Florida Man

“It was a very gradual thing. I saw the episode right when it came out, but I didn’t think much of it. I didn’t have any ideas or anything. I was in a different head-space in Los Angeles, fresh off of Apologies in Advance, just trying to figure out the next steps of my career.

Then my grandmother passed in late May, and that’s when I went back home. I knew I needed to be there for my family and loved ones. But it’s funny, because she passed away at a time when everything I’d worked my entire life and my career for was coming to life. I put all of that on pause so that I could go back and be there for my family.

My grandmother and I were close for a period of time but around [age] fifteen, sixteen, seventeen – because of music and where I wanted to go – our relationship became strained. So I went back home and I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye before she left. While I was there, I started learning more and more about her.

She had three daughters, which were all of my aunts that my family and I grew up around, and she was about keeping the family together. I think just being back home, I was just remembering a lot. I hadn’t been back home for more than a week at a time for a long period of time in a long time. I just started seeing family and friends who reminded me of my roots and where I came from. I wanted to find a way to honor my grandmother’s legacy, and that’s when Florida Man started happening.

I was at my mom’s house on County Line Road just smoking, listening to music, and thinking about what it was like when I used to just rap over instrumentals. Then I started thinking about the last mixtape I really loved, and it was, oddly enough, Childish Gambino’s STN MTN. I started listening to that tape, then I started remembering the “Florida Man” episode of Atlanta and it started clicking. I was like, “Oh, snap, I really got this idea.” It ended up being a month’s worth of work. “ – Sylvan in an interview with Billboard

“Yeah, no outsiders. I wanted it to be completely Florida. I’ve done many of my projects with people outside of Florida from L.A. to New York. I’ve worked with a lot of people, but I wanted my Florida Man mixtape to be strictly about Florida, more specifically South Florida. I just thought its a time for a lot of us to begin to heal. I’ve experienced a lot; we’ve experienced a lot.

I’ve experienced a lot with my grandmother and as a community we’ve experienced a lot when it comes down to the senseless violence that’s been happening and XXXTentacion’s tragic news that happened so abruptly. I’m just very tired of people only getting certain stories.

Miami’s DJ Bre mixed the project and DJ Luna is the host. Since the tape is really aggressive and I couldn’t get any lyricists or singers who were women in time, I wanted make sure the voice of South Florida was a woman because we also come from them. That soft, sexy voice echoing throughout the project is so…Florida. So I worked with them, plus Danny aka “Stay Lookin' Out” engineered everything and Unkle Luc, a video director and photographer who’s also from Florida, did the cover art.

I wanted to create something the city would be proud of and also just be a statement in itself. Let’s bring people together. It also gives a new meaning to the term Florida Man. It’s like taking something that’s supposed to have a negative connotation and flipping it. This is what’s really going on out here, and now, more than ever, we need to stick together. That’s why this is all non-profit. I’m not making anything off it. If people want to support the cause of the project in any type of way, here are lists of charities that really affect the community. Support them. “ -Sylvan in an interview with Billboard

“It’s about five charities from Dade, Broward County and Palm Beach counties. Miami Rescue Mission, Overtown Youth Org, Miami Bridge and North Dade Youth & Family Coalition are based in Miami-Dade. Hands On Broward, Big Brothers & Big Sisters of Broward County, Broward Outreach Center, United Way Broward, and Broward Partnership operate from Broward County. Urban Youth Impact, Inner City Innovators, Homeless Coalition of Palm Beach and Police Athletic League are located throughout Palm Beach county.” -Sylvan in an interview with Billboard

“The “Florida Man” term in itself was always really interesting to me in how it had come about and the media attention around the term, due to a bunch of outrageous shit that usually goes on in North Florida. And South Florida, as well. Obviously, Atlanta kinda solidified it, especially with the “Alligator Man” episode. But for me, being a Florida man was just an everyday understanding that you’re amongst paradise, but you have little to nothing. It was that duality that you have just enough to get you to the next day.

Florida, to me, was always love, was people who are thinking bigger, but they don’t have the means or the opportunities to see through what their visions are. Because of that and because we see paradise and lavish living right around the corner, while we’re in these crazy neighborhoods, we’re forced into not being able to do outside of what we feel. If we don’t see any resources, then we’re going to resort to doing what we know, which is doing what we can to survive. At the same time, it was also beautiful. At the same time you can go to South Beach and go outside on a beautiful night, and it’s stunning even if you have $20 to your name. We know how to have fun, at the end of the day.“
- Sylvan in an interview with DJ Booth