Our conversation inRolling StonesManhattan office begins with him asking a question.
Why is niggas acting like they wasnt hating onLaughing So Hard, It Hurtswhen it came out?
he incredulously asks his manager and publicist at the other end of the conference table.
Jaylen Brannon*
There are people on Twitter now telling me that its better thanLet the Sun Talk.
And when it dropped, it was people telling me, Oh, Mavis cooked, hes finished.
I cant believe that shit.
Mavi, born Omavi Ammu Minder,finds humor in the fickle listening public.
he asks of his production M.O.
If I was Diddy or Dre would I have not just hit Quincy Jones straight up?
I think I wouldve, at least for some things.
On Drunk Prayer he laments, Im a robot for the media.
I have to be a Howard University neuroscience student making intelligent rap music.
But that is first, such a slim facet of who I am as a person.
And also [Im annoyed with] having to be fucking inoffensive all the time.
You ever did a press run depressed?
The titleshadowboxsymbolizes a trophy case to my failures as a human, Mavi says.
The consideration of his shadow self stemmed from a pair of impactful conversations.
The interlude ends with Mavi asking, so how you kill him?
Politically, I didnt like that, he says.
Destruction isnt inherently evil.
Its the first step to construction, actually.
So Im like, lets build this shadow a place.
Water is another heavy theme onshadowbox.
Open waters contains the albums lone sample (an Italian composer whos now open to working with Mavi.)
He says the references are a comingling of piety and hedonism.
How indulgent is religion and how religious is indulgence?
The whole album, when I discuss alcoholism, I also talk about that too.
What are you going to lose to the water?
Every dip, youre dying and youre coming back out like a new nigga.
Hes also been visiting more museums, learning about design and historys great artisans.
Something being disorderly, thats completely subjective.
Hes also acting on his new creative interests.
Designing his new Charlotte home may be his most consequential project yet.
This house is brand new, I want to fuck it up.
I want to tear floors out, he says.
I want to redo everything in it.
Just to do it like a study.
I really wanna get into designing in my space.
Also, carpentry, doing a lot of the things myself, me and my friends.
Thats probably where I would put myself.
Not many niggas better than him, but we dont want to say hes the best.
Nash was a respected all-star point guard for the Dallas Mavericks.
For a fleeting period, basketball fans had to mention him alongside every other great player.
If Im going to do some of it, Im going to do all of it.
Now, we going up.
Watch, Im going to start…
I dont know whats going to be my attention-seeking thing.
