24hrs is ready for his biggest year yet.
The Atlanta rapper, singer, DJ, and producer has already worked with the likes of Gucci Mane, Ty Dolla $ign, and Wiz Khalifa, but there’s a lot more on the way. Together with his brother MadeinTYO, Two Four says this year is going to be “crazy” for their joint label, Private Club Records.
“We’re building it and it’s lit,” says the 26-year-old. “Over the last years, we’ve seen successful cliques turn up like A$AP Mob, Pro Era, Taylor Gang, Maybach Music Group. Private Club’s got it this year. We going crazy this year.”
So, what does 24 have planned for the rest of 2017 in order to make that happen? In an exclusive interview with Rap-Up, he shared his master plan, opening up about more collaborations with Ty Dolla $ign (as the duo 24.00), his forthcoming debut album Open Late and Night Shift EP, which drops Friday (May 19).
“What I’ve been putting out right now is light jabs showing that I’ve got it,” he explains. “But the album? Next time you talk to me it’s gonna like, ‘OK, we see you’re top 10 in the country.’”
Growing up, what kind of music was being played in your house?
Before I knew and loved music, I remember my mom playing Mary J. Blige a lot, I remember her playing Jaheim, I remember her playing a lot of R&B. On my dad’s side, I remember my dad always playing Ice Cube, N.W.A, The Temptations, Run-DMC, LL Cool J. When I started getting into my own music, the first albums I ever owned were Bow Wow’s first album [Beware of Dog] and Eminem’s The Marshall Mathers LP. My aunt got me one and my uncle got me the other one. I played both of those albums back to back. The very next album I got was a Luda album. I think it was Chicken-N-Beer. It was over from then. That was when I was like, “I love music.”
“EMINEM, TO ME, IS ONE OF THE GREATEST RAPPERS EVER”
Mary J. Blige and N.W.A are so different. Bow Wow and Eminem are so different. How do you feel all of these styles influenced what you’ve created?
They’re all legendary. Eminem, to me, is one of the greatest rappers ever. Mary J. Blige? That’s legendary. It wasn’t only Mary. I remember my mom picking me up from school and I remember hearing Mariah Carey’s “We Belong Together” all the time. That was growing up. But when you’re in high school, you can make your own decisions so the music I was into in that era was 50 Cent’s Get Rich or Die Tryin’, Juvenile’s “Slow Motion.” Those are the people who influenced me. Mary and them were people I just listened to because of my mom, but after I got the Eminem and Bow Wow album, once I bought albums for myself, the genre was everything from blink-182 to Lil Wayne. I just loved music and good sounds, great content, things that made people move. It’s about giving people a feeling. If I asked you, when was the first time you heard “Bling Bling” by [B.G. featuring Hot Boys & Big Tymers], you could think about what you were doing. I feel like that’s what music does. I remember the first time I heard [50 Cent’s] “Window Shopper.” I remember thinking it was so hard at the time. I was in ninth grade, walking to school. Those are the things we love about music so in my music, I’m trying to give people that feeling.
