Shadowing Practice: Cardi B: Making “Imaginary Playerz” & AM I THE DRAMA? | Zane Lowe Interview - Learn English Speaking with Video
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What is going on, honey?
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I cannot believe it.
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I mean, we've spoken via all of this with technology doing the work.
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Yeah.
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I'm looking forward to the chance to sit opposite you to say thank you.
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Thank you.
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Thank you for...
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Oh, yeah, because you know what?
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I do feel like I talk to you often, but it's never in person.
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It's crazy, right?
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Yeah.
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Yeah, it's the modern world.
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I don't know if I like it, but I like this.
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This feels good to me.
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This feels good.
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It does feel good to me as well.
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So happy you're back with music.
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Thank you.
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I know you took your time.
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I'm not worried about that.
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And everyone worries about time.
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Because really, from a good place, they want the music.
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But I think it's really important when an artist like you comes back when you want to come back, when you're ready to come back.
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You teach us a lesson to, like, your patience is okay.
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Yeah.
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I mean, I'm never doing that again, but I'm going to come back sooner next time around.
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Yeah, yeah.
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Did it get, were there moments, because there was a lot of life going on around this time as well.
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It wasn't just like you were, like, sitting on music.
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You were trying to find balance, I'd imagine.
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That was what was going on.
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Yeah.
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It was just trying to find balance in life.
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And not only that, but it's just like, I don't know.
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Like, it got to the point for me that it's like nothing was pleasing me.
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And it's so funny because it's like even when I get dressed up, when I wear clothes and stuff, like it's like sometimes I'll be like,
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oh, my gosh, I feel like I already did this.
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Oh, my God, I feel like somebody already wore something similar to this.
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And that is the same way that I feel like about music
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and it's just like it got like you'll be surprised i got like 80 songs
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that i did probably these past seven years
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and it's just like i just be like three weeks later
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it's like i don't love it i don't want it i feel stupid it sounds dumb it's on this
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and even when like even when like people come
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and try to like help me
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it's like i still don't like it like it's like i really went through a crash
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that nothing was pleasing me that's that's what rata's block feels right like right
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when you just like hang on everyone hears something
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i can't feel yeah
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that's tough yeah like it's like i just didn't like it i just feel like oh it's
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so corny it's i don't know what it is like it's like i just wasn't i just wasn't liking nothing
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and i think i was going crazy like i feel like
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i live more in the studio than i live in my in my house
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so it's just never like oh she's comfortable or she this
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or she did like it's like i i feel i feel like now
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that like my album is completed now i could finally get out the studio
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and probably exercise some shit do something like probably exercise probably take a class
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or something but it's like i was in there in there for real and it's like
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when i'm these songs that are on my album are album are songs
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that are really like
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because i really almost feel like i don't like nothing yeah yeah like nothing how much was the success
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that you achieved with Invasion of Privacy and the songs
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that came from that and then of course the world opens up
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and people fall in love with you yeah so music is the key
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and then they're like yeah we love the music
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but we love her how much of
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that got inside your head as well a little bit
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it's not really much it's just like I just I don't go with the pressure of Invasion of Privacy
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because what's funny
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when it came to Invasion of Privacy I wasn't really like thinking of like oh I need to make these numbers.
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I need to make these things.
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I just really felt like I have to keep my career.
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Because it was the first time I got pregnant, and people were saying, oh, this never happened before.
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We never had an artist in the label that got pregnant right at the beginning of their career.
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So I just was in a rush to do my deadline and deliver my album.
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So that was on my mind.
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Now things have changed because people like criticize me a little bit harder more than I feel like any other artist,
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which I, I, I feel like it's not fair to me, but it's like, you know what?
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They don't do it to the people.
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They don't think that they're great or they don't whatever.
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And it's like one of the key that I feel confidence that is like, I'm, I'm going to be okay because it's like,
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no matter what I do, like, it's like sometimes I could put this fire ass outfit and I could kill fashion week.
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And it's like, people be like, cool, but where's the music?
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I could drop a product and people be like, okay, but where's the album?
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I could be in a drama, like some controversial shit, and people be like, we don't give a fuck.
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We want the album.
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And it's like...
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That must feel good in a way because...
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Yeah.
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It's a little annoying, but it's like, that is a good indication.
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Because we miss it.
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And I said that to you before we got on camera and on the mic here.
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What I've heard, I love.
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And what struck me immediately from the first second you opened your mouth and spoke, and I knew I was listening to a body of work,
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not just a standalone song.
