For the majority of his career, RiFF RAFF has been seen as little more than a parody, a character to ogle or an oddball at which to point and stare. His music has largely taken a backseat to his outlandish appearance, his quirky attitude, even his hilarious command of social media—find an artist who has mastered Vine as skillfully as RiFF—with most people not able to pick a RiFF RAFF song out of a lineup, much less critique his output.

But that's about to change. Since signing to Diplo's Mad Decent label last year, RiFF's star has been set on an accelerated path, with his visibility only boosted by James Franco's character in Harmony Korine's unexpected hit Spring Breakers earlier this year and a buzz building around his debut album, Neon Icon. He's tapped Mac Miller, Wiz Khalifa, Big Sean and Action Bronson to appear, with rumors swirling about the possible involvement of A$AP Rocky and Drake as well, but he's also not backing himself into a corner by pinning himself to any one genre; instead, he's branching out in all kinds of different directions. "People think it’s gonna be all pretty much just hip-hop music, trap music, whatever," he told XXL this week. "I’m gonna have some country songs on there, some rock songs and everything like that... It’s gonna put people in a position where they can’t even compare me to nobody."

RiFF himself has at times shifted the focus away from his own music in the past, focusing more on the theatrics of the entertainment industry, but that, too, has changed as his album nears its release, rumored to be sometime this Fall. RiFF RAFF swung by the XXL offices this week ahead of his sold out headlining show at New York's Highline Ballroom to speak about his new music, his image as being little more than a joke in the music community, and why he's about to prove everybody wrong. —Dan Rys (@danrys); Interview by Emmanuel C.M. (@ECM_LP)

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First of all, explain the name of the album.
It’s like a whole new world that’s just all me. From going from nothing to becoming this shining star...so I mean, yeah, Neon Icon is just neon everything. It can’t be stopped.

What can we expect from the Neon Icon?
A lot of everything—it’s not just a rap album. It’ll be my first major album—my first worldwide actual album in stores since my freshman album, my rookie year, so we’re gonna take time to make sure it’s done proper. [I'm] not nervous. Excited. Got a lot of big features on there, a lot of big songs. When these songs drop, it's all good stuff, it’s my best work. I’ve got like 80 songs but we’re gonna, like, weave it down...pick the best ones. I got so many features, man. I’ll just say, Mac Miller, Wiz Khalifa, Big Sean, Action Bronson. I’ll just give you those ones, there’s so many of ‘em, man.

People think it’s gonna be all pretty much just hip-hop music, trap music, whatever. I’m gonna have some country songs on there, some rock songs and everything like that. And I’m fading more towards that way, so it’s gonna put people in a position where they can’t even compare me to nobody. Right now, what I see a lot of—not that I care, not that it matters, it’s not gonna stop me—but what I see is a lot of people trying to compare me to this or that, like, “Oh you’re a joke,” or you’re this or that, just because they can’t compare me to nobody. Like, for example...somebody says like a Weird Al Yankovic where he remakes songs and it’s fun, that’s cool. Weird Al Yankovic is great, I grew up watching his movies. But it’s not me. None of my stuff is joking. When people see all these different songs I have, it’s removing all that hatred and doubt. It’s just the facts are there. The truth and the facts, you can’t hide that. You can try and deny it or try to ignore it. That’s ignorance. It’s just showing the higher level of how much my music has improved. This album is gonna really separate me from a lot of critics who think that I’m such and such or whatever, and all my albums are gonna constantly upgrade like that—my Neon music. I'ma have a band, and dancers and lights going off, that’s not the average hip-hop person. A lot of songs, coming after Neon Icon, is going to be me singing.

Do you plan to take the hip-hop world by storm?
Not even hip-hop world. I do music, so whatever gravitates to me, whatever people wanna take from it and put me in so and so category, put me in whatever, I can’t stop that. So like I said, with this album, it’s gonna really separate me from someone saying, quote, unquote, “hip-hop.” So when you do that, you become more of an artist because you can make all these types of music, you can write. I have a book coming out, movies, TV Shows, so when you start separating like that, now you’re more of an icon, as opposed to a hip-hop artist. So that’s what I’m, this album is the stamp of Neon Icon. That’s what I am, I’m the Neon icon. I’m Jody Highroller. And this icon is bigger than all this. Like a “hip-hop rapper,” if you’re an artist who can make songs or whatever, then you have movie stars, then you have icons. When you start doing icons that’s like a whole other level—where you just say somebody’s name and it’s just like, “Icon.” Like Snoop Dogg, for instance, is an icon. Britney Spears, Madonna...just say a name, it has a certain weight to it. Justin Bieber, see what I mean?

I was on Instagram and saw a picture of you, Drake, and Justin Bieber...was that any indication of something to come?
I’d have to let them tell you. But we’re basically best friends, so anything’s possible.

