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Casey Veggies’ continues to rise since signing a management deal to Roc Nation. The 19-year-old rapper released his free album, Life Changes, this week that captures his growth as a local icon, channeling his laid-back style into something fans have gravitated towards. The L.A. native possesses a newfound energy, as shown in the solid contribution from producers 1500 or Nothin’ and The Futuristiks. XXL got on the phone with Young Veggies to talk about the project, the Peas and Carrots International brand, why he chose Roc Nation, and what we can expect from him in 2013.—Eric Diep (@E_Diep)

XXL: Who shot the cover art for Life Changes?

Casey Veggies: A friend of mine, Ryan Mayle, he was my photographer on tour. On the Big K.R.I.T. tour, we did “Live from the Underground.” That’s pretty much one of the main stories about the cover. During the tour, Ryan Mayle shot the photo. We were at iHop and there was a cornfield next door to the hotel in Colorado. I didn’t even really want to take the photo. I was tired. We had a show coming up; it’s like a cornfield over here. I’m like, “What? Why would I do a photoshoot in a cornfield?” before I even took the time out to really understand what a cornfield represents, the things that it connected to what I am doing and the music that I am making. It was just something that I didn’t want to do. Anwar Carrots kind of talked me into it. Ryan was talking me into it. When we ended up taking the photos, they just kind of came out distinctive, like classic to me.

The Futuristiks and 1500 or Nothin’ did the majority of the production. How did you link up with them?

Shout out to The Futuristiks. They helped me bring a lot of the music together. They brought the homie Dawaun Parker on board and he brought his artist Phil [Beaudreau], which is featured on the intro. I felt that whole section brought a whole new element to the tape. The intro just brought the tape out and really told the story that I was trying to tell. The Futuristiks played a big role. 1500 or Nothin’, they came and they played keys. None of the music is sampled. It’s all original music played by 1500 or Nothin’. “Take My Life” is original samples. Its sounds like real samples, they brought the singers in. The Futuristiks and 1500 or Nothin’ collaborated on the beats all the way. They definitely played the big brother role for me. The Futuristiks definitely saw where I was trying to take it and they really wanted to help me.

How did “She in My Car” with Dom Kennedy come together? You two have worked a lot in the past.

Yeah, we worked together a lot in the past, but we really haven’t worked together lately. Our last track, we hit people with “CDC,” which is more like a banger, straight like a rap track. I wanted to give people a song with me and Dom that was a real West Coast record that people can vibe to. I feel like both of our music represents that smooth sound. So I kind of brought it out together, recorded the song one day. I did the song by myself and hit him to get on the song probably a week before the tape dropped.

BJ the Chicago Kid also isn’t someone who fits the L.A. vibe. Why did you choose to keep your features limited?

There’s not that many at all. BJ has always been a good friend of mine. He was singing on my first album, Sleeping in Class, back in 2010. I wanted him to be part of the project again and I felt like his vibe was perfect for that record. He just came and did those harmonies that matched perfectly. I just kept the features short because I had a vision for the music and most of it came together. Most of the songs were straight to the point from my perspective. I had a couple of features I wanted on the tape that I couldn’t get done. For the most part, everything came out how I wanted it.

You really wanted to showcase yourself as a solo artist.

That’s pretty much the concept of the project, trying to showcase your own sound. I think every artist might come to a point in his career where he wants to stand alone and really show people what he can do on his own. I kind of want to do that with this album. Let my fans know that this whole time that they weren’t supporting me for any reason. All the people that didn’t rock with me, they didn’t see the potential. Let them really see where I can go.

You sound comfortable in your own lane now. What changes have you started to notice since breaking away from Odd Future?

I’m definitely seeing a bigger picture. I feel like I am in a great position to step back and do things on my own and take my time. They always say it’s not about who gets on first, but who lasts the longest. That’s really what the main things on see. I think I am doing something that is organic and natural. It may take a little more time but in the end, it’ll mean the most.

You are pretty young, but you have a good understanding of what’s going on. Do you have any friction with any older hip-hop legends that think you don’t know any better?

Maybe not with a legend or somebody in my craft, but it happens a lot with people in everyday life. I just left the Audi dealership, I was just coming to pay for my rims. The lady was playing me to the left, not giving me any respect off the fact that I came in and appeared as a young man that maybe doesn’t know everything. I came to spend a few thousand dollars on some rims, so you got to show and pay respect. I would say that happens more in everyday life than it happens in the rap game.

The whole Peas and Carrots brand is growing.

The branding was always one of our strongest points. Now, everything else is getting stronger. The clothing. Then, we dropped the music. The music is still getting better. I think the fans are taking notice to that. We keep coming back with more and it’s always a different angle. It’s getting better and better.

What do you think the growth is coming from—your music or social media?

I think it is coming from the fact that we have been doing it for so long. We are young, but we have been doing it for like six years. People don’t really see that, you know? They don’t really realize that so we kind have fallen into our own now. Anytime you have been doing something for this long, you are kind of learning as you go. Now, we are falling into our own zone as a brand and as how we move as a team. I’m real happy with how everything is forming up after the last six months for us.

When we were planning on dropping clothes, I didn’t really know how they would do, but we dropped so many different designs and stuff. For my stuff, even like the first day, we got like 50 orders on the first drop. Even for my merch, that’s great numbers. When I see great numbers like that, I know that we have an operation going.

You signed a Roc Nation management deal.  How does that feel?

I think it’s like having somebody look after what you are doing. You know you can do it on your own if you needed to. But, you always need somebody to look after and help you along the way. I think in the rap game, having somebody like Roc Nation behind you, should do nothing else but help you out. Especially, when you are an artist like me and you have your own team. You guys already work. You guys have your own formula together. We can just go to Roc Nation and show them what we do and we talk to Rich Kleiman at Roc Nation and he’ll tell us certain things about how they operate and how he would look at a situation or how he would do this. From there, we just put the grind together and come up with the plan. It’s not like you sign to Roc Nation and everything is going right. You go there, and it’s a process and you build up. I think we are all on the right path. It should be a strong year.

Would you drop your debut album independently or on Roc Nation?

When I drop my album, I’m trying to go major with it off the strength that we young and we are trying to go big while we got the chance right now. I think people will see a lot from me with that type of stuff in the next few months.

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