“Everybody Says I Got a Heart of Gold:” An Interview with Rx Papi

The Rochester rapper speaks to Anthony Malone about his life in the streets, living through grief, rapping about mental health and more.
By    February 10, 2021
Photo by New England Boy

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Rx Papi’s music brings you into the world of dope dealers and drug addiction, where a bright smile camouflages the reality of surviving amongst the bloodshed. He depicts landscapes where mere survival tests the strength of one’s love, pride, integrity, and humanity. Despite his relative youth, the Rochester rapper had already witnessed incalculable pain and consequences. You don’t need the biography; you can hear it in the music. 

For Rx Papi, a regular day in his blue collar former industrial boomtown consisted of copping some weed and filling his pockets with dead presidents. “Go and hit a lick, go do what we do, shit by the end of the night niggas got a couple of hundred dollars, a new outfit, and new sneakers on,” he tells me. 

Before rapping, Pap found further opportunities through drugs, the scraping of the pot, and the stench of burnt rubber permeating the kitchen walls. His songs read like chapters of an autobiography, or a live feed of his thought patterns. He often raps about his paranoia and anxiety, the happenings in his upbringing that impacted him, and what typically leads to 5.56 shells hitting the ground. The anxious mindset is omnipresent, but his sense of humor and charisma give him a three-dimensionality. Deadpanned and numbly delivered lines like, “Bitch I look better than King Tut” and “I’m riding for my dog like Michael Vick” add a balance to the gun-waving and threats to the opposition.

The production compliments his personality. It’s unpredictable, jumping from smooth-jazz and r&b to triumphant trap horns that’ll blow out your car speakers. Rx Papi can rap on any obscure sounding sample such as the boot-up menu space sounds of the PlayStation 2, or the Law and Order theme. Throughout his already extensive 11 projects, the upstate New York rapper isn’t afraid to take risks or experiment. In that vein, he’s an heir to Max B, especially in the way he uses dirty drunken crooning. His voice is monotone, fueled by Percocet and Lean, he remains focused as he dishes out non-sequiturs akin to a cafeteria freestyle with a group of friends using pens to emulate 808 claps. You can’t put Pap in a box, he doesn’t stay in a singular lane. His demeanor in his songs come across as bi-polar: one minute he’s calm, the next his voice is strained from shouting threats hurled at his enemies.

On his most recent release, Mood, Rx Papi bleeds on the beat, alternating between confessions of his demons listeners and euphoria. When asked about the record, he explains: “Mood is based on my inner feelings, good, bad or ugly”. It’s unfiltered and raw, an exposed nerve where the pain eventually forces you to laugh out of shock. A dark abyss, where the grief leads to a dark comedy as a way of preserving what’s left of your sanity. 

Over a 50-minute phone call, Rx Papi immersed me into a world that’s never been too kind to him, but only now starting to look up. Throughout our conversation, the burden he shoulders was apparent, yet he was well-focused, determined, and excited over his music career. We discussed death and the paranormal, his exploding rap career, growing up in Rochester, and how he copes from the PTSD he’s developed over the years. — Anthony Malone


I know you’re from upstate, New York — Rochester to be more specific. Were you born and raised there?


Rx Papi: Hell yeah.


On “Nancy” you said growing up was hell. What was your household like when you were younger?


Rx Papi: My shit was crazy. My dad died when I was 4. Shortly after that, my mom started fucking with some dude, who ended up being her husband now. I was just like any regular, rebellious kid. I didn’t really listen to anything or do what I was told, so because of that, my mom didn’t want to deal with me. So I was in the streets, early as a bitch.


How has that relationship with your mother developed as you got older?


Rx Papi: My mom is like my best friend now. I damn near tell my mom everything. Whatever I got going on, I call my mom and tell her, “this is what I got going on.” I go to jail, I call my mom like, “Yo mom, I’m down here, they got me booked.” She got like a youngin’ type of spirit, you feel me? And she looks mad young so people think she’s either my girl or my sister when we go out. My mom and I are cool as shit now, you just gotta understand it.