Riff Raff shows off his new kicks for the cam.
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Does it frustrate you when people try to put you in a box and categorize you?
It’s frustrating in a sense that—not that I care if they even understand me or not—but that they don’t even take me seriously, 'cause I don’t care if people take me serious. They just don’t understand yet. They don’t see how far I’ma go yet, so all I have to do is wait till my album drops, wait till my show comes on TV, wait for all this so I can be like, “Finally! Now these motherfuckers can’t say anything.” These are all things that are established, that are set in stone. They’re gonna happen, but they haven’t happened yet. Now all I have to do is just wait until all these things air, and my album drops, all these tours, I haven’t even started yet, so everything has all been speculation. Until you drop that album and people see what you’re doing, where you’re going, it’s all speculation. Just like when LeBron was in High School and he was about to go pro, they were like, “Oh, is he gonna do this, is he gonna do that, how many points is he gonna score?” Then you have all these people hating on you, saying this, that, and the other thing. Now he’s finally winning championships back to back, it’s like putting a silence to anyone who had any doubts or hatred towards you. And even if they hate you, now they hate you for a reason, because, ”Aw, he was talking shit, and he did it.”

Allen Iverson was saying, “Aw man, I don’t need practice,” and then he went out there and scored 40 straight like three games in a row. That right there, that’s me. I don’t fumble the ball, I consistently put out hits, original songs. I mean, I did a few remixes this year, but at first I did my own songs—all original beats, choruses, all that. The proof is there—nobody’s ever had a movie made about them, nobody’s had somebody steal a character idea. So with a situation like that, that’s not some new stuff. Even though people have the proof in their face—they have the lines, then the movie, and the emails, and the pictures of James Franco saying he’s “Film Gang RiFF RAFF,” it doesn’t matter to people, they ignore it, they wanna look away, until they see me have a picture with like 5, 10 million dollars cash in front of me, like, “Now do you believe me?” But I use that as fuel. Nobody will stop me. I use it as fuel like, “Okay. You wanna kiss somebody else’s ass, and then come to me like I’m lying or something like that...okay.”

You’re polarizing. People come out to see you, you’ve got tons of views, you’ve got tracks, but still...
Yeah, tonight Highline Ballroom sold out, but that’s not gonna be the headline tomorrow. It’s gonna be like, “Oh, he didn’t do this,” or “The sound messed up on track two.” That’s happened so many times. I’ve sold out venue after venue for the last year, and then some small-time, no-name writer from a big magazine—they end up sending him out there, 'cause I’m a “newer” artist, so they don’t send the big editors out there, they don’t send the people who have credibility. They send some random editor out there from a well-known label, and if they don’t like my music, it’s more opinionated than based on facts, so it doesn’t carry weight. But to other people that are reading it, that might make them react like, “Yo, I’m not going to his show now.” Doesn’t matter, I’ll still sell out, but it’s just like, just dealing with that type of...it’s like a volcano, 'cause I lean on it. You can hold it down for as long as you can, but once it explodes...the village is getting roasted.

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At a certain point, it’s gotta be like “You’ve got to be kidding me...”
Yeah. I’m not even mad and frustrated 'cause I’ve constantly, repeatedly—80 songs I haven’t even dropped yet. A whole album, a TV show. So I’m not frustrated, I’m not mad, there’s nothing that’s holding me back. It’s just like, I do sit there and I’m like, I’ve got two videos on MTV now, I’ve got another one dropping, got another one with Trinidad James and Migos dropping on MTV. It will get there; people are just warming up to me. People taking my words from five years ago and putting it to movies—that should say something.

Is the hate more media-driven, artist-driven, both? 
I think artists who are true artists—your Justin Biebers, your Drakes, your A$AP Rockys, Chief Keefs—top people, top top people with good mentalities, of course they’re going to fuck with me, 'cause they also received a lot of hatred too. It gets bipolar when you get to this type of level. It's either they love you or they hate you. This isn’t the most famous I'ma be, it's just how it is before my album. But for the most part, it’s all good.

You went from XXL's The Break in 2012 to headlining a sold out concert at Highline Ballroom. Is that mainly because of your progression as an artist?
People are catching up from five years ago. I’ve been shooting jumpers for years. It’s not me. Whenever people are ready to give me some, I'ma take it. To me I should have been on the cover of magazines years ago. But whatever, I’m sure everybody says that but they can’t say it with the same sincerity like how say it, the same facts to back up shit. I gotta keep it going.

Do you feel people copy you? 
I’m not even going to say if they do or don’t. I’m just going to say, I’m a big trendsetter. There’s a lot of things that I do that people latch on to and but they aren’t going to give me credit for it. But if there is someone [else] who did it, they might give them credit for it and take ’em on tour with them. But it doesn’t work like that with me. For whatever reason, I don’t know. But I know when I’m on top, man, then people ain’t going to see that no more. But now it’s at a point where you can’t just get away with people just straight copying me. For instance, the Spring Breakers situation, I have people on my timeline that says, “Oh, Riff Raff look like the guy from Spring Breakers." I’m like, what? How that happen? Copy as they say is the biggest form of flattery. But you can’t take it and say you invented that style. People copy all the time but it's whatever. Can’t do anything about it. You either going to complain about it or you just keep going.

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