After taking some time to recalibrate and reinvent himself in some ways, Twelvyy is fully rejuvenated and ready to propel his artistry to new, uncharted heights. 

As one of the founding members of Harlem’s premier hip-hop supergroup A$AP Mob, Twelvyy has cemented himself as a formidable staple in the collective.

Dropping his fourth studio album, Kid$ Gotta Eat, on July 7, the underrated A$AP Mob lyricist emanates a palpable sense of hunger across the record and reaffirms his place as one of NYC’s understated purists in contemporary hip-hop. 

Taking things up a notch this go-around, his latest project embraces a wide spectrum of high-quality sonics. From uptempo trap to lo-fi boombap, Twelvyy showcases his unbridled versatility and illustrates that there is absolutely nothing one-dimensional about him or his output as an artist.

On June 23, the Harlem rap titan attended Men’s Fashion Week in Paris to showcase his official collaboration with the streetwear brand STAPLE — in support of his new album and in celebration of 25-plus years of STAPLE. The rapper and STAPLE owner jeffstaple shared a candid conversation at the event, and Twelvyy had the opportunity to perform live.

With the release of Kid$ Gotta Eat on the horizon as well as all of the other wonderful endeavors he has underway, we spoke with A$AP Twelvyy to gain his perspective on myriad topics, including his thoughts on the current landscape of hip-hop music, how he became the leading man in Snoh Aalegra’s video for “I Want You Around,” his clothing brand LYBB (Last Year Being Broke(n)), the thought process behind his NYC-centric visuals for his single “Kid$ Gotta Eat,” what he has been listening to and much more.

So to kick things off, let’s go over what you’ve been up to since the release of Noon Yung back in 2020? It’s been a little minute. So I’m presuming you’ve just been living, going through the motions. 

Just like every human being on the Earth, you know what I’m saying. Just living. I dropped Noon Yung [in] 2020, the heart of the pandemic, but also that was like a week before the election. And to put all of that and also to put it out independently took a lot of energy because our team is really just like me, him and probably two, three other people. So we dropped that tape. I felt like dealing with the politics, it wasn’t a great time to drop at that moment. And I feel like you shouldn’t drop a project that you’re super comfortable with at the end of the year. So we dropped it on Halloween. I loved it, I just wish I would have waited a couple more months, but after that it was like restrategizing, rejuvenating, relearning, you know what I’m saying, because the career path I chose is so excruciating when it comes to like releases, content, shows, you know.

Kind of like nonlinear. 

Yeah, it’s nonlinear and it never stops. I had to recharge. I had to get low. Figure it out. Just live my life, you know. I had to understand. Where was I in life before I got to where I wanted to be in life, you know what I’m saying? A lot of people say, “I wait to get here.” Then you get here and it’s like [in limbo], but you lose your footing on life because life is so fast. Everything is so fast. Everything is so different. Sometimes you’re just in the moment instead of conquering the moment or executing on the moment. You just wanna live life. I had to understand that “OK, life comes in cycles,” and being that we just had a situation where life reset, let me start over. And it got me to a point where I’m like, “OK, I understood myself, I understood my sound, I understood my aesthetic and I understood my business.” I didn’t wanna just put out a project without any plan. We were dropping s**t on DistroKid.

Dropping on DistroKid is dumb fire, but it’s like if you don’t have any resources or someone to pick up the phone, it’s kind of like you’re doing the same thing over and over and over. I just wanted someone to get on the phone with. Like, you’re talking to DistroKid on a Twitter bot. That’s AI to me, you know what I’m saying. 

My lawyer is incredible. Shoutout to Jeff. I’ve got a distribution situation that looks nice. Like, we’ve got an office I can do an interview in. If I need something, I can come talk to them and s**t like that.

I saw on Twitter that you said you’ve been traveling a lot. 

I’ve been out. I just came back from Miami. I went to the Finals Game. That s**t was crazy. I was in Kansas City. I was just in Toronto recently. I’m boutta go to Paris. I’m about to go to Calgary.

What are your thoughts on the current state of hip-hop? Are you a fan of its evolution? There has been a bit of chatter about the fact that there hasn’t been a No. 1 hip-hop track or album on the charts since the year began. You also had some sentiments about how it wasn’t going to stop but how it was going to evolve.

