Cordae

I went to seven different elementary schools.

Words are powerful. The tongue is powerful. And when you write it down, and record it, and press it up, it's 100 million times more powerful. It's important to utilize our tongue to help people.

The artists with lyrical content and who say something seem to outlast the fad rappers - I always noticed that.

There are a lot of dope people in the DMV: WillThaRapper, Big Flock, GoldLink, Logic, IDK, Rico Nasty, Goonew and Q Da Fool. Seeing them get national attention motivated me to do my thing.

I don't have nothing to prove.

I always say I am myself unapologetically.

I don't try to portray some lifestyle that I'm not living.

With my fan base, I'm just vulnerable. I'm very transparent and vulnerable.

Hopefully, somebody who's hearing my music, it's relatable to them, and it strikes a cord with them.

Cordae is like my government name. I was like, just be myself. What's a better name than the name my mom gave me, or my pops gave me?

I just want to use my voice and my platform to help people. Whether it be political or therapeutic.

Longevity always come from lyricism. From the people who can actually rap.

I want my music to make you reminiscent or nostalgic of your childhood, or take you back to a better place.

I set my own goals higher than what anybody else has set for me.

Hell yea bro I love Puma.

I just always wear Pumas. I like the work they do in local communities, worldwide.

Puma just, they really rock with me the long way. They've been rockin with me for a while.

The last thing I want to do with my platform is bash another young black man who is getting money.

You gotta be crazy to want beef with Eminem and MGK is that.

I freestyled the hook to 'Target.' I got into cadence and then it sparked the idea.

In YBN, we all have our own lanes. We're not necessarily a group. We're more of a collective - it's like a movement. It's like a brotherhood outside of music and everything has been organic.

Nahmir got smash hits.

My creativeness stems from my love of music. Music is pure emotion. Music is the infinity sign. Music is self-expression in its purest form - it's how I express my anger, my self-doubt, my love. I think my music is very vulnerable and very expressive, very transparent.

I'm very protective of my energy. You have to protect your energy around outside sources because your positive energy can be canceled out by someone's dark energy.

We all take life for granted, one way or another.

I would always read a lot.

Having a dope mindset and good energy is rare, and you just putting a little bit of your light into someone else can change their whole perspective on life just doing that.

My grandmother was a sharecropper. That wasn't even that long ago! My grandma was a sharecropper.

Hip-hop has always been evolving.

If you think about it, hip-hop came out of nothing. It was a response to oppression.

YBN is family. Everybody in YBN is family. Nahmir and Jay, those are really my brothers.

I don't wear jewelry. It's not really my thing.

At a festival, the people there are not all your fans, and this gives me a chance to win over new people. I look at it as a challenge.

Nahmir is just an idiot. He just glorifies street life. He idolizes it.

My car had broken down, and a neighbor of mine, this old guy, helped me change a tire. We just had a superdope, thoughtful conversation. And I realized, yo, this is rare. Like, this needs to happen more often.

I've been through college, and I lived in a trailer park for five years. I've lived in the trenches of Maryland, and I've lived in the suburbs. I've seen all aspects of American life.

The first time I ever visited L.A., I wanted to move here. It's the land of opportunity.

When you're not authentic to yourself, you're lying. You're going to get found out and you're going to slip up.

I don't wanna marginalize myself. I don't wanna be the overly woke rapper, and I don't wanna be the turned-up rapper.

If you're thinking about your brand over your people, you've lost yourself.

For a lot of artists in the entertainment industry, we can't become too jaded with what's going on with our personal lives and still not be connected with our people.

We're just unapologetically ourselves in the DMV.

Fashion is definitely important. It's like peanut butter and jelly with hiphop music, you know what I'm saying? So, it's a part of you, a part of yourself as a person.

I bought an audio technician mic and Pro Tools SE, the demo version and was recording in the basement.

Nas, Big L, Rakim, Jay-Z, Eminem, those was all my influences, but I didn't start recording until I was 16.

XXL is the embodiment of hip-hop... Eminem even shouted it out in a song.

I want to impact the world and the culture in a positive way, spread super dope messages and help people through my music.

I can rippity rap, lyrical miracle all day, but if you don't have a message behind it and you not saying nothing, it doesn't make sense.

I liked Big L's wordplay with the multi-syllable rhymes he hit so clean.

I want the biggest artist of 2030, 2027 or even 2025 to say, 'I was inspired by Cordae. Cordae is the reason I make music.'