“I can’t fail. I’ve been in hell way too long to hold my breath,” so obviously you’ve got the inhale double entendre, but also just speaking to this whole idea like we’ve got this internet trend of canceling. People think that they can just end you over some petty internet beef. I’m speaking to that and I’m saying, “Where I come from, man, the shit that happens in my home, the intense violence, the murder, the destruction that happens on the South Side of Chicago, can’t no internet beef for nothing like that ever really phase me.” You know what I’m saying" Because I know what it sounds like when them guns going, and I know what it feels like when niggas dying. That’s canceled for real. You know what I’m saying? All the internet, I’m water to that because I’m too strong for that. You’ve got to be strong.

I was at Coachella with Kanye. I’m running around with him, and I told him, I was like, “Ye, man, I’ve got this idea, man. I’m fixing to get a South Side neck tattoo.” He was like, “Dude, that’s the best idea ever. I’m going to get one too.” Come time to go to the tattoo shop, I called Kanye. Kanye like, “Yeah, you know, I think I’m going to sit this one out, big homie.” That’s actually the story. I just think it looks fresh when I look at it in the mirror. I don’t really think too much about the South Side. It’s like a lot of people been playing, talking this, a lot of death threats. Obviously I’m still alive and in the flesh, pretty as ever.

I had to get it on my own. I got it a la carte. I got that shit solo, boy, like alone, no sides. Boy, I got that shit a la carte. Then I built it out of heart like a house of cards. There’s hearts, so y'all get it, but born alone, die alone. I got “born and die” written on my chest. Sometimes you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do. People come and people go. As long as you remain yourself then all will be well.

I think I was actually a little bit older than 17 when that happened. I was about 19, 20. I was in the studio all night with Chance and Steph and Ponce and Alex Wilde. We were doing this song over this Gotye sample. We were recording all night, and then I still had to get my OG her car back by 7 a.m. for her to go to work. I’m falling asleep on the road. I get about a mile away from the crib down there on Lake Shore Drive, about to get off on 47. I fell asleep. The car veered over to the right, and this is Lake Shore Drive. This is a large roadway. I mean, it’s got like six lanes on each side. The car veered over to the right, hit the light pole, spun backwards, went through the median, and wrapped around a tree in the center. I was unscathed. I just got out, and I’m not even a religious person. I just got out and I started praying to God. That’s what was going on when I was 17.

I think my purpose is, I’m a truth teller. I think that’s what I’m here to do. In whatever way I do it. Also to support my family, set trends. You know what I mean? When I fell off this bridge when I was 17 years old, got shocked by 15,000 volts of electricity, fell 30 feet and walked away, I was in the hospital for a couple days, but easily could have been killed by far less electricity. That really made me feel like I had a purpose. You know what I’m saying? Being in that experience and other near death experiences, that’s why I’ve got “still alive” on my stomach, because I feel that I’m here for a reason.

I feel like I always have had an underlying feeling that, beneath it all, that I do deserve love, I do deserve happiness. That’s the way that these things work. Depression and anxiety. They will just confuse you and make you think about all the negative things and not give credence and shed light on the positive.

I think music is like the rest of society, man. It’s just segregated and it’s got so many limitations and boundaries and expectations on it. I grew up listening to all kinds of music. I grew up listening, in the home, to the Beatles and to the Who and to Aretha Franklin and to Hugh Masekela and to Fela Kuti and Miles Davis and John Coltrane. My dad liked Tupac. I didn’t get into rap until later. I’ve been listening to so many different styles of music my whole life. I never understood why I should only be able to make one. I never followed that because … It’s also, they’d be like, this is white music, that’s black music. Well, that’s stupid, you know? This is white music, that’s black music, that’s stupid. I don’t operate like that. I just make music that inspires me. I’m listening to so many different kinds of music all the time. I could be inspired by Joni Mitchell today and then be inspired by Psychodrama tomorrow.

I think these days everything is about money. At least that’s what they would have you believe. But, to be honest, that’s the smoke and mirrors. That’s the game they playing on you to keep you sleep, is to make you think that it’s all about money. You know? I had heart, I had beliefs, I had conviction before I ever had a dime. I think that is what will carry me through. What has carried me through. It ain’t how much I make, what chain I could buy, what car I drive. That’s not the things that are important to me. The things that are important to me are truth, honesty, loyalty, revolt, revolution, you know what I mean?

I oftentimes write songs with bridges. I feel like bridges are a forgotten art, and I love bridges. The bridge was always in our minds while we was making it. It was like making it, it was like we just kinda freestyling the whole thing in there. My boy Drew, who plays guitar with me on the 93 Punks music, he came over and then he just started laying those chords and worked on some of the lyrics with me, and I wanted to make it all feel kind of like a dreamscape so you wonder if it’s real or not. Because I think oftentimes, people look from the outside into my life and think that it’s some type of dream or something. Although it’s very real, but that’s why I’m like, is it love? Is it lust? Do you touch yourself, reminisce what never was? ‘Cause I actually never sent a flight out your way. I haven’t flown any girls out to my crib in LA, but I’m sure some have thought about it.

I’m a big Johnny Tsunami fan. I fuck with Kelly Slater, though. He’s the goat when it comes to that surfboard business. I do this wavy shit like a religion. You gotta pay homage to the god.