Offset would like to make something abundantly clear: He does not have any respect for blogs. He emphasizes this point during our conversation, which comes a few days after the release of Father of 4, his debut solo album that’s also full of anti-blog bars. “The blogs is after me,” he raps on “North Star.” And: “The blog and the media fake,” he declares on “Clout,” a track on which his wife, rap's reigning superstar Cardi B, not incorrectly asserts, “I should run a whole blog at this rate / They using my name for clickbait.”
It’s hard to define what constitutes a “blog” in the year of our Internet Lords 2019. But Offset has spoken this Blog Beef into existence. It probably stems from December 2018 reports that Offset had cheated on Cardi, who announced soon afterwards that they were separating.
Offset maintains that he didn’t actually cheat—in an apology on his Instagram, he admitted to entertaining the idea, but not acting on it. But apparently all's well that ends well: the couple recently reconciled, as was particularly apparent after a very public, bloggable tongue kiss at the Grammys.
Father of 4, if you couldn’t tell from the title, is about far more than blogs or Offset’s love life. It’s deeply personal; there are plenty of mentions about messing up, but only some lyrics (namely, all of “Don’t Lose Me”) can be traced back to Offset’s relationship with Cardi. Offset is sorry about a bunch of things. He’s especially sorry for getting into trouble during his early adult years, and not always being there for his four children. Father of 4, he hopes, is an opportunity to issue a sincere mea culpa to multiple family members. The album is also a chance to tell his side of the story, and though it features plenty of familiar-sounding ad-libs, it is decidedly not a Migos record. Given the amount of ground that it covers, it’s only right that when we connect late one Sunday night, we discuss a wide breadth of subjects, too.
So that’s what this is: A conversation about Offset’s kids, what he’s willing to say about Cardi B, his grandfather's harmonica, the dirty south, dancing, Wizards-era Michael Jordan, growing up, fucking up, 21 Savage, the Internet ruining fandom, and yes, those damn blogs.
GQ: Was there any reason why this solo album rollout happened the way it did, with Quavo going first, Takeoff second, and then you third?
Offset: Nah, we just picked our own positions. I just wanted to take my time with it, didn’t want no pressure on me, so I let my boys spread they wings.
The subjects on the album are more personal than I think Migos listeners are used to. Was there a specific event that inspired you to want to get more personal?
It was the car crash—I was living a great life, I was successful, and for that to happen was an eye-opener. And I’m grown. The subject matter is different. I’m not thinking the same as I did four years ago. I’ve got a lot of responsibilities, especially as a father. I’ve got to take care of my family. I just wanted to have relatable music. A lot of music I feel like don’t be sticking nowadays. I want my music to stick. At the end of the summer, I hope my shit is still spinning.
Nostalgia—looking back on your life, telling stories from it—is a major theme in the album. Have you always considered yourself a storyteller? Or was that a new challenge for you?
It was a new challenge for me, but I feel like it was more of a relief too. I’m famous, but at the same time, I’m a human. I go through the same thing you go through, but maybe to a different extent. I just want people to know I’m not perfect. I’ve done wrong things, but I’ve become successful, I learned from the wrongs. I was doing it to feed me and my kids. I ain’t have nowhere to go at a young age. And I just wanted to put my kids forward. A lot of people don’t know that I have four kids, which is crazy to me because it’s all up on my social media. It just lets you know, like, they ain’t really know me. I wanted them to know me.
I know your kids are pretty young, but have they heard any of the album?
Oh, my kids love the album. We played the album for my younger ones, and they hear their name and get excited. We’ve been playing it around the house every day. We just wilding out. “Father of 4” was my favorite track of them all. It’s like a letter to my kids. I wasn’t a perfect father. Now, I can apologize, we can move forward in life. We can have a better, stronger relationship.
Since the kids are still young, are you hoping they’ll re-listen to "Father of 4” when they get older and understand the lyrics better?
I was thinking about when they hit like, 13, it’ll be a more special moment for them because young kids don’t really understand. For Jordan’s first birthday, I was incarcerated, so for him to hear that song when he’s older, he’ll know the reason I wasn’t there. It’s gonna be great when they get older, like damn, my daddy really did that. And they do understand they on the cover of the album; they like their pictures and everything.
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Was the album cover your idea?
Yeah, of course. Everything was my idea. I wanted to be on some king shit. I just wanted to show I’m raising kings and queens.
You tweeted that your grandfather played the harmonica in the “Red Room” video—
Yeah, that was a special thing. I grew up listening to him. He would just play on the porch. It’s crazy, I just told him to listen to the beat that was playing on the music video, like, just try to do a melody, and he fit right in. He never wanted to be on no album, he just always did it for the love of doing it. To get my grandfather on my project was a good feeling.
What does the sound of that harmonica represent to you? Does it trigger any specific memories from your own childhood?
It’s just country. It’s dirty south, country blues. To me, it sound like water. It’s just a beautiful sound. It’s my culture. It was love. It was family. They used to be sitting on the porch, my grandma would be right there, he’d be right there. We’d play in the front yard and he’d be killing it.
Did he play a role in you wanting to get into music?