I say it to say I saw a tweet. I’m all with people voicing their opinion, but it’s always like in order to get your opinion out, you have to downplay something or somebody. In order to get your opinion out, you have to downplay something or somebody. Afrobeats is Black music. It’s melanated music. Hip-hop music is melanated music. So it might sound different as far as vocally because they’re aiming just really for the club. Rap is coming from the perspective of the street. This is the actual sound. We’re not always in the club dancing. We’re not always feeling good. We can’t always run up on a big-booty African joint and be like, “Hey, ma.” It’s not always like that. It is always like not just drill but OK drill. It is real underground hip-hop. It is real rap s**t. Spoken word s**t. That’s what the sound of the streets are. That’s what the sound of our communities are. I just feel like, don’t downplay it. We’re not on charts this year but we’ve [been] killing s**t for years. But now that they’re trying to kill the culture, of course they don’t want us on there. The songs that I’ve been hearing all the time have mainly been goddess hip-hop. It’s been ladies. We’ve got Ice Spice. She’s one of the biggest artists in the world right now, especially coming up. And OK, she can’t chart. Why? Because she dropped an EP or why she’s killing it with singles? I ain’t gon’ lie. She has the streets. She has y’all kids. As far as me man, OK we don’t have the charts this year, but we’ve still got the streets and we’ve still got their heart. And this s**t never gon’ die. Whether someone is melodizing, autotuning.

You were featured in Snoh Aalegra’s video for “I Want You Around,” which is a banger. It had a real serene, wholesome vibe to it. How’d that come about?

My manifestation power … especially like what I’m trying to understand. When I do understand, I understand it — but sometimes, I don’t. But I love her music. I’m listening to her.

Her last album was pretty fire too. 

I was listening to her last project … I think it was Feels. Pardon me if I’m not correct, but I was listening to the joint with the animated cover and I’m listening to the album a lot. But one day, I posted on my story that I was listening to the album and she reposted it and then from there, it was like an organic connection. I really like listening to her music. I even had my homie sampling it. I don’t [know] why it works like this but one day she was in New York. She was like, “I’m in New York and I wanna holla at you about something. Like an idea.” We linked up in the studio one day. I’m so mad that my engineer had a little malfunction and it didn’t work out, but she was like, “I want you in this vid.” So she flew me out to San Diego, had me walking in the mountains, on the cliff. I’m not gon’ lie. I’m not the biggest fan of heights, but I’mma take it up there, but I was on a cliff with her, but it was a dope video. I did not understand what was happening at that time, but that video got grown women to say hi to me. I’m still growing up. I’m still a kid. I’m like 27 or 28 at that time, so. 

What was the initial vision behind the “Kid$ Gotta Eat” video? I saw the visuals. I love how the director captured the rawness of the city. Being from New York myself, I was able to pinpoint different places that were featured in the video. Like when you were on Canal Street and when you were by the Chick-fil-A on Flatbush right across the street from Barclays.

I really wanted to visually get better. We do these SMACK DVD-esque videos. We do these streets. We are the streets. These joints Stack Bundles used to do. Those come-up videos. We do the fire. We do what’s authentic. And when you see it on the tube 10 years later, certain people actually love it. I’m not gonna tell Lil B his videos were bad. It was art for the time. With that being said, conceptually I aim different. I wanna feel different. I wanna end up directing movies, so I’ve gotta show myself. I wasn’t always showing myself. “Kid$ Gotta Eat” is a day in the life of a real New Yorker. Like, a real New Yorker hustler. Like having multiple hustles, multiple gigs, multiple locations. I gotta go here to get this. I go there to get this. Living my life, I done played every part. I just wanted to show that authentically to the people. There are things that aren’t realistic. Music is escapism but some s**t don’t be realistic. And it’s like, “Yo, you see this everyday.” You might f**k around and really see me. You might f**k around and really see me doing that. You never know. Whatever. What is it, method acting? Sometimes you’ve gotta get in a role to really play that part, so you can really feel it, but I’ve really been there. I know how to fix floors. I know how to break down floors and replace them and s**t. Shoutout to Kenny. I know how to deliver whatever. I know how to get it there. I know how to do it.

It’s been over a decade since the formation of the crew, so in your own words, how would you describe the impact that A$AP Mob has made on the landscape on hip-hop?

