 What they gon' do with me now? I'm still a troke of the town I'm gonna sit as I'm hooking them down Reaching the smiles and the frowns Gang hop out the reclarenza We're a pussy I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah She wanna drop it on me She wanna drop it on me I'm like, hey This is Safiyah, it's your girl Rihanna Imani And we're back for another interview with Toke of the Town And what do we got here to say? We go red We got Rico right in the building Coming from Atlanta, right? Yes, ma'am So welcome to New York How's your time been here so far? It's been okay, it's cool, it's lit All right, so tell me, like What was it like when you grew up in Atlanta? Yeah, I came out there when I was three years old Okay, so you grew up there What are you looking at before that? Puerto Rico So that's where Puerto Rico Red came from Yeah So, okay, we gon' get into that All right, so what has it been like, though, growing up in Atlanta? Me and been great, I've been there since I was three years old So it's like the culture and everything Just, you know, it was great And when did you start getting into music? I think I really got into it when I was like 13, 14 Like doing my first little song type Then like really just going at it Okay, so would you say that you started making music because of like What you were around, like the culture, or was it something that you were genuinely interested in? At first, I feel like I was doing music because At first I felt like I started doing music because I see my homeboys doing it And then I was like, man, I'm gonna try this Then I was like, man, I can't do it Then I leave it alone, then go do something else Then go try it again, like just playing around with it So I really took it serious, serious Okay, so if it wasn't music that you were taking serious, what would it have been? Uh, boxing? I used to boxing Okay, oh that's cool Yeah, I used to boxing when I was little, too So what was it that made you feel like music was it? It made me feel like it was it when I really like just like started going harder You know, just going to the studio and like really like making a song And then I was like, man, I can do this Okay, so were you listening to anybody growing up that like influenced you or influenced your sound? Uh, not influenced my sound, I just listened to people I like Like some like some fifties, like Eminem, like Lil Wayne that I grew up just listening to really Mm-hmm So you named like some like hardcore rappers Yeah, you said they don't influence your sound So I'm curious to know like what would you how would you describe your sound? My sound? I say my sound kind of like My future wave a little bit like my dumb kind of cat It's like future writer is like and that kind of like I'm a lot of yeah, a lot of rap Yeah, so like walk me through like what your creative process looks like From the time that you like have it in your mind to write a song Uh, I got a everything started with the beat. I had a right beat Like if I don't like the beat, I might not even record that day Oh really? Yeah, I gotta find the beat and then just play with the hook Everything come from the hook for me like Like if the hook don't sound right, I don't like it So you start from the hook and you build it out? Yeah But doesn't have a time like maybe you'll be like chilling and then like some lyrics come in your head And then like all the face throwing away Yeah, I'd be in the cars Now I'm saying like I'd be in the car sometimes I play the beat And try to come over the hook like that And where do you go? That's how I come over, yeah Actually like I was in the car and I heard the beat And when I heard the beat when I went to the website and cried the beat I was like she got that wet um I'm like yeah yeah And that's how I came up with it Okay, well I mean you mentioned it so let's let's talk about it now So you have yeah yeah coming out with Callie And that I mean it's a bop It's a bop So you just said that you heard the beat while you were in the car And you started coming up with your lyrics Now was this pre or post Callie? Did you know she was gonna be on it? When I made the song or when I made the song Actually when I made the song and I heard it I was like I need to go put Callie on it because she was already my own girl So I was like oh okay that's dope So how was it working with her? It was great you know she came in there and killed it Of course That's a bye So and y'all have visuals? Yeah we shot a video in here How do you feel about working with like female artists? Is that something that you like? Yeah it'd be dope I'd like to work with a lot more female artists Like who? Like a lot of oldie roles Like just different artists I see like they're doing a thing right Yeah I think it'd be dope So you are like I guess right now in the stage of re-branding Because all of your Instagram content is basically based around here yeah Drop the names and then Rico right now So what is like who is Rico right? What can we like look forward to seeing? We can read what you can look forward to