A hobby can very easily turn into a career. Lil Loaded was a young kid who moved from San Bernardino, Calif. to Dallas, just rhyming with his friends for fun. He eventually showed enough promise that he got nudged into hitting the studio. After some time working on his craft there, he dropped his first song, "B.O.S." a reworking of YNW Melly's "Butter Pecan" (he still considers Melly a big inspiration). His 2019 song, "6locc 6a6y," earned him his first big look with the track pushing him onto the rap map nationally. Not bad at all for someone who's only been rapping since he was 18, putting his entire hip-hop career at about nine months.

Now, Lil Loaded's "6locc 6a6y" has been streamed more than 15 million times on Spotify, and its' accompanying video has more than 11 million YouTube views. The song is short and hits hard, a quick summary of Loaded's experiences surviving in Dallas. He then followed up with a tape of the same name, and shot videos for its songs, like "Gang Unit," which has now been viewed 13 million times on YouTube.

Now, Loaded is an Epic Records artist and has a new project on the way. His latest song, "Hit Em Up," is performing well and he has plenty of momentum on his side. Catch up with Lil Loaded in this week's edition of The Break.

Age: 19

Hometown: Dallas

I grew up listening to: "I like Michael Jackson a lot, to me he started the whole rapping/singing thing. That's where it originally came from for me. I like Lyfe Jennings a lot. Rod Wave reminds me of Lyfe Jennings. I don't hear that comparison a lot. I grew up listening to Lyfe because of my mom. [Lil] Wayne, [The] Game, Chief Keef, Snoop Dogg, Rich Homie Quan. I listened to a lot of music growing up. ’Pac, for sho'."

My style’s been compared to: "21 Savage, [NLE] Choppa. That's really it. It's hard to compare me. I'm from California, you can hear that, but I still got the southern drawl, too. That's why I think my music is doing so well. I'm on my own wave."

I’m going to blow up because: "I am me, I'm doing my own wave and doing my own style. In a few years, I'ma have 60 rappers on my wave. When you can't fall into a category, you got to blow, especially if it's good."

What’s your most slept-on song, and why? "A song called 'Racks on My Block.' That's gotta be my most slept-on song ’cause it's not hard, banger-like, with deep bass."

My standout records to date have been: "'Gang Unit' and '6locc 6a6y' are my two biggest songs right now. '6locc 6a6y', it's no song out like it. 'Gang Unit,' it brings people together, people having fun to it. It's going international, gang members everywhere turning up to it.

My standout moments to date have been: "Buying my mama a chain, honestly. We done had our ups and downs, but that's my mama at the end of the day. So for me to be able to do something for her, and to make sure my lil brother and my lil sister get to have what I didn't, go to to school fresh, every day. Want a new pair of shoes? All you have to do is ask."

Most people don’t know: "My favorite song is '7 Years' by [Danish pop band] Lukas Graham. I just love listening to music, I'm not set on a certain type of music. When I heard it, you could tell he's genuine in what he singin'. It's hard."

I’m going to be the next: "The first nigga to say I did this shit my way, and I had fun doing it."

Follow Lil Loaded on SoundCloud and Instagram.

Standouts:

"6locc 6a6y"

"Gang Unit"

"Hit Em Up"

6locc 6a6y

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