Chapter 1: What is discussed at the start of this section?
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Chapter 2: What challenges did New York Hip-Hop face last decade?
The streets wasn't going to support the bars, of course, but it wasn't making the income. So all the niggas were bars that had talent broad talent for real that you really want to hear spit was probably outside trapping because you're not making no money with rap in this city. You know what I'm trying to say?
It just wasn't, you weren't getting enough traction to make the kind of money you need here because radio wasn't supporting it, so the industry wasn't supporting it. It wasn't getting the deals, you weren't getting the sponsorships, you weren't getting support, period. You know what I'm saying? So, and that was for like a decade. I was like, this shit sucks. What year do you think it shifted back?
In my opinion, at least when I noticed it, around the time when Griselda started popping. Okay. that's when I think people were underground, started to feel mainstream, like underground niggas started to make thousands of dollars again, you know what I'm saying? So to me, like the whole underground is, that's why I'm doing this is like, It's just good music, but now it's trendy.
It became cool to listen to Underground around when they started to pop.
You know what I'm saying?
It's interesting that you say Griselda. And COVID. Because they just had to listen. There's no more clubs. We talk about it often. If you go back to 2020 and just look at the albums that dropped that year. It's crazy. That's one of the best years ever. in rap, I think we had in a long time. But we got some incredible rap albums in 2020.
But it's interesting you say Griselda because, you know, when Griselda started to bubble and really take off, obviously, I was on to them early, a little earlier. But somebody like Rock Marcy was doing that and was making that and had that sound, was making that music long before Griselda. And, you know, Rock has been somebody who
Has stayed in his lane, has spoke to his audience, spoke to his core. And, you know, I don't pocket watch by any means, but he's doing a lot better than a lot of artists. That's a fact. On major labels and, you know, rock is somebody that has stayed true to his sound, his fan base, who he is. So to me, you know, I attribute a lot of what Griselda was able to do.
to what Rock never swayed away from. I think they got the sauce or the business acumen from what Rock was doing. Unfortunately for me, I think I just missed it. I saw what Rock was doing, but I didn't see what he was doing as a business man. I thought I caught on late. I was late to the party with that shit. I was like, oh, that's what the fuck is going on.
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Chapter 3: How did Grafh's experiences shape his views on the industry?
That's the game, bro. That is being played. Like, there's way more music than these 14 records you're playing in an hour. Right. But it's the programming. They got to go with the numbers and who got the paper. Who's paying to play? Those slots are already paid for. It's just been this. But who's to say another record wouldn't work in that slot?
I can guarantee you, I can show you 10 records that work in that fucking slot. They're not going to get the light of day because the numbers and the programming ain't there. Yeah. I mean, that's the game. I understand the game. So I said I was even blaming Ebro. I understand the game. But I'm saying that is a part of why New York City was like, you know, our sound. Yeah.
Because our playlist matched Atlanta's playlist at one time. And I was like, oh, we're the fuck of the New York artist. We don't we're not even on the playlist in this city. I mean, listen, I feel like that happened far before we thought the fall of New York. Like, I love big boy in LA. Remember that weird time when he was like syndicated on hot 97 for a second.
Right.
So we can't, there's no one in New York. Yeah. It's weird. It's weird. Legend. Great. Nobody else. Like, right. We have to get somebody from LA who already has a show? That's crazy. When you think about that, you see what I'm saying. And this was far before the New York drop, but it was just small signs before that. But with that mentality, how could an artist like me not feel a way?
When I'm looking at this shit, I'm like, yo, we here putting in pain. How could I not feel a way watching this shit? It's fucking insane to me. It's insanity.
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Chapter 4: What changes are happening in the New York rap scene now?