S**t, this thing is so colossal. Sometimes we don’t get our just due. S**t man even I slept on Joker and he did it, he got a chip. So sometimes it’s cool being slept on. But I’m coming for that chip. Bros and them got all types of chips. I’m coming for my chips and rings. If they don’t understand it and don’t recognize it, they’re gonna feel it, you know what I’m saying. They’re always gonna remember the titans. Like how could you be mad at Bron for still balling at this age. Like how many n****s at their age that’s probably not even doing much. They’re not even having fun. They can’t even be that active.

He’s an anomaly. 

Just like us. Come on, look at us, we’re downtown in the sky, having an interview. This s**t don’t stop. You can’t rain on my parade. Aside from wilding or alive, I feel like Ja. It’s lit! I’m in a world-class club doing whatever I want. They can’t stop this s**t.

From a cultural point of view, New York City rap had a bit of a void at that time. I feel like A$AP Mob supplemented that void. 

It was like CPR. “Annie, are you OK?” This b***h was dying. It’s all good because, me personally, I always tell people if it wasn’t for us, they would still be on Karmaloop shopping. You know, it was bad out here. They should just be glad we brought that sauce. That A1.

Kid$ Gotta Eat drops on July 7. I feel like it’s a well-rounded project in terms of sonics/type of songs. You’ve got some real chill vibes on there. You’ve got some more uptempo trap vibes. You know, kind of like demonstrating your versatility. In terms of the impact that it will make, how do you want this project to fare in relation to your overall discography? Like what statement should this make?

This statement has to show I was hungry. I was hungry to show my creativity. I was hungry to show my talent. I was hungry to show the world that even when they said, “Yo, you couldn’t do it” or “You should just do it like this,” I just did what I felt like I wanted to do. I did what was right. This is fire. It’s like, they’re gonna hear it and they’re going to feel it. You know, from the different levels of it. Who knows what an album is supposed to sound like, feel like, look like. And who knows what it’s going to do. All I know is that it’s going to be great. It’s going to be refreshing. They gon’ really feel, like, it’s wild bars. It’s wild fire. And it’s authentic and it’s true. It’s like yo, the title: Kid$ Gotta Eat.

There was a skit on the project right? 

One of my favorite movies: Ricochet with Denzel Washington. I’ve been a fan of that movie since I was young. A lot of people don’t know about Ricochet. A lot of people don’t know about Man on Fire.

Those are like deep cuts, but those are some of his best joints. When you give somebody an Oscar, you might give them an Oscar for Training Day for that movie there, but you’re really giving him an Oscar for his total body of work. This might f**k around and be my Training Day to them, but to me, this is my Ricochet. This is my Man on Fire. This is the fire. Like if you really watch it, this is ill because the people are gonna hear it and be like, this is dope. This is ill. He on some s**t and I”m just having fun. More or less, I want people to know I’m having fun. I love doing this. I don’t care. I don’t have any problem doing this. I will do this waking up with nothing, but I wake up to get everything because I love doing this and I’m going to do this forever. That’s what I want people to know. This is just an amazing book in my catalog. You’re gonna wanna have this s**t forever.

You dropped “Adventure Time” as one of the singles. How was it working with Roc and cultivating that particular track? 

So I’m just gonna keep it gangsta with you. I had the record and I was listening to the record, having conversations with my homies and s**t like that. At first, I wanted to send this to Jadakiss. Son is my man, but he wasn’t really getting back to me like that.

I’m like it’s all good but n***a, you’ve got the same last name as me. F**k with me and it’s not just because of that. I’m like, “Bro, I’ve got fire.” I was asking his son, but he wasn’t able to put it together. But then I was like, “Hold up, who else is one of my premier lyricists? Like one of my peers that really put in pain and he represents a world.” But then I started thinking what would Yams do. Yams would holla at Roc Marciano down to the tweet.

I holla’ed at him. He did not hesitate. He sent that s**t in. It was like BOOM. I was like, “Oh wow.” He dropped the s**t. It was a full-circle moment because me being A$AP and what we represent but also the connections we make. Doing that for our history is huge, that’s why I know Kid$ Gotta Eat, the tape, is going to be huge on everything because it has fire features, fire ideas.

In terms of the production, some of it gave me like Alchemist vibes a little bit. It had like a lo-fi kind of vibe to it. So I just heard recently that you’ll be at Men’s Fashion Week in Paris to promote your collaboration with the streetwear brand STAPLE. How’d this come about?

