Fortunately, something inside Zay forced him to assess his circumstances, and he ultimately made a life-altering decision that continues to serve him well to this day.
As a new father, he considered his immediate family, his mother and five siblings and how much he wanted them to thrive. As an artist with one foot in the studio and one in the street, he knew that his time was limited and that he had to choose between the two.
“I want to see everybody doing good as me, especially my family, so I gotta make sure of that,” he says. “I gotta make sure my family and my kids are straight, so I gotta do anything to make them dollars.”
Since that epiphany, which clearly ended with him choosing music, Lil Zay’s life and career have grown by leaps and bounds. His newfound success hasn’t come without challenges, though. Upon signing with Warner Records, Zay put his budget to use and began to experiment with styles that highlighted his ability to sing and rap in a variety of melodies that were a bit of a departure from his previous offerings.
“It was a different type of music,” he says. “It was the versatile Zay. They [are] used to the pain, the drill music, so when I switched it up on ’em, it was like, ‘What the f— are you doing?’ So, I had to really just go back and get back in my bag and just to get back to the pain music, the drill music, for my core fan base.”
The result is the aforementioned 15-track mixtape, appropriately titled Trench Baby. Chock-full of misery, grief and subsequent victory, the project is a fitting return to glory, as evidenced by the more than four million views the lead single, “61st to 64th,” has received as of press time. And based on the amount of material he creates each day — up to seven complete songs — there are no signs of that momentum slowing down.
With all respect due to lofty goals and finicky fans, this is a way of life.
“When you get a chance, don’t fumble it. Don’t play around with it,” Zay says earnestly. “Take full advantage of the situation and make something out of it. ‘Cause you only get one chance and … anything can happen, any day, [at] any given moment anytime. You know how dangerous it is for rappers nowadays.”
Gospel.
Words by N. Ali Early
Images by Shaun Andru