Any siblings or are you an only [child]?


Rx Papi: I got two younger sisters, I got a younger brother on my mom’s side, and I got a younger sister on my dad’s side. Me and her are cool, we aren’t super, super close but we’re cool. I got a bunch of stepbrothers, sisters, cousins, and shit.


So were you like the man of the house?


Rx Papi: So nah, not really. It’s crazy, right. When my mom was with her husband, I was like 11, 12, or 13, that nigga was in prison or some shit like that. I used to go out and burglarize houses, I used to rob niggas, this was before I started going drug crazy. I used to do mad little shit as a kid, I’d come back and like “Yo Ma, here,” and it would be x amount of hundred dollars. And she would be like, “I don’t want that”, and it would fuck me up a little bit. Like you don’t know what the fuck I had to go through for this. You know what I’m saying? So, I wasn’t really the man of the house, I wasn’t really in the house, but I always tried to help my mom. I always try to help everybody around me. If I got the money, and there’s a person in a bad situation, and if I fuck with them — I’m going to try to help them. Everybody says I got a heart of gold.


Can you tell me what a regular day was like for you as a teen?


Rx Papi: I’d normally just wake up, I used to be with my older cousin a lot, BK. God bless his soul, he passed away. I used to be with him. So we would wake up, probably have 10, 15 dollars to a nigga’s name, niggas get some weed. Niggas would stand outside for a little minute until a lick come. Go and hit a lick, go do what we do, shit by the end of the night niggas got a couple of hundred dollars, a new outfit, and new sneakers on. Shit, we’d go and have some fun, go to a house party, and do some regular shit. It was regular. Once I started hustling, that’s when the days started getting crazy. There would be days I don’t sleep, days I sleep outside in the car, it was crazy. But my days as a teen, I wouldn’t say was like every other teen’s, but we were having fun with all of the mischief. We were just bad ass kids.


Do you ever wish to go back to more simpler times, when things were less serious and had fewer consequences?


Rx Papi: I would be on some shit where I wish I knew then what I know now, type shit. I never really be like, “I wish I could go back and do something differently,” I don’t want to do anything different — everything happens for a reason.


There’s always an album or song that stuck with us when we were growing up — good times and bad. What would you say was the soundtrack of your childhood? For example, who were you fucking with when were hustling?


Rx Papi: Gucci and OJ Da Juiceman, hands down. I used to also bump a lot of Max B when I was hustling. Still bump Max B. But yeah it would’ve been those three. I didn’t have any set album, because all three of them were going crazy back then. Every tape that would drop, I would say that’s it. Wop would drop and I’d say that’s it, Juice would drop and I would say that’s it. Max dropped and that’s it. So I can’t name a specific song.


If you had to keep one album on you at all times, what would it be?


Rx Papi: Damn, that’s a good-ass question… I think it would probably be the Gucci Sosa tape.


What music would you normally hear around your city?


Rx Papi: When I was growing up, everyone was on some South shit. Niggas bumping slop, niggas bumping Gucci, the same shit I was bumping. You got old head niggas that listen to the Lox and Jadakiss and shit like that. I wasn’t into any shit like that. I was into shit like Gucci. You got certain niggas bumping Jay Z albums, I’m not really into shit like that, you feel me?


So you were more into Southern rap?


Rx Papi: I wouldn’t even say southern rap, I would say it’s that bounce and that energy they are putting out that just matches my lifestyle more than a Jadakiss, or Jay Z song. Put some Gucci on, now it’s like “Nah, I’m going outside” and make something happen.


You have Buffalo an hour away, and guys like Griselda rose to fame last year. Did Buffalo’s influence at all carry over to Rochester?


