If hip-hop is a young man's game, then Casey Veggies has a head start on most other current players. With a career that dates back five years to his 2007 debut mixtape Customized Greatly Vol. 1, the California rapper has put in an impressive amount of leg work, especially for someone who's only 19 years old. Not only has young Veggies garnered national recognition with his mixtapes, including 2011's Sleeping in Class and this year's Life Changes, he's also inked a management deal with Roc Nation and co-founded lifestyle brand Peas & Carrots with Anwar Carrots and Joshton Peas.

Earlier this month, XXL caught up with Casey at a photoshoot in NYC to discuss his music, blowing up while still in high school, and how rap's rising generation of stars has figured out the science of the industry.

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On the response to his most recent project, Life Changes:

"It's been good, I think it definitely could be better. It's been good, though. People have been responding to it very well and all my fans are respecting it. There's definitely always gonna be people that don't understand where it's coming from, but I love the music. It was great for me to let that out. It just adds on to the story; I feel like it's not the epitome of what Casey Veggies represents, but it's definitely a solid little outline."

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On his progression between Sleeping in Class and Life Changes:

"I dropped Sleeping in Class in 2011; I dropped Life Changes in 2013, so that's two years in between and I did a lot of thinking and a lot of growing. I did a lot of listening, I was listening to my stuff and I was hearing things in my music that didn't sound grown-up enough. I knew I had people feeling it, but I knew that as an artist and a person, I wanted the older people to be able relate, too. I wanted other people just to be able to connect to the sound, not just the lyrics, just the sound in general. I feel like my sound has become full. The growth is there, the sound is there, the flows, the vibe. That's what I wanted to give off and show people what I did, what I naturally did without even really trying too hard, the natural stuff that comes out of me. Looking ahead, I think my album will be me more like, stepping out of my box and taking the music somewhere and taking myself somewhere."

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On blowing up while still in high school:

"It was different, it was definitely different. It's a lot that comes with this; it's a lot that's good and and a lot that's bad. If you let it control what you're doing and your life, it can do that. If you let it affect your relationships with the people around you, it will do that. For me, it was just about staying grounded, staying humble, just realizing what I'm doing and how I could be doing so much more and how, if I do this and stay focused and not let this take me under, I can do this and be this successful. At this point, I've seen them come and I've seen them go. I've seen buzzes grow, I've seen buzzes die. It's not about your hype or your buzz, it's more about what you stand for and what people can connect to 5 years down the line, 10 years down the line."

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On setting himself apart as a signee of Roc Nation, a brand that also represents rhymers J. Cole and Wale: 

"I always just wanted to represent the youth, honestly. I feel like the way that I am, that I embody that. I'm 19 years old and I'm doing things. I'm learning what to be successful is and what to do good [is] and have certain things on your side is, but at the same time, I just wanna... I separate myself by just being young and showing people that I'm growing. I'm not at the peak of my career, I'm not at the peak of my mind yet, I'm not even at the peak of where I can go. I think the potential is in just the fact that I'm already this far along and I already figured out this much is what separates myself, 'cause a lot of people would tell me, 'Yo, when I was 19, I wasn't doing that. I wasn't making that music.' Wale, he'd probably tell me that, 'Yo, when I was 19, I didn't make Sleeping in Class. I didn't do that,' 'cause a lot of rappers, they didn't. They couldn't do that; I was just young with that mindset and I was focused. That just separates [me], me being 13 and putting out a mixtape. A lot rappers you name today, they weren't putting out a mixtape at 13. That's the separation alone. That's what my fans see in me, and that's what I want to represent for them."

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On the younger generation's grind: 

"People like me show you that you can do it. I was rapping years ago, people coming to me like, 'Yo, I remember you were rapping back in the day, you were one of the first ones really out here, on MySpace rapping.' People see a kid like me, or a kid like Tyler [the Creator], you see a kid like A$AP Rocky and you see Rockie Fresh, and Travi$ Scott coming out of nowhere. It's like boom, it shows people [that] all these kids, we can do it. That's what I've been doing these past five years. That was my goal, mainly. I mean, I've made some money, I've done some things, but I really just wanted to inspire, and I feel like we all inspire each other. When you see an artist try to push the bar, it makes everyone else try to do the same thing."

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On peace and mutual admiration amongst his peers: 

"It's a respect thing. We all come from different lives. I feel like a lot of people back in the day had to be that [antagonistic], which is sad, but I'm happy to be in the game with a new mindset and come in and introduce people to a new mindset. Everybody don't think the same, everybody not on the same tip, so I'm happy to have my own mind."

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