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Kicking off this year’s SXSW festival in epic fashion was A$AP Ferg’s Mad Man Tour. Amongst the incredibly hyped line up of A$AP Ferg and Denzel Curry was IDK, who is perhaps one of today’s most captivating rappers. His latest offering, “I Was Very Bad,” was rolled out over the course of multiple release dates through adult swim last year, and it seems that IDK is starting to get the attention that he deserves.









His song “Pizza Shop,” paints the vivid images of a pizza shop robbery catalyzed by peer pressure and the influence of rap music itself. Through his lyricism and beat selection, he is able to place listeners in an Impala, with speakers up, pregaming a drive-by, a skill that he exercises fluently throughout all four of his full-length projects. Having collaborated with artists like Swizz Beatz, Masego and MF Doom, IDK is no stranger to versatility either. His ability to weave himself in and out of eclectic sounds and blend genres together is a testament to how much of a multifaceted artist he is. I caught up with IDK after his electrifying set to talk about his debut album, his musical inspirations and his ventures into realms other than music.

“Jay is short for Jason, which is my real name. IDK stands for ignorantly delivering knowledge. I tell people nowadays I don’t know if you don’t know, you feel what I’m saying? For the people who haven’t necessarily been with me since day one, they may not know that. They can go figure it out, but that’s what it means, that’s what it actually stands for. Where it came from was when I spent time in jail, I just wanted to have an anonymous name for when I started rapping and I was like let me think of some names. One I came up with was IDK, like I don’t know, but I wanted it to mean something. That’s where the acronym comes from”

“I Was Very Bad” details the time you spent in jail and how you grew up. Can you talk about some of the inspiration behind making the project?

“A lot of the inspiration for “I Was Very Bad” comes from my mother, losing my mother. When I lost her I started kind of thinking about my life, and rethinking who I was. Basically, me trying to figure out who I was, ended up as me making a project trying to tell people who I was, and that’s kind of what it all is.”

A lot of your music is very narrative + story-driven. What is your process like when you’re making a song or an album?

“It’s a little bit of everything, it’s not one specific thing that I do when I rap and when I write. Inspiration comes at any moment. It could be in the studio, outside of the studio, it could be during a show, whenever. So, I just kind of write and let everything take its place. It’s very sporadic though.”

Where do you draw inspiration musically?

“I started with Michael Jackson, I used to really like Michael Jackson a lot. I used to really like the Gorillaz, and a lot of just rock music and shit. Papa Roach and stuff like that. My first exposure to rap was really just listening to 50 Cent, Eminem and Kanye. Those are the three people that created my foundation.”

Dream collaboration?

“Frank Ocean and Solange. Those are two people that I really want to work with. Hopefully one of these days it’ll come true.”

Recently you posted an Instagram photo with the caption “I just took care of my student loans.” At what point did you shift your focus from school to music?

“Probably my second year in college. I wasn’t paying attention to any of the lectures because I was too busy writing music. Then it got to the point where I would get to school early and I would be in the cafeteria writing music and forget to go to class. Then, one day it was time to register for classes for the next semester and I just never did. That’s kind of how it all happened, it just faded away.”

You also just walked in Pyer Moss’ New York Fashion Week show. What was that experience like?

“I was honestly nervous. It’s not like performing, it’s a whole different thing and I didn’t know what to expect. But, it was great. I got a lot of good looks and new opportunities because of that. It was a good stepping stone into that world, even though I kind of got in there by accident. I didn’t really try to, it just kind of came my way.”

One of your tracks was also recently featured on a Dragon Ball Z commercial, and it seems like you’re venturing into a lot of things other than music. What’s another world that you’d want to get into?

“I think I would be great at directing. I’m working on something very big for “I Was Very Bad” that is going to be done very soon, and it’s gonna put my name in a whole new circuit of people. That’s definitely one of the things I wanna do. Scoring movies, directing, I want to be in that world. Then, obviously fashion to an extent. I’m not a big big fashion head, I like what I like and there’s things that I pay attention to, but I’m not super spending my time on it, so I can’t say I want to be all the way into that, but I do want to dabble with it a little bit.”

What do you want people to takeaway from your music?

“Just knowledge, truth. From my perspective at least. That’s all I want to do. I used to want to rap about things to educate people, but to be honest I’ve realized the best way to educate people is just by telling them the truth. And not always being bias about it, but like I said sometimes it is my opinion, so I can’t help that. But, I try to think of things from both sides. I want people to understand that I’m very versatile. I’m one of the most versatile new rappers right now. I’m a fan of the Kendrick’s, but I’m also tuned in with the Lil Pump’s and artists in that lane. I mingle with everybody. I do shows with everyone, so I’m very versatile.”