Rx Papi: Hell nah. I don’t know any other artist from Buffalo other than Benny. Before Griselda came out, I didn’t know who Conway was — this is no disrespect to them — but I didn’t know who none of them were, but I knew Benny on a personal level. First time I met Benny I thought he was from Rochester. It took being in the studio with him to find out he’s from Buffalo. I wouldn’t say they had any influence over here.


That’s pretty dope you’ve been in the studio with Benny previously.


Rx Papi: I was young, I was 19… yeah I was 19, I didn’t even get shot yet. This was before I got shot.


What things changed for you after you got shot?


Rx Papi: Shit, I was wildin’ still. I had caught a drug case right before I got shot. I ended up making bail, bailed out October 10th, and got shot 7 days later — 10/17 — no cap. Yeah, I got shot, ended up getting shot in the back, went to the hospital, I signed myself out of the hospital after like 6 days. I had to learn to walk on my own, around my neighborhood, mad shit. The court case was the last thing on my mind, so I’m like “fuck court, I’m not going” so I ended up having a warrant for that. I end up going to jail for 21 months because of that case. I got out of jail after doing the 21 months, now I’m free. I ain’t got no papers, I’m not on nothing. I start hustling again, run my money up, and I would probably say a year later, I catch another case, I catch a robbery. I take the charge for my man really, that’s on my papers right now. When I got out of jail, I was on probation for the robbery I’m on now. I ended up catching a violation for a new robbery, got sent back, ended up beating that, then got released again. After being released, I tried being humble and shit and decided to do something different.


Was that something different happen to be rapping?


Rx Papi: Yeah, I was always rapping ever since I was a little boy. Anyone in my family can tell you. Ever since I was 9 years old, I was just rapping and I was talking that shit too. When I got out, I just said I was going to take this shit seriously, I was going to give it my all. I decided I was going to keep putting out music, drop as many videos as I can, and by doing that I started staying off the streets. I started staying out the way a whole lot more. People who haven’t seen me would see me and look shocked, being like “where’ve you been?” I be telling them I got this music, so bump my shit.


At what moment did you realize you could turn this into a career?


Rx Papi: There was this dude from Charlotte (I forgot his name), and he has this YouTube page with a lot of subscribers. I got him to upload one of my songs on his page, it was “Chanel Number 9,” and it did 2000 views in its first week. I’ve never got any views that fast, so when I saw that I said I was going to drop another one. So I dropped song, after song. I had gone and got my own little studio setup, went and got a mic, bought an interface, a laptop, a mic stand, and I would just record. Every song I would record, I would send it to him saying “upload this.’’ And I had ended up doing a song called “Circumstances,” and that’s the song that really went crazy. It did like 30,000 or 40,000 first month. I was like that’s it, and I went from there.


Do you see a career in music as a way out or just another form of making money?


Rx Papi: Nah, I see this shit as a way out for me. Where I’m from, you don’t get too many chances to get out. With rapping, you gotta think about how many lives you can change with your music. You feel me? Change your mom’s life, change your brother’s life, change your sister’s life, change your own life. Get you out of that bad environment you may be in, or whatever the case is.


I feel like a lot of issues with the younger dudes reside in the fact they aren’t thinking about other people, just their own lives.


Rx Papi: Yeah, that’s the thing too. Niggas gotta be smart, you gotta be smart. I can’t speak for everyone else, I’m not going to let whether or not I’m in a fucked up situation make me do some bullshit when I know my value and worth. You got artists that sign deals and pass away and make millions, and the family doesn’t get any of that. A label, someone that has no relation to them is making all that money. You got to be smart and know what you’re doing.


How firmly do you believe that artists should own their own masters?


Rx Papi: I believe that one hundred percent. I believe every artist should own their masters because it goes like this… in my case, I record all my own music, I mix all my own music. I reach out to all these producers on my own. My team reaches out. So it’s like, I’m gonna sign to you, why would I give you a percentage of everything that I’m doing on my own. I would give you a percentage of something else, but not my masters — hell no.


When you’re in the booth, do you freestyle your music or do you write?


