MOTHERFUCKERS WOULD RATHER GO TO THE CIRCUS BEFORE THEY GO TO THE LIBRARY

Brooklyn based rapper and elite lyricist Rome Streetz sat down with me, the night before his show at the O2 Academy in Islington, London, to talk about his raw talent, recording sessions with Westside Gunn, his run last year and his debut album ‘Kiss The Ring’ for Griselda Records. As I was heading into King's Cross on the train, I couldn’t help but feel excited about Rome Streetz performing in North London, especially considering both Conway the Machine and Benny the Butcher’s UK tours were cancelled a few weeks prior. This meant I was about to see my first ever Griselda show, with the Buffalo collective’s grittiest addition performing in front of a crowd set to be pumped-up. All the elements were there for a perfect evening for Rome Streetz in his last European tour venue.

To say I was given an incredible opportunity to talk to the man himself would be an understatement, and kicking it with his crew in the capital as I was still trying to unravel everything happening before my eyes. ‘It’s an honour’ he tells me as he meets a few fans before the show. ‘I wrote something about 50 Cent when I was younger’, it hits me, this was a great opportunity for both of us, to establish a bond, and to branch out in the UK.

A few hours later, and it’s approximately just before midnight in Camden Town, North London on Tuesday the 14th of June, and I’m still kicking it with his close friends, whilst Rome Streetz is meeting some family members for the first time. At some point, on the spot, everything just struck me, I feel at ease, and comfortable to talk about anything, my journalistic impartiality slowly vanishes as I am just content to speak about music, the ways of life between the United States and the United Kingdom and politics (something I usually hate delving into).

At this point, I am fully aware that this was just the beginning, and that Rome Streetz was going to perform live the next evening. After connecting with some of his close family, Rome Streetz sat down with me, to both of our delight.

"When I first started rapping,’ he says, ‘the thing that made me really start writing raps was when I was in school. I just went to lunch one day, and all my friends were at the lunch table rapping against each other and I was just like: ‘You’re rapping? The fuck? Since when? Oh alright’, so I am listening to them and think to myself: ‘They’re not really good’, they’re stealing rhymes from other rappers. At that point, Lil Wayne was popping so they were stealing rhymes from him, and I was like ‘What the fuck is this?’ So, you know what? If they can do it, I can do it. I went home, wrote some shit and I came back, and I was really good you know? I came back to the lunch table with my little notepad, I had my rhymes, and it was like: ‘Oh shit! I can really do this’. So, I kept doing it. The whole thing that made me rap was this: ‘I’m better than these motherfuckers, they’re not good, I can do something better’.

“From the jump, it was like ‘Yo, I’m nice’. I feel like I’m the best."

The truth is, Rome Streetz has been dropping constant gems for well over 5 years now, but has rapped seriously for way longer than that, and yet it still doesn't feel like he has hit his peak. The rapper from NYC never drops a project that would be considered below par or inferior to his last, which makes him an all-time great in the underground scene in hip-hop. From Street Farmacy in 2018, to Noise Kandy 3: The Overdose in 2019 to Kontraband in 2020 before dropping four projects last year, there hasn't been any misses.

He sure has come a long way though, from first starting rapping, to then performing, getting recognition worldwide, and having a loyal fanbase around him; naturally, everything still feels surreal for the rapper. And people popping off on social media doesn't bother him either:

"It used to bother me, but then you got to overstand it, stupid shit is always going to catch on, motherfuckers would rather go to the circus before they go to the library. At the end of the day, it’s just that, stupid stuff will catch on fast because it’s dumb […] That’s how all these trash ass rappers get famous." "It doesn't bother you because you know you're better than most" I commented. "Yeah! But guess what? To get lit in music, it’s not about being better, you can be the best motherfucker in the world, it doesn’t mean you’re gonna be a popping artist, you have to figure out that, a lot of people aren’t popping because they’re getting mad about not getting any recognition. Instead of doing shit to get recognised for them.

Once I stopped worrying about that, that’s when I became who I am."

After all, he has had to be patient and kept crafting his work, and I could sense it immediately by his demeanour and his attitude; Rome Streetz comes across as a very humble person and keeps a very tight circle around him, something his manager firmly insists on. He doesn't get ahead of himself, keeps both of his feet on the ground and he really loves this rap shit, he's better than most at it.

A LOOK BACK AT 2021:

Rome Streetz has a killer mentality, but he is as calm as a monk, both aspects are part of the reason he signed to Griselda Records, arguably the hottest hiphop collective in the game right now. The collective Streetz was originally a fan of, signed him last year, a year where he dropped four projects, and probably four of the hardest bodies of work hip-hop fans heard in 2021. In that time span, he released Death and The Magician with DJ Muggs, Genesis 1:27 with ANKLEJOHN, Razor’s Edge with Futurewave and Coup de Grace with Ransom. On that basis alone, to then adding his work ethic, consistency, and constant quality, not many rappers can say they came close last year.