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I was like there's only one of you like this like
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this nobody can can show up whether it's seven years 17 years 27 years
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it doesn't matter I was like it is it is Bronx
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it is Cardi it's the voice it's the attitude is the honesty it's the I didn't realize you were being
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so hard on yourself because it still sounds effortless to me I'd be really hard on myself.
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I really be hard on myself, but I have to be hard on myself because people be hard on me.
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So it's like...
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Wouldn't that normally afford you some grace rather than kind of...
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No. Nobody ever afford me some grace.
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Nothing.
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Nobody ever give me no grace.
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It's like I'm not allowed to have a flop.
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I'm not allowed to have a song that is like I want to do because it's just in my heart to do.
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It's almost everything got to be great.
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Everything has to be amazing.
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And it's like, that's just what it is for me.
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That's what comes.
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It sounds hard.
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Yeah.
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It sounds hard.
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So it's like everything I have to put my mind, thought, foot, ass, titty pussy on it.
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You know how people use their foot?
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My grandma's be like, I put my feet in it.
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Yeah, I put my whole body in it.
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I put my soul in it.
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So it's like.
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I'm glad that you're here to be able to clear up
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You know, for anybody who unjustifiably thinks they deserve an answer to this question
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About what you've been doing for seven years
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No one deserves an answer to that
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But you've been gracious enough to say, no, I've been in this studio
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Yeah And, you know, what was the breakthrough for you?
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What was the moment when you were like, you know what?
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I think I see something I feel something and it's not how it's felt the last five years,
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six years, whatever about i really feel like i really feel
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that like the songs that i have on my album is things
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that are not out there right
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now like it's like this deserve to be out the out out
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there right now like it's like right
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now it's a lot of trends going on it's a lot of trends
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it's a lot of songs without feel in it
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and uh i just feel like it's like it's done
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i feel like it's like there's no more
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there's no more add -ons carly
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you need to stop adding on that's the hardest thing like it's like i need to add
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this i need to add on like it's like maybe track seven maybe i could do a better track seven
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because one to six are great and eight to twelve are cool
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but seven might be a problem yeah oh
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that's the craziness of art yeah that's that's where the insanity lives isn't it yeah insanity
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that should be the word because it's like
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this album was driving me insane and it's like you know like people shouldn't wonder where I was at because
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I always kind of post what I'm doing and where I'm at
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if I'm not in New York at home it's
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because they probably sent me to Atlanta or sent me to LA
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or sent me to a state a random state
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or sent me to Miami and if I'm there more than a month
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or more than three weeks it's because they got me in a studio not
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because of nothing else the only time i go far away from home for like a week
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or longer is either fashion week
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or i'm doing press runs like this week i'm doing press runs for a song
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but usually if i'm away
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and motherfuckers like what the fuck she doing in miami what's she doing in la i'm recording
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and i'm recording every single day sometimes you might sometimes i might come up with like three fucking three bars, three words.
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And sometimes I just go crazy.
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What was Imaginary Players?
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Quick?
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No, it wasn't quick.
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I had to study my lifestyle and write down my lifestyle.
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You know why I love that line in between verse 1
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and verse 2 where you basically kind of modernize your John Lennon quote.
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When someone said to John Lennon from the Beatles, like, how do you write these amazing songs that change the world?
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and he said well you just you just take what you feel
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and you make it rhyme yeah yeah you know take what you think
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and you make it rhyme
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and you said the same thing it's easy for me to say the shit
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i live this shit i just gotta make it right yeah
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because it's like i'm practically rapping about what i'm i'm living like everything
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that i'm talking about is like the things that i live
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or the things like my fly friends like
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because i really i really like i be looking like it's like what's
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she what this bitch wearing what this bitch talking about what this isn't
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that and it's like i literally just have to make it rhyme make it sound good
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but it's like this is my life and i just took notes of everything
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that i was doing like it's like even in the music video right in the music video
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i was really having a fitting i just had my hair done
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and my makeup done and the people
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that were fitting me are really they're really the fashion houses fitting me for a show
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All those outfits that I wore, I wore them for a show.
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That's not a set.
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It's not a set.
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And it's like, they're really fitting me couture pieces while I'm doing a music video.
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Like, this is my life.
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This is really my life.
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Like, it's like, I'm wearing couture, but I'm not wearing it for a music video.
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I'm wearing it because I'm about to wear this to a show this week.
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Like, this is my life for real.
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Yeah, and you co -directed that video, which, you know, congratulations.
