Symba has clarified a line from his recent song, “Find A Way,” that had many believing he was throwing shots at former Shady Records rapper Stat Quo.
The song, taken from his most recent album Results Take Time, hears Symba discuss an interaction with the Atlanta rapper that left him feeling discouraged.
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“Stat Quo told me that my music just wasn’t it/ And if I didn’t have a gimmick then people wouldn’t give ashit,” the Oakland spitter raps. “It’s crazy how a n-gga who ain’t made nobody’s list/ Can make you feel like you can’t go where you tryna get.”
In a new interview with HipHopDX, Symba explained his relationship with Stat Quo. He also made it clear that it wasn’t what the older artist said that impacted him, but rather the manner in which he expressed his criticism.
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“Stat used to work at the label I was previously signed to,” Symba said. “And it wasn’t that what he was saying was wrong; what he was saying was right, it was just how he would go about it.
“He would embarrass me in these moments in front of everybody. So I always kinda looked at it like, ‘Damn bro, instead of breaking me down in front of everybody, pull me to the side and tell me how to get right!'”
Though the reference may have felt like a slight to some listeners, Symba meant for it to be a source of motivation for other up-and-coming artists or anyone who faces criticism while pursuing a dream.
“I wasn’t really making the line to diss Stat,” he said. “It was more so to tell people, during your process of tryna get to where you’re tryna go, there’s gonna be certain people that says shit like this. And you gotta be willing to eat that. And continue to push through.”
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He continued: “Don’t let those people make you feel like you should stop. ‘Cause it was a point in time he had me thinking maybe I should do something different. What if I woulda stopped? I woulda never got this far.”
Symba made a similar reference in the song “Overnight,” where he raps about a program director at a Bay Area radio station who once told him that he would have to get a feature from local star Kafani to gain attention for his own music.
“Imagine being an up-and-coming artist and you don’t got no access to these people; then when you do get it, they want $10,000 that you ain’t got for the feature, [and people are telling you] that’s what you should do, instead of just making a great song.” Symba recalled. “Those lines is really to let people these type of moments are gonna exist, don’t let em discourage you. Continue to push through. Believe in you and you’ll find people along the way.”
While he hopes these experiences from the earlier days of his career can inspire newer artists, Symba’s advice comes with one warning.
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“Now, you gotta understand as well, you can’t have certain expectations about what comes along,” he cautions. “So, like if you’re looking for a certain type of fan, you may be ignoring the actual fans you got. You can’t do that, you gotta focus on who fucks with you.”
