New York’s rap scene has seen a few shifts over the past few years but none more prominent than the impact of drill music. Its rise, with the launch of Pop Smoke’s career, opened the floodgates for hundreds of budding stars out of the Big Apple to get their shine on. However, only a few artists have managed to find their sound and identity while pushing New York’s rap scene forward.
Jay Critch predates the recent developments in the Mecca of Hip-Hop. Though he’s managed to prolong the “new artist” buzz more than most, he carries himself with the confidence of a vet. That’s primarily because the new crop of artists who emerged from New York witnessed his rise in real time.
“It’s just like I came in the game, I was young and I had to learn for myself,” he explained. “Really, that's what I would say the biggest thing was, just figuring out the business side of everything on my own at a young age. But, I feel like that gave me an advantage because now it's like, I'm still young and I feel like I’ve been in this shit for a while, to the point where I feel like an older bro so some of these young n***as that’s coming in.”
That leads us to the release of Humble Giant, his latest body of work released through EMPIRE. His new offering is a testament to the years of labor, especially as he attempted to navigate the music industry, from the Rich Forever era alongside Rich The Kid and Famous Dex to establishing himself as a solo artist. The 13-song LP showcases some of Critch’s best bars in his career without flooding the tracklist with redundant features. In fact, the features here are carefully curated. Each guest serves as a pathway for different pockets in Critch’s vast stylistic approach.
We caught up with Jay Critch earlier this year to discuss his latest body of work, as well as his journey through rap, his thoughts on Sexyy Red, Drake vs. Kendrick, and so much more.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
HotNewHipHop: Describe the title Humble Giant. Why does this title feel accurate to where your head’s at these days?
Jay Critch: Humble Giant, basically it's like a statement for all this time, from 2017 to now, [about] just doing my thing humbly. Just focusing on my own shit and making a statement now like, stay humble but fuck being humble. Like, stand on who you are and let it be known who you are. Don’t let people forget who you are to like.
That's why it's a lot of statement songs on the project where a lot of the songs don’t sound too humble, you feel me? But the project – that’s the vibe of the project. Stand on your two feet and let it be known who you are type shit. But stay humble, but fuck being humble type shit.
On “Lamar Jackson,” your first words are, “Put me anywhere on God’s green earth and I’m gonna make it work.” It speaks volumes about your resilience over the years. What has been the biggest hurdle in your career between Hood Favorite and Humble Giant?
I would say just learning everything. Being from Brooklyn and shit and not having no real blueprint to look at or like to go off of or no teaching about this shit, for real. It’s just like I came in the game, I was young and I had to learn for myself. Really, that's what I would say the biggest thing was, just figuring out the business side of everything on my own at a young age.
But, I feel like that gave me an advantage because now it's like, I'm still young and I feel like I’ve been in this shit for a while, to the point where I feel like an older bro so some of these young n***as that’s coming in. And it’s a blessing because now, I really know how the game works. So, with Humble Giant, that’s another thing, it’s like me talking as a more big bro now in my city. More like a certified artist now, like, established. I learned the game and this how I’m talking now.
How do you feel about your position in hip-hop now? Especially since we’ve seen you grind for over a decade and now, we’re seeing you develop strong relationships with the younger generation in New York City with artists like Cash Cobain. How are those conversations with the younger generation? What type of game are you dropping on them?
Nah, it’s good, my relationship with everybody else in the city. Like, the young n***as that's coming up – it’s great because when I talk to them, it's like they was already in tune. It was a point in their life where they were fans. Now I got that relationship where it's like a young up-and-coming artist from the city, they look at me like a more older, established artist. Like a big bro type sh*t. I f*ck with that. People like Cash [Cobain] — me and Cash been chopped it up a minute ago for me so it's good to see Cash going crazy. I’ve been seeing Cash do his thing.
With a lot of the younger artists coming up from a city, it's like that type of relationship. It's like they see me do my thing for all these years. So now, when it's their time, and we get in contact with each other, it's that type of mutual respect now. Like, they’re young, coming up, doing their thing. They already seen the whole wave I had. They was fans during that time. So it's great to see.
Why was it important to grind all of these years on your own terms rather than taking a route that could’ve sped up that process?
For me, it's better that way like with the type of person I am. I had to just go at my own pace with this sh*t and learn what I had to learn. If I would have came in this shit and everything was just too fast, it would have been bad because I ain’t learned what I learned now. So it's like you got to figure some sh*t out before you could do some sh*t.
Your confidence shines across the project and you sound more comfortable than ever yet you haven’t lost your hunger as an MC. What were the stakes like while recording this project?
Really, this project is the first project I'm dropping like fully independently. Juug Season also but like Drill Season is the first one [with] no strings attached type shit. It’s just 100% independent with me and Empire. Shout out to Ghazi. So it's like how I was feeling is like I don’t need none of these label n***as. I don’t need none of this sh*t. I don’t care that they don’t put me on all over the blogs. They don’t doing all the same things they be doing for these other n****as. I don’t care.
How I feel is I'm coming with the music. I'm talking crazy in the music and that's what I'm gonna release. I wasn't worried about none of the extra shit. None of that. And that's how I feel like you could tell in the music. It's like, “F*ck all that extra sh*t. I really don't give a f*ck. I'm coming with the heat. That's it.”
We’ve talked about your relationship with the younger generation of artists but generally speaking, what are your thoughts on the current state of hip-hop as a whole?
It’s watered down. Like, everybody just copying waves and just doing what’s lit. If this sound gets lit, you wake up tomorrow and everyone doing that sound. Sh*t’s crazy. Everybody wants to use the same producers. Everybody wants to just follow – like shit’s watered down. That's why – shout out to Cash Cobain, shout out to Chow Lee, their swag. Coming with their own sh*t, coming with their own wave for the city. I love it because the city – it’s an original sound in New York. Like that's what he's supposed to be doing.