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I mean, I always think when an artist can step into their visual environment
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and actually see another step of the creative through, it must be really rewarding.
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And, you know, we're surrounded by these birds, and I saw in Fashion Week and obviously in the artwork,
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there's a heavy emphasis on this kind of avian experience, you know, birds and crows and whatnot.
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So where did that come from?
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Well, it just really reflects on, like, Like, just everything, every aspect in my life, like, it's like.
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Because it's kind of dark imagery.
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I'm looking over your shoulder and that tree is pretty barren and those birds are pretty frantic.
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And the whole thing feels kind of unnerving, you know?
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Yeah, yeah.
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And I really like to do my things very colorful.
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Like, I'm a very colorful person.
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But it's just like, this past year,
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I feel like something kind of was dying in me like my humbleness my me trying
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so much to be unproblematic my me trying to avoid
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avoid drama avoid the disses avoid the bitches avoid the talks it's like
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that shit is dying that's dying out in me like it's like that's really dying in me like it's
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that i'm really about to show you bitch
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that you are not fucking with me like the cockiness is like being born again
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and not only that but it's like my my life my relationships everything like it's like
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that shit is dying
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now too like it's like giving chances giving chances to men giving chances to women giving chances to people
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that is like just just want to see the nice shuddy
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shuddy like it's like oh just ignore ignore be the bigger person
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that shit is dying now it's like i'm not no and
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i feel like i gave y 'all too much grace to like think
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that y 'all could fuck with me and it's like
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that shit is dead bitch now I'm gonna embrace that you wanted
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that bitch now I'm gonna give it to you
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and I hope you could take it
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when I motherfucking give it to y 'all that's how I feel for real I guess
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that you see that I'm getting kind of angry I'm getting angry
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because it's like it's like it's a real emotion though it's a real human energy yes yes because imagine
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imagine being in your crib right you're going through so much shit
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so much drama like it's that you probably got into an argument with your aunt and your cousins and shit,
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then your fucking husband doing some bullshit.
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Then like in your music career, like in the studio, like you got like fucking writer's block.
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You have all these problems going on.
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Then a bitch starts fucking with you.
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And it's like, while all this is happening, you got a bitch fucking with me.
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And it's like, all right, bitch, I can get to you at that moment, but I'm going to get to you now.
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And you're going to get it on my time as well.
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So the title, Am I the Drama, is less like, Am I the Drama?
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It's more like, Am I the Drama?
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Like it's like, no, it just do feel like, damn, am I the drama?
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Because it's like every single time, even when I'm silent, like there's been times, right?
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There's been times that say, I'm going to take a hiatus from the internet.
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I'm not going to be in the internet for a whole month for some reason i'm getting tried even
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when i'm not saying nothing even when i'm not doing nothing
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and it's just like i've been telling people like it's like yo i really be avoiding shit
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and it's like damn do drama chase me
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or am i just the drama like it's like
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because am i i'm just one of those people
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that it's just like you're gonna always have problems
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because you're just you
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and it's like that's what comes with you you with your personality
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i'm just one of those people is such a powerful statement.
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Like I think everybody to some degree has some kind of shadow behind them
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that they feel they can't shake and they don't know why.
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Something that just seems to be slightly preventing this kind of perfect equilibrium in their life.
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And so I wanted to know like this idea of drama, this idea of like, if I'm crouching at the bar,
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why is everybody standing up straight around me looking at me when I want to hide?
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Has it always felt that way even before this entertainment show?
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Yes, even when I, you know what, even like when I was in school,
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like sometimes I I just really think I was born with like anointed light
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and sometimes the light is great
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but it's all it also disturbs people's peace it draws people to you yeah it draws people yes
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and it's not it's not always gonna be good like cuz I'm not not everybody's gonna draw to
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that light like that light might bother people
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because maybe it's too light it's too bright it's too loud
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it could also shine on others in ways they don't want to be shining yeah yeah
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Yeah, or just jealousy, but it always been like this to me.
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I always say this, right?
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Like, because in middle school, I always used to get into some shit.
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I always say, like, in high school, I'm going to go in high school, and I'm not going to talk.
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I'm going to be mysterious.
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But either way, so.
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Because that's self -preservation, isn't it?
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In a weird way.
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It's like, I need to, like, hide away, but I don't want to look like I'm hiding away.
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Yes.
