2017 was a breakout year for A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie. His first album, The Bigger Artist, debuted at #4 on the Billboard 200, and his hit singles “Say A” and the Kodak Black-assisted “Drowning” are still get radio play like they were brand new. But even after his successful rookie campaign, the 22-year-old Bronx MC continues to work like it’s Day 1.
Before taking the stage at the Budweiser Live event during NBA All-Star Weekend in Los Angeles, A Boogie gave HipHopDX an exclusive taste of his plans to keep his momentum strong.
“Everybody should know you should keep business strictly business,” he told DX. “You hear the phrase, ‘Don’t mix business with family?’ That’s real out here. Some people you can work with but when you’re trying to mix with this family, everything together just turns into a big misunderstanding. I feel like I gotta say no to people almost every day. Certain times people send features. I don’t say no directly sometimes, but I’m still saying no to people if I feel like the feature isn’t worthy or it didn’t balance out.”
If there’s one takeaway from A Boogie’s lessons on the business side of Hip Hop, it’s the value of strategically picking features. He has already worked with everyone from Kodak Black to Chris Brown, using his collaborations to display his own versatility.
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“I like to do anything I’m capable of doing with my voice,” he explained. “So if I could do a pop song, why not? If I can do a savage song and go crazy on that for the streets, why not? If I can do a song that’s R&B, why not? So anything I can reach, rock star, anywhere I’m going there and in 2018, you’re gonna see every type of genre that I reach.”
A Boogie then teased some high-power collabs he’s working on that came out of a chance run-in with a fellow New York heavyweight.
“Me and 50 [Cent] were just talking yesterday for like half an hour before I was in the Global Spin Awards, and we were chopping it up about how the younger artists gotta really respect what the older artists did, not just music-wise but the platform that they [created],” A Boogie said.
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“There’s billionaires that came out of the rap system, so that platform right there is for us to follow,” he continued. “We can’t just sit here and make music and think it’s all good. That ain’t it. [We] gotta do more than that, man. We got something in the works too. Me and 50 made a song. We’ll probably have another song coming, we’ll probably have three by the end of the week.”
A Boogie also revealed who he’d like to team up with for a collaborative album.
“I would look forward to making a project with Future,” he stated. “We ain’t talk about a project, but we talked about a few songs. We already got a song with Thugger on the Esco tape, and we’re working on another song right now so hopefully, we get a project together soon.”
One of the things many young artists fail to realize is the importance of branding. A Boogie understands stardom is about more than music and as his celebrity rises, he’s working on strengthening his brand outside the booth as much as possible. And his next career ambition might surprise even his biggest fans.
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“I was never really a people person and I’m growing out of that now and I’m trying to get more into the acting life,” A Boogie revealed. “I see myself doing something for the kids or something like that, being a kid in high school. I don’t want my music, if I’m in a movie, I don’t want [the two] to relate to each other.”
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