Man: Hands up! Let's go! Hands up!
♪ One, two, one, two, three, okay ♪
When I started making music,
I just didn't feel right giving it away.
I feel like once you give somebody something for free,
that's what they expect.
There's a lot of really good female MC's coming up right now
that are just as good as the guys.
Like, it's, I feel like the gap is completely bridged now.
I'm comfortable in my hair, I'm comfortable in my skin,
but that's just who I am.
I'm going to do do me regardless.
This is serious now. If I don't step up to the plate
and just try to hit a home run,
I'm wasting my time and I'm wasting my son's time.
[ Chirps, keys clacking ]
[ Alert chimes ] Uhh! Look at...
-It's up! -They're preordering!
Whoo! I'm about to preorder my own album right now.
Oh, what?!
<i>♪♪</i>
<i>♪ Got no service ♪</i>
<i>♪ Dance with me</i> <i>and let's have a drink ♪</i>
♪ Go crazy, don't care what ♪ Shit, my album just dropped.
I'm on my preorder so we're trying to like,
scrambling to figure everything out.
What's up motherfuckers? My album is up for preorder,
get it right now on iTunes
on Google Play as seen on the Internet, Futuristic. Sheesh!
I've never been busy when something's dropped before,
so it's weird. Fans just started tweeting it.
So I have a 10-day preorder.
Every single person that preorders
my album in these 10 days,
it will all go down towards your first week sales.
Ooh-hoo! Bro, this isn't real life right here.
It is, though. This is my sixth album in four years.
Hell, yeah. Bro, I -- what? We're about to shoot this video.
First week sales is everything for Billboard charts
and you know, a lot of things the industry people look at.
You'd better preorder my album. [ Laughter ]
I don't want to do it on my phone.
Preorder it, Marcus, I'll -- I don't want to do it on my phone.
-I'll PayPal you the money. -No, I have the money.
I just don't want to do it on my phone.
Yes, you do, Marcus. Even though I'm not necessarily
"in the industry," I'm an independent artist,
you still want to impress the industry.
So the last album did 12,000 so if it did 20 I would be amazed,
if it did 10, I would be, like, cool.
But we're hoping that, that first week is crazy,
but, hey, we'll see.
Hey, people are already -- hey.
People in Australia say, "keen."
-Keen? -What does that mean?
-Like peachy keen? -Like, "I'm just keen on...
-Wait, is it -- -I'm so keen on this right now.
It's almost like, true, you know?
-Yeah, okay. -Keen, keen. Oh!
It's nerve-racking because there's literally no formula
to this music industry anymore,
so right now it's just go big or go home.
[ Cellphone chimes ]
All right, um...
[ Exhales deeply ]
-How we looking, Wozi? -Almost there.
All right, so I should change?
-Uh, yeah. -Sheesh!
[ Chimes ] 12:45, we're about to record.
We're finished writing right now.
We're about to do a rough draft, I think.
<i>♪ But you're never home ♪</i>
<i>♪ You stay hustling,</i> <i>I just can't do that ♪</i>
<i>♪♪</i>
There's a lot of really good female MC's coming up right now.
I feel like the gap is completely bridged now
between the skills of a man and a woman in hip hop
and they're all respectable, you know?
Can you put -- turn down... [ Music stops ]
What do you want to change about that?
So right now there's like a certain frequency in the vocals
that I hear, like, so I'm-a to turn that down, too.
So since the first song I ever made like,
when I was 17, like, it's always just been like,
a form of therapy, and I always talk about my life
and my struggles and the people around me.
And like, I started kicking with the gang first, and I remember,
like, when my brother started kicking it, I didn't like it
'cause I knew what the life was like.
We were all just lost and shit.
Like, once the gang shit came around, it was over.
Reverie: Since I was like 15,
I was getting fucked up every day.
I was like, whatever was in my face I would do, you know?
I got caught with a 12-gauge shotgun one time,
and I did a whole year straight in juvenile hall for that.
My mom didn't know what to do either, you know?
She was like, "what am I going to do?
"My kids are fucking out of control.
Nobody is coming home. They're all on drugs."
So we moved to Seattle and that was far. Seattle's very far.
I wanted to move up there
'cause I wanted to support my brother when he got out.
Once I got out, my dad picked me up
and then he drove me straight to Seattle,
and on the way there, he was showing me all of her songs.
I was excited, like, "oh, this is dope,"
and then when I got there,
my dad brought it up like, "oh, can you record her?
Can you record her songs?" -Yeah.
And I was like, "sure, why not?"
<i>♪ I'm just expressing,</i> <i>I guess confessin' ♪</i>
The sound that goes...
I think he took out too much of the highs.
It sounds really flat now.
[ Music starts up loudly ] Yeah, that's right.
Loudon: I think it's brought us together
like really close, personally.
Loudon has shared the entire journey with me you know?
He's my brother, and I've know him for 24 years now
and we just came from a really, really dark place,
and now we're doing big things, and I'm really proud of us,
like, as a team, as individuals, and it's really like a miracle.
You know, like, hip hop saved our lives.
I really, really do believe that from the bottom of my heart.
Like, 10 years ago we were all 16,
if you would've told me we were going to Brazil
and all kinds of countries
and gear up all over our country, like,
I would have told you you were nuts.
