The Break Presents: $not

You never know until you try. Back in 2016, when he was just 17 years old, the artist who would come to be known as $not was skipping high school classes to record at a friend's makeshift studio set up. While it may have seemed irresponsible at the time, all of that extracurricular activity resulted in the Brooklyn-born, Florida-residing rapper coming up with "Gosha" in late 2018. The song, which is named for the popular clothing line, placed him in the spotlight—it's been streamed nearly 40 million times. It's all thanks to $not's deadpan delivery over a beat that can be best described as something you'd hear in a 1920s speakeasy. Since, he's signed a deal with 300 Records and followed up with songs like the Wifisfuneral-assisted "Beretta" and "Megan." $not, who is slated to make an appearance at Day N Vegas this weekend, is now hard at work on his debut project.

Get to know $not in this week's edition of XXL's The Break.

Age: 21

Hometown: Brooklyn

I grew up listening to: "Lil Wayne. André 3000, Tyler, The Creator. A lot of Memphis rappers [like] Three 6 Mafia [and] Shawty Pimp."

My style’s been compared to: "They give me weird comparisons because I sound different all the time. Sometimes they'll say Juice Wrld. It's just weird. I don't really sound like anybody."

My standout records to date have been: "Obviously 'Gosha.' I had 'Excuse Me,' but that got deleted. That was gonna be bigger than 'Gosha.' It was a copyright [issue]. It sucks—that was a big song."

My most slept-on song is: "'Motorola.' That's one of my favorites. I just think it was a different time. If I dropped it now, it would be different."

My standout moments to date have been: "This, the XXL thing. That's kinda big. I'll be watching [cyphers and freestyles] way back, like the BasedGod one, Mac Miller, all that."

Most people don’t know: "People know a lot about me."

I’m going to blow up because: "I can't really say, it's whatever. It depends what a blow up is to you. To me, like walking outside and someone's playing my shit, that's a blow up to me. I'm walking inside of a Foot Locker and they're playing my shit, that's a blow up, it's genuine."

I’m going to be the next: "XXL Freshman, I guess!"

Follow $not on Instagram and SoundCloud.

Standouts:

"Gosha"

"Beretta" featuring Wifisfuneral

"Megan"

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