New York makes their own sh*t. We don’t follow sh*t. I love what Cash Cobain and Chow Lee are doing. Then you add Humble Giant with that, it’s like, I got my own wave, they got their own wave. It’s real New York sh*t. We ain’t followin’ no sounds, we ain’t followin’ sh*t. That’s how it’s supposed to be. We from New York.
The big thing in hip-hop right now is Kendrick’s verse on Future and Metro Boomin’s “Like That.” What was your reaction to that verse? It’s bringing back that competitive energy in hip-hop. [Ed. note: this interview was conducted prior to Drake & Kendrick's back-and-forth last week]
Like, I fuck with it. I don't care who's doing the dissing or who did this. I just liked the fact that sh*t remind me of when I was a kid. Like, you knew some new sh*t dropped and somebody gettin’ dissed and everybody talking about it. You with your friends, you in the hood, you in school or some sh*t and everybody debating and talking about it. Like, that's real hip-hop to me. That's what I grew up on, n***as dissing each other and going at it and sh*t, battling over album sales and sh*t. Like, that's what I grew up on.
Nowadays, everybody wants to be friends. I liked that somebody's coming on some static-y sh*t because, f*ck it. It’s competition. Everybody can’t be friends in this sh*t. Sh*t was refreshing. That's how I felt when I was younger. I ain’t remember that feeling. Like, that sh*t be exciting because it's music. Then you want to hear what people gon’ say back. It’s the whole art of this sh*t.
“Absent” is one of my favorite records on the project. It calls back to those cautionary records in hip-hop, the storytelling joints, that also feel missing in the genre these days. What was that process like behind that song?
That song, I pulled up on my brother, Tony Seltzer, who made the beat and shout out to OJ, too, he made the beat. I pulled up to Tony’s studio and Tony got a real personal, small kind of studio. Like when you're in there, it's like real family vibes and shit. So I'm in there with him, Laron, a couple of my other brothers, and it's like, he played that beat, I made that song that night. I was just feeling the emotions and everything on the beat. Like, I'm in that studio with just the fam, that sh*t just hit me different. For me, it was real personal that day. So I recorded that and it's like that's how sh*t came out. It felt real personal.
What’s your favorite cautionary story in hip-hop?
One of my favorites is "Miss My Love" by Fabolous. I feel like that's one of the best storytelling songs ever. It's not. Even though it's more of a made-up story that he rapping about, it's still hard as hell. Like, when I first heard that song, “I'm like, damn, like, that's one of the best ways somebody told her story ever.” Real sh*t.
You and Tony have developed a strong rapport including your recent appearance on his & MIKE’s Pinball. How did you connect with MIKE on “Reminiscing?”
Facts. Shout out to MIKE. My bro Tony be working a lot with him and my brother Laron, my producer. He works a lot with MIKE, too. So Tony and Laron had made the link for me to pull up to the studio and work with him for that last project. And then we had me “Reminiscing” in Brooklyn. That's it came out fire. We made that right in the studio in Brooklyn.
You’re able to leap from doing songs with Cash Cobain and then go bar-for-bar with MIKE. Has this type of versatility been part of the game plan?
Yup, because I know a lot of the stuff that goes – the stuff that they get the most hyped for is not always the most lyrical stuff. I always like to make my turn up music and them type of vibes. Like the energy vibes – I like to make them vibes but I also always got to come back to the real bars and just how I grew up. Because when I grew up, it was it was a lot more lyrics and shit that I was listening to. But then also, when I got a little older, it’s Chief Keef and shit that I'm listening to.
I got the best of both worlds. I got all the influence from Hov and Fab and Weezy and shit when I was growing up, then I got the influence from Chief Keef and Future and these n***as from when I was listening to them when I was older. So it's like, I like making energy songs, the feel-good source and I like making them deeper songs where I'm talking different. Either way, I'm gonna still make sure I put my balls in it and make sure I'm saying some shit.
You and Rich The Kid had a bit of a falling out but things seem to be good between you two. How were you able to repair that relationship?
N***as just had to get the business right. Brothers fight sometimes, brothers argue. We just had to go through it and get the business aspect of everything right to where me and Rich could work together, you feel me? And everything is smooth. That's how we got it now. Me and Rich still dropping music, we’re still working together but we’re both able to move as independent artists. That's just how sh*t is now. You’re going to see a lot more new music from me and Rich this year and the coming years.
Before I let you go, what’s one piece of advice you have for up-and-coming artists?
I would tell them to not follow no trends. Don't follow any waves because that's the quickest way to just be unoriginal. Like everybody that is making it now, everybody does becoming a new artist and going viral and getting lit, if you pay attention, music is changing to originality and unique sh*t. It don't matter who it is – like Sexyy Red. She's unique. Bossman Dlow, he got the song right now – I’m f*ckin’ with his sh*t – it’s unique. Whether it's the voice, delivery, people like uniqueness right now. One-of-one sh*t. You got to sound like yourself. You can’t be trying to sound like somebody else.
If you are an artist, find your own sound. What makes you stand out? What’s different that you’re doing? Is it the ad-libs that you come with? Is it how you flowing on the sh*t? Is it your voice? Is it the beats you’re using? But it’s like, when you’re makin’ sh*t that sounds like somebody else’s sh*t, it’s mad obvious. How you feel like you ‘bout to go with that sh*t? You copying their whole flow, you’re copying their whole beat choice, like, trying to make the same type of beats as them. Everybody is copying waves so I tell young artists, don’t follow no waves. You got to make your own wave. That’s the key sh*t.