WXYC: This is WXYC Chapel Hill, and we are here with Dear Lucy and Friends. How did you feel performing today in a different venue than you normally would?
Dear Lucy and Friends: Ya, shit was cool. It's funny looking out and seeing people that like, really fuck with your shit, like they're looking crazy, they're locked in, and then you see people that have seen you for the first time, and they’re just sitting there trying to like process all that. And I know it's a lot, I'm like, music is like a lot, and performing for people is a lot.
WXYC: Yes, and you have a new album out, KIMURA. What’s different about this album?
Dear Lucy and Friends: It's my first time on that Rap shit. Like, I was trying to be as mainstream as possible, not with the music but how I dropped it. I was, like, on tour, not even on tour, but my first out of the states show. It was fucking crazy. I was in Canada, and shout out East Hassing Street. Shout out fucking Child Dario. Shout out to a lot of people there doing activism, like real activism. But like, yeah, I dropped some more because I was like, “Oh, I'm gonna leave an album with them.” Like I told them, I had an album coming out. It was already out by the time I performed. I'm like, ooh, Vancouver guy, come on. It got a lot of plays from me doing that show, you know. Yeah, it made me feel good.
WXYC: Are you gonna go out more and do more tours?
Dear Lucy and Friends: I want to play everywhere. Tell them hey. I'm trying to bring the queers up. I'm trying to bring all my sisters, all my brothers, my whole comrades, you know, and they need to hear some real, I don't care how uncomfortable you do. You know, anywhere, though. Play to listeners who haven’t heard.
WXYC: For these new listeners who haven’t heard, how would you prepare them for what things you want to talk about and why you want to talk about them?
Dear Lucy and Friends: Okay, for one, you're gonna have to like hip hop music. But also, like, I don't know how to really prepare you for all that fucking music. I got like 13 albums since 2022. I got like 13 projects, and it's a lot of me finding myself too. It's like, I don't think all that shit is good. I don't perform it all, you know. I don't. So it's like, if you're gonna sit and, like, really go through my whole catalog, that's a whole different thing. If you're coming around now, I'm just moving, I'm hot, I'm like, I feel like anything I make right now is hot. And it's how my life is going, like, meeting people, this event might get written about today, because I'm doing this right now. It's like, this is kind of crazy. So it might be in a song. Now that I did an interview and this hot ass party too is like, good, it’s a good interview. There's Art here.
WXYC: That's what I’ve been digging into about this party so far. I feel like more local people, or like people I already know.
Dear Lucy and Friends: And everybody's shit is hard. Like I need everyone to make what you want to make. Don’t have it be like someone else’s shit. But if you're doing something, then do it. You know you got to do that shit, like I wouldn't like be here with y'all if I didn’t do this or I wasn’t gonna survive. I had to be able to talk about my problems and make up all that shit isn’t serious either. It’s like, you know, everything has been taken seriously, but like it's a medium.
WXYC: You always said you like to write about a lot of things, and when you write about things, are you gonna turn it into a song?
Dear Lucy and Friends: It's all relevant to me, and it's not at the same time. I swear. It's like, I play one song, “Don't Stink”. Like, “Don’t Stink” is like a rendition of a Nirvana song. But, like, I meant it in like, a whole different way. Like, where, yeah, it's like, tied to the idea of a relationship or, I'm like, I'm not even a character all the time either, but I'm writing about something. You know, it's like a dream where you're dreaming something, and you don’t know how the fuck you're in that shit, but you're in that shit. I use it with life. And I'm like learning and shit, you know, it's nice, because I listen to my shit sometimes, and then I end up living it later, or, like, some shit I was writing about, and I was like, did I like, Hex my goddamn self sometimes, you know, like, I don't know where it's coming from, but it's coming and there's a lot of it. I'm gonna try, just be able to live and do it, you know, like, I just want somewhere to stay. I want to take care of, like, people. I just want to give all my money away, too. I'm like, You give me money to make art. I'm gonna give it away. I would give it right back into the community. Oh, God, I don't need anything. I have everything I ever need right now. I'm like, even the clothes on my back. Like, if I had to leave tomorrow, I'm like, Cool. Like this, like, names can't tell me shit. You know.