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But for some reason, I will still get into beef with bitches and it's like
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and it will be maybe
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because my hair was dyed a different way my my clothes were too loud my my stomach was too flat
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it was always something that like it bothered bitches even
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when i'm even
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when i'm here right like it's like even in the industry there is a lot of different female rappers
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but for some reason it's something about me
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that like these bitches can't stand they can't with me
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they like some are i feel like they're in they're on this class right now they're sophomores
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and I'm a senior
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and it's like you want to fuck with the soft you you want to fuck with the senior
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so bad like you think you're here with the senior you're not even a junior like it's like
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and it's like you need to worry about the other sophomores before you start worrying about here the fucking senior
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but it's just it's something about it
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that is like they can't even focus on them they got to focus on me
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and they always got to focus on throwing me shots
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and throwing me slings no matter if you're a fucking sophomore
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or in motherfucking college it's me and you're sick of it
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and i'm sick of it and it's just like i've been avoiding too many shit
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and it's like man fuck you fuck everybody i mean now my songs are gonna be like
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that we're gonna hear this on the album yeah like now my song's gonna be like
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that i have different songs i have like i mean
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you heard like pop songs fun song club songs like i have a little bit of everything bronx legend
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you heard man imaginary players, Jay -Z, I love how you flipped it.
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You made it your own.
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Only greats can do that.
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How special for you was it for the idea of updating imaginary players, making it your lifestyle and getting
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Jay's got to hear it and go yes.
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So let's talk about that because we're still fans at the end of the day.
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I just said it on the radio show that I was doing.
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I was in the studio last year in the summertime yeah
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and I was really caught in a funk like I got my hair done
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I got my makeup done in weeks I'm sleeping in the couch it was like the fourth third day
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that I'm sleeping on the couch in the studio
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and I just feel so down not down
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but I just don't feel like my exhausted I'm exhausted I'm pregnant as fuck
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and like I was just going through some drama in my life
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and I just was like so tired so over it
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and then like my engineer was like cheer up like it's like come on come on we gotta wake up
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we gotta get up
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and it's like all right like all right then he started playing imaginary players
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and i just started i just started laughing because it was
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so random for him for him to play that
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and i was like yeah i'm like yo imagine
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if i flip this shit but my way because it's like my life
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and times my life
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because it's like i i got a lot of shit to brag about like
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because i really do live a different lifestyle than a lot of people oh
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and then you're doing the 180
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because now you're longer feeling down you're like actually let me take a look around
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i actually got some to talk about i started feeling man good
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and then it's like that's when i started working on it yeah yeah
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but then i was like wait hold on what
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if it's not even like what
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if like it's like i gotta i gotta like study everything
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so it's like
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when i was eating certain places i will write
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it down like it's like these are the hot spots we we wrote down every fire restaurant
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that we was that we were there like we was eating with like me
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and my engineer we like spend a lot of time
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and the summertime together because I was my plan was to have my album delivered in the beginning of January.
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But my lifestyle changed for me.
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Yeah.
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Like crazy.
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Like in life, life, like it just changed for me and I just needed to be outside.
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So I was just writing fly shit down.
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Then when I when it was time to was like to submit, to submit it, to get approved.
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I was a little scared.
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I was a little shaky.
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Like, wait a minute, Jay -Z got to approve it.
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Like, I mean, I always knew that he got to approve it.
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But it's like, how about if he don't approve it?
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How about if he fucking likes it?
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And he did like it.
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And it's so crazy.
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Like, the text message of him approving it, it was at 444 p .m.
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Are you kidding me?
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So, it just, it just.
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Is he living like that? or is
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that just some crazy universe fucking spiritual shit because
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if is he right i don't really think he's sitting there waiting till 444 right no nobody does
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which which is even crazier because
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that means he is tapped into something yeah i mean we we're i i believe heavy on 444
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and i believe heavy heavy heavy heavy in an 11 11 yeah some people think that is not a real thing
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No, numerology is real
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Shout out the Fibonacci sequence, man I mean, everything that goes on around us in nature
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Is ultimately a mathematical equation I mean, it's real So, it was just like, alright This is a good sign
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And it really changed my mood
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Damn, I feel like I'm always cranky
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Because that day I was cranky
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And when I got the sex message to hear approval I'm like, yeah!
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I was happy
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You definitely sound cranky on this album
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In a very good way I mean, you got some shit to get off your chest for sure
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But there is also joy on this forthcoming album, which is great too.
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So I know we only have limited time this time.
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But I'm grateful for any time.
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But I want to wrap by asking you how your spirit is now.
