SoulBounce: So you're on tour with Elle Varner, how does it feel?
Adrian Marcel: It feels great, I love being on tour, I love being on the road. My favorite part is the traveling, the sight-seeing, the experiences, the memories, the moments, the different faces.
SB: So we first got introduced to you with 7 Days Of Weak and then Weak After Next, and now we're about to get Got Me F'd Up. Tell us what inspired the title.
AM: The inspiration for Got Me F'd Up was I woke up one morning and my old job had called me and they said that they had a position open up, and I said, "Y'all got me f**ked up!" Nah, I'm just kidding!
SB: I was about to say, what was your old job? Did you work at Target or something?
AM: Right! Nah, I worked at the cheesesteak shop. I was flippin' cheesesteaks! But no, the inspiration is very simple, it's universal. And I don't know — maybe it's just me. Maybe I'm the only one who, at some point in every one of my days, someone has me f**ked up. Whether it's love, whether it's heartbreak, whether it's pain, whether it's I'm late, whether it's traffic or whether or not I have my own time, I can see my family the way I want to see them or whatever it is, it's a brand new time for me. This is all new for me. It's not like a bad "got me f**ked up."
SB: Well speaking of f**k, what's your favorite curse word?
- Advertisement -AM: Oh I thought you were about to ask me something else. I was ready! [laughs] You said what's my favorite curse word? I don't know, s**t. I'm just playing, that is the word.
SB: We’ll go with that then! So tell us how you’ve evolved from the mixtapes until now.
- Advertisement -AM: You know what, I think for me it’s been a transcendence of my confidence and just in the belief that I have in myself. Not to say that I wasn’t confident and didn’t believe in myself, but as artists we are insecure and there are doubts and there’s worries that you have. But for me being around people like Raphael Saadiq and my team L7, and the men in my family, everyone around me is very strong and confident in themselves and I’ve learned just to let things flow. I overthink a lot of stuff sometimes. Like, am I gonna be able to sing it like this? Are they gonna feel it like that? I don’t have to do what he’s doing or she’s doing or he’s doing, I need to do what I’m doing and something must be going right for me to get this far.
SB: Something is going right. Speaking of Raphael, what is it like working with Mr. Saadiq?
- Advertisement -AM: Ahh, it’s a headache because all he does is cuss me out and tell me how much he hates me [laughs]. Nah, Raphael is the coolest dude in the world. He’s easy like Sunday morning. Like, again don’t overthink anything in the studio, like there’s no pressure. If it’s not coming, then it’s not supposed to come, just be and just indulge in this and let things flow and I’ve learned to just let it flow and it’s been so much easier that way for me.
SB: Good! So you worked with Raphael Saadiq on the new album too? The last mixtapes you worked with J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League and JR Beats, who are you working with this time around?
- Advertisement -AM: Hmm, we got Jane Hancock, we got Beat Rock. I’m sure there will be more J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League on there because they’re awesome. Umm, we got some more JR Beats. We got, you know all kinds. It’s so many talented people who have their hands in creating what I feel is something real and something that’s ultimately relatable.
SB: And were you really hands on with this one? Did you write a lot of the songs?
- Advertisement -AM: Absolutely. There’s nothing that I don’t touch. I mean, obviously because even if I don’t write it, I gotta sing it. And I can’t sing like you sing or like you want me to sing, I sing the way I do, you know? But for me, I’m one of those artists that is very hands on with everything. Like, I want to be a part of that process because ultimately I’m the one who has to get on stage. I’m the one you have to listen to my voice singing. you have to have this connection with me, so I can’t be everybody else and then you see me, you know? It doesn’t work like that.