Many choose to prioritise yearly releases whilst some artists may go multiple years before dropping even one body of work. "Which of your releases was your favourite last year?" I asked him.

"Probably Death and The Magician with DJ Muggs, that was one of the first albums that I made with the producer right there in the studio, majority of the songs that you heard me make is like, somebody just sent me the beat and I either go to the studio and record it, or record it myself. I never been with the producer in the studio, with the sample and be like ‘Yeah this one right there’, then chop it up and go rap on it, then he adds more to it. You know? We literally made that project from the ground up, everything, the videos, it was my most concentrated album as far as me collaborating with somebody else and we both put in that effort right there on the spot. It was a lot of new experiences. Even with the videos, I never shot videos like that, like Stone Could Soul; I shot a lot of music videos, and they probably take a couple of hours, that video took all day. We started shooting that video at 9 o’clock and ended it at 9 o’clock. We had low-riders so it was the flyest shit I ever did. That video, on top of the album, plus the impact it made, just like on my fans and how impact it made on my career, that was my favourite shit. Probably my favourite album that I ever done. Just because of the process and the feedback and what it has done for me."

Towards the end of the year, many hip-hop fans tapped in to hear Coup de Grace, his joint album with Ransom, Streetz’ last release to this day. There were many reasons for people to get excited for this one, but the main argument was simply the fact that we were about to hear two of the most skilled and eloquent figures in the rap game on an 11-track project, right before Halloween. Bound to be a scary sight for most rappers.

"How did you first link up with Ransom?"

"Besides being a fan of him, I met him at the Cinematic Records office, and he was like: ‘Oh Rome Streetz? I fuck with your shit! We got to spar.’ That was crazy to me because I never met any rappers who said, ‘let’s spar’, it’s always ‘let’s do a song’, so we had to go at it, you know what I’m saying? It’s friendly. We’re gonna do some shit but I’m gonna punch you in the face. I’m trying to punch you in the face a couple of times, you can punch me too but I’m gonna duff you out.

I was like ‘damn I really got to rap with this guy’. But I was familiar with Ransom, I was a fan of his music and he’s like one of the dopest ever. He sent me some songs, the first track we ever did was American Hustle, we just linked like that, but I know that with Ransom, I really have to rap." We live in an era where we are hearing different sounds slowly fading away from people’s interests, especially in hip-hop, a wide and complex genre. There are many arguments for trap music slowly declining, but boom-bap is becoming omnipresent again, a delight for all fans of pure raw talent with the hunger to be the best.

Griselda’s formula has worked remarkably well for the past five years, from signing a distribution deal with Shady Records in 2017 to signing a management deal with Roc Nation in 2019, it’s clear Westside Gunn’s vision is becoming more apparent than ever. Where to next? Rome Streetz signed to Griselda Records in 2021, alongside Stove God Cooks and Jay Worthy, incredible additions to the roster that already included heavyweights in the rap game with Westside Gunn, Benny the Butcher, Mach-Hommy, Boldy James, Armani Caesar and YN Billy.

As I ponder on this chair I’m sitting on, I ask Streetz:

"How would you assess your first year with Griselda Records?"

He thinks about it, the room is observing: "I would say… my first year was just me putting in work to let them know that I’m a savage, like yeah, you’re working with somebody that’s not a slouch, because it’s rap you know. I was a fan of Griselda, so now that I am part of it, I want you all to know that I really do this, it’s not a fluke. Some motherfuckers, they have one or two good raps. No, I can do this all the fucking time, I’m a dragon with this shit.

This first year has been showing them, pumping out music, sending Westside Gunn songs randomly, like ‘Listen to this new shit that I just did." "The thing about Griselda is, it’s a collection of every rapper who thinks they’re the best rapper, I mean if you were to subtract Griselda from them and place them in a pot of rappers, 9 times out of 10, they’d be the best rapper.

Griselda is a group of rappers who literally are the best." "Honestly, from my perspective I’m gonna say this, I’m fairly new to Griselda, I’m probably the newest member of Griselda. I haven’t had those studio sessions where it’s like all of us right there with all the songs you hear me do besides what’s on Hitler but it’s more so like putting the beat on, writing something, then I lay my verse in and then go do what I do, and then the song becomes what it becomes. I haven’t actually had a session with them yet where it’s like ‘Okay, we are here right now I’m gonna put my verse, you’re gonna put your verse’, when I did Peri Peri, West was like ‘Alright, this beat, Rome you’re gonna rap first’ I rap my verse and then it’s fire, then I went into another room and started working on my album.

