It was very difficult to anticipate what would get OMB Peezy excited. When I met him last July at a show in Denver (where he opened for SOB X RBE), he was the youngest person I'd ever interviewed; where the tendency of older artists to be completely normal people is a welcome surprise, the prospect of interviewing any 20-year-old, let alone a famous one, remains horrifying. That his first few answers averaged about a sentence in length didn't help.

Turns out I just wasn't asking the right questions. OMB Peezy is more than happy to talk about a few specific topics: on the subject of raps, rappers, rapping, etc, he was opinionated as hell, single-minded nearly to a fault in the way that aspiring artists need to be. Our talk evolved into a manifesto, his positions congealing into a sort of ideology of the game that fully explains his success to date. He was, in other words, not your average 20-year-old.

Peezy, living in Sacramento but Alabamian by birth, has an incredible Deep South accent that's on full display on Lay Down, his still-unbelievable breakthrough hit from 18-or-so months back. It's much the same in conversation, but here's a clip for the public record. For real.

You been to Denver before?

Nah, this is my first time. Besides Alabama, Sacramento, where I stayed at, I only been ‘round lately. This is my first big tour.

Any new places stand out?

No, not really. Not yet.

Are you starting to get a lot of requests for press and interviews and stuff?

Oh yeah, I got an interview in Boston comin’ up. I like interviews, them motherfuckers be cool. I like choppin’ it up.

I assume you’ve got a whole vault of unreleased music at this point - is it hard to sit tight on that?

Hell yeah, it be hard as hell. I be wantin’ to post everything I record, right after I record it. But I gotta hold onto it, it’s like a marketing plan. You gotta have a plan for it, because if you just put something out you might not get the backup that you would if you’d promoted it a little bit more, you feel me? You already know how that go.

How big do you think of yourself as being right now?

I don’t think of myself as being that big, I ain’t gon’ lie. I still be surprised when motherfuckers be running up to me asking for pictures and shit. Not as big as I wanna be. I don’t think I’ll ever be satisfied with it.

Longevity. If I could describe it in one word, you feel me, longevity. I ain’t tryin’ to just get in this motherfucker and then be out. You feel me? That’s why I feel like a lot of motherfuckers fuck up: they get in that motherfucker then get out. You feel me? And then some motherfuckers fucked up because then get in that motherfucker and then be tryin’ to ride the wave or whatever wave goin’ on, and then that wave die out so they ass die out too. So I’m just tryin’, feel me, be in this motherfucker for a long time. That’s why I make music motherfuckers can relate to.

That’s an uncommon mindset, I think. What do you view as the obstacles to sticking around?

Hatin’-ass n***as. That’s about it.

Is there anyone you’d consider a mentor?

Not really. I go to 40 for advice, that’s a mentor I guess. He always droppin’ jewels on me every time I’m with him type shit. You know how that go.

How long had you been living in Sacramento before… I guess the Lay Down video was the big turning point.

I was in Sacramento for a minute, I was there about six years goin’ back and forth. My family down in Mobile, ain’t nobody in California but my mama. My pops still stay down there with ‘em.

Can you talk a little about working with Keith Welch?

Oh yeah, I had to do a little time for a little charge I’d caught and the n***a I was in the cell with had told me about the n***a. So when I had got out I had called the n***a up and we linked up and shot the video. And he whipped that motherfucker up! Soon as he heard heard the song he was like that motherfucker be raw! He said he was gonna whip the video up, take this motherfucker to the top type shit. So I’m like aight, cool, and then when he posted the video up that motherfucker went up and I been fuckin’ with him since. I got a couple K Welch videos that’s finna drop.

Do you have a release date or anything in mind for an album?

I ain’t got no date, but I know my Loyalty Over Love comin’ out in August. I ain’t found out a date yet.

The title track’s that Marvin Gaye sample, right? Is that the sort of music you grew up on?

I mean I heard a lot of different music growin’ up, I can’t even pinpoint shit. I heard so much shit, I don’t even know when I started hearin’ music [laughs]. You hear me? But I grew up around music though, I grew up in church and shit. I was always around it.

The biggest impact on me was Lil Boosie. ‘Cause everything a n***a used to say I used to relate to, even though I was a young-ass little n***a. Plies and shit. I fuck with Tupac too, you know Tupac? That’s my dog, you know what I’m saying? That motherfucker lit [laughs].

Do you think it’s important for fans to recognize what you’re rapping about, or for it to be your direct experience?

Hell yeah. Or if not my experience then one of my people’s experience, you know what I mean? Some shit that I came up around. It’s mostly my experiences though. Representation of my past. Before everything started to take off I used to be writing in advance, keepin’ everything stacked up you know, but now that I be movin’ around I just get in the studio and write everything there.

How much music are you sitting on that you expect to come out at some point?

