![]() ![]() I gotta figure that shit out for myself - I can’t be rapping forever, you feel me? It’s important to learn that shit so you’re not just some dumb artist being like: ‘What the fuck’s going on?'” Not just be some artist on a label, but be the thing: you’re more in control and you can learn the business side. “I wanna be looking forward and be more in control of my own shit, and learn it for myself. But I just needed to go on my path, and so I felt like making that step was important. XL was a dope label to be on, and they were always mad supportive of everything we were trying to do. “Starts of it were happening when we were finishing ‘Oofie’, but it was a thing where I was getting a little stagnant on the label… it’s just one of those periods in your life where you’ve gotta move on. ” You recorded much of ‘Oofie’ in XL’s New York basement studio, which is an interesting venue to choose as you left the label earlier this year. I wanted to for the fans because there’s history with that, even musically when she was Wavy Spice on ‘Puerto Rican Judo’. It was dope to get in the studio and work with her again. And then I was like: ‘Oh shit, I can get Noki on it ‘cause she’s a world traveller it fits her perspective and her style’. I wanted to get a UK artist on it originally, but I guess the beat or whatever didn’t really fit. It really can go either way, but I think that’s part of what makes touring an adventure.” How was it reuniting with Princess Nokia on ‘Dame Aquí’? ![]() You do go through those periods where you’re bummed as fuck, but you also have periods where you experience the highs, like when you’re in a dope city. ![]() But that’s ignoring the nitty and gritty of tour life: you’re really running around from country to country, getting into shit and just trying to figure it out and get paid along the way.” Do you enjoy touring? “People think that touring is just like you’re on some bus and everything’s done for you. Sometimes when you’re the opener on a long-ass tour it can get kind of tiring… Some nights you have a great show, and some nights there’s no-one really there. “I didn’t mean to punch the window - I just got hype and then I did! I got arrested and spent the night in jail: it really wasn’t that bad! It was during the Rejjie Snow tour I was opening. Tell us about the tale behind the lyric: “ Punched the window in the Euro club ’cause they play DMX / Got locked up in Stockholm, finally got me some rest.” Wiki in New York City, 2019 (Picture: Alice Platti) ‘Dame Aquí’ is jam-packed with your wild tour stories. You might slip up sometimes, but you always want to try and be on the better side.” “It’s not like a light switched on or off, you know what I’m saying? It’s always going to be a process. It’s a place where I can get all this shit off my chest: the whole drinking element and getting through that - and trying to chill out a bit as you grow - I think is mad important to both the record and everything I’ve been going through.” Do you feel that you’ve made progress in coming to terms with your relationship with alcohol? “I always try to be real and honest with my music because it’s like what you said before, it’s therapeutic in a way. You don’t want to be on top the whole time ’cause otherwise you’ve got nowhere to go except down.” One of the recurring lyrical themes of ‘Oofie’ is your relationship with drinking – why is this such an important topic for you? But if you can keep up with its constantly moving calendar, and are prepared for some very serious, often sad drama, Dopesick is a must-watch that's worth the tears.“Sometimes you feel like mad people will be fucking with you, but then it’s like: ‘Damn, why isn’t it hitting?’ You feel like you’re being slept on or some shit because it’ll be legit-ass people that fuck with you, you know what I mean? But that’s just part of the hunger for anyone in any field. The series' timeline can get a bit jumbled, as it hops from 1986 to 2005 - with plenty of stops in the intervening years - to cover everything from the drug's creation to the ultimate judgment of its makers. An absolutely stellar cast digs into every angle of the epidemic, from Ox圜ontin's ground zero victim and the doctor who's willingly entwined in her struggle to the crusading, do-gooding attorneys and the evil big pharma family they're trying to take down. It helps that the heavy subject matter isn't hoisted upon a single character or storyline, but rather spread across a number of narrative perspectives. While Dopesick isn't an easy watch, though, it's a wholly engrossing one you'll be compelled to stick with from start to finish. If you're craving a fun, lighthearted binge, this deep, layered look into America's opioid crisis certainly isn't it. ![]()
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