Aaliyah
Next Day
I sat thru the interview with Toot and listened to the questions they asked.
"Growing up in Syracuse, NY what was the household like growing up?" The interviewer asked.
"Honestly growing up in Syracuse, there wasn't really much around. Small town, everybody knows everybody. Everybody thinks it's the suburbs, but really it's one of the worst parts of New York. It was fast living and nobody to look up to. Till this day, it's still the same way." Toot answered.
"You moved to North Carolina at 13, when did music come into play?"
"When I moved to North Carolina, I fell in love with music. I really started paying attention to it. Things finally started settling down and I was still going through stuff, so I used music as a way to cope with everything I was going through"
"Biggest influences coming up?"
"My big brother and my dad are the reason I started music. I didn't really have any musical influences. The people I was looking up to weren't because of music, it's because of who they were. People like Nipsey, anybody who was an activist in the community."
"You recently released the deluxe to Platinum Heart, congrats!"
"I appreciate it, we went Top 20! We went Top 10 Hip Hop/Rap, #14 all genres. That's big for me, an artist who really has no features or anything."
"I was finna ask, why'd you decide to go with no features?"
"I stand alone. I don't want to be that artist who blew up off of a feature and that feature be the song where "alright, he's only known because of that feature." I couldn't see myself being that artist. Until I set the roots for myself, I really don't want to do any features. I have features, but never dropped them. I have features with Lil Durk, Lil Yachty, Wiz Khalifa, Tory Lanez, I have a lot. "
"When do you plan on dropping them?"
"This next album is going to have features."
"Given the success of Platinum Heart, what's the grind like to get to where you are now?"
"Honestly, it seemed fast because I'm here now. I didn't notice stuff happening because it's happening to me. It seems I've been living like this my whole life, but I haven't. I used to be homeless, sleeping out of a car. Now I got my 5-bedroom house, $140K car, jewelry. It hasn't registered, it all feels fake."
"When were you homeless?"
"Shoot, 3 or 4 years ago. We were sleeping out of a motel."
"What was the turning point you would say?"
"When my mom was able to get back on her feet. My family stopped struggling 2 years ago. Even then, everybody did what they had to do, played their parts so we could live a better lifestyle. At this point, nobody has to ask for anything"
"The "Love Cycle" record is going crazy. Who or what inspired this one?"
"It's something the world could relate to. Me being the type of person that I am, I know what it's like to be stuck inside somebody's love cycle. Constantly want them, constantly feel like no matter what it is that they do, you always want to be with them." He said then looked at me.
"You believe in true love?"
"Fasho. I believe in true love, love at first sight, I believe in all that."
"Kia told me "Mercedez" is a tearjerker. What's the deeper meaning behind this record?"
""Mercedez" is based on a true story. "Mercedez" is about that college girl who lives a double life. She's in college, but still has problems at home. Working 2 jobs: one being a waitress, another working in nightlife. That old-fashioned, hard-working female. Before the internet and OnlyFans, you had that girl who was busting her ass. Honestly, nothing wrong with Only Fans. You make your money how you make your money. "Mercedez" is about a girl who was a waitress and stripped at night, based on a true story. Based on somebody that I lost."