I remember being in a club one night with a bunch of other artists from New York who was relevant in this town, and the DJs were only shouting out the out-of-town dudes. I went to the booth like, what the fuck are you doing? Yeah. Like, we here. Let them niggas know we here. You bugging. This is New York. We here every night.
nigga this is new york city right like they should know they in new york they not in their hometown i'm sure they came here expecting to feel the vibe in new york and they not they probably feel a day in their hometown and that's the funny part a lot of them come here wanting to see of course what the new york sound and what they doing we go to other cities we want to see what's going on if i go to atlanta miami i want to see what's shaking in your city i appreciate the fact that the town will let me know where i'm at i don't feel like oh no i feel like yeah i'm in miami i'm in atlanta y'all should be stunting and making sure we know where the fuck we
Right. I'm appreciating your sound. I'm like, oh, that record is popping. Oh, something right there. Who's something? Let me Google something. Let me Shazam it. I'm not hip to this. Yeah. I'm like, I bet I appreciate this shit because this is not my town. I want to be hip to what's going on. I don't need to go there and see what's going on in my town. I'm in my town. Right.
And I appreciate the culture in that way. So it's like... To see we were that, we were lost for a long time. This is like a decade. I'm like, bro, this sucks. It's like, you know, I'm thinking about all the records, all the artists that pop from New York. They didn't pop in New York. From the Frenchies to Nicki to all the people that pop to our biggest stars had to leave.
They had to leave New York to get it popping in New York. French started making a whole different type of sound. French was like, he ain't look back. Bro, did he have a choice? Nah. Being from here, he wasn't getting the support. I ain't mad at him. He wasn't getting the support. That's sad. Our biggest thoughts are to leave New York to get pop in New York. What the fuck? What are we doing?
To make New York pay attention, you have to get pop in somewhere else. Oh, his record is pop in Atlanta.
Let me play in New York now.
Yo, New York. New York wouldn't support him, though. So you want to play him because he's from here, but you want to play him because he's shaking in Atlanta now. Right. What the fuck? What the entire fuck is going on here? Yeah, it's crazy. Come on, bro. French didn't go back to, speaking of Harry Fraud again, like back to more of his New York sound until after he popped with another sound.
And he popped in another state. Yeah. And then New York was like, oh, let's support him now because he's popping in Atlanta. Come on, bro. Y'all could have done that right here. Yeah. I could have broke that record right here, but he had to leave and get it shaking somewhere else for you to support him here. Yeah. Come on. I always tell a story. I was in Sin City.
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Chapter 5: What are Grafh's thoughts on the UK vs. US rap rivalry?
Switch is on. Look where he was aiming. Anyone that was around. You've had your fair share of those moments. What do you feel about the whole... Joyner Luke, your skeptic USA versus the UK energy that's brewing right now. I'm glad you asked me that. I love what Joyner's doing because he's nice and I don't think niggas can fuck with him lyrically. Joyner, that's my nigga too. Shout out to Joyner.
Chapter 6: How does Grafh view the impact of Joyner Lucas on the rap scene?
Actually, my last tour was with Joyner. Shout out to Joyner. And my next single got him on it too, by the way. Oh, fire. Shout out to Joyner. But...
one i want to keep it in perspective i want the battle to stay uk i mean stay joining versus skepta this is not us versus uk and i'm glad we talked about tonight i was actually going to make a video about this on my page and i don't have to um jonah is a lyrical beast he's gonna he's gonna he gonna try to shoot at whoever he's what he with the smoke he could wrap his ass off yeah he's with it you know what i'm saying and skeptic apparently is with it too which is good for the culture
I just don't want to hear that UK versus US shit because it's not that shit. Isn't that how it started? I don't know how it actually started because I didn't pay attention all the way. But somebody told me that Skepta said it all, but said some shit about UK versus US, right? Well, this is my question to him. I don't know if he realizes that.
If Skepta does a show in New York City, it's going to be sold out. New York City fucks with you, dog. What the fuck are you talking about? Yeah, but it wasn't a negative thing. It wasn't like a... Why even introduce that energy when we fuck with you? Yeah. Like, it's not like back in the days where the UK was fighting for the support or the respect that they feel they weren't getting.
