Don Toliver is in the middle of a big sea change—and it’s all happened within like, the last two weeks. Across his six-year career and counting, the Houston rapper-singer has become one of the most ubiquitous voices in hip-hop, with his croaky falsettos, doubletime flows, and a hook for any occasion. Following a scene-stealing turn on Travis Scott’s seminal 2018 album Astroworld and subsequently signing to Scott’s Cactus Jack label, Toliver emerged as a thrilling album artist in his own right—one whose powers have grown clearly and exponentially with each project as he pushes his Texas-twanged bounce into exciting new sonic territories, becoming a go-to feature for the likes of Kanye West, SZA and Metro Boomin in the process.
The back half of June though has brought a flurry of new landmarks in rapid succesion: Toliver turned 30, welcomed his first child with the equally talented Kali Uchis, and dropped his fourth album, Hardstone Psycho—his biggest creative pivot yet. Where last year’s Love Sick album saw Toliver conceptually styling his sound and aesthetic on ‘70s soul singers like his idols Marvin Gaye, Teddy Pendergrass, and Charlie Wilson, Hardstone is a deep swerve into the complete opposite world of biker grunge. It’s a 180 but a genuine one, borne of Toliver finally acting on a lifelong fascination with motorcycle culture after his uncle gifted him one of his Harley baggers.
But only an artist like Toliver could still find a way to include Wilson (who appeared on Love Sick) here and have it sound just as fire. The GAP Band legend appears on “Attitude,” which features and is also produced by New York drill impresario Cash Cobain. It’s the kind of chaotic but thrillingly successful lineup Toliver excels at, but it’s just one of the insane feats he pulls off on Hardstone Psycho, where he also samples Tame Impala on a thunderous biker anthem that wouldn’t sound out of place in Mad Max: Fury Road and flips one of Whitney Houston’s biggest songs into an ode to his gun. The experimental indulgences are paying off—Hardstone is set to be Toliver’s biggest Billboard debut to date, landing at No. 3 with 77k sold, and there’s even a big Fortnite collab game to go with it.
Toliver talked to GQ about his grand vision of a new biker subculture for Harley-riding hip-hop heads, the guidance Travis Scott gave him for this album, and his first month as a father.
With each project, you’ve built a whole theme and aesthetic. Tell me how you landed on motorcycle culture for Hardstone.
Love Sick was my first album where I built my own world, and took a little bit of real life elements and put it into a storyline. [Hardstone] is me going off of [the success of] Love Sick, going off of the tour, feeling the ambiance of everything I did and just wanting to take it up another notch. And another thing was, I always had the desire to learn how to ride motorcycles. So, I started to do research on [that world] right after I dropped Love Sick, and learned what I actually liked. I specifically got into choppers.
My uncle rode baggers his whole life. I was never really into the bagger swag of Harleys, but my uncle was just one of the coolest dudes in the world. Late 2023, he ended up passing on his bike right when I was really riding more and it fueled me to go even harder with this whole situation and now we’re here.
You mentioned doing a lot of research. Where did you get your influences from? There’s a whole culture and subcultures that come with bike life that I’m sure you dug into.
First, I did research on exactly which choppers I like. Foresters and stuff like that, I’m more of a rigid guy. I don’t know if you know anything about those types of bikes, but it’s just straight, no suspension, like straight tire frame and road. And when it comes to the whole culture of it, I wanted to put a spin on the whole thing. I get tired of the regular connotation—the big greased up dudes with glasses and their arms folded. It’s beautiful and I respect every genre of it, but I want to put another spin on it. I feel like there’s nobody really advocating for the merging of bike life and hip-hop.
We see [rappers on] dirt bikes, ATVs and all that all the time. But let’s get to choppers and Harleys. I want to be one of the first Black rock stars to bring that to the table and just have a hub or a clique of kids who ride Harleys, who actually listen to hip-hop, go to hip-hop festivals, and who you would never even look at and assume they ride a Harley.
And there’s really not too many avenues for those kids to go to. When you want to think about motorcycle festivals and all that, you think about the Sturgis shit, you think about Born Free, but all of that, it’s not really geared towards what I got going on. It’s more rock and roll. So, I want to just build my own and it turned out beautiful. And I wanted to gain numbers. I feel like when you have numbers behind you, it makes you look stronger than ever, and that’s what I want to do, make a movement. We are here to take over. It’s like rebel energy.
It’s interesting because like you said, other types of bikes are heavy elsewhere in rap. Dirt bikes, Kawasakis—but you’re heavy on one specific lane that was unexplored for a while.
For a while. And it don’t have to be like Easy Rider or Sons of Anarchy and all that. And we love that aesthetic and everything else that has to go with the original founding figures of the biker culture. But I think it’s way more than just me with this whole movement, and people aren’t really highlighting it enough.
I was going to ask if you dug into the pop culture side of bike life. Easy Rider is, of course, a classic. Sons of Anarchy was a staple. I don’t know if you know, coincidentally, a new movie with Tom Hardy dropped this past week that’s all about bike life.
Yeah, The Bikeriders. I watched a bunch of old Harley movies, because I really just like to look at old bikes. It was one movie I was watching not too long ago, Chrome and Hot Leather. Just the fact that they were riding on the old rigids, like those ’70s crazy frames and doing wheelies and all that other shit, it just looks cool.
When I’d watch these movies, I would just look at who had the craziest build? Because when you look at a lot of these movies, you’ll see a ton of crazy classic retro bikes. I feel like in the ‘90s everybody’s been into the Super Cub and the Bagger. That’s not me. I’m like hip-hop meets rock and roll meets Easy Rider.
