A$AP Rocky sits down with Jerrod Carmichael to discuss the progress of his upcoming album and working with Tyler the Creator.
A$AP Rocky recently caught up with Jerrod Carmichael to discuss a variety of topics from fatherhood to fashion’s way of overcoming male stereotypes. Later in the interview, Jerrod asked Rocky about the recording he’s doing, which A$AP opened up and revealed he worked with Tyler the Creator.
ROCKY: Like the good old days, except I’m a pop.
CARMICHAEL: Are you nervous at all?
ROCKY: I’m not nervous, but I laugh that people who knew me before, like you, have to get used to seeing me as a responsible father. Is it a challenge not only to direct, but also to act in your own shit?
CARMICHAEL: It’s difficult. I did it because this movie was the most impossible movie in the world. I did it because it was hard to get someone else. I directed because it was difficult to get others to get used to the material because it’s risky. All of these things were done out of necessity. I don’t think being a multi-hyphen is always a good thing. In fact, I’m really interested in getting rid of all the hyphens and blurring the lines. I’m more interested in worlds colliding than being a writer/actor/director. Being a jack of all trades, I’m not afraid of mastering anything. Still, it was difficult, but I’m glad I did it. Lots of people do it and I don’t know why. It’s very silly.
ROCKY: Damn, that’s crazy. It’s really similar to Tyler [the Creator] is working.
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CARMICHAEL: Well, we met through T.
ROCKY: That’s right. But when it came to it Igor, he wrote it, he produced it, he directed the music videos. That is the same.
CARMICHAEL: That’s what I mean by blurring the line, because I don’t think T is a multiple dash. The same goes for Kanye — certain artists are first and foremost producers. They are responsible for making all parts of a coherent song or album and it all comes from them. It’s just a vision. I think there is a difference.
ROCKY: Yes.
CARMICHAEL: You’re recording now, right?
ROCKY: You keep asking me crazy questions and I have a million questions for you, but yeah. I’m recording.
CARMICHAEL: What is driving you right now?
ROCKY: I’ve worked a lot with T, man. We’ve blocked for the past two weeks and been working on a lot of music, but I’m just finishing this album and will be directing some of these videos. And I can tell you that just because I’ve done a few music videos, it’s so much energy and preparation and curation. And music videos are only three to four minutes long. You make features, man. This leaves me speechless. I can’t imagine that much stress.
CARMICHAEL: It’s hard to do anything when you know the internet is there and it’s going to be talking about it. I think it’s the same pressure on all of us. I wonder how it felt to be an artist releasing work before the internet. How do you even know if someone liked it? Just waiting for the phone to ring? Even if someone wrote you fan mail saying they liked your shit, you still had to wait a week to get it.
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