Ab-Soul Dishes Out Key Ingredients To ‘Soul Burger'
For Ab-Soul, rapping is not only his musical gift but a tool to honor his past, present, and future, while depicting life's highs and lows through metaphors, hyperbole, and personification. With each album release, the 38-year-old finds himself drawing inspiration from pockets of hope, lived experiences, pits of despair, and pursuits of solace, and that's all apparent in his most recent release.
On his latest album, Soul Burger, he fuses his talents with the spirit of his close friend and collaborator, the late Armon 'Doe Burger' Stringer, who was killed in December 2021. Through 15 tracks, Ab-Soul ensures his brother's creative legacy lives on.
While sitting backstage before his performance at Red Bull's BC One tournament in Denver, VIBE sat with him and explored the inspirations behind some of the album's stand-out tracks. The Carson native's smile was just as sharp as the fresh braids neatly fashioned on either side of a deep center part. Despite his dark sunglasses, worn due to legal blindness caused by Stevens-Johnson syndrome, suggesting a sense of mystique, one thing became clear: Ab-Soul is an open book for those willing not to judge its cover.
For nearly half an hour, the father of two engaged in conversation. We laughed, reflected, hugged, and connected on the unique ingredients that went into Soul Burger, how he prepared for the Good Vibes Only Tour: Smoker's Edition with Wiz Khalifa, Dom Kennedy, Earl Sweatshirt, and others, and much more.
VIBE: Congrats on the tour. How excited are you for that, and what cities are you most excited to hit?
Ab-Soul: I'm always always excited. I'm always appreciative and always looking forward to going out and touching the people, and actually feeling a response from the projects because it's literally kinetic. It's a really strange energy, and it's so important to me versus just releasing me when I should be chillin. I actually be feeling the energy, so that was very important. I don't have any particular cities that I'm looking forward to, but of course I love New York. I lived in the Bronx for a couple of years. That's where they say Hip-Hop started…That's what I heard. But, yeah, definitely looking forward to it, man. It's a blessing.
With this being The World Famous Soul Burger Tour, can fans expect the album top to bottom? Are you gonna bring some old stuff or new stuff? I'm planning to come to see you in Atlanta. What am I looking forward to when I pull up to this show?
Expect the best, man. Prepare for the worst. The worst meaning I said the craziest. It became crazier and crazier and crazier. You said Atlanta, right? Yeah, you see it? You'll get it later. But you know, I got collabs all over the place.
I've got a tour coming with Wiz Khalifa. We just hit Red Rocks for 4-20. Wiz is really cool, man. Real cool dude.
This is personal because you were gone for a minute, and life was life-ing. But with your last couple of projects, that momentum is coming back. You're outside more. What does the last few years feel like compared to prior years?
To be perfectly honest with you, at this point in my life, it's kinda like second nature. Like I said, man, I'm just grateful to still be alive, man. As you know, I done been through some sh*t. I've lost some important people to me. Like you said, life, lifing and all that. But Hip-Hop definitely keeps me going. It gives me purpose. To get up and keep trying and keep doing it and trying to be of service. Because no matter what I'm going through, I know somebody else is going through that. Going through something similar or worse. And if I can get up and keep going, then so can they. So I think that's the best way I could put that.
I want to talk a little bit about some of the songs on Can you talk about some of the collaborations on the album and how some of these tracks came to be?
The first one that comes to mind is '9 Mile.' That was very therapeutic for me. I wanted the album to come off sounding like Belly. The beat switch with the Eight Mile aesthetic was magical. It just happened. And that's how I like to let it happen organically. Come to find out, it's a Soul II Soul sample. Didn't think about that. And the song was about a near-death experience, and the album actually dropped on the same day as Eight Mile. [everyone laughs]
That was planned.
Absolutely not. I'm just a vessel. I'm like, it's not my fault. It was written… That's one of those that's one of those joints that just give me confidence or even faith in knowing that everything is as it should be. So it leads to 'California Dream.'
Ninth Wonder, one of my favorite producers of all time. For sure. Shout out to the big homie. Hearing Vince [Staples] over Ninth Wonder was just crazy to me. Not that you haven't heard him over soul samples or anything like that, but that was just like a dope aesthetic for me personally. And he delivered as he does. And that was dope.