You’ve really matched the lifestyle and the aesthetic that you’re going for with the actual music. Is it true that the album is sequenced in such a way that it’s supposed to pair with the path of a bike ride?
Yeah, so, I broke the album down into four different spaces. I’ve always been an artist that’s going to come with a variety of different sounds [on my album]. So, I was like, this time, let me actually break this down. And the person who helped me put this together was Travis. Big shout out to big bro for this. He helped me break the album down into four different lanes, four pieces. And all these four pieces, there are different landmarks of places that I’ve been to. I definitely didn’t want to give real locations because they’re spots that I sometimes go and chill around the area I live in. So, one landmark was Thunder Road, another landmark was Deadman Canyon, another landmark was Twin Peaks, and another one was the Promised Land. And it looked like a ride through these different landmarks and these different areas, and places. It’s a ride. It’s a ride that you really get to partake in when you listen to the album.
Which chapter is your favorite? What’s the best part of the ride?
That’s a great question… I really love Thunder Road. The energy is high. You don’t know what to expect. You hear the shovel head, roaring in the first track. And the ride just does not stop. You’re just on a complete rollercoaster.
“Bandit” gives me Mad Max vibes.
Yeah. Yeah, definitely Rebel Energy. Definitely Rebel Energy.
You’re from Houston, which is big on driving culture, and in the past you’ve talked about making songs specifically suited to the feeling of cruising in big Texas cars down big Texas lanes, like “Swangin on Westheimer.” Do you approach it differently when you’re making music inspired by riding on a motorcycle instead?
Well, in Houston, it’s a different feeling than anywhere else in the world no matter what you riding. If I’m riding my Harley through downtown Houston, that’s just as much feeling as me swinging down Westheimer because it’s all in the swag. It’s all in the aura of whatever you’re doing. It’s all in the energy. So this album… it’s a ride album. And I don’t steal away from the vehicles at all. It’s very heavily Harley and all of that other shit. But as you see, we pull out the four by four. As you see, we got some tours. So, it is not always fixated on having to be a certain way when in Houston. Don’t matter what you’re driving, no matter what you’re doing, when you Houston, especially when you’re from Houston, it’s just that energy that you have.
Cash Cobain is on the album with features and production credits a couple times. Teezo Touchdown was on your last album right before he had a huge year. It seems like you always keep your ear out for the new, about-to-blow talent.
I always do. Honestly, when it comes to new talent, I like to highlight Houston more than anything because I just want to try to help as many artists as I can from home. I had to bring Teezo back for this [Hardstone] world because Teezo is like a Texas giant. And I appreciate him and I just want him to do everything he sets out to do. Cash Cobain is just a monster. I love his energy and his music right now.
Last year you told GQ that one thing you learned from Future after being on tour with him was to “attack the basket” when you get on a track. And when I listen to some of your new flows on songs like “Bandit” or “Brother Stone,” I hear that advice being implemented.
That’s the energy. That’s the energy, man. If you’re going to play the game, bro, there’s no reason for you to be in the back cut, steady passing the rock. Sometimes you got to go for a shot. Sometimes you got to dunk. So, this album is just a whole barrage of all of that. I’m showing my three-pointers. I’m showing the layup scale. I’m showing the windmill dunks. I’m doing everything I can possibly do on this album to show people, I got this. I’m well-equipped to play a 21, don’t play with me.
And it feels like, with each album or each guest feature your movement gets that much bigger. I don’t know if you watched Succession, but Jeremy Strong actually told us that he listened to “Moon” [Don’s interlude on Kanye’s album Donda] on repeat to get into his character’s headspace.
That’s incredible. “Moon” [was recorded during] a very, very, very, very special moment in my life. So, I understand.
You have two Travis features on the album. At this point, you two have enough songs together to make an album out of. Are we ever going to get a proper collab album down the line?
I don’t know what the future holds, but I’m going to tell you this: I love Travis so much. And me and him just, we grow together. So, I mean, you can just about expect possibly anything from us. I can’t sit here and be like, “Oh, we’re doing the album next year.” But I mean, I can just say this: me and Travis, it’d be a beautiful thing. And it doesn’t look too far away on the horizon. So, we’ll see.
“Glock” is incredible. Who came up with flipping the Whitney Houston sample that way?
I was in New York City and a close friend, our A&R Sickamore, had some producers over at his new studio, 3XL, and this guy played the beat. And when I heard it, I immediately sat right there down on the couch and came up with the melody right there. And I really don’t do that, too. It’s rare that somebody plays me a beat randomly, and I actually pull out my phone and record something right then and there.
That beat just made me do it. I was playing the beat in one hand, and in my other, singing the melody into my phone. I just could stop singing that hook. And by the time I got back to LA, where I record everything, I laid that song immediately.
Is it fair to call “Deep in the Water” one of your most personal songs to date?
It’s a tribute to my son coming to this world. A tribute to my girl, locking in. [The vibe is] just blues. It’s one of those things where you might just park the bike up outside of the road and chill out, take a seat and let that song just mellow out the whole situation.
I know it’s very fresh, but how has fatherhood been treating you so far?
It’s been amazing. I don’t know how to explain it. But just to watch my son get bigger and bigger over the small amount of time that he’s been here, him trying to crawl, and trying to smile, it’s crazy. We can just sit there and watch him for hours.
Did you do anything big for your first Father’s Day?
We had a picnic for the family, a lot of quality time. I’ve been trying to get this album out, so it’s been a real challenge, juggling, trying to get this piece of music out so I can really take time to do everything I can with my son. But now we’re finally here and I made it happen.
This post was originally published on this site be sure to check out more of their content.