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I think it's safe to say without going into detail because that's not how I roll.
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Yeah.
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I mean, I want art to win.
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So I'm like, let's just focus on the spirit.
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So outside of what the internet talks about, how are you?
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How am I?
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Some days are good.
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Some days I'm a little sad.
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Some days I'm a little confused.
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You're still going through it, though?
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Does it feel like you're still processing?
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You talked about life.
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changing are you are you still processing
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or is this yes yeah yes like you know like you know
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when you graduate high school
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and now like you're about you're about to go to college
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you don't know what you're expecting um well not only do
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I like you gotta go to college like I had to move out
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so it's like now you're really like in the real world
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and it's like I'm getting I feel like I'm getting
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that reset again but it doesn't feel as good
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because I'm in my 30s
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and I shouldn't be having a reset at my 30s
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i should be it should just be almost like planned out
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almost like this is what is coming for the rest of
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my life like it's like sometimes i feel like i'm in my 20s
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and i don't really want to feel like i'm in my 20s
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i want to feel like i'm in my grown 30s
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because i got three kids
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and it's like i'm not i'm not like um i'm not
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i like to be outside i like to have fun
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but it's like i like to have my things planned out i'm always a person
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that thinking about five years from now you know i'm saying
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i like to think about family like that's just the type of person
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that i just am so experiencing that experience experiencing the streets
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and stuff like that is just a little weird
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and then as i going through a divorce is very very tough because
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you marry somebody and the person that you divorcing is not the person that you marry
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at all it's like you you really ask yourself like who the fuck did i marry like who the fuck
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that i marry like there is no love there there is no love there is no there is no love
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but there's but to me i always felt like it's like
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if i ever walk away from something like i get along with all my exes even
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if we don't talk we never ended it on some nasty nasty stuff
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so i never wish them bad like because i don't wish them bad
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or nothing like that like it's like it has gotten to the point
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that it's like oh my gosh like it's like i feel like i really hate
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you like you're i think i hate you and i
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and i never wanted
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that i guess like i always be wondering like it's like why do women hate their baby daddy
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so much why do people say that divorce is
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so tough i feel like if like
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if the love is dead people should just go their separate ways
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i've got a couple of friends who have just been through catastrophic like thermonuclear divorces
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and i don't understand it
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because it feels like yesterday we were all hanging out together yes yes
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and i'm just the type of person like if something is dead
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and you know that it's dead
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and it's never gonna go good
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i just feel like everybody should walk away walk away what
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they came with just walk away things gonna hurt for a couple of months
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but especially when there's kids is
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that we should be able to to co -parent
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we should be able to have a conversation 100
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i should be able you we should be able to ask each other advice
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and just become friends but it's not like
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that it's it's actually i'm going to something
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that is like kind of like very like wow
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this is very dark it's not even painful it's kind of like pain i feel like you will feel pain
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when like you still got love feelings
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i don't have i don't have the love feeling i went through pain like last year
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when the love was dying the love is dead
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so i don't feel pain but it's just like i don't know it's like
444
when somebody died like it's like you feel pain
445
and then it's like now you got the bills of the of the funeral yeah
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now you got the bills of the funeral
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and it's like what the host you miss love yeah yeah yeah yeah cardi somehow
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you found the strength to come back with this album
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we have a release date this means lots of people yeah
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and i can imagine on september the 20th the day after
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it comes out I can't even imagine what you're going to feel.
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I feel everything right now.
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I'm just very anxious.
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It's like every single day, it's like, what are we doing next?
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What are we doing next?
456
I cannot wait to just drop this album because I haven't even been myself for the past three weeks.
457
I have been cursing everybody out, being rude, being angry, and I feel bad when I curse you well.
458
Yes.
459
loaded question for the crew well handled by the way beautifully
460
done yes like it's like i really feel like i've been like really hard on people
461
and everything but that's just
462
because i i'm really just feeling the pressure like at first
463
i'm i was like okay we we're gonna release this album
464
and everything this when you're really about to release it the pressure is
465
so crazy that I just feel like I wake up sometimes and it's like...
466
you think I'm waking up in a frantic because I got some other shit going on?
467
Your subconscious is attacking you.
468
My subconscious is like, I need to fuck this shit up.
469
Can I say something to you as we say goodbye that may help that?
470
Yeah.
471
Because execution is the hardest thing, I think, in the arts.
472
Ideation, creativity, it comes naturally to people who love it.
473
Yeah.
474
But finishing, to your point, can be really torturous, right?