seeing from my music right? Somebody dope talk that freaky shit to you make you feel good Okay okay Have you had you right that's all All right Can you hear that ladies? So stay tuned So you signed to Wolfpack Yeah I signed out to Wolfpack I signed out to Wolfpack How did that come about? How did you what was it that made you decide to sign to them? Uh now it's family art Like it was already it was already like family So it was just easy for me to sign to Wolfpack Because it was already like family So okay They want no question about it So like remove your family aside If it wasn't your family would you still have signed Or would you stay independent? Uh now I would have signed too Because the person that owned Wolfpack big bro like He a real salad one So he gonna go off for it And then like sign on anybody else Or any other label or something Okay so I'm gonna put you on the spot right now Because you said that it's not about family Right so I'm curious because I see a lot of conversations about like independent artists who They are against being signed and then you have signed artists who feel like no It's a great thing to be signed What would you say like Is or like some pros to being a signed artist as opposed to staying independent Which means a pro or a BS? Like what do you think are benefits to being Do you feel like there any benefits to being signed? Uh in some cases I feel like it might be like Other artists like when you sign to like certain labels Like certain labels on what you do certain stuff I guess And then other people who would Like someone like like the label I'm signing to Wolfpack I know he gonna go 100 times like harder Hard than probably in other labels because like he believe in it So would you say like a pro will be like that your music gets pushed out Is it that you get connections? Is it that like you're working with people that maybe you wouldn't have worked with before? Yeah I believe in that like with the pros Yeah that's probably different Okay all right so is there anything that you wish like Looking back at the 13 year old you that was making music Is there anything that you wish you would have known back then that you know now? Hmm yeah that's how to like to like I feel like when I was younger like You know you don't know everything so you just wish you would have like Knew what to do back then which you know how to do now like go to the club like You know do some stuff but of course you can't do that when you're young so Of course You gotta learn everything when you get older too So you said go to the club so like you think that that's the big part of Establishing yourself as an artist? Uh So what do you mean when you said that? Just getting yourself out there basically Okay Okay Because more because you know more is like more internet and stuff like that now Back then and wouldn't really like that Back then you know back then you should like you had to go out to the club Right right right And like doing stuff and like be outside every day Now it was really like internet tick tock you know Do you feel like It's a little easier now I mean but you're also in Atlanta so in Atlanta it's like Every like I feel like there are a lot of artists out there I'd be outside every night so Right That's how I feel And I'm sure I get your name out there Yeah of course that's how I deal with my record yeah yeah I was outside every night Before I got something I'm like I was outside Every night in my record play Some all out people So what would you say like to artists how did you how did you make that happen If somebody trying to get this stuff played in the clubs and stuff Well with me For me it worked for me I knew how the DJs are ready So I would like show them some love So of course they didn't show me love So that's what a lot of people don't get Like the people want you to go to the club Like people that got their music out there They want to go get it played in the club They don't probably like show love to the DJs They don't meet it was different because You know I thought of some of them They were crazy and lasted everywhere I go And they liked it and if they liked their song they really gonna go crazy So that's what it was my song they liked it So they really like kept going crazy like every day Every time I go somewhere else Or they'll send me videos to my phone like boom I'm playing your song I was like I bet So just staying well connected When hand washes the other type of deal Basically yeah Okay so what song was it of yours that really like Hopped Like what was the song that got you attention I did a song Matter of fact I did a song The White Hail Cyrus May Love And that only did the main music on YouTube Is that the song you had done playing in the clubs Nah after Yeah yeah we've been Yeah yeah we've been going crazy playing Oh well yeah So this is a new thing You can get into songs played in the clubs This is a new thing Yeah Oh okay all right all right all right Okay so your song The White Hail Cyrus was When I Got Baby Yeah which is a YouTube though All right but it only