BOI-1DA | CENSOR STUDIOS

BOI - 1DA

CENSOR ©
You're here with CENSOR ©. What beat would you say your most proud of?

BOI - 1DA
That's like asking "Which kid are you most proud of?" you know? I feel like my music is like....I'm so deeply connected to everything. I can't really say something's my favorite you know? I kind of like everything that I do so that's a really tough question. I guess my answer is I like everything.

CENSOR ©
Yeah, it's all your creation.

BOI - 1DA
Yeah, yeah, yeah

CENSOR ©
Yessir, I'm artist too, I get it. Have you ever thought about rapping?

BOI - 1DA
Unfortunately, yes. I used to rap.

CENSOR ©
That's where you started?

BOI - 1DA
Yeah. I retired early because I was too nice (laughing)

CENSOR ©
Same with me, I think we all started rapping as children. So what song made you realize you made it?

BOI - 1DA
I realized I made it after I did "Best I Ever Had" with Drake and I was going everywhere and hearing the song. Literally every place I go, it was like literally inescapable from hearing that song. I'd go in a taxi i'd hear the song, i'd go to the mall I hear the song, go to anywhere and hear it. So I was like wow, like I really did something, you know?

CENSOR ©
How did that happen? Were you friends?

BOI - 1DA
Yeah we're friends. I've known Drake since I was 16. We kind of both... It started around when I started making music. I met him around when he just got into it. He was like halfway done with his first project "Room For Improvement". We linked up thru one of my boys, one of my good friends who is his music director, D10 and he linked us because he thought we were both dope and we needed to work together. So shout out to D10. That's a good connection.

CENSOR ©
You all grew up together too?

BOI - 1DA
Yeah

CENSOR ©
That's hard. Who's your favorite producer besides yourself?

BOI - 1DA
My all time favorite producer is Dr. Dre, that's like Michael Jordan. Like how people consider Michael Jordan I think Dr. Dre is like Jordan of like the production game. Like he's just done everything that I can say, there's no catching that guy bro. You know, it's like he's too far gone.

CENSOR ©
You up there though! You up there (laughing)

BOI - 1DA
Yeah, yeah yeah of course but like Dre man... he made generational artists multiple times, and made generational songs multiple times. And then after all of that, ALL THAT he made a generational product in "Beats by Dre" which is massive. A billion dollar product you know, so it's like that's... Dr. Dre is really the producers dream.

CENSOR ©
Never thought of it like that.

BOI - 1DA
Yeah, he just did everything on like the highest scale.

CENSOR ©
Yeah.....Sheeeshhh... So how did growing up in Toronto shaped your view on music?

BOI - 1DA
Growing up in Toronto shaped my view on music because it was very diverse you know, everybody around here is kind of like, it's kind of a melting pot culture out here, where it's like...It's like nobody's really segregated. Like I grew up with the Italians, Chinese people and Sri Lankans and like everybody was cool with each other, so everybody's kind of immersed in everybody's culture. You know, the Jamaicans, the Trinis, everybody was friends, well, where I was from. So it was like, you know, I was listening to the music that they're listening to and..... you we're just very cultured and privileged to be able to connect with other cultures and understand their music and appreciate it you know? Like we grew up.... like everybody out here grew up listening to Soca, Chutney and Reggae, Dancehall, R&B, Hip Hop, Rap, Rock, everything you know? We're hearing everything, it wasn't like, regionally segregated. So that was... I feel like... it was the best part because it shaped me as a producer because I could feel like I can make any type of music. So I understand every time.

CENSOR ©
Yeah, coming to Toronto. I finally realized like, this isn't my first time here. But when I first came, I realized how cultural it is. I did not know. I never knew.

BOI - 1DA
Where are you from?

CENSOR ©
Atlanta

BOI - 1DA
Atlanta , ok yeah. One of my good friends, a new producer I just signed is coming here tomorrow. He's from Atlanta. He's a young boy, like 24, 23. His name is Fierce.

CENSOR ©
So who's an artist that's passed that you wish you could work with?

BOI - 1DA
I grew up on DMX. I always wanted to work with DMX because he was kind of like my intro to Hip Hop. I was connected with him right before he passed, like I connected with his manager. I just wanted to do something with X just to say I did it because he introduced me to Hip Hop.

CENSOR ©
That was your childhood right there

BOI - 1DA
Yeah, yeah. So I was gonna do it and then unfortunately he passed away during the pandemic. And that was sad for me, because like... DMX is like... I did not listen to Hip Hop before DMX. So that was like my door opening to Hip-Hop was DMX. The first time I seen "Get At Me Dog" I was like, "Yo, this guy's cool I don't want to miss this." and that was my intro to Hip Hop. So yeah, I'll say DMX or Michael Jackson, obviously.

CENSOR ©
Yeah, Mike too. but sheesh, you've worked with everybody else haha .

BOI - 1DA
Haha, facts.

CENSOR ©
What made you leave Jamaica and go to Toronto?

