“I don’t think anyone has a responsibility to do anything,” asserts Rae. “I appreciate honesty in all aspects of life. I like it when people are honest and don’t say or spin things just to be likeable. Just say what you have to say and deal with the consequences. We’re not perfect people and I don’t think anyone should expect that.”
Artistic personas are an inevitable part of being a performer. It’s a mask you don to immerse your audience in your art and it allows you to separate your real-life flaws, worries, anxieties, and fears from the experience that you’re creating. Personas are what help artists push forward the storytelling that’s embedded in their work, but as time goes on it often becomes difficult to separate the persona from the real person. I can’t help but wonder how much of the Rae we see publicly is really him and how much is embellished for the sake of his craft.
“So far, over the ten years I’ve been doing this, I feel like nothing has been spun,” he says. “I think it’s more like it’s been ‘magnified’. The words may not be literal and they’re not always meant to be taken literally, but the feeling and the emotion behind them is very real.”
Rae’s overarching goal as a creative is to set the bar higher than ever before for himself and his fellow rappers across the homegrown musical landscape. “I don’t want people to think this a parlour trick,” he explains, “because it really isn’t. Most of the people in this industry are talking about shit that means a lot to them or their working to push some kind of boundary. Rap music allows for that precisely because it’s so defiant. It allows for you to fuck around and push the envelope of what it is.”
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