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My personal career highlights would be getting my first No. 1 record, 'Down in the DM' and getting the second one now with 'Rake It Up.'
When I was young I was getting more money than the old heads. I was smarter and tighter, so whoever's team I was on was at an advantage.
I didn't study no rappers when I was coming up. I was studying moguls. I was studying Jay Z. I was studying Puff. I was studying Master P.
When I'm driving, you have a different feeling when the police get behind you and you're not even breaking the law. The tension is so high.
It was once upon a time where me, myself as a kid - and I know plenty of people who grew up the same way - couldn't even afford a pair of shoes.
Me as a person, man, I'm just rapping reality. Every time I get in front of the microphone I'm just speaking about real life and what's happening.
I don't do credit cards 'cause my mama told me back in the day she never dated a man who tows a wallet. 'Cause that mean he ain't have enough money.
I am one of those cats who doesn't believe in putting everything from your personal life out. I come from the motto 'if they know less it's better.'
I played pee-wee football coming up. If I had known the type of chicks they would get when I was in school, I'd probably focused on it a little more.
When I got a plaque, when I got a No. 1, a cover of 'XXL,' these are the types of things that let me know I'm aligning with the artists I looked up to.
When I came up with the title 'Trapped,' I was going through a lot of personal stuff. There were a lot of things in 2018 that had me in a trapped mentality.
They say you're blessed to be a blessing to others. There's no better time to live that saying then the holidays. Especially when so many families are struggling.
I feel like it's our job, between me and Jeezy and Gucci - I feel that's who the streets look at as far as trap music. So if it's gonna be saved, we have to save it.
I believe that if you got good people around you and they put in the work to help get you where you at, everybody should eat. No man should be depended on another man.
We focus on money, getting money and winning. We let the rest of them chase the women. We focus on winning cuz getting women is slight work. That's all the time with us.
Throughout L.A. Reid's career, I realize he has been a part of creating some of the biggest superstars in the industry. I feel there is no better person to partner with.
It's a difference between a good rapper and 'king of the city,' they're two different things. You can be a better rapper than me, that don't mean you're king of the city.
Memphis breeds hustlers, I feel. It's just cutthroat living period, so to survive around vultures and savages like that, it prepares you for whatever profession you go in.
I heard Russell Simmons say that, 'people have million dollar dreams with a minimum wage work ethic.' Basically, everybody wanna be rich but don't nobody wanna work for it.
There's nothing more valuable than your freedom in your life. When you're in the streets you're gambling with that 24/7. If you don't know that you're just flat out dumb to me.
'Letter to the Trap' is a real approach on how I really feel. It's like when you're in that culture and you're living that life, there's always obstacles when trying to get out.
PUMA has been an iconic name in the fashion world for decades, their ability to remain at the top of the game in not only sportswear, but in culture and fashion is inspirational.
The 'Down in the DM' to 'Rake It Up' to videos, the artwork... everything is 100 percent me. If you want to sample it, if it's going to be in a movie, whatever, you gotta call me.
Like LeBron James, we already know how good the man is. We know he can play. He's rich. But he still want a ring. N!ggas know my music hot. That's proven. Now its time to get the ring.
I think CMG is gonna grow and only get bigger and bigger. We're gonna continue to find the right talent and do everything that's necessary because I got an 'I will not lose' mentality.
When people are watching the George Floyd video, that could have been me. I think people are just afraid that the people who are supposed to be protecting and serving you are against you.
Some people just like to do their own thing. I ain't sayin' it's wrong, but me, I wanna hustle with another hustler. I think two impactful hustlers, or three, or four, is a stronger force.
Like, I always knew I wanted a Kanye West feature and a Jay-Z feature. I knew that starting in the game when it wasn't even realistic to happen. I already knew who I wanted to do records with.
As a street hustler, you've got to be smarter than everybody. You have to outsmart the police, you have to outsmart the people in competition with you, you have to outsmart all the opposition.
Boxing is a full-body workout, and while you're in it and learning the procedures and steps, you're working out at the same time. Sometimes it don't feel like you're actually working out, which I like.