I got a lot of music [laughs]. I got a lot of music, man.

Do you think that it’s becoming harder or easier to stand out as a rapper?

Easier, definitely. Because as I go farther I figure out what people favor to more about my style, you feel me? So I know how to do it. But before shit took off, I was stuck trying to figure out what people liked. But now that I know, I can just get in that motherfucker and do that shit. I ain’t have to change nothing, I just had to perfect the style that people liked instead of all them other styles. Whatever I was feelin’ in the studio, or whatever I was doin’ while I was writing I would go and record that shit. And if I don’t feel like that shit rode, I wouldn’t let nobody hear it but my people. And then if my people said that shit’s raw then I might put it out.

But it wasn’t no shit like I listen to a motherfucker’s shit like I’ma try to do this. That go back to what I said about the wave - if you try to ride the wave then as soon as that wave die out your shit die out too. Your shit gotta be authentic. I always made sure I had my own style and my own voice.

Do you consider yourself a perfectionist?

Hell yeah, I consider myself a perfectionist. With my music. If I record some shit and I don’t like it, I stop recording that shit and go on to some other shit immediately, feel me?

How does that play into the producers that you work with?

I got my n***a DTP, my n***a Drum Dummie, they’re the main producers I been fuckin’ with right now.

How’d you guys get linked up initially?

Shit, I stole Drum Dummie’s beat off Youtube, that Lay Down beat matter of fact. And then he ended up catching the drip of the shit, I guess he liked the song and shit. So we just started linking up. I ran into DTP because he’d sent me the beat for When I Was Down. And then when I recorded that we just starting fuckin’ with each other, he had more beats and shit for me.

Fuckin’ with Cardo Got Wings too, me and him got a tape together [note: at the time this was a big scoop and I probably should’ve parlayed it into Twitter credibility or something - alas, I do not have the instinct].

I loved that tape he did with Nef. Why do you think so much California rap has such a hard time breaking out of local or regional scenes?

I just be stayin’ in my lane, I don’t be worried about them n***as. I just be tryin’ to blow up my damn self. So if a motherfucker not workin’ hard, a motherfucker just not doin’ what they supposed to do to blow, that’s just them, you feel me. It is what it is, I don’t know. I don’t really be watchin’ nobody, I be doin’ my thing.

Do you think the rap game always rewards hard work?

Hell yeah. Hell yeah. As well as any other job - if you on that job and you ain’t doin’ the fuck you ‘posed to do, you gon’ get bad results. You might get fired, god dammit. In rappin’, if you ain’t doing what you ‘posed to do, being fired equals motherfuckers not fuckin’ with your music, not buyin’ your music, not buyin’ tickets to your shows, so you just not no motherfuckin’ artist no more because you not workin’ hard. You feel what I’m sayin’? That’s with any job, you gotta work hard for anything you do. On everything. If you robbin’ n***as you gotta work hard [laughs]. For real.

I ain’t gon’ lie bro, I ain’t just have no chance - it wasn’t like I just bumped into him at the club and handed him something like that. N***as caught the drip of my shit on Youtube, so I feel like anything happens. You just gotta work hard, you just gotta keep workin’. I been rappin’ forever long, feel me? I been rappin’ for a long-ass time, postin’ videos on Facebook and shit, you feel me? It ain’t no fairytale-ass shit, ain’t shit that fell in my lap or any other n***a’s lap. N***as been workin’.

What made you aware that things were starting to blow up?

Shit, when I did a show and all the bitches tried to grab my dick and shit. Then I knew that shit was really jumpin’, I knew it was about to go crazy, on God. And then when they was singin’ the lyrics and shit. That’s when I knew, you feel, motherfuckers really be playin’ this shit.

Who started calling you first about a record deal?

I ain’t gon’ lie, everybody was callin’ at the same time. You mean like as far as 300 and shit? Everybody was callin’ at the same time but I fit with 300 because, feel me, their whole team came correct with it. I’m talkin’ like the A&Rs. I could’ve signed to any other label, but it ain’t about going to the label that got big artists. You might go to that label with the big-ass artists now you gotta wait. That artist gets they shine and they got you in a headlock, you feel me? I go off the A&Rs themselves and the owners of the record labels. My n***a Zeke [Hirschberg], Kevin Liles, you feel me?

They signed me because I’m me. I ain’t under no type of pressure; they ain’t sign me and then put it on oh, you gotta get a big hit, gotta get a hit [snaps fingers repeatedly]. 300, they all for buildin’ the artist. They ain’t chasin’ no big-ass hit or nothin’, I can do whatever the fuck I want to.

What can they do to distinguish themselves or build that kind of trust?

You know, everybody do the same thing. I just go with my gut, and I was comfortable with 300. That’s how I walked.

Do you keep up with any of the other real young rappers out there? Either as friends or labelmates.