Rx Papi: I made a song two days ago, I think I wrote the first five bars down. That’s the first time I’ve written anything in years. I never really write, I always freestyle. I don’t write anything, it was the first time I recorded on Live, and people see me actually freestyling.


What do you look for when picking a beat?


Rx Papi: I say this shit every time someone asks me this, the first 30 seconds of the beat gotta sound like heaven. Whatever heaven sounds like, I’ll know it when I hear it. That’s probably a weird way to explain it, you’re probably like “what the fuck,” I don’t know it just got to have that sound that just captures you.


The first time I heard “Dreams and Nightmares” by Meek Mill…


Rx Papi: Oh yeah! See, it just does something to you. You get goosebumps and shit like that. That’s when I know this is the one.


On “Criminal Intent,” you rapped over a flipped sample of the Law and Order theme. The song has no hook, just straight rapping. What was your reaction when you first heard the beat?


Rx Papi: This Detroit nigga fire as fuck. Lord, that’s Veeze’s song, he’s from Detroit and shit. When I first heard it, I think I heard it on an Instagram meme. I checked out the comments and they said it’s from a dude named Veeze. I look him up, I play his song, I have a sound system in my car and I was knocking that shit all day. And by the time I got home I had looked up the instrumentals, and it only dropped 9 hours ago earlier that day. I went and made my own version. That’s why when I uploaded it, I put “shoutout to Detroit”. The beat was so new, I ain’t want nobody thinking I was trying to steal. Like nah, if anything I was paying homage to the nigga real quick because that shit hard.


Are you looking to work with any Detroit artists at all?


Rx Papi: Yeah, I got something in the cut with a Big Detroit artist, I’m not going to say no names. It’s in the works and it’s going to be out and available for the people real, real soon. I’m excited… I ain’t even going to front, you see how 50 Cent just had NLE Choppa on a song, right? Real unexpected shit to see right? It’s going to be like that, it’s gonna be like, “what, Papi linked up with him?” Yeah, he linked up with me, I ain’t even link up with him — he found me, you know what I’m saying? But yeah it’s going to be viral.


Was “Rx Papi” always your top pick for a rap name, or did you have other ideas?


Rx Papi: I used to go by this name, Lil Fleechy. Lil Fleechy wasn’t my rap name, that was my real name in the streets, that was my nickname people used to call me. So I was really still doing street shit while rapping under that name, and due to all the street shit I was doing, I didn’t really get all the support I was supposed to be getting. Because, niggas know I did such and such, or something happened to someone, so I ain’t going to bump his shit. So when I changed my name, nobody’s going to know me, they’re going to say “who’s this Rx Papi!? I never heard of him, I’m going to keep bumping him”. And the whole time, you may have a real problem with me but he’s still bumping my music the whole time because he doesn’t know it’s me.


I know the streets have given you a place, and have shown you love that was not present in your home life. Since deciding to take on a rap career, how has the people, and the streets treated you differently?


Rx Papi: It’s good and it’s bad.


You can start with the positives.


Rx Papi: Of course when I go out and about, more people know me. They show me love, then it’s like the people that knew me before I was rapping or whatever, they look at it a little weird. They look at it like these people know me and I’m this stupid lit nigga, I don’t be around and I don’t fuck with niggas no more. That ain’t even the case, I’m just focused on what I got to do. Everyday I get on Instagram and my fans show me mad love.


How about the down sides?


Rx Papi: You got like any rap nigga, you got to be a little bit more… coming from the street, I’m already on point when I’m out and about. But like being that I have some type of name, it just put me on edge. It just keeps me on my A-game, it makes me more on point, more cautious over who I’m around, everybody feels like they got something to gain whether it’s in a positive way or a negative way. So I try to watch out for that.


On your most recent project, Mood, you do a lot of self-reflection. You can feel the sadness that trailed off the paranoia, and the anxiety that kept you up at night. What was going on in your life when you were recording it?


