The Break Presents: A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie

Whenever a new artist from New York begins to make some noise, it's magnetic; everyone moves in their direction -- just look at what happened when Bobby Shmurda dropped "Hot Nigga." A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie from the Bronx is the newest New York rapper to gain attention for his movement and his popularity is increasing with each passing day. One listen to his music and it's easy to see why.

A Boogie, a native of The Bronx's Highbridge area, has a melodic style and catchy records that dissect the emotional toll a rocky relationship has on a person. With major cosigns from DJ Khaled and Meek Mill, A Boogie is already getting radio play on New York radio station Hot 97 and his SoundCloud is replete with songs featuring millions of plays. His debut mixtape, Artist: The Mixtape, dropped on Valentine's Day -- rightfully so -- and is one of the best projects of the year so far. A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie is on the cusp of becoming a major player in hip-hop.

"We’re trying to see what’s good with what people talking about right now," A Boogie said to XXL during a visit to the office. "Everybody talking good things so lets see where it goes 'cause we got better things. We know our worth. We’re trying to building Highbridge the Label to a dynasty. We’re the next thing out of New York so we’re trying to represent. This year we’re dropping a mixtape. Don Q [fellow artist on the label] dropping his mixtape, I got some songs on it. It’s going to be crazy. Don Q about to go crazy."

With a string of sold out shows and college appearances throughout the tri-state area, the potential for the rapper to become a national name looks promising. A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie seems destined to take a major leap in 2016. Highbridge is officially on the map.

Name: A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie

Age: 20

Hometown: Highbridge, The Bronx

I grew up listening to: "I grew up listening to 50 Cent, Get Rich or Die Tryin’, Kanye West, shit like that. When I was 13, before I got in high school. I was writing mad raps. I didn’t really know if it was good or not so for a year I just held them. When I got in high school I started spittin’ bars [laughs]. Like six months ago I started to take it serious. I went to DeWitt Clinton High School. I started to make songs and all that. [I took rapping serious because] I was hungry. I’m still hungry.

"Highbridge, everybody rap in Highbridge, everyone grew up rappin’ or playing basketball. That’s all we knew. Nobody on the block even knew I rap [laughs]. I was shy at first, I ain’t think about it. But now, niggas say I’m nice. I moved to Florida, I was out there for like three years. I just came back last summer. I came back to New York with my brother. That’s when I took music serious, started in January. I was always writing, since I was like 12. I still got the book [of rhymes I wrote].

"Artist was my first mixtape. First of all Artist: The Mixtape, it’s different. The name of the tape is my name. A lot of people don’t know that, that Artist is my name. The cover shows why the mixtape was made. Me and some girl was going through it. She was pregnant for four months and I didn’t know though. It wasn’t even my baby is what I found out. I’m still confused and shit so I started making all these songs, these love, heartbreak songs.

"It was going crazy, everybody saying, 'This shit fire.' So I started going with that sound. I mixed it up with like hip-hop and put it together on a mixtape called Artist. The first time I figured out I got a different voice I was in the studio making a song called 'Don’t Trust Bitches.' I was yelling and flowing with it. I was like, 'This shit sound iight.' When I was in the booth I started playing with the tones and everybody looking like this shit different. I started going with it and ever since then that shit motivated me. I still got mad songs. I got mad songs in the stash that’s better than the songs I got out. So it’s going to be crazy."

Most people don’t know: "They don’t know I’m a real person. Everybody looking at me like, 'He’s just some young nigga coming out the hood, he’s going to forget about everybody.' That’s the regular story that’s going on. But fuck it; I know what’s going on. I’m not a regular person but I’m a regular person.'

My style’s been compared to: "Some people judge me off the first song they hear. For example, for my shit they say I sound like Dej Loaf but what about other songs? All them shits sound like different sounds. They got to listen to all the songs on the mixtape to really get me."

My standout records or moments to date have been: "Everybody likes 'Still Thinking About You,' 'Jungle,' 'Friend Zone,' those are the top three songs. It’s mad songs people like on the tape. There's five hits on the tape. Since the tape there’s been a lot [of cool moments]. The people I’m talking to, I was talking to 50 Cent the other day for like an hour. I’m walking on the block the other day and people come up to me, tackle me, taking pictures. This shit crazy."

My goal in hip-hop is: "I want to be an artist. I just don’t want to be a rapper. I want to be up there."

I’m gonna be the next: "I want to be the next legend. It’s different; we’re doing it by ourselves. It’s just us right here, us four. We started this from the ground up. Every night in the studio, everybody stopped doing what they were doing and started grinding. We invested everything we had. Nobody knew. We lost everything after a while. But luckily we came up on the grind so it evened out. Now we get to do shows. Shit is working out right now."

Follow A Boogie on Instagram and Soundcloud.

Standout: Artist: The Mixtape

"Not a Regular Person"

"My Shit"

"Still Think About You"

See 50 Fire Hip-Hop Albums You Need to Listen to This Summer