Hell yeah, NBA YoungBoy, JayDaYoungan. I fuck with all them n***as.

How do you guys stay in touch casually? I assume you’ve got label people if you want to collaborate.

Man it’s 2017, everybody’s got iPhones and shit. You know what I mean? If I do research on a n***a’s music and I don’t feel like we in the same lane, I’m not finna reach out. But if I he reach out to me - I don’t like to say I’m talented, you feel me, but I can damn near rap on any type of beat. I can do anything if a motherfucker reach out to me. But if I fuck with a n***a’s shit on some boy, I was listening to you before my shit blew and all that type of shit, I’ll fuck around and reach out to a n***a. But I don’t do too much reachin’ out.

I did some shit with Bizzy Bone, on mama. That shit blew me, n***a got in that motherfucker and rapped that shit in five seconds, on God, and didn’t fuck up not once. That n***a, he a legend. Oh, Scott Storch too.

What can you tell me about OMB?

That’s shit that my n***as had made, I didn’t even make that. We was beefin’ with some n***as and they were talkin’ about them OMB n***as so we was like fuck it, OMB. That means Only My Brothers though. And I got motherfuckers DMing me too, talkin’ about oh, we OMB, we made up Only My Brothers at the school lunch table. Fuck you. And your mama. We the real OMB n***a, on everything - I don’t worry about none of that shit. You get big and then motherfuckers wanna - feel me?

Have you had a lot of people coming out of the woodwork since you got some fame?

Fuck yeah. Hell yeah, n***as be sayin’ all type of shit. But I always wanna know what the fuck a motherfucker thinkin’. I don’t give a fuck what a motherfucker thinkin’, but I wanna know [laughs]. So DM me, let me know what’s goin’ on. What’s on your mind. If you don’t think I read that motherfucker, I been read that motherfucker. I got 99+ DMs in my shit, and I read all them motherfuckers man, everything.

Do you go out and read articles about you and stuff?

Hell yeah, why not? I wanna see if motherfuckers slanderin’ my name or if they, you feel me, upholdin’ a n***a image well. I wanna know. People been showin’ love man, especially The Fader, Pigeons and Planes, XXL. My n***a Max [Weinstein]. That’s my dog.

What’s your day like these days?

Tomorrow I gotta to fly to LA, do a little shit with Verizon and shit. Oh matter of fact, nope nope nope, I lied. I ain’t flyin’ nowhere. We just pushed that up to when I go to New York. But I’m busy. And then when I’m not busy I’m in the studio, workin’. I got a studio in the back of the bus too.

Where were y’all last night?

Salt Lake City, Utah. It was cool - they don’t get fired up like that, so when people come out they get turnt.

Do you get to spend much time in the places you go on tour?

Shit, we leave every morning. We be havin’ enough time to do what we wanna do though [laughs].

Do you have any plans for when you’re off tour?

When I’m off tour I’ll be back in the studio, shit. Shootin’ videos and shit. I got to travel, actually. I got a studio session in Miami, and one in Atlanta. And then one in LA. I ain’t thinkin’ about no vacation right now, I ain’t gonna lie bro. It’s too early to be thinkin’ about vacation, you feel me? I don’t see nobody else takin’ no damn motherfucking vacation. Shit, this a vacation. I’m in Denver, Colorado, never thought I’d be out this motherfucker [laughs]. It’s a luxury vacation.

Do you listen to your own music much, or is it done once you finish recording?

Hell yeah, but I get tired of my own music cuz. I listen to my own music a lot, but I get tired of that shit fast as hell. It’s Kevin Gates, Kodak, NBA YoungBoy, JayDaYoungan. Boosie. It’s a lot of motherfuckers.

Do you still find Boosie relatable?

Hell yeah. Because he still try to preach to the youth, feel me? Even though he up there, he ain’t no young n***a no more but he still be droppin’ jewels and shit. The heavier the subject matter, the better. That’s something I’m big on with my music - if you ain’t got no substance in your shit you basically just breathin’ air. And you pollutin’ the motherfucking communities. That’s bad crack. Stepped-on dope, that’s not real crack my n***a. You gotta serve real dope to these people, you know what I’m sayin’?

Do you feel like you have an artistic responsibility to your community?

Shit, hell nah. I just got a responsibility to keep it real with myself, you feel me, and them people around me. I’m dedicated to this shit. I don’t feel like it’s my responsibility, but I love doin’ it. I love makin’ real music, ‘cause ain’t too many people doin’ that shit.

I just want my fans to be like Prince fans and shit when he died [laughs], Michael Jackson fans when he died. I want people to be callin’ CNN cryin’ and shit, like Peezy got me through all my… you feel me? On everything, that’s what I wanna be. I want it to be Damn bruh, they got bruh! He was droppin’ that shit, feel me? That n***a kept it all the way a hundred. I just wanna be remembered.