Prez P's room at the W Hotel in Buckhead, Atlanta, is a complete mess.
Pillows, blankets, clothing, and bags are tossed on the floor. A pair of jeans is hung over a misplaced microwave. Magazines, water bottles, ketchup and mustard, an empty bag of Skittles, a Perry Ellis Aqua and lotion cover the table.
"We're a mess in here," admits Prez P, as he watches the Florida State Seminoles demolish University of Maryland's football team. "We were all drunk last night. We went out to Onyx last night."
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It's been ten months since the Miami rapper released his critically acclaimed DreamSucceeDie mixtape, a project full of feel-good vibes, similar to what Devin The Dude did in the '90s and what Curren$y continues to do.
In that year, Prez has pumped out singles with fellow South Florida rappers, as well as landed on MTV's RapFix: Get In The Game segment with his UnkleLuc-directed video for "As I Ride By" featuring Gaby Duran.
Crossfade got a chance to hang out with Prez P for a little while in Atlanta for A3C to discuss South Florida's presence at the festival, his laid-back disposition, and his upcoming project, Ambiance.
Crossfade: How did A3C treat you this year?
Prez P: It's been good. I feel, like always, of course, I wish had more shows. I don't like going to see other people rapping every time. I be like, "Damn, that should be me on stage." But it's straight.
What did you get out of it?
Really more networking, more connects. That's really what we came here for too. I got to see a little different side of Atlanta this time than compared to last year. Last year was like the lower level of what we could've done, and this year we did more. It was cool. And there's more Miami people here, so it was more fun mobbin' and shit.
Now that you mention the people in Miami, what is your take on South Florida's presence at A3C?
I feel like other than us, it was probably a lot of Houston people here. I saw more Houston cats cliqued up. A lot of Miami, Houston, and New York mainly that I'd seen. We could've been bigger. I feel like more of us from the crib could've got shows if anything. If that would've happened, we would've had our own stage or something, like a Florida stage, I feel like that should've happened. But it was still alright. I feel like we out here. Everybody got product. We pushing something out here.
You have to be one the coolest, laid-back dudes I've met. It's like you glide from place to place on a recliner.
I just be trying to enjoy life. You can go through life stressing. What's the purpose of that, though? And plus, I smoke a lot of weed. That's a part of it. Why go around mad? You could be chill.
I've been trying to live stress-free for, like, five, six years now. It's been working great. Trying not to be, like, angry. How would it be if I was an angry kid? I'm short. Walking around angry and shit, who going to really fuck with me on that tip? And plus, life isn't bad for me. I'm not saying it's perfect, but I'm blessed. We got everything we really need from life. You know what I mean? I can't go around saying, "I want this. I want that." I got air in my lungs. My family's healthy for the most part. So, it's like, what's there to be mad about? Why sit and dwell on some negative shit? It's all about positivity. The more you put out the more it comes back to you.
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Where did you get that attitude?
I've been to church since I was a kid. Going to church every Sunday. Listening to peoples' testimonies and stuff just effect you as you go on, because you know people got it worse than you. It's always somebody that's got it worse than you. And then it's the people living that way, it made the people around me kind of become the right people that you need to be around. It's a lot of positive people around me, so I can't really be a negative person around positive people. And plus, I read a lot books. Well, not a lot of books. I can't say I'm a heavy book reader. But I ran across a few books that really made me open up and read them and be like, "This is a different way to think. It's a good way to walk around. Positivity."
Is there anything that can knock you off your recliner?
I get pissed off about the smallest, though, at the same time. But it's not really small to me. But to everybody else it might seem like I'm overreacting. If I get pissed off one out of five times, you can't get mad at me.
But the littlest things, like somebody not doing the smallest part of something. Because, you know, the smallest part of something could fuck everything up. That'll aggravate me.
What else could knock me off? I deal with things. I don't really let most things get to me. I feel like it's all a test. If somebody do some foul shit to you, you could really react. But if you sit back and play it a certain way, you could get through the situation way better, and you don't got to go through all the shit you really had to go through.
I got a sneak peak of the new project, Ambiance, a couple days ago. Sounds like something everyone is going to want to vibe out to on the couch or while riding out the town.
That's what I was really trying to go for. Like my day-to-day type of life or what has been this year. The trips we go on and the people we meet. I wanted to really make a project about being in the everyday life. DreamSucceeDie was my thought process or whatever. Ambiance is more my actions up until this point and what we've been up to and where we've been chillin'. If you hear the songs, you can probably catch the setting of where we were at if you really peeped it or been following what we've been doing.
It ain't really about turning up to me. I don't really go clubbing. I'm not really a clubbing guy, even if we from Miami. Know what I'm saying? So, I'm not going to automatically make a partying record. It's still a good vibe. You don't got to be that guy that's on the dance floor to be in the party enjoying yourself. I'm more the dude that's in the cut with his homies, a couple girls, drinking, smoking, chillin'. Just looking at everybody else making a fool of themselves. We just chillin' in the cut.
At the same time the production is similar, with its mellow tone, to DreamSucceeDie. Is there a concern that one specific sound may not be the best in the long run?
Naw, I'm doing it on purpose. I'm trying to come out in that certain way. I'm not trying to link up with producers from all over. I got producers from different places, you know what I mean? But I'd rather get with producers that got that sound that I'm looking for right now because I'm trying to develop in a certain way. Add more fuel to the fire. But my next project might be totally different. When it comes to music with me lately, I've been recording so much I got beats for the next next project.
It's not really good to stick to one sound, but I got a lot of different sounds. It's just about timing. I don't want to have to do it all right now and have people stuck on, "Damn, what's his sound?"
Even if you still do stick to that specific sound for your next couple projects there may be a reaction of, "Oh, this is going to be the same thing."
Yeah, it could happen, but that's the whole thing about it, even if I'm staying into one realm, there's still a lot of avenues you could play with in that realm or there'll still be changes in the sound. Like little minor changes that matter.
Sometimes, I be challenging myself. Like, I don't all the way love the beat. But I know what this song could do with the rest of these songs. So, it's like, I challenge myself to switch it up a little bit. And it works.
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