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Wow, Balenciaga body back, Birken bag body back.
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Make no mistake about it. You heard it. Are you kidding?
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If it's up, if it's up, if it's up, oh my gosh, this song is such a crush. What a return. How are you?
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I'm doing I'm good, but I'm like very um nervous.
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Oh my gosh, like this this week has been a really not a bad week, but like a bad week for my nerves.
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Like I've been waking up early.
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I haven't been able to eat.
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I've been like It's cuz you care.
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It's cuz you really care about this record and this music and what you're doing. It's awesome.
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That's what I love about it.
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You know, you you're not an artist who takes it for granted, right? Yeah. Well, I don't know.
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I just you know, like I feel like I get like criticized a lot and like scrutinized.
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So, it's just like everything everything I always feel like I got to be like super super super perfect and um You know, I'm a Libra.
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So, everybody's opinion always counts to me.
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So, it's like My wife is a Libra, so I understand where you're coming from all the all too well. So, yeah, I get it.
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Listen, one of the things I really love about this record though is it sounds like you're taking that criticism and that and that trade that comes with success in the modern age and you're pouring all of your reaction into this song.
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Like the performance on this is like no joke.
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Were you feeling that kind of like, man, it when you made this song?
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You know, like my last song was very sexual, like very sexual.
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So, I always want like my next songs to be different than like the one before.
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Like if if like a topic on one of my songs is money, like the other topic I want it to be about something else.
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And when I started like rapping, when I first put music out like my mixtape, it was all This might sound crazy, but I got really inspired of drill Chicago music.
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Cuz I You know, I was young and I liked it that and everything.
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So, my mixtape was very like all about gang stuff, violence, if it's up then it's stuck, and that's where I wanted to take it with this record.
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I want to talk a little bit about your relationship with social media, because clearly it's inspiring you and it's building a fire in you and it's it's turning up in these records, which is great. Let it happen. Use it, right?
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Use it for what it's worth.
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But have there been moments when you've turned it off?
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You've had to turn it off when it gets too much, when all of that opinion and that energy is just too much?
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Well, I I don't I don't be on it as much anymore.
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Like sometimes I just go tweet, see what my fans is talking about, then I I got off.
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I I'm not like how I used to be before, because it's just like it's too much.
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Like I already I already know that it's like a trend, so like I don't know. Social media's weird.
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Like if you get on Twitter, social media's really weird.
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So, I feel like I was just talking to some people about it, right?
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Like it's like, "Yo, every year it's always like two or three popular It's always like two or three pop artists that is popular to hate on them.
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Like out of nowhere, you'll see everybody just I hate this artist. I hate this artist.
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And everything is negative about them.
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Everything is negative about them.
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But I'm that I'm that artist that is not like one year. It's every year.
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So, it's like I already got to get used to it, but it's like I don't give a I'm just going to take whatever the you say and I'm putting it in my music.
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Let's talk about album number two.
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Man, you've taken your time. I love it.
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And the good news is that the anticipation is just building and building and building, right?
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In this day and age, things move so fast that if you don't stay in this peripheral vision, you're out of here. But not you.
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You've been able to maintain this level of excitement around what you do.
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Have there been moments when you've been making this album when you're like, "Oh man, you know, am I am I am I missing my am I missing it? Is me by? Like I'm taking my time.
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Like how have you figured this whole timing thing out?
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I I really I really haven't, you know? I I really haven't.
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I thought I was going to put out uh I really wanted to put out album last year, but it's like I I feel like I don't have the right songs.
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I have I have recorded so many songs.
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I think I got like 50 songs recorded and I'm just like still not satisfied.
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If I'm not satisfied, I'm just not satisfied.
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I really want to put out album this year and it's just like I feel like I have no I have no choice now.
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Like now I feel like I exceeded my limit of holding. Time's up.
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I just need a stop with the fear. I I don't know. I'm just my fear.
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It's a fine line though, isn't it? Because I hear you.
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Like I'm I'm a person who's fearful, too.
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I've suffered my whole life with all kinds of fears of of what of things I can't control.
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But it But But ultimately, if you can if you can harness that enough, then then you you get better you get great quality out of it.
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Like you push yourself to the point where it's it's as good as it can be, but you're right.
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Like it can be really debilitating, can't it?
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Fear can prevent you from doing all the things that you love to do. Yeah.
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And you know uh I don't know.
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Like music is like in a in a different stage right now.
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Like cuz like I don't even be knowing like it's like what should be like the base of of my album sometimes.
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Like I be like, "Damn, should most of my songs be freaky songs?
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Should most of my songs should be about tricking?
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Um You know, I got I got my I got my sensitive songs and stuff and it's just like are they enough?
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Are they explaining my feelings enough?
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It must have been really good for your confidence though seeing what WAP did.
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And also the fact that it it went from being something that people thought was going to subvert this kind of conservative really sort of um you know, how do I even put it?
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Just overly sensitive just difficult old school traditional thinking.
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It went way beyond there and it became this thing that just really kicked the conversation into high gear, which was amazing.
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And the record was a smasher.
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How was it watching cuz I haven't spoken to you since you put that record out?
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How was it watching WAP kind of change shape after you put it out?
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I was just really surprised.
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Like I was just so surprised because everybody was like everybody was just raging like, "Oh my god, this song is so freaky and nasty."
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And even when I hear it, I'll be like, this song to me is not as nasty and freaky.
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But that cuz you know, I grew up listening to freaky ass rappers like Lil' Kim, Trina, Khia, Foxy, everybody.
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And it's like I feel like this is really like mild. But I don't know.
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Nowadays, people just want to rave about everything.
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I feel because uh people been wanting me and Megan to collab.
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So when a record like that was too freaky, I guess they was they wasn't really expecting that or something.
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But was a huge amount of people that supported that record and came out and and that's why the debate was so important.
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A lot of people we were like this record to your point is in is in a very great tradition of of unsensored, very open, sexually explicit music.
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And there's a total place for these records.
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They're really important.
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So it was interesting how there were a lot of people who came to the defense of WAP in a big, big way. Yeah.
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I mean cuz nowadays, it's just like people are just more open about their sexuality and everything.
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Um I I when when WAP came out, the people that was criticizing it the most, they were like, "This is so nasty. This is so freaky."
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I don't even think it was like I don't know, religious people.
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It was really a lot of Republicans. Like big Republicans.
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Not not like sentence and like that.
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It was literally like those that got blue checks on Twitters that are big influencers and it's just like out of anything that y'all could have talked about, you know, since like I said I was endorsing I was I used to enjoy endorse Bernie and then Joe Biden.
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So, they were just like trying to figure a way out to pick on me like, oh, is Joe Biden this the girl you're doing that interview with?
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The girl that's talking about WAP?
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That's what you want America to be influenced by?
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And it's like, bro, come on now.
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You feeling good about it though?
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Do you feel like you're you're over the over the tough part of making this record?
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Like you you see the end in sight?
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It's really hard to express certain feelings that I got inside of me.
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It's really hard for me to express that.
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Like when it comes to love and when it comes to emotions, when it comes to things that I have to deal with, it's really hard for me to even talk about it with certain people.
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So, it's really hard to put it like in a music and everything, but it's just I don't know.
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I I always debate myself, do I really want people to know everything that I be feeling.
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It ends like this for now. Got to play it safe. No face, no case. Is that the line? Yeah.
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What what are you saying? If no face, no case.