The World According to Rich The Kid
“This is how I feel right now,” Rich the Kid said, lackadaisically pointing a finger to his temple like the barrel of an imaginary gun. When we met this past Friday, on the eve of dropping his new album The World Is Yours 2 — which features Offset, Lil Pump, Miguel, and Young Thug — the Los Angeles-based rapper and founder of his own Rich Forever label was in the throes of a seemingly endless string of interviews. On a radio appearance the day prior, he accidentally leaked the gender of his soon-to-be-fourth child. (It’s a boy!) Then later that same day, the New York-born, Georgia-raised rapper made more gossip waves by proclaiming himself to be “the hottest rapper out of New York” — despite not normally being associated with the city. In his exhaustion, the fat cuban link chain around Rich the Kid’s neck looked like a diamond-encrusted millstone, which floated above a Swarovski-studded Harley Davidson T-shirt, which he revealed after taking off a hoodie that was also splashed with crystals. His face read like a manifesto on not caring about anything while talking with Interview. Chapter one: “If you give a fuck, you lose the whole point.”
———
RICH THE KID: My album comes out tonight.
LUCAS MASCATELLO: Are you excited?
KID: I’m just tired.
THOM BETTRIDGE: How long did it take you to make it?
KID: A few months.
MASCATELLO: What’s your process like? Do you have any rituals?
KID: I have a baby on the way, so I haven’t been able to record much. I’m really supposed to be with my companion right now. She’s having a baby in like four weeks.
BETTRIDGE: Are you working on baby names right now?
KID: [Yawns] Kind of.
MASCATELLO: You hear about a lot of rappers being sleep-deprived. Is that a real thing?
KID: Yes. And I’m about to say, “Fuck that.” I’m about to go on strike. Travel time. Moving around. Doing too much. I wish I could be in my bed right now with my girl watching Unsolved Mysteries.
MASCATELLO: Do you listen to podcasts?
KID: Fuck no. Podcasts?
MASCATELLO: They have true crime podcasts.
KID: I listen to my music and my artist’s music — and Kodak Black when I’m smoking weed.
MASCATELLO: Kodak Black is funny.
KID: He’s awesome. He doesn’t give a fuck. I don’t think you’re supposed to give a fuck when you’re a rapper.
BETTRIDGE: Why not?
KID: Because if you give a fuck, you lose the whole point. “I’m really not supposed to be at this interview. I’m not supposed to give a fuck.” That’s how rappers think. I know a lot of rappers that would never come here. They would never do an interview. Like, why? Suck my dick.
BETTRIDGE: Why is that? Because it’s easier for them to just tweet something than do an interview?
KID: People feel like they can just get their own platform. Some people put out music, and blow up, and then they’re like, “I don’t give a fuck.” I care more about my craft and my music, so that’s why I put a little more into it.
MASCATELLO: And you have your own artists too, so you kind of have to set an example.
KID: Exactly.
BETTRIDGE: What did you mean when you said earlier today that you were the hottest rapper out of New York? I think most people think of you as being from Atlanta.
KID: I see it like this: show me a male rapper out of New York who gets more money for a show than me. I’m serious. Who’s more popping? Who’s got more hits? More platinum songs? People don’t see it, but if you want to do the numbers, we can do that.
MASCATELLO: What percentage of things people say about hip hop is real?
KID: I doubt a lot of it is real.
BETTRIDGE: What’s the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning?
KID: Smoke a blunt. Maybe get on my computer.
BETTRIDGE: Do you roll the blunt before you go to sleep, then smoke it?
KID: Roll it up? Fuck no. I have other people do that for me.
MASCATELLO: How much stuff in your life do you have other people do for you?
KID: A lot.
MASCATELLO: Do you like that?
KID: Yeah, it’s cool.
BETTRIDGE: Are there things you maybe wish you would start doing for yourself again?
KID: I might take out the trash if I have enough time.
