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what we're thankful for

Chance The Rapper, T-Pain, Trey Songz, Charli XCX, and 18 more members of FADER’s family explain what they’re thankful for now

It’s FADER Thanksgiving tradition to ask a group of artists what they’re most thankful for. This year’s crop of answers didn’t disappoint: Charli XCX is thankful for her band, Ricky Eat Acid is thankful for Colorado, and Trey Songz and Peewee Longway are thankful for the opportunity to give. It was a good year—pause for Young Thug’s consistently faultless style and for Estonian country guitarists, for parody Instagram feeds and for Migos—and we’re thankful for that.

I’m thankful for my friends, my co-workers, my co-conspirators, my soldiers, my generals. Like my employees, from the grassroots connections I made with people that aren’t necessarily in the industry. And the people that help me get the show done every night, the people that help me wake up on time, the people that help me make the music and the sounds I wanna make. I’m thankful for being able to pick good people to be around who keep me out of trouble and have kept me focused. I mean, my friends are my family. And my family are my friends.

At Thanksgiving I go to my aunt’s house and she cooks a big dinner. It’s a lot of people. I’m not a cooker. I’m not really an eater, or a trier, of foods. I like processed foods. I don’t even eat mashed potatoes. If there’s a big gathering, I’ll go to McDonalds. Fries are technically mashed potatoes, though. But I’ll go there for the festivities, not the food.

Chance The Rapper

First & foremost, weed & xanax
The fact that i’m alive in a year when Young Thug, Makonnen, Dej Loaf, Migos & Shy Glizzy are all on the radio regularly now
Twitter
Desus vs Mero show
Good ass food
Freddie gibbs
Coffee, but also that Vita Coco espresso drink
That it’s not summer anymore
Those pictures of kanye west eating ice cream
Kanye west
Scott Disick also
Getting to drive through multiple mountain ranges this year alone
The whole state of Colorado
Money
RIP one time to Speakerknockerz though, i’m thankful for his music too

Ricky Eat Acid

I’m thankful for In-N-Out Burger, something I don’t really get in the UK. I’m thankful for the secret menu, and the double double—those are two very important things. I’m also thankful for my band: They’re three super talented girls who let me dress them up in pajamas every day and as cheerleaders. I make them wear fuckloads of Claire’s accessories and fake diamonds and shit, and I’m thankful they’re weird enough to want to do that with me. I’m thankful that this year has been pretty tight. I’m thankful for timing, and how the stars aligned. 2014 has been like, my best friend.

Charli XCX

Honestly I’m so thankful I get to travel for a living. I say that almost to remind myself, because it’s so easy to forget, especially when I get together with other producer DJ guys and we sit down and complain about travel. This Thanksgiving, it’s important to remind myself that I’m extremely thankful that I don’t have a day job—I make music. Next week, I go to London. That’s insane to me, and I forget that sometimes. I want to remind myself to be thankful for this shit.

​Jacques Greene

I literally just stood in the middle of the street—and people probably thought I was crazy—but I had a moment when I was just so thankful for good energy around me. Sometimes when you really give out, you really get back in. But when you get it back in, it’s such an overwhelming abundance of it that you just have to stop and be grateful. I did: I made the mistake of stopping in the middle of the street, the wind was blowing and it was just the perfect moment to just be still. Sometimes you really just need to be still and really take in the moment that I feel was reserved especially for you.

​Kelly Rowland

I’m very grateful for my family: my wife, my kids. Without them, I wouldn’t have been doing it for this long. I would have quit a long time ago. I mean, I pretty much quit like four times already. But bills started stacking up, so I had to keep going. It was me just looking at my family like, it’s not their fault, I gotta keep working for them. And my wife has kept me going. She talks to me, religiously, all the time. She’s real spiritual and she pretty much knows how the universe works, and she got me real into spirituality and all-around knowledge. That helped me out a lot, and I’ve very thankful for that. I’m not usually home for Thanksgiving, and I don’t think I’m gonna be there this year. I just missed my 30th birthday, too. But even though I’m a year older, I’m just the same person. I don’t feel like I’m getting old. I do use that as an excuse for a lot of shit though. If I don’t wanna go to the club with a certain person? ‘Aww, I’m too old for that man.’

​T-Pain

RILEY FLECK: I’m thankful for love and synergetic relationships.

JANE PENNY: I’m thankful to be able to play music and for everybody that’s coming to our shows this year. Because it’s been fun, and we’re gonna play a bunch more, and I like to play music.

MADELINE GLOWICKI: I’m thankful for the good health of everyone, like my friends and family, and that the world is a great place to live in.

DAVID CARRIERE: I’m thankful for all the wonderful people in my life, and just all the nice things that happen all the time. Sorry, that was a bit bland.

TOPS

Thankful for (from a hotel in Seattle):

Family of strong smart and funny women (blood family and otherwise)
Chipotles across the country
My new house where I get to be alone
New wave of eye brow growth
That I get to write songs as my job right now
Reconnecting with friends and family while on this tour
Really good food at my mom’s in a few days

Kelly Zutrau from Wet

I’m thankful for having the opportunity to be a millionaire. Nah forreal, I’m actually thankful for being able to put on a lot of my homies that was a little on my mind, as far as what was their next move, where would they end up being. Now I’ve got them in the right place and on the right track. That’s a good goal to me, that I feel like I accomplished. So I can say that I really have achieved a goal, and I’m thankful for that.

At Thanksgiving, I get stoned and eat. Keep it around family. My mom cooks, my girl cooks, my sister. A little bit of everybody, everybody throwing in their little dishes. A little mixture.