475
Yeah.
476
Really tough.
477
And I got to quote the human being who said it because it's a great quote.
478
So Damon from Gorillaz, Damon Albarn said, you should definitely finish because then you get to make another one.
479
Yeah.
480
So the beautiful thing is now you finish this one.
481
Now we get to get another one.
482
Yeah.
483
And another one.
484
And another one.
485
And now I'm not going to waste seven years, honey.
486
And another one.
487
And another one.
488
And let's get 10 more.
489
Cardi B, you're the best.
490
It's great to see you.
491
Thank you for talking with me for a minute.
492
Thank you.
493
Thank you.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “Cardi B: Making “Imaginary Playerz” & AM I THE DRAMA?”. This video has 493 sentences and 5254 words to shadow. The speech runs for 26:16. The speaker talks fast, about 200 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 86% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| lifestyle noun | /ˈlaɪfˌstaɪl/ | A style of living that reflects the attitudes and values of a person or group. |
| marry verb | /ˈmæɹi/ | To enter into the conjugal or connubial state; to take a husband or a wife. |
| divorce noun | /dɪˈvɔːs/ | The legal dissolution of a marriage. |
| approve verb | /əˈpɹuːv/ | To officially sanction; to ratify; to confirm; to set as satisfactory. |
| imaginary adjective | /ɪˈmæd͡ʒɪˌn(ɛ)ɹi/ | Existing only in the imagination. |
| sophomore noun | /ˈsɑf.mɔɹ/ | A second-year undergraduate student in a college or university, or a second-year student in a four-year secondary school or high school. |
| rhyme noun | /ɹaɪm/ | Rhyming verse (poetic form). |
| ignore verb | /ɪɡˈnɔː/ | To deliberately not listen or pay attention to. |
| bother verb | /ˈbɑðɚ/ | To annoy, to disturb, to irritate; to be troublesome to, to make trouble for. |
| funeral noun | /ˈfju.nəɹ.əl/ | A ceremony to honor and remember a deceased person, often distinguished from a memorial service by the presence of the body of the deceased. |
| honey noun | /ˈhʌni/ | A sweet, viscous, gold-colored fluid produced from plant nectar by bees, and often consumed by humans. |
| submit verb | /səbˈmɪt/ | To yield or give way to another. |
| nasty adjective | /ˈnæs.ti/ | Dirty, filthy. |
| outfit noun | /ˈaʊtfɪt/ | A set of clothing (with accessories). |
| flip verb | /flɪp/ | To throw so as to turn over. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| go through verb | To travel from one end of something to the other. | |
| come back verb | To return to a place. | |
| walk away verb | To withdraw from a problematic situation. | |
| plan out verb | to plan, organize, make a plan for something | |
| wake up verb | /ˌweɪk ˈʌp/ | To stop sleeping; to awake. |
| write down verb | To produce or set (something) down in writing; to record something. | |
| cheer up verb | To become happier or less downcast. | |
| clear up verb | /klɪəˈɹʌp/ | To clarify, to correct a misconception. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- You know how people use their foot?
- You're still going through it, though?
- Does it feel like you're still processing?
- It's like every single day, it's like, what are we doing next?
- What are we doing next?
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect continuous have/has been + -ing — an action that started earlier and is still going on | you've been doing · i've been telling · i've been avoiding |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | we've spoken · have changed · I've heard |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | is completed · being born · was born |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | anybody who unjustifiably · which which is · album, which is |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 199 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, don't, you're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: bother /ˈbɑðɚ/, mathematical /ˌmæθ(.ə)ˈmæt.ɪ.kəl/, breakthrough /ˈbɹeɪk.θɹuː/, forthcoming /fɔɹθˈkʌmɪŋ/, thermonuclear /ˌθɜɹ.moʊˈn(j)uk.li.əɹ/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: shine /ʃaɪn/, gosh /ɡɑːʃ/, rush /ɹʌʃ/, shadow /ˈʃædəʊ̯/, congratulations /kənˌɡɹæt͡ʃəˈleɪʃ(ə)nz/
- Long words — get the stress right: imaginary /ɪˈmæd͡ʒɪˌn(ɛ)ɹi/, insanity /ɪnˈsænɪti/, naturally /ˈnæt͡ʃ.(ə.)ɹə.li/, congratulations /kənˌɡɹæt͡ʃəˈleɪʃ(ə)nz/, execution /ˌɛk.sɪˈkjuː.ʃən/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like lifestyle, marry, divorce.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.