, to actually get to the meat of the song and the root of the songs. I think Yeezus was the first time you probably heard that influence. ...

What hobbies do you have outside of music?
Outside of music, I'm very regular. I'm very go to the movies. I like to fish. I water my plants, I kiss my girl on the forehead, and I write. I write because I told myself if they write another bible, I want to be in it. If they write a Last Testament, my name has to come across one of them books, so that's why I'm here to write. I don’t have any other hobbies but to destroy rappers, that's my biggest hobby.

You toured with Lil Wayne earlier this summer. Any crazy memories from that tour?
We were on different schedules, and I had so much promo to do in between the dates we didn't really get to hang out like we should. But what I learned from him is he performs like it's his first show every show. I've never seen anybody do that. You're Lil Wayne, you can go in there and just swag out, he's in there like, "Wayne, it's not that serious. You're Lil Wayne. The tickets already sold here."

But it doesn't matter if it's a small venue of 20 people to a million people, he gives a show, man. I was impressed … and his voice still sounds immaculate. Like man, this guy's incredible. He doesn't get old. That's what I learned from him, the professionalism. He comes onstage and gives it every night.

You played football growing up. Who's your NFL team, and what is your pick for Super Bowl LII?
You gotta go with Tom [Brady and the New England Patriots], unfortunately. But my favorite team is … I'm from Atlanta, I like the Falcons, but I played park ball for a team called the Central Dekalb Cardinals, so I love the Arizona Cardinals.

What are three things you're inspired by right now?
I love Valerie June, I don't know if you guys ever heard of her, she's a country singer. She probably thinks I'm obsessed with her because I mention her every time somebody asks me, I just love her music.

I've been listening to a lot of '60s music, I've been trying to go into that lane.

And I love Fela Kuti. I could just listen to his music all day and just work and write raps. Those are my three inspirations right now.

Jay Z

Jay Z

Photo: Steven Viasic/Getty Images

News

Jay Z, Ryan Gosling To Kick Off 43rd Season Of "SNL"

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First episode of Saturday Night Live's new season will feature the '4:44' rapper and 'La La Land' star
Nate Hertweck
GRAMMYs
Aug 25, 2017 - 10:43 am

"Saturday Night Live" has announced the lineup for the kickoff episode of their 43rd season, and it's big.

Jay-Z, Justin Timberlake Win Best Rap/Sung Collaboration

GRAMMY-winning rapper Jay Z will take the stage as musical guest with host and Academy Award-nominated actor Ryan Gosling on Sept. 30.

Jay Z has appeared on the show many times in the past, including 2010 with Betty White. This time around he's coming off the release his 13th studio album, 4:44. Ahead of the SNL appearance, Jay Z is set to appear in a new documentary on Notorious B.I.G. on September 4 on A&E.

Gosling starred in last year's blockbuster musical, La La Land.He is on deck to  star in the upcoming film Blade Runner: 2049.

Hear The Samples No I.D. Used On Jay Z's 4:44

Aminé

Aminé

Photo: Timothy Saccenti 

Interview

Aminé On Beyoncé, Prince & All Things 'Good For You'

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The Portland rapper gives mad respect to Prince, reveals his favorite TV shows and reacts to Bey's recent "Caroline" IG endorsement
Nate Hertweck
GRAMMYs
Aug 22, 2017 - 1:01 pm

Traditionally, West Coast hip-hop encompasses MCs hailing from the state of California. However, Portland, Ore.-bred rapper Aminé has always drawn outside the lines.

Aminé: Beyoncé IG Post, Favorite John Mayer Song

A fan of everyone from Kanye West and André 3000 to John Mayer and Prince, Aminé's music sounds like his videos look: crisp, bright and honest, with a splash of humor. The 23-year-old recently released his debut album, Good For You, a collection of songs he originally made for his own enjoyment. Now the world is taking notice following a breakout performance on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" and a high-profile endorsement in the form of an Instagram roller-skate montage from the one and only Beyoncé.

Aminé came by our headquarters in Santa Monica last week to talk about his new album, the real Portland, his love for acting, TV shows, the color yellow, and more.

Good For You dropped just a couple weeks ago. How has your daily life changed since your debut album was released?
It changed my life in the way that I'm just really happy it's out because I really worked hard on it. I'm just happy to have people listening to a project of mine. It's kind of like something that is your baby and you're just handing it off to get babysat, and you just want to make sure every babysitter's cool (laughs). It's my baby.

You said you made "Caroline" in your room on your laptop, just like 50 other songs. Why do you think this was the one that took off like crazy?
Because it was the only song I put out at the time (laughs). Yeah, I really didn't think much of the song. I don't really expect much from any songs I put out. I just kind of make them and hope for the best because I'm the kind of guy who likes to hope for the least and then if the best happens I'm like really happy.