Rx Papi: Recording Mood… it exactly what it was, it was just a bunch of different moods I was going through. Like sometimes I would wake up and think about negative shit and bullshit, and that fucked my whole day up. The only way to get out of that mood is to record. I would talk about what I’m thinking about, or like I may have a bad ass dream, wake up from my dream, and then my heads fucked up a little bit. You know what I mean? Mood is based on my inner feelings, good, bad or ugly. How I feel, how I see certain things, shit on my mind, shit I can’t really call nobody and say “yo this is how I feel” or whatever the case is. Shit like that.


On “Cousin Tito” you talk about suicide, PTSD, and depression. Along with your sense of humor, those things seem to always creep in the distance in your songs. What was it like to vent and rap about it?


Rx Papi: Shit like, when I go off in those little rants (that’s what I call them), when I go off in these little dark rants, it really be directed towards people I know and I be hoping they hear it and hit me and hit my phone, so we can discuss how I’m really feeling. But like when I’m like, “how would you feel if I killed myself,” I was talking to somebody, the world didn’t know that. I was talking to somebody, that’s like the only way I could’ve said that to him. I couldn’t just pick up the phone, I’m not that person. Instead I put it in my music because you never know that there’s other people that feel that way with their people, or whatever they got going on they may feel like that. “How would you feel if this happened to me, how would you feel if that happened,” so that’s why I put it in the music too, cause it’s like there’s people who are the same as me. I’m not different from no man.


Did that person ever reply to you?


Rx Papi: Hell yeah.


How are you handling your mental health as your music career progresses?


Rx Papi: Smoke mad weed. [laughs] Smoke mad weed, if I’m high I can deal with anything. You being annoying, If shit gets stressful, I’m smoking a blunt. Give me about 15 minutes and I’m not worried about shit.


Mental health is a major topic in the music industry nowadays. Do you think drug usage amongst artists is doing more harm than good?


Rx Papi: I ain’t going to front, I feel like people are grown, they know right from wrong, they do what they do. If I pick up a gun and point it at a man and pull the trigger, I know god damn well there’s a chance this man could die and I know there’s a chance I could get caught and go to jail. So when all that does happen, I can’t be in jail like “aww this ain’t right,” because I’m a grown ass man and I know my rights from my wrongs. So if I sit here, no matter how I’m feeling and no matter what I got going on, and I abuse drugs or whatever the case may be — that’s on me, ain’t nobody can be held accountable. Like you came out your mom by yourself right?


Yeah.


Rx Papi: You’re going to go in the ground by yourself too. So it’s like all that other shit, yeah you can say some shit to a nigga like, “yo bro, I understand because I care” but at the end of the day that person is going to make their decision. just like when you were a kid your mom would say, “hey don’t go in the cookie jar, and get no cookies,” but as a kid we all did. Like fuck out of here, as long as your back is turned I’m going to grab three of them bitches. You know what I’m saying? I don’t know, the world would be better if everyone minds their own business. That’s what it really boils down to.


Every cause has an effect, and people feel every opinion needs to be voiced.


Rx Papi: People got to understand that yeah you’re entitled to your own opinion but that’s your opinion. You can’t force your on the world or a group of people, there’s motherfuckas that’s going to agree with you, motherfuckas going to disagree with you. That’s the way of the world.


Addiction is a common theme in music nowadays, and it’s something you’ve talked about in your songs along with the effects it has on the people close to you. How does addiction change your perception of the things around you?


Rx Papi: When something is going on, I’m going to turn to drugs. If I get into an argument with one of my people, I don’t really don’t want to talk to anyone, I just get high. And even before I would of took drugs or whatever the case may be, I’m real as fuck — once I feel a certain way about you, that’s kind of how I’m always going to feel. Shit can change, shit can change over the course of time, but I’m real as fuck and I hold mad grudges. On drugs, I probably still would be on some shit like “fuck you,” I don’t know… with or without drugs, I’m already nervous, I’m already paranoid, that’s how I am.