♪♪
[ Crowd cheering ]
<i>[ Man speaking indistinctly</i> <i>over microphone ]</i>
<i>[ Man continues indistinctly ]</i>
This song is for you, Goddamn it.
♪♪
Hands up, hands up!
Let's go!
[ Rapping indistinctly ]
[ Continues rapping indistinctly ]
♪♪
[ Continues rapping indistinctly ]
Record deals, no matter how much they are
whether it's $25,000 or $3 million,
it's like Monopoly money.
You can't really spend Monopoly money,
you know what I'm saying? But you can use it
very wisely to win the game.
The money that you make from your shows,
any type of advances you get,
that's your money, but as far as like,
your record deal money, that is the money
that you need to use wisely to win the game
because that's what matters -- winning the game.
If you don't want to win, you're an idiot,
and you're going to lose.
[ Chimes, keys clacking ]
2014 I considered like, one of the worst years of my life ever
because I was in this weird space of like,
I just don't care about nothing, things are terrible.
So I just stopped doing music or whatever,
like, for, like, six months.
I just couldn't. I had nothing positive to say.
[ Speaks indistinctly ]
[ Cheering ]
Come on, put your hands in the air. God bless everybody.
[ Cheering ]
I think that some artists need a major label. They do.
If they didn't have a major label, they would never make it
or whatever, but then you have some artists who don't,
and there ain't nothing wrong with that.
Some people have that self-drive,
that self go-get-it,
and some people need that, "bro, wake up, go get it,"
and if you wake 'em up, they're gonna get it.
Some people are going to wake up and go get it on their own.
[ Door creaks ]
[ Switches clicking ]
Gotta get the vibe right.
[ Sighs ]
[ Computer powers up ]
Early on, that was the goal.
Like, the goal was to get signed on Def Jam or Interscope,
just do it big.
But early on, I was much greener than I am now.
To me, nine times out of 10, a major label --
they don't care about you, you know?
They don't have -- they're not looking out
for your best interests,
and I think now with the Internet
and all the social media,
independent seems to be the way to go.
This is serious now.
Like, this isn't just me looking out for me.
It's me looking out for my son, my family.
If I don't step up to the plate
and just try to hit a home run, I'm wasting my time,
I'm wasting my son's time
because he didn't ask to be brought into this world.
I brought him in this world, so the thing is,
I gotta provide for him. I have to make sure that my son
will have a better life than I did.
Yay! Lookit. Ah!
♪♪
<i>♪ Baby, won't you come my way?</i> ♪
<i>♪ Wouldn't have it</i> <i>any other way ♪</i>
<i>♪ You know I love</i> <i>the way you say my name ♪</i>
<i>♪ Say my name ♪</i>
<i>♪ I just wanna have fun,</i> <i>I just wanna... ♪</i>
<i>♪♪</i>
I think to become something big,
to make a mark on this land, you have to --
you have to take risks.
I haven't had a job, I haven't had a 9 to 5
for about four or five years,
and I've been surviving off of music.
It's not easy. It hasn't always been green grass.
You know, it fluctuates.
Sometimes it's really good, and sometimes it's really bad,
you know what I mean?
Like, bad where I can't pay one of my bills,
two of my bills and sometimes the phone gets cut off.
That's the real shit, you know, behind it,
but I've been doing it, and every time I drop a project
and each year that passes by, I'm in a better position
than the previous position,
so it's definitely -- it's definitely worth it.
Whenever I want to just end my night kind of early,
no, you just keep going.
You can push one more hour, we push two more hours,
and I have that Grammy picture
just to remind me, just keep going.
Smoke it up.
[ Whirring ]
-You ready, babe? -I'm ready.
[ Whirring ]
Zach, you ready?
I'm about to take a break on your Instagram.
Play back and action.
♪♪
[ Rapping at high speed ]
[ Rapping indistinctly ]
♪ Looking good today, distance getting in the way ♪
Shooting 14 videos off this album, like,
budget-wise, you know, that's a lot of money spent,
but this has never been done before.
There's never been an album with 14 songs and then
all the songs have pranks and have skits
and have all this other stuff going on, so it's different.
It's a test. It's literally a test.
Hey.
This album I feel like has better music
than my last two projects.
I'm definitely bigger now than I was when the last one dropped.
Everything is just you know, a step up from the last project
so, yeah, we're gearing up
for hopefully the biggest moments of my career so far.
I'm going to really rock the transition.
Watch, I'm-a punch the camera dude. Pow!
♪♪
Got sold out before the doors even opened.
It's fucking lit, boy.
Reverie: I mean, lately I've been trying to take things
to the next level, you know,
like my career is really booming right now.
Yo, what's up Los Angeles?
♪ Y'all already know what I mean, I hit the scene ♪
Man: You overthink something, that's when you fuck up,
so the thing is for me, don't think,
have fun, enjoy it, and just be me.
If you don't have a good brand, then you will not make it.
I'm taking this very seriously.
I want to make money off of this shit.
Being an independent artist in the entertainment world,
you get paid for what you create.
By far this is the most I've ever spent on a project.
Someone leaked the album on YouTube.
The house may have to be sold soon.
I need to start making money.
Reverie: It's easier to catch a buzz than it is to maintain.
I've been working for my entire life,
and I'm still not where I want to be.
This isn't a gimmick, and it's not a joke.
Everything is about to change.
♪♪
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