OG Boo Dirty On What Inspires His Music, Working With Akon & Black Lives Matter [VIDEO EXCLUSIVE]

OG Boo Dirty, the up-and-coming Memphis rapper, recently dropped his debut album – Billionaire Dreams – on Akon‘s label Konflict Muzik.

OG Boo Dirty Exclusive Video Interview

OG Boo Dirty first got Akon’s ear after a chance encounter in Memphis, Tennessee where Young Thug was doing a promo show. Akon’s brother had told OG Boo Dirty to expect a call from Akon in the near future. In two weeks, OG Boo Dirty got that call and it wasn’t long before the two were collaborating.

“[Akon] flew me to Atlanta — this is where I let him hear ‘Problems’ — we went through like 10 to 15 songs and the last song I played him was ‘Problems.’ He was like, ‘Yo, that’s it, that’s the one, leave that right now, we gonna make a movie to this one,'” OG Boo Dirty told uInterview in an exclusive interview.

While working with Akon, OG Boo Dirty developed a close relationship with the Senegalese R&B artist, from whom he learned the value of patience.

“Nothing happens around the corner; it’s miles down the road. It’s only a few people in the world that can say, ‘It happened just like this,'” he said. “You gotta get yourself together, and just be patient. You think you’re ready but you’re not and I never understood it until now. As the days go by I understand more and more that patience is the key. ”

OG Boo Dirty’s latest single, “I Got It Off the Yay,” pays homage to Memphis’ Project Pat, introducing his signature sound to the younger generations. For OG Boo Dirty’s aspirational “Billionaire Dreams” he wanted to skip over striving for millions. And “Problems,” the track that convinced Akon to sign him to Konflict Muzik, is OG Boo Dirty’s commentary on all the hardships of the world.

“The ‘Problems’ video, just everything that’s going on in the world today. We use it in a concept to where we could show and pay our condolences to everything that happened,” he said, adding, “For instance, everybody across the world going through problems, going through a struggle, going through something they can’t talk to other people about but you can get in your own little room and just listen and zone out to this song because everybody going through it.”

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While “Problems” could seem vaguely political, that’s not necessarily OG Boo Dirty’s intention. In fact, the rapper, while aware of the strong opinions of others, strives to keep his rap and his message relatively apolitical.

“I just put all my music where people could relate to it and put their situation in my situation. Like ‘Black Lives Matter’ is just an opinion, everybody got their own opinion, they’re just voicing their opinion,” OG Boo Dirty told uInterview, explaining, “The only way it’s gonna work, and come together is if all of us come together. It can’t be like, ‘He wanna do it this way, but he wants to do it that way’ — we have to agree. All lives matter, not just black, that’s how I look at it.