You’d be hard-pressed to find an artist who hasn’t worked with Xay Hill. The man has done hundreds of features and put out even more songs. The old rules of being a Rapzilla Freshmen indicated that he be disqualified. Well, this year, those rules were thrown out because streaming has changed the game!
How does it feel to be a Rapzilla freshman?
Yo, it’s crazy man! The thing is that last year I wasn’t able to be a freshman because pretty much I did too much work basically. Then when they dropped the nominees this year they were like “Xay broke streaming” so they had to change the rules. (Laughing) So I saw they dropped the nominees and I went to look, thinking I’d see some of my homies in there, but it was my face on the cover…I was like “WHOAAA What Just Happened?!”
It was a dream come true. I’ve been following the freshmen since, like 2013, that’s when I first got into Rapzilla, and now it’s like whoa…it’s crazy man. It’s an honor.
I know this is the token question that every rapper gets asked, but I’m gonna ask it anyway. Who are some people who are inspiring your craft at the moment?
Alright, the main people I listen to are probably like Canon, then another rapper that I pray makes freshmen list next year is my bro Teejay. I can’t tell him that straight up but he’s one of my biggest influences. If he tells me “Xay that’s trash” then the song gets trashed. Then my bro Robbie. I have a whole collective called Pilgrim entertainment. They’re an anointed group of people. We’re just trying to build a culture. Those guys are my homies and they’re some influencers.
I listen to a lot of Canon, KB, and Derek Minor. But I feel like I got my sound from Lil’ Wayne. Any time he gets on a song you can tell it’s him. Like by his voice. Everybody tries to sound the same, but you tell the difference when it’s his voice. That’s a goal of mine. I want to be that guy that when you hear a run at the beginning of a song or hear an ad-lib you’re like “Oh that’s Xay on this song.” You don’t have to see “featuring Xay Hill,” but you can just hear my voice and know. That’s how I want to model my sound. I started there and God did the rest!
Do you have new stuff coming out? I just saw a project on Spotify that I hadn’t heard of dated 2020.
So my new stuff I got out, firstly if you see stuff like that out, those are collab EPs. I got inspired years ago because when I first started into CHH money wouldn’t even buy me a feature. So I got to the point where I just put out tons of features. I think I’m close to 500 of all I’ve done in CHH in the past year and a half. Everybody needs at least a chance. So I do a lot of collab projects with producers and artists that no one has heard of. I work with them, I help them and basically sacrifice my platform.
My momma always told me “God gives you a platform. It’s not yours, it’s his. So sacrifice it.” I don’t care if it gets put on my Spotify, I just want to help them. But I do got new songs out. I just dropped “Bag” in January and then last Friday I dropped “Mutombo” with Parris Chariz and Teejay.
Alright, so you just had a new baby, you’ve got a new family, while still maintaining your creativity and working on your craft. How have you been able to balance it all?
It’s not been hard at all bro. I’ve always been a crazy hard worker. I’ve always been told, “It’s gonna get hard, it’s gonna get difficult, you’re gonna lack sleep,” but I’m a sleepless person. I work like crazy bro and wake up every morning at 7-8 o clock after staying in the booth sometimes until 1 in the morning. I also play piano for my church and I’m over the choir for my church so there’s a lot of responsibilities and stuff I gotta handle. I’d rather be the one to do it than someone else do it.
Hard work is always going to payout. It’s just God. He gives me the strength to do it. It didn’t get any more difficult, it just changed my workload and all that does is take away from me playing Madden. (Laughing) That’s really the only thing!
Any wisdom or encouragement you’d like to share today?
Just don’t stop bro, and don’t let yourself become sad being in the shadows of someone else. Nobody really knows this, but there’s a secular artist named Jasiah. He’s a huge artist, he’s been number 1 on TikTok. He was on tour with Juice WRLD before he passed, been on tour with Ski Mask (the slump god). That’s my blood brother. It seems like my whole life me and him battled back and forth like who is the better artist. When he blew up, my whole family gotta put me in his shadow. Like, “Do you see what Jasiah doing?” Yeah I see what he’s doing!
Don’t let yourself be consumed in the competition because that’ll draw you out of the race. Just keep focused on what God has for you and don’t get caught up in another man’s blessing. Hard work pays off that’s why I don’t mind working as hard as I do and sacrificing the way that I do. My fiancee is always pushing me. She pushes me to not quit. Like God didn’t quit on you, He’s taking care of us, we’re a tag team. That’s the mentality you have to have bro. Hard work will pay off and make the dream come true.
Watch Xay Hill Below:
What do you have dropping in the future?
I’m trying to get new music videos. My camera guy works at Auburn so it’s crazier for him right now. But new music videos, new projects, new music, features with big artists I’ve always dreamed about working with. A lot of stuff coming down the line God’s just making the way for bigger things to happen.
With me it’s so unpredictable because I drop so much music man you never know. One day I could drop something with someone you never heard of, the next day it could be a track with Derek Minor. You never know. Hopefully, I’ll be traveling more again. But me and my fiancee decided to start up a YouTube series. I’m a Vlogger now. Just so you know, before you tune in though I’m lame. I live to get in the booth and play the game all day. That’s it.