No, I just always thought that shit was cool. I tried the harmonica, he put me on it a couple times, but it wasn’t like, I got to do music like my grandfather. I was a young child, dancing around. I been in a couple videos—the Whitney Houston video that I posted on my Instagram when I was like eight years old, and I also had to dance in the NBA All-Star game in Atlanta when Mariah Carey sang. I think Michael Jordan had just came back to the Wizards or something. He cried—it was a big viral moment, and I was one of the kids that danced.
When I started getting older, dancing shit wasn’t making me no money, and I wanted things. I wanted shoes, I wanted pants, and I ain’t got no money or job. I’m just going to do whatever I can to get whatever I’m trying to get. Eventually, I made some mistakes. When I was 12 or 13, I started idolizing artists. I loved OutKast, I loved watching music videos. I started giving music a shot, but even around 11th grade, I still wasn’t really feeling it like that because I was doing other things trying to survive.
People assume even after you got the money and everything that it’s all easy, but the money come with taxes, friend problems, thieves, evilness. People be looking at the money like, “Oh, he good.” They not really knowing we go through stuff all the time. There’s always a situation—personal, friends, business. We all humans, we all working for our careers.
You recently told Esquire, “Fuck all that stream shit because I don't do music for money. It's my heart … It's my creativity and I do it for the people.” But a few months before that, you told Billboard, "I don't give a damn about anything but numbers." What caused that change in mindset?
The difference between the two is that I’m not focusing on the streaming. The numbers are going to come with the great music. People do some dumbass shit on Instagram to make it go viral and get people to stream. I was just saying, my focus ain’t on the stream. My focus is on the music. Great music is going to do numbers regardless.
Going back to your dancing background: Are you gonna break out any of those moves in another music video for the album?
You never know, man. I have them moves, and ain’t nothing wrong with the moves. I do plan on doing a video that’s going to have a little uh-uh. Freestyle, though. I ain’t going to do no choreography or shit like that.
I wanted to ask you about 21 Savage. I know you weren’t thrilled with the memes and jokes that came out when he was first detained by ICE. Have you been able to speak to him lately?
Yeah, that’s my brother. He’s doing good, man. I’ve been in that situation where I’ve been locked up, and family is depending on you. That situation—people be acting like that shit be funny. I’m not even seeing it as a meme. Shit is good now, but it wasn’t at one point, and that type of shit will get you taken away from the family. Like what, deport him? That’s just a different ball game taking somebody away from their kids.
I’ve never been an Internet type of guy. A lot of shit on the Internet is wrong, bro. People be tripping because they can hide behind it. Comments be crazy, bro. Sometimes I wish I was in the era where there wasn’t no Internet, because it makes you more valuable to your fans that love you. You can trip and fall, it’s going to be in the media, but they’d fuck with you. Now, the media, you can do one or two things, and that shit will cut your head off. Seriously. People not fainting at shows no more, passing out like they used to, because they see you every day.
As an artist, I’m good with being personal. But a lot of these artists put on a facade because that’s what they have to do to get to where they’re trying to go. They can’t be natural or original. Prince wore heels, bro. Women loved him. Gangstas and thugs respected him and his artistry because you can’t really know what the hell is going on with him. He’s still mysterious. With the Internet now, there is no mystery—family issues, you and your friends, anything. It’s intoxicating. Somebody will watch somebody go do something or be hurt, break their leg or be bleeding, and be recording it for the Internet. They be like, “Oh WorldStar!” You record somebody before you call 911 to help somebody.
Along those lines, on “North Star,” you rap about the blogs being “after” you. I assume that’s in reference to Cardi B, too. What was it about the media coverage of the last few months that you didn’t like?
This is what it is: I’m 27, I’m a young guy, we done stepped into some things we didn’t really know too much about. We love each other and everything, but it’s like, we was going through a separation—both of us are artists on top too—so when certain blogs would lie or say something that wasn’t true, I would still become the bad guy somehow. I don’t get why it can’t just be: I fucked up, I made my say, and we moved past that shit. That’s my family going through it. Blogs are doing it for the views and comments. Blogs be knowing when it’s bullshit, and when it’s true shit. Just keeping it all the way 1000. When it be bullshit, they still run with it as if it’s true shit.
I want to be an artist, bro. You know me as Offset from the Migos. The personal shit, that’s for me and my family. When I do my apology, I’m doing it for my family, bro. It’s not for you. You’ve got to keep your family tight, especially in the public eye. I ain’t no perfect dude, I’ve done some fucked up shit. But we moved past that. I’m growing as a man, I’m educating myself. The blogs just trying to be shooting niggas down all day, bro. At the end of the day, it causes insecurities inside the house. Keep that to yourself. I can’t go in your living room and tell you how your step daddy is fucked up because he did this or that. I would never do that. So that song is just a personal song. I gotta be strong through stuff, because I’m the man, I got to hold my family up, even if they slip up or trip because of me.
What was the intended purpose behind “Don’t Lose Me”?
[Cardi B] didn’t know that song existed. She didn’t hear that song ever. It was some shit I told her for real, so I put it into a song.
Was that her favorite song on the album?
I think so. She cried listening to it a couple times. But “Clout,” she was so crazy on that shit. [Whistles].
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
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