Troy Ave Breaks Down His Independent Hustle

Like My Style
A true indie artist at heart, Troy Ave stays focused as he pushes himself to new heights.
Words Emmanuel Maduakolam
Images Shareif Ziyadat
Editor’s Note: This story originally appeared in the Summer 2015 issue of XXL Magazine featuring our 2015 XXL Freshman Class. Check out everything from our Freshman issue right here.

Sure, he’s cocky and overly confident, but that’s just part of Troy Ave’s charm. He means no harm. Troy just wants to win and is so focused all he can see is first place. Similar to how 50 Cent and Kanye West used to assure people they would one day be superstars, Troy follows that same way of thought and action. Hell, it worked for 50 and ’Ye, so who’s to say it won’t work for Troy?

Since being picked as part of the 2014 XXL Freshman Class, the 28-year-old MC has had an impactful year. After turning down opportunities to sign to a major label, Troy released his first LP, New York City: The Album, on his BSB Records, then dropped two mixtapes with his BSB crew. He had two big records, “Your Style” and “All About The Money,” got an endorsement deal with Sean John, swapped out his Jeep Wrangler for a Bentley and started recording his second album and newest offering, Major Without A Deal, which boasts the infectious single “Doo Doo.”

Now with the support of new mentors including 50 Cent and T.I. and the release of his second album, Troy is ready for his next step. While visiting the new XXL offices on the East Side of Manhattan on a late May afternoon, Troy reflected on his successful 2014, new LP, weirdos, overt confidence and his plans for the next year.

Powder!

XXL: What’s the good and bad that came out of being a Freshman?
Troy Ave: The good things that came out of Freshman is that it gave me more notoriety and it was like a stamp of approval. That’s something that I always wanted and aspired to have and I was going to get. It puts you on that platform. It’s like getting put on the block, now it’s up for you to hustle to get the money out the block. Nothing really bad happened. I wanted to be in the front. It’s amazing I was able to do what I did tucked in the fuckin’ back, but I can’t think of shit bad that happened because of the Freshman cover.

What is the most important thing you learned this past year?
If God knows your heart and you got good intentions and pray on some real shit, good shit happens. I’m having the best year in my life. I just had a baby, got more bread than ever, all my enemies are nothing. I’m getting mad love in the streets, we sucker free and stress free.

What’s it been like for you?
Mad achievements that we did. I just had my video premiered in Times Square, shit was amazing. I got a Sean John deal, a commercial on TV, companies trying to get me to be their brand ambassador and they’re trying to give me money for this shit. It’s so crazy that I’m turning shit down and I never thought I’d do that. It’s like you know you’re going to an island. You know that there’s going to be some trees, blue water and nice weather. But you didn’t know there were going to be bitches, good weed and expensive champagne for cheap.

I got a plan. I’m ’bout to drop my Major Without A Deal album. I’m telling everybody it’s going to be the rap album of the year. I’m giving you rap album of the year, the shit that started from the streets. Not just yelling a bunch of street shit, no, I’m giving you fuckin’ songs with substance and based on real life shit. That’s what makes the shit what I’m doing more special. And I’m doing it from an independent standpoint. We doing it with my own producer, my own sound, my own studio, my own words, it’s nothing. I don’t need fuckin’ scented candles or aromatherapy or 12 virgins lined up in order to record. I just go in there, fuck shit up and get out of there.

Sometimes it seems like rappers are becoming divas. Kind’ve sad to see that, right?
Niggas become actresses, not even actors. The game feminine, man. I get a lot of love from the real ones. I always be dissin’ weirdos. I’m just saying what rap is, this is what real rap is. Rap don’t fuckin’ evolve. You can have sub-genres in rap but this is what really rap is. If you go see an action movie, that shit is an action movie all the way the fuck through, whatever year to now. This is street rap, this what I represent, this what makes the foundation of rap. But certain people on different, whether it be publications or media outlets, I’m dissing people who are like them and they can’t separate the two. Like I don’t do a bunch of drugs, I’m the dealer. On the totem pole of life, the hierarchy is, the dealer is up here and the user is down here. So if a muthafucka is in a media outlet, he’s like, “Damn, this guy is dissing me, I used fuckin’ coke every day.” Which is nothing wrong, get high, do what you do but understand where you at with it.

