When you were incarcerated, what did you spend your time doing that brought about this artist that we recognize now?
I think chess had a lot to do with it. Before I went there I never played chess, but I noticed all the old men would play chess. Why [are] all the old men playing chess? Why [are] all the young boys playing cards? So I sat at the chess table one day and I noticed chess wasn’t a game like checkers. Chess is a game [where] you gotta look at four steps ahead of your next move. I learned so much from the old people in there, man. Plus old people had nothing but knowledge for me. But the game of chess helped me to realize how to make my moves strategically.
What has it been like for you to meet music icons in Atlanta and feel that camaraderie?
Oh man, it feels good, ’cause like in every interview I say I feel like it’s a new Atlanta right now. Of course I look up to T.I. still; to Jeezy. You got Trinidad, who’s hot; you got Migos, they’re hot; you got Young Thug; we’re all together and we’re moving like a unit and that’s all we’re trying do is bring that unity back to the city. You gotta think about OutKast and the Goodie Mob — that’s what made Atlanta so strong, so [if] we get that unity back, can’t nobody stop us. It’s a new Atlanta; it’s a new era.
What’s it like representing Atlanta?
Really, to represent Atlanta, I feel as if it’s like you have to wear something on your shoulders. They put a lot of pressure on you. So it’s the way you move, the way you do everything. It makes a lot of sense. Knowing that Atlanta is on my back, I know a lot of kids look up to me. I try to watch what I rap about because I know I have more listeners now. At first I was just doing it to do it. But now I know I have a fan base. I watch what I say and I try to make what I say motivational.