**WXYC: **It's really refreshing to see, because I feel like a lot of artists anywhere in any genre, they just want to, like, make it up the economic scale.
Dear Lucy and Friends: Like, honestly, I would do the whole commercial thing, right? Be tied to some shit and everything. I would be a financial liability, because they know I would make a really good album. And then I'm going to be like, where all the money go? I ain’t use it for studio time, I make this shit on my phone. It'd be like, you're gonna give me all this money to go to the studio. Like all the albums, that's shit came from a phone. Been using BandLab since, like, I got out of college. Yeah, I made my first beat. I started in, like, a program, but, like,I wasn't able to ever like, get that computer on or whatever, like, you know. And I had a studio at one time, and I sold it to move back here. But I got to make music still. I went to school here.
WXYC: By school here, do you mean Raleigh?
Dear Lucy and Friends: Ya, I went to Peace University, like downtown Raleigh, and I left there, and I went back to Atlanta, Stone Mountain. Just a lot of back and forth.
WXYC: What do you think about the Raleigh Scene?
Dear Lucy and Friends: Yo, yo. Okay. I'm like, Alright, so I'm a North Carolina artist. North Carolina, yeah, I feel like I did most of my shit here. And like, everybody made music, everybody was doing something. You know. I'm so competitive, though. I'm like, Oh, if you're doing what I'm doing or anything close to what I'm doing, I'm trying to, like, I'm low key, trying to pass you. I don't know, you know, I'll be honest with you, I need, I need not even like, smoke. I just need like, I need y'all to know I'm rapping this hard to be like, I'm just, I'm good. Like, no, no, shade. It's like, because everybody else does it, you know, like people, people we look up to, they know they're good. I'm like, No, I'll be right, you know, like, you know, I rap in front of anybody. I like, you know, it doesn't even matter if I can play my songs. I'm like, yeah, no, we can go.
Hey, you know I would if you could read, like, blank out my cuss words, it'd be funny.
WXYC: No, yeah, that's exactly what's gonna happen too.
Dear Lucy and Friends: Can you put a little ****
WXYC: Someone's gonna be in charge of that editing, and it's not gonna be me.
Dear Lucy and Friends: Hey, look, this is how rappers sound. This is how real rapper sound when they don’t got somebody in their ear, being like, you gotta talk like this, I'm like, no.
That's how my cousins talk. This is how my mama talks. All my folks talk, we country as hell. You know, country, like, Black Country, but like, also, I lived in a big city a lot of times, you know. So I'm like, I'm so mixed in, you know, I'm saying, like, because I live in certain places, it's like, even my lingo or how I'm talking, it's like, that's how all my folks talk. And I always talk like this. Like, even when I was hot for him all the time, I didn't, I had this voice. Before, I didn’t use to talk a lot. That's where the writing came from, and the art and all the other shit, I was quiet as hell. Not even quiet, just analyzing everything, you know, just being like, I'm anxious as hell, because I grew up a certain way, and I'm like, I'm trying to find something to put my energy in.
WXYC: Ya, I find that boldly specific through your albums. like, there's an album like “Greta”, and I feel like that really highlights a specific time in real life.
Dear Lucy and Friends: Yes, I was still referring to myself as Heat. And it's like, even now, look okay, lowky. This is funny, because it's like, I feel like this is one of my first real interviews. I'm gonna be real. With you. Like, we're sitting and chilling, and I want it to be known like, yeah, a nigaa is not on hormones right now. So niggas be treating me different, you know? And it's okay, it's okay. But I'm like, I don't look like how I looked a year ago and shit. So people are like, it's a little weird. But like, when it comes to my pronouns, I like all of them bitches. You can call me anything you want. Actually, you can just refer to me as a human. Goddamn it, I don’t give a fuck because that's the one thing we all got in common. We got blood, heart, mind, soul. You know, what I'm saying, like, even that, yeah, we everybody here right now. We low key sharing, like a real intimate ass, like, energy, it's fucking crazy. You don't even know. Some people didn't even interact with, like, everybody in the party tonight, but lowkey, they felt something.