Now if there’s another rapper who raps about using coke, they’re going to favor them if they’re doing their job incorrectly. But if you doing your job correctly and focusing on the music, taking your personal feelings out of it, that’s when you get honest opinions and shit that last for past the fad that’s popular right now.

Define weirdo, because it seems like it can be applicable to people you just personally don’t like.
No, that’s not true. I like some weirdos. I have some friends that are weirdos. I even listen to some weirdo music, that’s a fact. But you have weirdo rappers and you got to embrace that. If you wearing fuckin’ tight-ass pants, I think you’re a weirdo, straight up. Me, I got a fade with design in my head. But if a nigga got finger waves in his hair or some abstract hairstyles... Perfect example, there’s been weirdo rappers since back in the days. When Run-DMC dropped, remember rap used to dress up in costume and all type of crazy shit. That ain’t what you got to do ’cause you don’t look like what the fuck you rappin’ about. If you’re rapping about hustlin’ and getting money in the street, do you wear that when you hustlin’? So why would you wear that when you’re performing, feel what I’m saying? So now when Run-DMC came through they’re like, Fuck what y’all weirdos doing. We wearing Adidas all black shell toes, dressing how we really dress in the streets.

Weirdo rappers are abstract people, might be feminine; that’s not acceptable. A male is a male, a woman is a woman, that’s just straight up, I don’t care about who give a fuck how you feel or politically correct. I’m self-made and self-paid. I don’t have to be politically correct. That’s why I said, “Niggas dressing weird just to be with weirdos/Nigga acting gat just to get dineros.”

The weirdos stick together and then it be a weirdo in a position of power who embrace another weirdo and another weirdo and next thing you know, the weirdos are winning. That’s only because it’s harder for a real nigga to fuck with another real nigga ’cause it’s that aggression there and that pride. Weirdos are people who just do abstract, dumb shit. Muthafucka might fall out on stage. The crazy styles are just tight-ass pants and just awkward muthafuckas. It’s nothing wrong with being a weirdo, just embrace it. Don’t act like you a street nigga if you’re a weirdo ’cause that’s where the lines get blurry and get crossed. Just be yourself, be a weirdo. I’m not going to lash out or be upset about that. That’s what the fuck you are. But there’s an exception for every rule. If someone being a weirdo, I ain’t never mad at them at all. It’s not for me though.

You’re working with T.I. and 50 Cent now. How are they helping you? Are they trying to sign BSB to G-Unit or Grand Hustle?
Nothing like that yet. 50 Cent not official yet but he helped me get money behind the scenes, like he put my new song on his TV show, Power. Tip, if I do a major label deal, the way it would get structured would be like T.I. is in on BSB Records. It would be like how Dre and Eminem had Shady/Aftermath. Dre had Aftermath and signed Em but when Eminem got his shit, Dre and Em came together for Shady/Aftermath. So it won’t be like a deal where I’m signed to Grand Hustle, I’m strictly BSB Records. We’re just going to get this money together.

Where does 50 Cent fall into this? It seems like earlier in your career you wanted to avoid his shadow because of the comparisons.
I always embraced 50. It was just him coming around to embrace me. I ain’t no fraud nigga. If someone inspired me to rap, I’m going to say that shit, whether we’re the best of friends or enemies, that’s just being real. 50 wasn’t embracing me all the way at first; I mean, he had to embrace me at some point since he had to sign off on Tony Yayo being on my album. My story has been consistent. 50 Cent is one of my favorite rappers, he inspired me to rap, people was comparing us so much. I don’t sound like 50 in my voice but I had the cockiness, which is just confidence.

When you’re paid, you’re going to feel confident. I didn’t have any big homie or secret funder helping me, I did it myself. So why wouldn’t I be confident? If I put myself here, can’t nobody take me out ’cause nobody helped to put me here.