You’ve rapped about not being able to sleep without having a gun on your bed, and the cover art for Santeria supports this. Is that level of paranoia something that interferes in your daily life?


Rx Papi: I try to stay myself, I don’t try to make new friends, as far as networking I’m kind of pretty bad at it. Even when I’m out and about, I’m real cautious about where I’m at, how long I’m there for because it’s like… I did a lot things to people. And I’ve seen a lot of things get done to people, so I just know how shit could go, I know how shit can happen. I’m not trying to have that happen to me.


With everything you’ve experienced, do you feel your idea of how bad people can be changed at all? You’ve arguably seen the worst humanity has to offer.


Rx Papi: It’s crazy… I’ve seen the worst shit. The worst type of treatment in jail like in the streets. In jail, I’ve seen some crazy shit. It be on some brutality shit, you know what I’m saying? Like that, I’ve never seen niggas do some crazy gruesome shit. Like I’ve seen niggas just shoot niggas, but that shit is everyday. You watch that shit in the movies and you’re like, “aiight” but like to watch somebody really violate someone’s rights or some crazy shit, that’s fowl. Like that’s fowl, I didn’t think someone could be that fowl and do some shit like that. God damn I’ve seen that shit in jail.


Before going to prison, what was your relationship with God like?


Rx Papi: I ain’t religious, man, and I ain’t against people who are religious. I’m one of them niggas that don’t pray, I don’t really go to church, but as soon as I go to jail, and I’m locked up, I be on some shit. I be like, “God if you get me out of here I won’t do this again,” then the first day I’m out I’ll be back on the bullshit. I’m not really trying to be religious, but I tried to be! I gave it a shot. I used to go to church as a young boy with my step brother, said I could play drums for the church but I was never really into that. I used to be on my phone playing games or searching shit, I didn’t want to be there listening to what they were talking about. I’ve never really got into that shit. There’s so much bullshit that be happening to me, you know what I mean? I’m not even going to waste my time.


I feel like there’s moments in our lives that make us question whether or not spirituality is for you, I’ve had my moments and I’m sure you’ve had yours. What was that moment that made you realize maybe religion isn’t for you?


Rx Papi: When my auntie died. She died and I was just out of it. She was a lady that never did no wrong to anybody. Never had something bad said about her, nothing bad you know what I’m saying? She didn’t even smoke! Like you didn’t do anything wrong. You go to work, you help your family, man — now you got cancer, and you’re dying everyday, and niggas don’t know that you’re dying because you’re that strong. You’re holding it down, nobody even knows that you have cancer. So when I found out she had cancer, I prayed everyday. I said, “Yo please get this out my auntie.” And then she died… I just lost it. Then I started getting high, real high. I was 14 when my auntie died. After that I started getting super high.


I’m sorry man, I can’t imagine losing someone like that. I recently lost my grandfather a couple years ago, and it was the first time I experienced death like that. Death like that is different, you know?


Rx Papi: Yeah… shit… that’s life. Only thing niggas is promised in life is death.


You’ve made references to paranormal activity in your home, for example, you know a relative is present once the room gets cold. Do you have any first-hand experience with spirits and the afterlife?


Rx Papi: Hell yeah, mad times I’d be in my sleep and I’d feel like I’m being choked. I went to sleep one time, and I was by myself with the covers fully on me. I woke up and the covers were thrown across the room and all types of shit. I’m cold as a bitch, and I’m like fuck. There’s mad times, I’d see shit, I’d hear shit — I ain’t crazy nigga, I ain’t any of that. I’m just saying what is going on. I am seeing shit from the corner of my eye, I see my bro just sitting on the couch. I blink, he’s gone. That shit be fucking with me. I see my pops all the time too. That shit be fucking a nigga’s head up.


What goes through your mind once you start seeing these things?


Rx Papi: Shit, sometimes that shit breaks me down. Sometimes I sit down and I start crying. Other times, I just start talking. Sometimes I don’t say anything. Sometimes I get scared. A lot of times I get scared. Sometimes I see them and wonder what I’m doing wrong.


