RESPECT. Interview: OG Maco, I Am the Most Underrated Artist of My Entire Class

Southside Atlanta’s OG Maco is no one hit wonder– his music speaks for itself. Since the release of his viral hit single, “U Guessed It,” the rapper has dropped several records and it has all been viewed as highly underrated.

The song seemed to overshadow his best work but OG Maco refuses to fizzle out as an artist that can’t top the hit that put him on the map. Aside from the delays of his upcoming debut album, and recovering from a near-fatal car accident, he has dropped numerous singles including “R U” and “God Willin” to keep rap fans on their toes.

As he gears up for the release of his album, Maco is coming full force with his career. On January 20th he embarked on his Desperado World Tour to get his fans hype for Children of the Rage – his debut album for Motown/Capitol Records. This time around, the 2015 XXL Freshman uses his distinctive presence within hip-hop to show he is capable of crafting bigger and better music that defeats “U Guessed It.”

During a very rare day off from the world tour, OG Maco was able to chat with RESPECT. through face time audio to discuss his come up within the industry as well as updates on his music.

RESPECT.: How is everything OG Maco? How is the tour going?

Today is my day off! Everything is good and the tour is going great. The first day was turnt and the second day was turnt. I came to Europe 4 days early just to kick it. I get back March 1st and I start the American leg of the tour sometime in May. It’s just me an my team right now killing sh**.

RESPECT.: You recently dropped “R U” featuring Rikki Blu how did that come about?

I am living in Hollywood right now and the studio we are working out of is right next to my house. I work out of there all the time and Rikki is a good friend of mine and is always at my house. We all live in California. I fu** with his music and he is super underrated

RESPECT.: When did you move to California?

I got a house in Atlanta then I ended up going on my first world tour and I went to china. I ended up staying in china for awhile then I just moved to LA.

RESPECT.: You were in a terrible car accident awhile back. How are you feeling now?

I mean its all good but losing my eye was kind of fu**ed up. I mean that’s how it goes sometimes. I wasn’t sad and down at all- I went out and bought a cool eye patch so that was awesome. Theres some skin issues that I’ve never had but it was whatever, I kept recording music and just thugged it out. I had surgery and did a show like three days later.It made me appreciate a lot of stuff more. Theres a lot of kids that I have inspired and the whole situation made me grow as a person. There is somebody out there that might not ever their eye back.

RESPECT.: It’s a new year! What are you expecting within the year of 2017?

Definitely more placements so people can hear my music more. I got placed in a movie called American Honey. I Definitely more of those so people can hear records. I want to drop more music officially. Especially when I get this label situation cleaned up- since then I have been dropping on Soundcloud. The last thing I dropped on iTunes and Spotify really didn’t get to do numbers because they got taken down and sh**.

RESPECT.: How is the label and the industry treating you?

Everything is going fine. I mean it’s a little different- I grew up with Rich so ive been knowing him for a long time so that was weird. When I came on Quality Control Migos was just starting to reach stardom. My producers ended up their single “One Time” which further propelled them to stardom.

RESPECT.: Im sure you feel like you’re very underrated in the music industry.

If you look at fashion, the way shows were performed, and the way things were like before I came out- all the way down to the hair color and sh** people wasn’t doing that then. When I did it people called me a weirdo. Now look at the entire wave of new rappers. Just 2 years ago people were looking bored at the shows but now they are doing mosh pits and stage diving is now the standard norm for rap shows.

RESPECT.: So you’re saying you are the first rapper to do that.

I feel like it was me and Travis Scott. I don’t think it was just me. Me and Travis really started that new wave.

RESPECT.: Back to when you were first beginning, how were you able to gain success in Atlanta?

I stood by the people that stood by me. All of us became who we worked hard to be, so when it was time to push the button we made it happen. We didn’t have a label, blogs, or any of that sh**. It actually began with just being a taste maker in my city.

RESPECT.: “U Guessed It” was an overnight success. Were ready for all of that popularity at the time?