WXYC: Your music really, like, touches a lot of like, people, I would say, like, I don't know, like, just the themes you talk about, I feel like they're just really important.
Dear Lucy and Friends: If people listen, you know. I know music, there so much music, everybody makes music, and it's like, everybody's gonna have that niche, but like, there's something shit that's like a calling for you to lock the fuck in. Like, what everybody else would say now. You know and you should make and you should do it like it’s I don’t know. I wanted to inspire people to go home and do some shit they really like. It's like, it don't have to be music. It could be like, whatever you fuck with the most. Do it really passionately. Like, if you got something for my song, I mean, go do that or be as nice as you can. That'd be another challenge, too.
WXYC: And I would say your audience is very much queer-based. What advice would you give to someone who is like in that audience, who's trying to also make it big in whatever medium they want to do?
Dear Lucy and Friends: I dead ass. I feel like my fan base is mad, split. I feel like it's a lot of people, and I feel like it's a lot of people, and it's because, you know, like that being like, I don't give a fuck, you know. Like, you know, I think people like me for a certain reason, too. It's like, oh, you gonna say that shit, or you gonna, you know, you gonna do this shit. I'm like, it's been everybody. It's like, all shades of people, all people, but I'm like, the black DLC. I want, you know, I need all of them, though, not just our side, not just the queer folder. I'm like, I need, I want to convert niggas. not even, but I want to be like, Yo, go, come, listen to some shit. So you could, like, treat your mama better. Choose your partner better, like I'm talking about, like dudes and shit, cuz I'm echoing that with my voice, like if I was rapping in a different manner and a higher tone or something, it will relate. You know. It's like, it's frequencies, you know. But I'm like, I feel like, if you a straight dude listening to my shit, you should be like, Alright, have I always thought about the queer Pokeball, like, or anybody I see, I'm like, because you don't know. I'm like, I'm gonna pull up on you, like this, and gonna say some weird shit. I'm gonna be like nigga what, you know, I'm saying for real. It's like, anybody though, I'm like, you know, just be nice. Cuz, be nice, you know, like, Oh my God, be nice. And if you see somebody that look different than you low-key, they poppin they shit. So you should just be like, that's, you know, that's good, you know. Like, that's why I don't know. I remember being a kid, and it was like, you'll see a kid that's different than you, or you'll see a kid that's, like, drawing differently than you, whatever. And you like, admire that shit. Admiring more than you would do when you are an adult, you'll see somebody, you go, you know, it's like, oh, it's all these little shits, because we done grew the fuck up. But I'm like, when we were kids, though, it was like, Oh, it was like, one of the like, that should be funny. It was like music. It's like, some music you don't like. It'd be like, you know, you're gonna be a little bit more hesitant than you would be when you was like, a small shit. He was like, he was on everything. Because it was like, Ooh, it's something to move to. It's something to listen to. Oh, no. Like, that's how I like to move.
WXYC: Oh, that's beautiful. Like, this open-mindedness.
Dear Lucy and Friends: Yes, yes. I know that shit can be mad extreme. My life, my lifestyle is extreme. So you ain't got to copy it, but you can, like, just grab a little bit from it. You know, I feel like, cake you don't want to eat right now. You don't want to eat all the cake. You just want to, like, get a little bit of it, then chill. I'm like, not supposed to be the most serious person in the room. I should never be that, you know, like, even that shows I'm like, don't take it like, you know. Like, you know, only people that's gonna take it really serious is they gonna feel like, I said something that struck a chord. I'm like, most queer people gonna be like, they gonna, you know, they gonna just resonate. You know, most people that think outside the box are gonna resonate. You know, most people that like fuck with art is gonna resonate, but it's like all them other folks.