The story behind 'Crazier' is that it was actually JID's record first. He asked me to get on it. Now what happened was, and shout out to the homie, Kal Banx. What happened was, Kal, I guess, just over time, I guess there was some kind of miscommunication, and he sold the beat to someone else. So JID's like, 'What's up with your man ?' [Ab-Soul impersonates JID].
So some time had passed, and then JID sent me another record to get on. JID, he goes so crazy, man. Shout out to the homie. The song he sent me didn't even need a feature on it. It was like, 'Yo, you sure you want me to rap on this as well?' He's like 'Yeah man, trust me.' So, I'm like, 'All right. Well, listen. If I do this, man, you gotta let me have Crazier.'
He's like, 'Alright, say nothing.' And then sure enough, I link up with Kal later on down the line, and he played me this 'Crazier' beat. We recreated it, extended it, and just made it Crazier. So that's the story there. The beat was called 'Pakistan.' I be paying attention. You gotta pay attention to the producers too. You gotta pay attention to how they label their stuff too. Sometimes they'd be spot on. That's a crazy story. Funny thing.
Are we getting a music video for it?
We thought about it. It could still happen. You know what I'm saying? And I believe I'm on his upcoming album as well. So look out for that. Anything could happen.
My favorite song from the album at the moment is 'Saudi Sweats.' What was your creative inspiration or your motivations behind that one?
It's actually very simple. 'Saudi Sweats' is actually… Because Soul Burger is not me. It's a fusion of me and my brother, Doe Burger. And one of our favorite artists is this kid Asaad. One of his nicknames is Saudi. He's into fashion, he's a designer. And he has these dope sweats. I still ain't even got me none. I need to get me some. They're like a stack a pair, man. Get your money out [laughs]. So he's just amazing. I really encourage everyone to check him out. And he's a real hidden gem, I think, by choice. He likes to be a rarity. The last album we listened to was his album New Black History Month. That was the last album that we listened to together before he passed. And so it was important for me to channel Saudi.
You 'stealing Saudi Money's whole flow.'
That wasn't even me. Shoutout to Saudi. You know the movie The Pursuit of Happyness?
I like how he pointed out the fact… He was talking about how it's life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Because happiness is not tangible. It's not something that you can hold in your hand. It's fleeting. And so you have to just have to enjoy your moments of happiness or peace with these things because they're momentous. You can't appreciate happiness without the journey. So anyway. I think I heard my auntie say, 'I ain't got time to be happy.' I think I actually got that from my auntie. 'I ain't got time to be happy right now. I gotta make you happy.' And it stuck with me.
It stuck with me, too.
See what I'm saying? You just got to… You can't chase it. You gotta appreciate it when it happens.
Can you tell me a little bit about that 'All That' With JasonMartin and Thirsty P?
It was very organic. I was in the studio. Lately, because I've been known to be so cerebral. I'm like Jackson Pollock right now, man. I just throw paint, and let it fall where it may, versus trying to be so meticulous, so specific, so calculated. I just really try to express myself in the most organic way. I don't even pick beats no more. I let the homies pick them for me. I tell all my guys, 'Yo, just send me three or four beats you need to hear me on.' Don't overwhelm me and send me 30 beats. I'm gonna get an aneurysm. Send me three or four joints that you need to hear me on. No. I don't have a vibe. No, I'm not on anything. I'm trying to find it. Help me.'
And that was one of the joints my man Rascal sent me. I think he collaborated with Tae Beast on that one. I just went in there, just did my two-step on it, and it just sounded crazy. I think [my tour manager] Matt [Miller] walked in like, 'See, this is what I'm talking about. We need more beats like this. This is the sh*t that's gonna work, man if you're trynna win.'
I think it is more so just about not thinking. It tends to happen when I stop thinking. I think even Jason said that when you start thinking, that's when you're forcing music. You're not even supposed to think. It's supposed to just happen. Quincy Jones said, 'Melody is the voice of God.' Find the melody, find the flavor, find that. And let the words or the poetry or the bars fall where they may. And I think that's the most important thing to me right now.
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