No, I wasn’t ready for how fake people would become. Thats the part I wish I had someone to coach me. You think you have support but that’s not how it always turns out. When people on the outside and inside realize they have another ticket they just take advantage. There’s a lot of things I wish I would’ve known.

RESPECT.: How does it feel knowing you are from Atlanta and you get to travel the globe?

I just came back from Iceland we was there and we was at this cool bar and we were just there looking around and realized not a lot of people get to do this. It was just me and Schoolboy Q out there we were both there and it just opened our eyes to a lot.

REPSECT.: Whats the coolest thing that has happened on the tour so far?

I had a girl from a show in Amsterdam last year come to 2 shows in a row out here. I let her perform 2 songs so that was kind of wild she turned the fu** up. She did good and im proud of her.

RESPECT.: Is there a stop you are looking forward to the most?

I am looking forward to the show in Portugal. Weed is 100 percent legal in Portugal. Last time I was there the show sold out pretty fast so that was pretty cool. Im not even there yet and its already sold out now.

RESPECT.: How does it feel hearing people call you a one-hit wonder?

It was kind of wild because a lot of people tried to tell me I should go back to that sound. I didn’t even really do that song on purpose, I was just doing that when I was freestyling with my homies. Other than that song, I was actually making like really melodic music. When I wasn’t dropping songs like “U Guessed It” people were saying I disappeared. I never disappeared they just weren’t listening to what I was putting out because it wasn’t what they wanted me to put out. They wanted me to only stay in one box like yell and scream and what not. Yeah I do that, but im a way more versatile artist than that. Its frustrating because hip-hop is a culture where people are told to be original and just be yourself- but then you just watch people copy sh** word for word and outfit to outfit. Its wild.

RESPECT.: You felt like Beyonce stole your video concept. Why did that bother you so much?

It wasn’t her, it was whoever her videographer was. I was honored because its Beyonce. This is the thing, when her video came out they put it up for video of the year and I was like what the fu**. It was that and ni**as taking my adlibs and my entire sauce. I was like what the f**k can you ni**as atleast give me my credit. People should know I was the first one doing it because back then nobody was doing it. People then were scared to do what I was doing and people still aren’t giving me credit for it.

RESPECT.: That must be really frustrating. People always bringing up the single “U Guessed It.”

People don’t understand a lot. When your label kind of chokes you theres only so much you can do on a platform anybody can use. Anybody can use Soundcloud but when you try to really put out music on major platfroms and it gets taken down the fans don’t get to see the growth. When your album has been done for 4 years and it doesn’t get to be put out people don’t get to see what you’re doing. When that happens the music doesn’t make sense to them because I went from going from one sound to another. They didn’t get to see my growth and they didn’t get to hear the transition in the album because the album never came out. If they would’ve had the album they would’ve heard me transition from “U Guessed It” songs to actually doing like the full rock and hip-hop music that im doing. They never got to hear that and its frustrating. Its such a large piece missing. The album and touring is all we cared about and then you remove that major component. Its not the artists fault or the fans fault that they are confused.

RESPECT.: If you could, would you go back to when you first started doing music?

I would never go back. My decisions kept some of my best friends out of jail. Things could’ve went way worse than me having to wait longer to be richer than I am. At the same time, if I could leave my label right now I would leave in a heart beat. Jump, skip, run, for the fact that its holding me back. Everything involved with it is holding me back.

RESPECT.: Is there anything special you would like to share with your fans?

Live Life 3 is coming real soon. The actual project does exist! I am just being really quiet about it because I don’t want the forces that are against me to dismantle what I have going on. I would like to tell everyone: If you want to get into the business understand the business. Don’t get into the business though, just get into the music. Figure out yourself to make you a better artist. Figure out what you are doing it for and ask yourself if you are willing to sacrifice something to have it. Figure out all that then figure out the business because if you don’t you will get into a really fu**ed up place.