did the main music Do you have any other like Cosigns or I just know a lot of people a lot of rappers That are hard you know Well it's still me I just do one of the things By doing other things Yeah like them and the shit All right Yeah we'll get a relationship like that All right so I mean you're from Atlanta And a lot of times like we have artists come here We ask them like if there's another place that you could go Like where would it be And a lot of them say Atlanta But I know Atlanta is getting very populated Like there's a lot of people out there Especially a lot of artists trying to make it Do you feel like There's enough room for everybody Who's trying to make it out there It's another room but Atlanta is packed Y'all keep coming to Atlanta it's packed I ain't no lie What you trying to say It's packed Atlanta is packed Ain't no room for no more people Atlanta is packed But we love it There's a lot of people Y'all like So okay so Atlanta is packed You're saying there's no more room for us So where do you think would be like The next best place for artists to go If they wanted to make some connections And make it work If they, they're not allowed to Not just talking but now Atlanta, Atlanta, Atlanta the place comes here This is where all the music is It's like you gotta come to Atlanta forever If you had to choose another place outside of Atlanta To be where would it be Probably Miami Why Why Miami If I had to choose another place to stay at Yeah like you choose Miami I like Miami it's a buy You like to party I would say that's what I'm like You saying it like I like to party on the party vibe I like the outside I like the sun out there Like the beach Okay Yeah but so beautiful woman He outside for real Okay So what ultimately Is like your angle When it comes to your music career Like what is it that you would like to see Come out of this I think I would like to be one of the top artists Mmm Would you like to be one of the top artists In terms of people really bumping in music Or just like one of the most well known artists People really bumping in my music Really bumping in my music So if you were making music And people liked it But you weren't really seeing anything from it Would you keep making it Yo of course Yo keep grinding Okay That's good Cause not everybody gonna like your music Everybody's not gonna like the music Some people gonna be like No no I like this kind of music I like that kind of music Everybody gonna probably like the art of music I make I'm just checking the temperature So it's gonna be different Okay so like what are some things that Some artists rather that you would like to work with Uh Of course it's great A future Where I weigh A little baggy Lotto It's a different art I think it's interesting you have a little baby on your list See I signed to the same label Yeah but we ain't never made a song though I don't know How is it being signed to a label with somebody that you Were you bumping Lil Baby before you got signed Yeah I knew him before I got that I already knew See you Okay excuse me So you was already connected to Lil Baby Is anything in works Anything in maybe you in works Not right now but probably in the future Okay All right so If you had to give like Your top three things for an upcoming artist To have down pat to make it in this industry And keeping in mind that everybody is not as well connected to you Because we know that you are connected and protected out here in these streets If you had to choose like three things that you think are like the most important what would they be Uh that they should do That they should be where uh staying in the studio Uh make a lot of content Just be on the internet a lot Be on the internet a lot Yeah like get your music all the way out there And like keep like you know go get all the connects that you can possibly try to get Keep grinding basically Don't let nobody tell you can't do it Okay Okay so um What are your plans for 2022 as we move along and just drop the big single So what else can we expect Uh after this single drop another single I'm dropping another single And then probably take Are you dropping a single a solo or is it gonna have a feature one year? No that one got a feature then after that it's gonna be solo Who's the feature? The surprise Is it a label meet or no? No it's somebody else Atlanta? Yeah he from Atlanta It's a boy Yeah Yeah it's definitely a boy yeah Okay highly anticipated or some calm shit Of course of course All right and so you said ain't working on this hate that's already gonna work Yeah yeah So what's that sounding like? Oh the take on me crazy For sure And what can we expect it For the summertime You got a name? Mmm not yet I'm working on it Okay I'm keep making these records Fair enough fair enough We'll be looking forward to it So is there anything else that you want to talk about touch on before we wrap this up? No I just want to say shout out to Woodpack If I'm not on all platforms you know and they be grinding keep grinding that's all you gotta do All right y'all thanks for tuning in