You gotta know how to balance things, man. When you do team up with pop titans like an Ed Sheeran and Khalid - who is also on this album - how do you make sure to keep your edge as a rap star? I feel like a single is more commercial, you know? I’ll do commercial when I want to do commercial. I don’t even drop singles, I just drop songs whenever I wanna drop a song and I want people to hear it. I can’t just drop a single and call it a single no more. Driving home in your car for a whole hour listening to an A Boogie album. So when I’m making my songs nowadays, it’s not about “that one song,” it’s about the follow-up and the smooth ride home.

To me, it’s all about the art and the creativity. What you just mentioned right now: I love the fact that I can really switch lanes and play around with my sound, ’cause it’s not all about just the tradition that I was talking about earlier. Which part of your journey are you most proud of? Since then, you had a number one album, you have a new child on the way and worked with Ed Sheeran and Khalid. When we spoke in 2018, you were going through your Jordan Year, having just turned 23. The only thing that I hate about these days is that wait, man. The fans were waiting and they hated it. I miss those days when I can just make a song and the next day, just put it on SoundCloud to see what type of responses I get. There were no due dates and no time limits. What do you miss most about the mixtape, pre-stardom days? I feel like I can’t ever drop an album called Artist or anything unless it’s that day. Second of all, just to continue the tradition to drop Artist 2.0 on the same day - Valentine’s Day - it’s only right that any Artist drops on Valentine’s Day.

That’s the biggest reason to me for why I had to drop it on that day.

Hoodie szn album cover