The Break Presents: Loso Loaded

"Ninth ward, put this shit on my back," Atlanta rapper Loso Loaded delivers on his new song "Fast Life" featuring PnB Rock. The lyrics are a testament to the kind of guy he is. The 23-year-old has never forgotten where he's come from; he's just made sure his passion for rapping has allowed him to flourish.

"I come from a street called Delmar Lane," Loso tells XXL. "We call it Ninth ward. It's just like anywhere else that you come from, from the 'hood, where it's just a lot of poverty and people going through different things every day so it's a lot of problems 'cause everybody not fortunate enough to have different stuff. The thing about where I'm from is you can either make it or not make it and it all depends on how you carry yo'self."

According to Loso, there was a time he was in the streets but saw a future involving much more for himself. "What you wanna do in life? If you wanna be out there selling drugs and stuff for the rest of your life than that's what you can do but like I'm glad, shout-out to my brothers, they help me visualize what I really wanted to do in life," he shares. "I've been in the streets. I done did everything you can name in the streets but I never really took it serious more than the music. Music was my girlfriend. I ain't never had no girls and all that, like I have a girl now, but music been my girlfriend since I started. That was like since I was like 13."

When Loso was in the ninth grade he realized music was his calling. Basketball was also his thing, but hip-hop (and some Natasha Bedingfield) was his first priority. The rapper, who's signed to Atlanta-based imprint Bases Loaded Records, got to work and started making a name for himself down South.

Last year, he really started gaining momentum, collaborating with the likes of hometown rap peers Lil Yachty on "Loso Boat" and 21 Savage for "Extortion." The accompanying music videos for both tracks proved Loso Loaded could not only spit, but he had a sense of humor (peep that intro in the "Loso Boat" visual) and wasn't somebody to mess with (the guy playing pool learned a valuable lesson in "Extortion"). Songs with PnB Rock ("Plottin") and Fetty Wap ("Run Ya Bands Up") have also expanded his audience.

Now in 2017, the rhymer is preparing for the release of his debut project, Bomb First. Featuring production from Omen, Judo, B Racks and Samba, among others, Loso's forthcoming mixtape is a sign he's ready for battle.

"Bomb First. Bomb first, don't get bombed on. So really what I'm doing is, it's the top of the year, it's the first quarter, I'm jus' gon' go on and bomb first," he explains. "And like, if you don't want to get bombed on then you need to throw them bombs back, you feel me? I just feel like this whole thing is a competition so I have to bomb first to not get bombed on. If I sit back then I'ma get bombed on. So I got to go on out there like [New England Patriots'] Tom Brady or [Atlanta Falcons'] Matt Ryan and I gotta do my thing."

"Out of Season" is one of the tracks showcasing why he deserves a spot in the game. "It's me all the way. It's just my energy, everything. I just went in there like, you know how you might drink and get so drunk you throw up? I threw that up. I didn't go and write nothing down. It just came out," Loso says.

While fans wait for Bomb First to drop, Loso's got his new track with PnB Rock, "Fast Life," and his feature on SahBabii's "Pull Up Wit Ah Stick." The video for the song was released earlier this month and finds both Atlanta artists surrounded by a heavily-armed crew as they trade bars.

Find out more about Loso Loaded's come up in XXL's The Break.

Age: 23

Hometown: Atlanta

I grew up listening to: "Hot Boys made a big mark for me. I'm from Atlanta so people like Shawty Lo, Gucci Mane. But my favorite artist like coming up is Future. I took a lot of stuff from Future and people like that. My songs like really never came from them. The reason why you hear my music go all over the place is because I used to listen to people like Natasha Bedingfield. I used to listen to people like Leona Lewis, 'Bleeding Love.'

"I used to listen to all different type of stuff. As far as Future, 1000 made really me want to rap. Dirty Sprite really made me want to rap. That's what really, really made me want to rap. I ain't gon' lie, the Guccis and stuff, I liked it, I liked the music but they didn't make me want to make music. Those mixtapes that Future dropped really made me want to make music too."