Yo, you know OneRPM? We had a conversation about branding. Like who would you f**k with. I’m like yo man, naming different brands, and STAPLE came up. It’s so crazy because this was like 2019, and you know, I have LYBB as a brand. “Last Year Being Broke/First Year Being Rich.” I’ve got these sandals. So I remember I went to China to have a meeting so I can get more sandals, but when I came back, it was the pandemic and s**t. But while I’m in China, something told me to contact jeffstaple and them. So I hit the STAPLE page and they holla’ed back at me, but I didn’t see it until like the other day when I posted the collab. I’m like damn bro, I manifested this. And to have STAPLE collaborating with me was huge bro. Like me, growing up, I used to listen to Wale. I used to listen to Lupe Fiasco. I used to listen to anybody that was in kick culture as well because I’m a sneakerhead. That’s how I really came up: on sneakers. I really used to be into the culture. I’m not gon’ say I used to always come down to SoHo and do all that. Like nah, I’m a hood n***a. I was uptown. I see n****s was doing this for the STAPLE. I didn’t have the first one. You know back in the day, my shawty bought me the second one. That was it. It was like damn, I manifested this. I had the second ones on my feet and now I have a collab with them, I’m boutta go to Paris Fashion Week with them. I kept saying to myself like a year or two ago, people don’t know that I get fly sometimes.

It’s kind of like understated. 

Yeah, it’s understated. You’ve got Flacko. You’ve got Nast. You’ve got Ferg. You’ve got me. You’ve got the bros. They get fly, but nah, I dead get fly though. They’ve gotta do that. I’ve gotta go out there. They’ve gotta f**k with me and I get fly with like Kobes and Brons. N****s not on that.

In addition to music, you have your clothing brand, Last Year Being Broke. How has that pursuit been for you? 

Yo, I’m not gon’ lie. It’s been an uphill battle, but it’s been fire though. Learning how to do one thing I’m pretty great at and then learning how to do something I’d never thought I’d really do. As much as there are days where I’m like, “Damn man, this s**t crazy,” it started from the ground up. It started with a slogan. It started with a name from a song. It came from a song we recorded with A$AP Yams, and I think that was the last song that any of us was able to record with bro. I felt that in my heart. When that s**t is on your shirt and some people have it tatted. He got it tatted. I got it tatted. Once you really feel it and see it, everybody has that Eureka. My last year “being broke” moment. It might be your last year being broke at 23 and then your last year being broke at 25. Because you probably made more money this year than what you made last year. The next year, you probably didn’t do too good. It’s an everlasting process. It’s your first day being revolutionary. It’s mantras that are unstoppable. You know some people’s brands are built on trends and a lot of bulls**t. My s**t is just built on “I want this for you bro.” And if you want this for you, rock with me. And I’m not gonna stop. I might have days where I might not go as hard as you need me to. That’s the day where you f**k with my brand, you represent my brand. You’ve gotta go hard for me that day. Today might be the day where I can’t do it. It’s like a team. It’s like a basketball team. 

What’s some of the best advice you’ve received so far in your career and from whom? 

I ain’t gon’ lie. It goes down the line. Like A$AP Nast can say, “Yo bro, your image has to be crazy. Your image has to be to the point where you don’t have to put out music.” Ferg will ask me a question like, “Yo, but what you really want though? What did your younger self want? What did you at this point want?” It’ll make you question yourself at different points in your timeline. That n****a Flock. He’ll tell you a lot, but he’ll lead by example. I could tell you a lot, but I could show it to you and when he shows it to you, you’re like damn. Alright bet. I know Iman Shumpert be like playing with Bron, he’ll be like, “Yo, Bron came down, he’ll say I’mma do this and you’re gonna do that,” So he’ll tell you the whole play. He’ll more or less show you the whole play. That’s my best advice. Yamborghini leaving me with a collective of brothers that I could always speak to. These are my brothers. These are my family members. Even if it’s not business, I could be like, “Yo, you good bro.” We can grab something to eat. We could go to the casino. We could watch a movie. These my n****s. We could experience life together. We’ve had the blessing of experiencing life together for almost 20 years. Aside from them, my moms and my bros, and my steppops and my cousins, my aunts, my family, they give me perfect advice. I don’t always have to follow it, but it’s great to listen to.

I feel like the older I get, the more I realize certain relationships are sacred and you’ve gotta value them while they’re still here because you never know when it could be your last day. Thanks for speaking with us!

No doubt! Thanks for having me. Kid$ Gotta Eat dropping 07.07. The LYBB shop is open. Run up our socials. Run up everything, but if you see me in person, know that it’s real.