Boogie Keeps It Personal in New Freestyle

For your time in the spotlight to come, you have to truly believe in yourself and your path. Boogie, the 29-year-old Compton, Calif. rapper, was signed to Interscope Records in 2015, off the buzz of his song "Oh My," then transitioned to Shady Records in 2017—all without releasing a debut album.

Time continued to pass and Boogie kept dropping songs and videos, like the wildly creative "Self Destruction" visual. Now he arrives with his debut album, Everything's For Sale, and he's experiencing every rappers dream: releasing a first big-time project to the world. Shortly before his LP went live, he stopped by the XXL office to freestyle for our Flex Zone series. The MC chose to spit lyrics from "Lolsmh (Interlude)," a track featured on his new album.

As is usually the case with his music, Boogie's freestyle is very personal. "It's hard for me to be happy, wish my girl would just dump me/I done showed you all my ugly, but why the fuck you ain't judge me?/No, my skin ain't thick, it's thin, it prolly bleed soon as you touch me/I'd love it if you hate me, I hate that you fuckin' love me," he delivers. A very honest assessment of feeling guilt in a relationship.

He then swings over to his older brother, who is down on his luck: "Man, my bro-bro on the brink of being broke/He on the bridge without a rope, it hit my heart to see the world done ran him low/Plus he got a 6-month-old and he can barely keep her fed."

When it comes to talking about the long road to Everything's For Sale dropping, Boogie is very frank. "The rap answer would be 'timing, everything gotta align right,'" he shares with a laugh. "But the real answer, you know how it go at labels, everything gotta be on they time." Boogie has actually been working on this album since he dropped Thirst 48 Pt. II in 2016. "I've prolly recorded about 20 projects since then, if you add all the songs together," he explains.

There were also some tough times along the way. "It was really some times I was at home depressed," he shares. "When you see other people around poppin', you know you just as good, you feel like you better, you just gotta understand it's not your time."

Boogie's time is now and he's living in the moment. Catch his freestyle up top.

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