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A Boogie wit da Hoodie just returned with his third album, Artist 2.0. In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, the 24-year-old reflected on his career—and he had a nuanced take on his 2016 mixtape Artist.
At one point, writer Charles Holmes asked the Bronx artist to choose the classic in his catalog—and A Boogie responded with a surprising qualification: “I feel like Hoodie SZN is my best work. Artist is my classic work, even though it sounds mediocre.”
Despite the fact that the tape includes hits like “My Shit” and “Jungle,” he stands by his self-assessment:
Hits is mediocre. All hits is mediocre. You don’t know that? Think about every hit right now. Every hit is like a repetitive melody or something. [Starts singing] “My shit, this is my shit,” “Drowning, drowning, drowning” [on] “Look Back At It” I’m saying “Drrrat, da-da-da-da,” I know what songs to make a hit. I know what songs to make for the radio. I’m a real good music maker, for real. It’s easy to me to at the point where it’s like I’m making songs for this; I’m making songs for that. I want this for the radio, only three songs can spin over here, so three songs can be a hit. The other ones are just body work and they gon’ be real good songs. I really structure my work out like that.
Elsewhere in the interview, he acknowledges the importance of his debut-week performance for Artist 2.0. His previous outing, Hoodie SZN, sold a mere 823 physical copies in its first week—but it ended up becoming the third-most streamed album last year. Now, he’s up against Justin Bieber’s Changes and Tame Impala’s The Slow Rush.
“The only thing I am a little nervous about is my first-week numbers, because I’m not going so hard as in, like, in all the presales, promotions, and all that,” he told the outlet. “I’m promoting and I’m doing well, but, like, last year, it was just, like, a different process. We had more lead [time], and this year I’m just letting it be me, more natural.”
Artist 2.0 includes the previously released songs, “Mood Swings,” “Reply,” and “King of My City.” He worked with artists like Gunna, Roddy Ricch, DaBaby, Summer Walker, and Lil Uzi Vert.
Read the full Rolling Stone story here, and catch up on all the lyrics to Artist 2.0 on Genius now.
