How Rob49 Became Rap's Most Viral Hitmaker

I don’t know, probably because they’re not getting the superstar—Zion don’t play every game. I seen him a handful of times. And I go to a lot of games. It just feels like a town that’s more about football than basketball. But we never had a superstar player that actually got his chance. Like, when Chris Paul was playing, we was packed, you know? But with AD, he was hurt.

And they never had a team around him, except for that one year with Boogie. Besides Haliburton, do you have any connections to other NBA players or teams?

You got to understand we in the rap world, so really everyone, you know? Ballers want to be rappers. I talk to Jose Alvarado a lot. I talked to him today, honestly. He called me about the Pacers and shit.

One of my favorite players, too, actually.

For real? Nah you’re just saying that.

Well, he’s from New York, and I love how he’s a complete ball hawk. You just can’t not pay attention when he’s on the floor. And Grand Theft Alvarado has to be one of the greatest nicknames ever in the history of basketball.

I was just trying to put people onto that bro. GTA is crazy.

I was listening to the new album and you have a song called “Angel Reese”, about hustling and grinding, which I think is a really progressive rap metaphor in this context. Where’d the idea for that come from?

Honestly, I said it on a song, my brother called me from jail and he said he want Angel Reese, so I was like, Okay, that’s the name of this song. We gonna call it “Angel Reese”, she gotta hear this. I’ve known her since she was going to LSU. She’s been listening to me.

Does she know that you have the song coming or is it going to be a surprise?

That’s a surprise.

Can you give me some insight into how you’re able to go viral over and over again? Do you start from a place of thinking it’s time for me to go get another one?

You always want another hit, but if you just keep going, it’s going to fall in your lap.

I remember when we were in New Orleans, I was really surprised because I thought “Wassam Baby” was something that you had just come up with.

Everybody be saying that shit, right?

But it was pre-existing regional slang. What’s really smart about it is, you’re taking a common phrase from where you’re from and making a song around it, so the city is going to immediately embrace it. Does “Helly” have a similar origin story around it?

Hell yeah. Everybody in my city was saying “What the helly.” All my friends were saying it. So I just started saying it.

When you have a hit song like “WTHelly,” is there a strategy for the rollout that you think might help push it from a conventional hit to a viral hit?

Not really, but this time I had a lot of “What the Helly” t-shirts ready. I made sure the video was shot, that everybody turned up. That’s the route I took. But I don’t usually do that. I wanted to do it for “Wassam Baby”, but I didn’t. But I had a feeling about [that] one.

I noticed with what I’ve heard of the album, there’s a lot of classic Rob tracks, but there are a few songs that feel more introspective and soulful. What have you been listening to lately?

Soul music. Like, D. Hathaway, Lauryn Hill, Frank Ocean, SZA.

You mention Frank a lot, and he’s from New Orleans. Would you like to collaborate with him at some point?

Hell yeah!

You get a lot of crazy celebrity co-signs, long before Bieber. What are some of the more random ones?

Madonna, for sure. The Indiana Pacers. But actually Buffalo Wild Wings. They my favorite shout out, because I used to buy the shit out of that.