​PeeWee Longway

I’m thankful for the success I’ve got, for God, for my mama, my brother, my grandma. I’m thankful for everything I got bro.

Young Chop

Money. Good tax rates. Michael Jordan. Ralph Lauren. My mom. My mom’s car—she got a Toyota Avalon, I did like 95 on the freeway the other day and she was about to cry. My mom’s doctor. I’m thankful for health insurance. I’m thankful for the T-Mobile jump plan cause I got a iPhone 6 for $50. I’m thankful for Alyssa Jo Marquez, Jackie Huffer, Duane Huffer, Darren Huffer. The whole Huffer bunch. For secure credit cards, and the DMV of San Pedro California for letting me pass my driver’s test on the second run. The first time, I didn’t know my hand signals and dude was like, Yeah, you can get out the car.

​Vince Staples

I’m thankful to finally be able to get my own music out in a proper way, and on my own terms. A large part of why people know my name is attributed to something that was completely out of my hands. As rewarding as that experience was, it’s time for me to finally tell my story the way I want it to be told.

​Baauer

This has been a fast year. But I’m thankful for all my fans and everyone who’s supported me—it’s been such a long process to get to this point. This year I’ve been prepping my English stuff, growing as an artist and as a person. A lot of people say to me like, ‘If the English thing blows up, you’re not gonna come back.’ But I’m like, ‘Of course I’ll come back.’ I got the next Spanish album on deck after the English one. Still, I think every Latin artist dreams of crossing over. There’s been a handful of guys who’ve done it, and I’m just trying to motivate and show people that it could be done. It’s difficult, but it’s possible. I’m trying to motivate labels to sign other Latin acts and give them the opportunity to sing in English or to sing in another genre. It’s an exciting moment. And this year I’m excited I got four Latin Grammy nominations, which is the first time that I got that many nominations. I’ve never won a Latin Grammy. If I don’t win, it’s all good. But maybe I will.

At Thanksgiving I usually go with my family and my aunts each cook their own separate dish and we all get together and just eat. But this year I’m gonna be going to Chile on my own that weekend, to support a telethon out there to raise money for kids. But without me, they’re gonna do their thing.

​Prince Royce

I’m thankful for life, every day. If you go on my Instagram you’ll see that. You’ll see me say stupid stuff all the time. To preach to people everyday would be monotonous, that’s why I say stupid stuff that makes people say, ‘What?!’ It reminds you to give thanks for the present and what you have right now. A lot of times when I write on my Instagram, it’s because I’m having a bad day. Even if I’m going through something, I’ll still write “Give Thanks for life.”

Sean Paul

I’m thankful for a lot of things—having lovely family and friends, glitter, bodega sandwiches— but I’m extremely thankful and blessed to be able to do what I love for a living, which is making music, of course <3.

​Uniiqu3

HARRY BURGESS: We just got a house in London that we all moved into as a band, and I’m thankful for that. It’s very far out—Greater, Greater, Greater London—but it’s cheap. It’s in a nice place, or, well, you can walk to nice places easily. We lived together when we were up in Leeds, too. We’re moving from one suburb to another. It’s adult suburbia. It’s gonna mean we have time to start working on the next record.

TIM SLATER: Me, I’m grateful for the pizza I had this afternoon. It was very nice.

​Adult Jazz

It goes without saying, but I’m thankful to be alive. I’m thankful for my family members. This year, I’m thankful for the JamRock Reggae cruise. There’s really nothing else that happened this year that’s on the historical level of this cruise. This is my highlight of 2014.

​Damian Marley

I’m thankful to be able to still perform to sold out crowds, 15 years later. I’m thankful for being able to come back into the mainstream and be accepted; nobody’s really shunned. When I went to the Breakfast Club, I went there with my guard up thinking that they were gonna come at me from a different angle, because a lot of people get sandbagged on that show. But they came with a “Man, we’re glad you’re back. What took so long?” versus, “You should go back where you came from,” or whatever. I’m thankful for that.

​SisQo

I’m thankful for my family, mom, dad, big brother, big sister. They taught me everything I know and are real supportive of me, even when I first started, and it was really scary starting out. So I’m grateful I had people to give me the confidence to do everything that I’m doing. As far as my friends, my mans Peanut, Randy, Chris, Chuck, Rob, I got a good circle of friends. We’ve been able to start living our dreams and make shit happen together, and build our friendship at the same time, so that’s something to be grateful for. Not everyone gets that choice.

​Sir Michael Rocks

I can say I’m thankful for being here, and all this shit going on now. Awful—this shit just happened too fast for us—we’re still trying to get this shit organized. We’re still all trying to get on the same page. But this shit gon’ work out. We’re thankful for the chance, and that everyone’s down to work. No squares in the circle—that’s what I’m thankful for.

Archibald Slim from Awful Records

My birthday’s actually the day after Thanksgiving. It’s one of my favorite holidays, and not just because it’s near my birthday. It’s about being surrounded by family, getting some home-cooked food from my grandma and my mama and aunties, which I don’t experience that much.

The month of November is a month for giving back. It’s a time when I realize that my family was once the family in need—now we’re the family that can provide for those that are in need: whether it be turkey drives, a coat drive, giving money to children who can’t eat on the weekends. It’s a moment of fulfillment, knowing that I’m doing so much better for myself that I can help others out. When you’ve got so much and people are wondering what to give you for your birthday, you can tell them, Nah, you don’t have to get me nothin’.

Trey Songz

Please, let me give many thanks to the Lord Jesus Christ, and to his United States of America, for my iPhone. And also for not drone striking my home.

[Fader]