My style’s been compared to: "I have never got a comparison. People really tell me that I'm original. I like Future a lot but nobody ever told me I sound like him or nothing. If somebody was to say it, I listened to him all the time, you feel me? I don't even know him. I just made sure I came original with it and did my own thing. That's why the people like Loso Loaded. He just original."

Most people don’t know: "What I really used to like do before rapping was playing basketball. So, you know, that was a big thing for me. I gave that up. I still play from time to time, but rapping is my No. 1 thing now. And I listen to slow jams. It made me get different flows and not be the same on every track. And not every time you hear me like, 'Oh, I know how he ready to come in.'

"You'll never know how I'm ready to come in 'cause the music that I listen to, I listen to Lil Uzi, a lot of stuff. I listen to A Boogie, PnB Rock, but who I listen to the most is A Boogie and PnB Rock right now. That's all I listen to."

My standout records to date have been: "I actually have a couple of them. 'Loso Boat' with Lil Yachty, the song ['Extortion'] with 21 Savage it really, really got me going. The song with PnB Rock, 'Plottin', that type of stuff got me going. Now I'm able to help other people as far as my little brother Sah; he got a song called 'Pull Up Wit Ah Stick' I'm a feature on it. And I was able to help him bring that up, you feel me? With all that help that I got I was able to go out and help too, you feel me, and help somebody build their brand up."

My standout moments to date have been: "I feel like when I got back off the road with PnB Rock like beginning of December. I looked Rock in his eyes and was like, 'Man, my life finna change when I get back to Atlanta. Like people really gon' know me and stuff.' And I was like, 'I don't understand it.' But I'm understanding it now. you feel me?

"I ain't understand it until I got there and people was like, 'You're Loso Loaded, you're Loso Loaded. Ay, I know who you are. I know you probably don think I know you but you're Loso Loaded. So I felt good about that. I felt good about that and I had a whole bigger confidence about my music after that had happened. That was the time, soon as I got off the road and back to Atlanta. That was when we shot the 'Pull Up Wit Ah Stick' video and stuff like that and it was just a lot of support. It's like the whole city behind what I got going on."

My goal in hip-hop is: "To be the biggest thing and to have relationships with the other biggest people. Be able to make a difference in my neighborhood and my family and stuff. That's the type of stuff I want to do in music. And help different people that need help. Not just, you feel me, everything is about money. Everything is about helping.

"If you look at somebody like myself, who doesn't have a project or anything, then relationships did it for me. It's a lot of stuff I don't have to do because of the relationships that I built, you feel me? I don't have to slave myself as much. There's different ways I have to slave myself; there's just certain ways I don't have to do different stuff to make a name for myself or none of that because I'm likable as a person. I have them on my team -- the relationships that I made.

"I want to end up by 2017 making sure that my project is one of the biggest projects that dropped this year. And I want it to have an effect and I want to have an effect on the people this year. And another thing I want to do that anybody else probably want to do is I want to make a lot of money, you feel me? And I want to be able to provide for the neighborhood and my family and different people that's around me. I just want to accomplish the top level of stuff. If I drop a mixtape, I want it to go global. If I drop a song I want it to go global, you feel me? If I do a dance I want it to go global. I just want to take over period -- the streets, internet, the game, the business, everything."

I’m going to be the next: "Biggest thing in the universe. I'm gonna work myself and I'ma stay humble. One thing about a humble person anything can come to 'em. And I'ma pray a lot, you know. I know my life is in God hand. My mother's deceased so I know my life is in her hand. She doin' all this for me. I feel like if I just keep working and doing my thing and just be Loso Loaded I will be the next biggest thing in the universe."

Follow Loso Loaded on Twitter and SoundCloud.

Standouts:

"Loso Boat" Featuring Lil Yachty

"Extortion" Featuring 21 Savage

"Plottin" Featuring PnB Rock

"Fast Life" Featuring PnB Rock

SahBabii's "Pull Up Wit Ah Stick" Featuring Loso Loaded

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