"Straight away?"

I ask.

"Yeah, because in that particular recording session, that was the first time I was actually in the studio with Westside Gunn, we were in Arizona, me, West, Stove God Cooks, YN, I think Jay Worthy was there. He had two studios rooms, we were all in a room and he was like ‘Alright, this is the first track, Rome you’re gonna rap first’ so I’m like ‘Cool’, the beat is playing, got my verse together, went in and did my shit. Conductor Williams and Camouflage Monk were in there, and Denny Laflare was there so, I did my part: ‘What’s next?!’ there’s a whole other studio room, ‘let me hear some beats’ I went into the other room, they started playing beats and I’m gonna rap to this.

Later on, West did his verse, so it hasn’t really been competition in the sense that I’m me, I’m gonna do me; that’s the one thing about it, no one can do Rome Streetz but Rome Streetz. ‘You can be the best, but I’m the best at being me’

And I could once again sense all the different ways I described Rome Streetz when Wednesday came around, and I got access to the venue's backstage, where I linked up once more with many people I saw the night before, amongst friends, family members and other performers. 10 PM on Wednesday hits, and Rome Streetz goes on stage, with everyone closest to him having an amazing time, in an electrifying, warm room, in front of 800 people. This is the moment where I realised that luck wasn't the reason I was so close to the stage that night, it was hard work and perseverance, as I remember what he had told me the night before: "There’s no such thing as luck, luck is preparation meeting opportunity, that’s what luck is, being prepared for the opportunity; the person that isn’t in that situation would view that as luck. As I heard the verse that put Streetz on the map on Peri Peri, I felt fully immersed, and unstoppable, as I remembered a key component I was told at his flat the night before, that inspired me: you think something, you say it; if you say something, you act like it; if you act like it, you become known for it; if you become known for it, it becomes who you are.

The show ended just before the 11PM curfew, and Streetz made sure to speak to his fans, to take photos with them, and while this was all unravelling, I spoke to some fans in the now dispersed crowd, who simply couldn't believe what they just witnessed. The contrast between the start of the show and its ending was simply mind-blowing, the crowd was galvanised, and by the end of it, it looked as if everyone was punched in the face. It felt at times like Rome Streetz wasn't catching his breath, and he kept going in. All this time, between his debut and his last show, it felt as if hard work had definitely paid off for Rome Streetz, who has made many appearances on other artists’ music at the start of 2022, and fans are simply ready for his next project.

Griselda Records has teased Streetz’s official debut album, titled ‘Kiss The Ring’ and this is what Streetz had to say about it: "You can expect pure heat. Some of the best Rome Streetz music you’ve heard so far, on some super Saiyan shit. What you can expect from it, whatever your favourite Rome Streetz music is, this will be me going five times harder than that […]

Every song that I made was like: ‘I got to make it the best shit I ever did, regardless of what I think I did, this has to be the best.’ I have so many songs with that in mind that even when this album comes out, I know I’m gonna think there are harder songs like man ‘this wasn’t even the best shit’. Not to downplay this album because it’s fire but I can’t put everything on there, and nine times out of ten, my favourite is the last one that I made. The last song that I made isn’t going on the album. *Laughs*. Even though I wanted to it’s probably gonna come on the third one. You might not even hear that song until next year. I made all these songs with that inspiration like 'yo, this is going to be the best shit I ever made'. Every song at that point was my favourite." never told this story, this is something I was going to say after the album come out, but you know I’m in London and this is some fire shit.

So basically, the first four days we were in the studio right, I probably did like 14 songs, and I’m like ‘Ok, the album is done.’ Because the whole Griselda shit is like ‘Oh we do this in three days’. So, this was like my take on doing this in three-four days; and then I had an album with Ransom that was coming out so I couldn’t really drop the songs that I just did so I had to wait, but in that time waiting I’m like ‘you know what, I could do some harder shit, so I started doing more songs, I’m gonna make this album better. Right now, I probably have something close to like 40 records. So, what’s the album going to be? It’s like a pool of songs. Instead of these songs that I did in four days, and that was supposed to be it. Now I have like 40 songs to make an album.’ As I said my goodbyes before Rome Streetz and his close friends prepared for their flight back to New York the next day, I ordered an Uber back home and that’s when I realised that everything I heard for the past two days was nothing but wisdom, and Rome Streetz has a way with words. I left the flat at like 3 a.m., on my way back to my hotel in Wembley, and immediately felt inspired. 'I gotta write this piece!' ‘