Beyoncé's IG post featuring "Caroline" went viral. It's sort of a cosign of sorts, so what did that mean for you? 
We were freaking out about that, me and my friends. Beyoncé is Beyoncé, there's no other [way] of putting it. But when we saw that, we were just like, "What?" It's just really funny, because I'm from Portland and me and my friends are pretty average, so seeing her listening to my song was just like, "What?" You know, there's really no words to explain it. But it was really cool. She's a legend. … It was surreal for sure.

Portland is not mentioned often as a hip-hop hotbed. What's the scene really like there, and what's it like to claim Portland as home?
I loved growing up in Portland because I'm not from L.A. or New York or Chicago or some cool city. … It was a very regular suburban life. People don't expect a lot of African-Americans to live in Portland, but I lived in a mainly all African-American neighborhood. I mean, there's black people everywhere … it was just a very suburban, normal life. I had my first crush. I learned how to ride a bike … things that made me who I am today.

[The] hip-hop scene — there's tons of rappers and artists there. Portland never really had its own original sound … and we're still creating that for ourselves. But it was a lot of indie bands and there wasn't a lot of space for hip hop so I had to go to New York and L.A. to get more opportunities, you know. I got more show offers as a nobody in L.A. and New York than I did in Portland. It shouldn't be like that, but it was. So it's still developing, it's still a great place. There's a lot of artists like the Last Artful, Dodgr and Mic Capes — a lot of rappers [are] coming out of there.

You've said "yellow is the new black" and that you rock "yellow on some yellow like what purple is to Prince." Why yellow?
It's my favorite color! (laughs) It isn't really "because the moods." I don't have a deep explanation, it's just one of my favorite colors. I don't know Prince's music like the back of my hand, but I was always a fan of him as an artist — just the way he was a person who did not care about what people thought and did his own thing and I thought that was so cool. Everything I saw that he did was so seamless and it just flowed together, and I saw purple in everything he did. And when he died, I saw the Empire State Building [turn] purple. Not to jinx myself — knock on wood — but if I die, that would be cool if it was yellow.

Actually, they just gave Prince his own purple Pantone color called Love Symbol #2 …
That's so fire. That's a goal of mine. You just established a new goal for me (laughs).

Can you tell us how the album cover concept for Good For You originated?
I had the newspaper idea for a minute, so I wanted to always incorporate that in the album cover in some sort of way. But with that I wanted to establish or put in the idea of how I am as a person and how my music is. I don't really care how people see me in my natural state, in a comfortable state. That's really what the goal was. It wasn't anything too deep where the toilet has this symbol. It was just a very comfortable place, and I come up with a lot of ideas on the toilet as well.

That reminds me of the beginning of the "Red Mercedes" music video …
Yeah, if you look closely … I put the newspaper in that video and I was sitting on the toilet, so I just wanted to give a hint to the album cover early on, and it said the album title on there months before the album was announced, but no one really noticed that. I got that idea from when Donald [Glover, Childish Gambino] put the Awaken, My Love! cover in "Atlanta." I was like, "OK, that's amazing. I need to do that."

You've named Kanye and André 3000 as musical influences. Can you name something you borrowed from each of them?
I don't know specifically, I can't be like, "Yeah I took this from this song," but every Kanye album is one of my favorite albums. I don't think there's an album I hate. I didn't really appreciate 808s & Heartbreak when I was in middle school because I was a kid and didn't really get what singing was at the time because I was such a huge fan of rap. Then 808s … and … Love Below opened my mind into what [being] an artist meant, instead of just rapping over beats. It was just super cool. It was basically like indie music to me, it wasn't even hip hop or R&B. I think that's closing those albums in a genre they don't belong in. Those were alternative magic.

What about style influences?
A lot of André and Kanye (laughs). I don't tell many people this but this is funny. I used to do this thing in elementary school where I would have a new outfit and before I'd put it on I'd close my eyes and imagine what Kanye or André would look like in it, and if it didn't look right on them I wouldn't wear it. I think I kind of still do that sometimes when I see an outfit that I'm iffy about, I'm like, "Hmm, would this look good on Kanye or Andre?" "Nah, ok."

What are three things you're loving right now?
"Game Of Thrones," for sure. I was watching an episode last night. It's one of my favorite shows ever. It's gotten pretty intense, if anyone's kept up, it's pretty crazy. I was on my couch standing, yelling at my TV [during] the last episode.

"Master Of None" is one of my favorite shows, too. I could just name a bunch of movies and TV.

I ate Shake Shack last night. I really like Shake Shack burgers ... I like In-N-Out a lot, but Shake Shack is just divine. 

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