Chapter 7: What led to the altercation between Grafh and Busta Rhymes?
Our niggas is representing the culture. You're spitting bars. We enjoy what y'all niggas are doing. Y'all welcome. Look, me and Giggs made a bang on on 38th special album. Everybody loves this shit. Like, if Giggs does a show in New York, it's sold out. Skepta comes here, it's sold out. If fucking any of the top dudes, they're not even top.
Anybody that's repping the culture, right, come here and do a show. Get supported. We support it. We love what you're doing. What the fuck are you talking about? Why even introduce that energy when it doesn't exist? We fuck with y'all. I think it was just for sport, but I did love what Gig said, though. I love what Gig said.
He put it in perspective like, you know, no disrespect, but guys like Skepta if it's going to be a UK, US thing, somebody like Skepta isn't the one, because Skepta's more grime. When you got guys like Potted Paper and Ramsey and Chip, and you got guys, J-Hus, guys that could really rap, they'll tell you immediately, like, yo, we get what we do. From those guys, from the U.S.
We watched that culture. We supported that culture. We've studied it. The reason we do what we do and why we do what we do is because of those guys in the U.S. So they'll let you know. And they would rather collab with niggas like us.
Oh, absolutely.
But I like it because people from here who may not know about a lot of those guys, that's really dope in the U.K.,
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Chapter 8: What insights does Grafh share about his influences in hip-hop?
To me, something like this sets the stage and the platform for people to just get an ear onto those guys. They're like, oh shit, they rapping like that over there? Yeah, I know that because I got one of my close friends, International Ferg. He's really tapped in. He puts me on. He'll just send me songs. I'm like, yo, who is this dude? He's like, yo, he's like the J. Cole over there.
I'm listening to these dudes with a different ear, so I know the guys that are over there, but Giggs put it in perspective. You won't have, for lack of better terms, you won't have a guy that's hyphy, make the hyphy sound, trying to battle an MC. It's a totally different thing.
It's a totally different part of the culture, respect to what they do, but they can't try to set a stage for that type of battle because that's not the type of shit that they do. So I thought what Giggs did, the video that Giggs, shout out to my brother Giggs. I love that. He put out a dope video just addressing it and just putting it in perspective. But I did like the energy of Skepta.
Like, yo, I rap. Anytime an artist does that... I'm not mad at the energy at all. That's the one thing I want to say. I like when niggas are with the smoke. Because I was always with smoke my whole fucking career. But maybe because I'm a street dude, I look at shit a certain kind of way. When you talk about hip-hop battling...
and this coast versus that coast or this country versus that coast, I always take it to the street because it can easily go there. If I look at the bigger picture, because I have to, because of the way I move and the way I think. I don't think Like, it's just bars. Nah, because if I battle you, I'm not a good sport, nigga. I don't know how to play by the rules sometimes.
You might say the wrong thing to me. I know I see you in person. If I feel a way, I'm going to let you know that. You know what I'm saying? I don't know how to abide by the rules. That's why I never did battle rap on the big stages, because I can't watch you talk on my face crazy. I'm just not built for that. I wasn't blessed with that.
God didn't give me that.
Yeah, you're going to fuck the whole battle up. God didn't bless me with that kind of patience and tolerance. I just don't know how to do that. Yeah. But I commend the niggas that do. I'm not even questioning they gangsta at all. I'm just saying, I don't know how to do that. Right, right. I'm probably going to get in my feelings and rock your fucking jawbone. Yeah, yeah.
That shit going to be unhinged. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't know how to do that. I'm not mature enough yet. Give me some time to grow into that. Yeah. In some of your back and forths, did you ever feel that way? Always. When I'm talking shit, I'm always ready to fight. Because I don't know how to do it the other way. So that's why I think this way. When I hear UK, I'm like, nah, erase that.
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