I think the I Am album allowed me to show fans that I'm more than just a mixtape artist, who can make music on a different platform, a bigger platform, and I think more people respect what I'm doing now.
The kitchen is where you put all the ingredients together. The kitchen is where you prepare the plan and put your recipe together. No matter what you do in life, you have to have a plan and put it together.
Just the responsibility of wanting to see my mother have a better life; making sure my sister had a better life. I went ahead and accepted that responsibility when I was young and it paid off. That was really the only goal.
I like to make music from a personal standpoint, and the music that feels good to me, and when the music becomes big, it's even better because it's an even more organic feeling than when you, like, tried to make the hit record.
You got some artists who want street credit. Like, they market street credit. They take certain incidents and turn it into marketing to try and boost the sales. You don't never see me speaking on that. I'm trying to stay away from it.
Back when I was growing up, gangs wasn't heavy. We was solo thugging. When we got money on our own, the hood got money. It wasn't about colors or a certain name when I was growing up. We wasn't doing no gangs. But as the generations change, things change.
It was special with me being from Memphis and knowing the history of the venue, knowing all of the artists who performed in the Orpheum before me. Even having the idea to approach it was ambitious on my part, but I thought they would turn me down at first.
One of my homeboys from my neighborhood had actually taught me how to rap. He was the rapper and we would all go over to his house. It would be like 10 or 12 of us in there and he'd write everybody's rap in the house and would give everybody four or eight bars.
What scared me was my mother getting evicted from my house. Seeing them repo my momma's car once. Wondering if I didn't provide for her where she was going to be or if I didn't provide for her, where my sister was going to be. Those are the things that scared me.
When you live a certain way for so long, that's the only way people can see you. I don't necessarily mean that's who you is or you can't change, but it's a stigma that they put on you when you're from a place where I'm from. That's one way of looking at 'Trapped.'
I'm one of the few artists who started from the ground up for real. Not taking no records to the radio station begging no DJ to play it. When DJs started playing my records they called me for them. I ain't pull up and ask nobody for nothing, I ain't pay nobody nothing.
Trap music to me isn't just a sound. If we're talking about what I think trap music is, I couldn't say that I created it or no one created it, because if you were living the same life that I was living and you're speaking about it, we just speaking about our endeavors in that world.
Real estate was one of the first things I was doing. I kinda like mistakenly fell into that. I bought a house early in my career, and in my head, it was like, if everything goes wrong, I own this one house, you know... As I started doing concerts and more concerts, I started buying more houses.
This whole 8 for $8 tour, I handpicked every city, every market on this tour, I handpicked myself. I wanted to go to New York, I wanted to go to Baltimore, I wanted to go to Philly, I wanted to go to Chicago, I wanted to go to Atlanta, of course I wanted to go Memphis, I wanted to go to Oakland.
I would buy a house, and try to buy a house every month. I didn't have education or information about real estate at the time. I learned after I bought a few houses, and then I kind of fell in love with the rehabbing of the houses and fixing them up and just the whole process and turned it into a business.
I'm a business man and the reason I linked up with a major was because I understand they have that reach that I can't get no matter how hot I get in the streets. It's not always about money because I been had money. I want to be on TV and win awards. I want to be number one. You need a label to get through barriers.
Rap was slowly becoming one of my hustles, but it wasn't my main hustle. But I come from a family of hustlers, so once I figured the hustle out and mastered it, I took it to my brothers like... "we can flip this just like we flip anything else"... and they were with it but also sort of slow to come all the way on board.
Being independent is more of a mind state more than anything else. A lot of people don't understand that being an independent artist means being hands on with your career in every aspect - not being afraid to spend your own money and invest time in yourself. Although I'm affiliated with a major label, I still wake up every day with an independent mindset.
I believe your success is based off what your goals are. Are you trying to feed your family or have plaques on the wall and be broke? In that case, I think the game is in a better place. We have all heard of famous artists who are broke. Then we know of artists who may have had only a song or two on radio, but have a million or two dollars off that quick come up.