As part of the first installment in Noisey’s Back & Forth segment with A$AP Mob spitter A$AP Rocky and West Coast lyricist Snoop Lion, the duo traded a handful of questions on music, competition, and more.
When asked by Rocky if he still remembers the feeling he experienced upon being informed of the success of his debut album, Doggystyle, Snoop went on to speak in detail about being grounded throughout it all and the gap that began to form when he surpassed those around him.
“Yeah, I remember that feeling,” said Snoop. “Cause I was still in the neighborhood. I was still a part of the hood. And despite all this big shit that was going on around me, I still was the same person. So, it couldn’t affect me. It never got bigger than me. And I see the same thing with yo self as far as being connected with all your homies. How you started off and how it was all about you and your homies. That’s what it was about with me, me and my homies. Making sure everybody eat. Making sure everybody’s involved, but as you grow you lose certain homies. Because it’s called closing the gap. This is the gap when we started. This is the gap as you grow. Notice how you grow and they don’t. So, how do you close the gap? You gotta come back down. When you come back down you lose. So, you gotta keep going up. That’s why closing the gap gotta be them catching up to you. And if they don’t catch up you gotta leave ‘em behind.”
Snoop spoke further on closing the gap as he brought up fellow rapper and Tha Dogg Pound member, Daz Dillinger. According to the Reincarnated rapper, Daz was an artist he says he taught and put “in the game,” but still went against him.
While speaking directly to Rocky, who was the first rapper from A$AP Mob to release a studio album, Snoop stated that not everyone’s meant to be a star.
“I had to cut out family members. Me and my cousin Daz fell out before,” said the rapper. “When me and him fell out it was like how do you fall out with—I taught you everything you know. I put you in the game. And you go against me? But that’s what the laws of the game do. It puts you in a position to where sometimes you have to have these types of situations to see who really ‘posed to be there. This shit ain’t made for everybody. You know what I’m saying? It’s like everybody ain’t gonna be a fuckin star.”
Hailing from Harlem, New York, A$AP Rocky released his first studio album, LongLiveA$AP, at the top of the year. Despite being leaked in late 2012, the album went on to sell 139,000 copies in its first week and debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart. The release of LongLiveA$AP was later followed by fellow A$AP Mob spitter A$AP Ferg’s debut album, Trap Lord. Both A$AP Ferg and A$AP Rocky are slated to appear in a BET Hip Hop Awards cypher, along with a handful of other A$AP Mob members, when the awards show airs on October 15.