What do you fear in life the most?


Rx Papi: Dying broke. I don’t want to die broke. There’s other people after me, other people who are dependent on me. A lot of people are counting on me and If I die broke, then everything I did was for nothing. I didn’t reap anything out of it. I didn’t reap any benefits. To die broke, that’s crazy man. Even if you get life in prison, you can still make money and still can take care of your loved ones. To be dead and have no money. That’s fucked up.


As I’ve mentioned before, your music is raw — littered with your unfiltered thoughts. The music industry has revolved around realness as of late, do you think rappers are airing out their dealings and situations too much? Casanova’s situation involving VLADTV, and DJ Akademiks’ platform comes to mind.


Rx Papi: You gotta be smart. You gotta know, if you’re a self proclaimed street nigga, then you go in front of cameras and millions and start saying some off the wall shit. Most niggas don’t know that stature of limitations on most crimes we commit. We don’t know how long that’s gonna take to beat, you feel me? You go putting this out, and putting that out. Your songs are cool because you’re an artist that’s your creativity, and it can be fictitious. If I go on VladTV, and be like “yeah nah, I used to run with this neighborhood gang and I shot a nigga.” Nah. I know I shot a nigga, but I don’t know if he died or whatever the case may be. Somebody listening can just go back and say “this nigga’s dead and he’s here saying this and that.” You feel me, that’s my fucking fault. They’re wrong too though, for baiting niggas like that. Asking certain questions they ask, talk about certain things. These interview niggas know what they’re doing, man. You got rappers that have an open case and you’ll have an interviewer go on and ask them, “oh yeah so what’s going on with the case” knowing damn well if you had an open case you wouldn’t talk about it. How do you expect the next person to talk about it, like you trying to get that man to fuck themselves up.


Our judicial system uses rap lyrics to suppress and demean a form of art that’s used as an expression, in your opinion, what protects rappers from their lyrics being used against them in the courts?


Rx Papi: Shit I don’t know. I don’t know what you could use to protect us. This America we live in, right? I could rap about something completely made up in New York. But somebody may have got shot the same exact way I rapped about in Virginia. If somebody wanted to, they could say “well even though he’s from New York that ain’t that far from Virginia.” It’s like nothing really can protect you. You better have a good lawyer and an alibi for whatever time and date they say you’re there. You gotta be able to prove like, “Nah nigga, I was doing this, I was doing that.” Word that’s what’s going to save you from your lyrics: a good lawyer, and a god damn solid alibi. There you go.


I’ve seen guys like Drakeo the Ruler put up disclaimers before their raps too.


Rx Papi: Well yeah, yeah! That too! Even then, I’ve seen niggas who put up the disclaimer saying “these weapons are props” in their videos and still caught gun charges. Still.


Going into 2021, what do you hope to accomplish throughout the year? What’s your targeted goal?


Rx Papi: Just get bigger. Get bigger, keep perfecting my craft. Keep touching the people I touch with my music. Keep motivating the people I motivate, to keep helping the people I help. Do everything bigger and better, that’s it. It’s just improvement. And new and improved.


What can the world expect to see from you this year?


Rx Papi: A whole lot more visuals, a whole lot more vlogs. Way more visuals, way more me.


Are there any artists or producers you plan on working with this year?


Rx Papi: A producer I really want to work with is Zaytoven, and the artist I really want to work with is either OJ Da Juiceman or G Herbo. I know that’s crazy to throw together. If they start putting Max B out, then we are going to be on something.


What do you want the world to know about Rx Papi today?


Rx Papi: Shit man, the moral of the story is: it is what it is, it was what it was. It’s going to be what it’s going to be. You know what I’m saying? I got a lot more music, I got a lot more videos. Everyone who’s been rocking with me so far, thank you for rocking with me. All the newcomers, thank you I appreciate you. That’s what is, the year of the RX.

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