BOI - 1DA
My parents. I moved from Jamaica to Toronto when I was four so initially my parents, but my parents moved because of the violence in Jamaica. At the time in the 80s, I think he moved from Jamaica to Toronto in '89-90, and at that time Jamaica was the murder capital of the world. There was just a lot of murder around where I was growing up. I grew up in Portmore, phase one. So literally my parents would tell me like, literally these people dying left, right, and center. Kids are playing with a dead guy over there. It's like, not an environment they wanted us to see and grow up in and they just felt like it was getting closer and closer. So they're like, Yeah, we got to get out of here. So you know, that was a great choice for my parents because yeah, they just told me it was really really violent down here.

CENSOR ©
It changed your life. Is phase like zones? In Atlanta, we call them zones. You heard of like Zone 3, Zone 6.

BOI - 1DA
Phase one is like..basically like a Third World country at the time. Phase One is like Portmore....Gaza, is like where Vybez Kartel is from. Alot of artists are from Portmore.

CENSOR ©
Do you visit?

BOI - 1DA
I've been back a few times. A lot of my family left Jamaica so I visited a few times with family and then I went on vacation a few times out there but I went out there my pops one time and I got to see like the real...you know what I'm saying but like yeah, now that nobody's down there. I'm not gonna do that.

CENSOR ©
This is where you grew up. This is where we used to stay. That type of thing?

BOI - 1DA
Yeah, see my house that I was like, basically was born in. It was like, you know, you see that and you really appreciate where you're at now. It was very humbling. Like eight people in a space that's like no bigger than like this you know?

CENSOR ©
That's beautiful. Do you speak Patois?

BOI - 1DA
Yeah, yeah yeah

CENSOR ©
What do you think you would be doing if you didn't become a producer? Other than rapping (laughing).

BOI - 1DA
If I wasn't a producer? Damn bro, I have no idea what I'd be doing but I would maybe try to get into acting because like...I find it interesting, or voice acting. I believe that.... I don't know. I don't know. That's a tough that's a question. A question nobody's ever asked me actually.

BOI - 1DA
I like gaming. I play a lot of games. I play Men's League and stuff like that. Other than that just drawing like art. Yeah, I'm pretty simple.

BOI - 1DA
Favorite Toronto musician ever? I'd probably say...the obvious is Drake haha you know, I've been working with Drake since I was 16. I always thought he was literally like.... literally from day one thought he was the greatest artist ever. And I would tell people that.

BOI - 1DA
I felt like the little boy that cried wolf. I was telling everybody, I was like, "Oh, this guy's greatest" and people were just like "shut up." I would be like "Yeah, like, trust me. He's the ONE" and people would be like "Yeah, Yeah, Yeah."

CENSOR ©
He is the one. Sheeesshhhh... man that's crazy. Growing up with your friend and y'all both just becoming legends. Insane.

BOI - 1DA
I told him I'm like, bro, this guy (Drake)....... I'm like, bro, you're like HOV to me bro. You're rapping at the same level as HOV, as like as a kid!

BOI - 1DA
You gotta go back to like...... people don't understand? It's like, well, he was rapping ALWAYS. Like he's been rapping, he's been writing like that since he was 16.

CENSOR ©
Yeah, the versatality, the skill, the way he puts his words together, the storytelling, like it's unmatched literally. Like we haven't seen anything like it. And I just think because he's so mainstream and so big and to like a common going music listener he might seem cliche, like "Oh It's Drake", but man like, when you really sit down and listen.... like he raps. He goes crazy.

BOI - 1DA
And he's still got it.

BOI - 1DA
He just showed me some new shit and I'm like, "Bro, how?"

CENSOR © Nah, For All The Dogs.... when Yachty said he had some of his best verses on there and they critiqued him so harshly. I knew Drake went back in the studio, like "okay,bet....fasho." And came back like a couple week later with Scary Hours. sheesh.

BOI - 1DA
Yeah you can't play with that guy man. That guy's not playing around at all bro, like he's not joking. He can just do whatever he wants. People are always gonna critique him like he's gonna do some shit and he's gonna have fun. Make a dance album, He's gonna do what he wants and people can say whatever they want. But when it comes time to rapping and he wants to rap, he's the best rapper bro he can out rap anybody.

CENSOR ©
Literally anybody. Whoever you want to put up there....and the versatility like, who can do that much and be good at everything? Like he's never put out anything bad ever. Might not be your favorite but he always hits.

BOI - 1DA
Always. Every time.

BOI - 1DA
Right now I'm working on my own project. I'm working on a lot of stuff with different artists and a lot of the usual suspects, some new artists, you know? I'm also exploring and experimenting with music tools as well , what's going on over there. I always have my ear out. Right now I'm just working on my own project, I'm making like a compilation album. I've been working on it for a minute but I really want to make the best album you know? I don't want it to be like no shit that flies under the radar. I really want to make a classic so I've been locked in on it trying to make it my best but it's gonna be great when it's done.