SDotBraddy on Quitting College Football for Rap: "Everyone and Their Mother Said I Was a F@#%ing Idiot"

You can't tell Steven Braddy shit. He actually says so on one of his songs, multiple times.

After devoting years of his life to football, Braddy knew his future and heart were no longer in the sport after high school. Instead, Braddy, known as SDotBraddy to Miami rap fans, headed back home from college, after leaving his football team, to finish Innovation. And so far, the gamble has paid off.

Like fellow Miami rappers Prez P and Denzel Curry before him, Braddy gained a boost in notoriety after his video for "Can't Tell Me Shit" was featured on MTV's Get in the Game.

Now, as SDotBraddy adds the finishing touches to his follow-up, the rapper took time out to speak with Crossfade about the delay of Private Sessions, his current relationship with his father, and life without football.

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Crossfade: What's caused the delay for Private Sessions?

SDotBraddy: Pretty much just perfection. Mixing and mastering if you want to get specific. Just mixing and mastering; that's all that's left. For the time, I've had some connections that I've made which have also been delaying it too. Because I've had the project done and then I'll go ahead meet someone who fucks with my music and I fuck with their music. And then we'll just go ahead and be like, "Damn, I want to add this to the kit." You know that taste when you have so many good things and you don't know? Yeah, you want to keep going. I think I'll just stop now and cut it off, because it sounded perfect to me.

With other artists they've given the same reason, and I'm always curious as knowing when you have to put an end to it because that search for perfection may never end.

I'm just really excited about the project. I feel like I've done a pretty good job, over time, keeping up my buzz. I feel like, as for me, I feel like I came out of nowhere, like I was just one of those guys where they were like, "Who's this kid out of the Miami scene now?"

The project is coming out good. I've racked up some amazing features. Not so much features, they're more like relationships, friendships, or like a brotherhood with the people that are on my tape.

How's your relationship with your father?

Oh, man. Me and my dad still talk. I know most people who heard Innovation definitely know the relationship with me and my father right now. It's definitely gotten better, but it's definitely not to a point where it was before, and I don't think that it'll ever be to that point again. We're definitely working on it, man. You'll definitely hear more on the tape of how. I definitely touch on the subject a little bit more. I'm not doing this for attention. I'm doing it mostly for people that are in my situation that have gone through what I've gone through. I feel like every child needs that father figure.

Aside from what happened with your father, was there a time when you felt he wasn't a good father towards you?

Oh, naw, naw, naw. He's always been a great father. I would never take that away from him. I just felt like as a husband, towards my mom, he wasn't the best husband. But I would never take away the fatherhood that he's given me. He's given me an amazing fatherhood. I would never take that away from him.

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How much did it take from you to stop playing footbal?

I'm going to tell you a funny story if you have time. I was actually in Kansas, man, at two-a-days, and I just sat down. I was like, "I can't be doing this when I need to be back home working on my tape. This is not where I need to be." I was in a small town that's called Hays. You could look it up. The population is 20,000, one-percent black people, not that that has anything to do with it.

So, my dad, I go ahead and tell him how I feel, tell the coaches how I feel. I already quit the football team. My dad doesn't know. But when I tell him, he's like, "You're staying up there."

I got kicked out of the dorm room because I was on scholarship. Got kicked out of the dorm, I had to stay in a hotel. It was terrible, man. But when I got back, man, my main focus was dropping Innovation. Look what happened since then. So it was more of a gut feeling. You know when something is right. Everyone and their mother was said I was a fucking idiot.

A lot of the production on Innovation was from '90s hip-hop and R&B. What's to be expected with Private Sessions?

At that time I was listening to a lot of 90s music, because I felt like I could relate to it. This go-around, I don't know if this is appropriate, but I definitely evolved as a person. My mindset was different.

I have realized the trials and tribulations I've been through that in certain situations require certain thinking methods. And I feel like with Private Sessions comes along with just a different logic on life from my perspective. What I think. How I've handled different situations.

You've built a strong relationship with Sir Michael Rocks too.

I actually linked up with him through Pouya. He actually fucked with Pouya and Robb Bank$'s music first and they went out there to LA. He came down here to kick it with us for two to three weeks, and he loved it down here. And he said, "You kno what, man? I'm moving down here."

And honestly, he just fucks with us because he showed us individually - he's been in the game for a long time. He sees how hungry we are. He sees it in me. He sees it in Curry. He sees it in a lot of young artists. He's like, "You guys got it, man. I'm just here to assist you guys." Not even assistance. Just to help us, because first off I was his friend before I ever recorded with him.

What's one of the best lessons he's taught you so far?

Let me think because we've had some deep convos. [Pauses] Oh, this is very important man. He's like, "Yo, look at me. I'll admit I'm irrelevant right now." But at the end of the day he's still providing for his family. One of the main goals I took out of that was to maintain focus with this rap game because especially now there's so much content out. Hip-hop is so oversaturated that it's so hard to stay relevant.

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