Photos courtesy of Noisey AtlantaIn 2012, Nick Williams was just another cool kid in Atlanta with unique style working at the hip clothing boutique Ginza and making music as an activity on the side under the name Trinidad James. But when a song he'd made called âAll Gold Everythingâ caught on and became a viral hit, he found himself being courted by record labels and touted as the hottest new thing out of Atlanta. He made a triumphant trip to New York and signed what was a reportedly $2 million record deal with Def Jam.But âAll Gold Everythingâ proved to be an anomaly, and James, despite releasing relatively interesting and consistent music like the project 10 pc. Mild, floundered in his Def Jam deal. By the summer of 2014, he had been dropped from his deal, which he announced with a tweet apologizing to all his collaborators that he wouldn't have money to pay them.James remains influential: He's a part of and a high-profile voice for an arty, psychedelic hipster crowd that includes acts like OG Maco, iLoveMakonnnen, and EarthGang, and he's still on the roster of independent label TIG, which includes Rich Homie Quan and ascendent acts Forte Bowie and YFN Lucci. The clothing style he grabbed audiences' attention withâgold, vintage Versace, high-end slippersâmore or less defined the look of the new wave of Atlanta artists like Quan and Migos. These days he's developed perhaps more recognition as a sneaker vlogger than with any of his recent music, which is a development he seems OK with.Do you feel like the neighborhoods mean anything in Atlanta?
Thereâs southern hospitality, man. Youâre from here. People are nice. Gangsters and everybody. Everybody just wants to eat, get their money, hustle. But somebodyâs bitch ass might kill you. Other than that, everyone respectfully moves on each other. I donât trip too much about it. You can go to somebody elseâs neighborhood and get money. They ainât gonna trip. Thatâs the sweet thing about it. Itâs getting different now with the younger generation because theyâre different. How I came up and whatever, itâs cool.How are they different?
Itâs just, theyâre doing older things at a younger age. Things that I feel like we were doing in our twenties, theyâre doing in their teens. If that makes sense.Yeah. Thatâs a classic thing. Each generation gets older at a younger age, I feel like.
Yeah, I mean, you learn it faster. Youâre seeing it. The things weâre experimenting is the things theyâre learning. Like, âOK, he did that wrong. This is how Iâll do it.â Or âthis how I want to do it. I can be Gucci Mane at 13.âYou canât be Gucci Mane at 14, though.
I mean, you canât in reality, but in general mindset. Not from a standpoint of Gucciâs rap status, just that whole embrace of trap and hood. Thatâs the definition of the streets, in my opinion.Thatâs interesting. Do you think trap music is going to continue through this new generation?
Yes. They love it. Itâs the anthem for the younger generation.Is it going to be twisted by, like, molly? Thatâs come and gone a little bit, butâ
I mean, those drugs have always been here. As far as being popular in the hood community, itâs come and gone. But that drug been around. People been doing molly. And all those type of drugs.There was a moment where it was huge for a second.
Yeah, people rapping about it, or whatever. Like I said, I feel like the hood embraces it. It comes and goes.I was always curious if that was going to, like, change trap music. The way LSD made rock soundâ
Make it more creative!Yeah.
In my personal opinion, it made it more creative.You had such a rapid rise to fame. You were thrust into the spotlight all of a sudden. How has that been? What has happened in your career since that big thing?
Woo! Itâs like life, you know? Ups and downs. Just in general, itâs been a great learning experience. I feel like everything Iâve been through allows me to feel as great as I do about my new project. Because I know what it can do, I know what I can do with it, despite what anybodyâs talking about. I donât give a fuck. Itâs great.What was the process of making your new project like? Were you listening to new music? Whatâs the influence?
Man, watching a lot of Netflix, man. I was working on the project, and then I just stopped because I got tired of music. I didnât have nothing I wanted to talk about at the time. I felt like I only do music when I got something to say. I didnât have nothing that I wanted to say that mattered. I could make a song out of anything. Thatâs when you got all the bullshit music, when somebody makes a song about anything.For me, I have to make it about things that relate to my life, or what I think that the young man thatâs looking up to me, something I want to talk to them about. Something I canât talk about in person. Then I watch all the interviews. I kind of stopped making music or whatever and had to find something to do. I was bored. I watched Netflix. I watched different shows, started binging on the shows. It gave me a different perspective on life. I went back to the music, I had things to say.What was your jam on Netflix? Which shows do you like?I started withOrange Is The New Black: amazing.House of Cards: butt-naked truth.Breaking Bad: Heisenberg all day.Weeds: I donât even know what to say. That was amazing.Bojack Horseman.That shitâs awesome.
Dude. Psh. Hilarious new cartoon. Itâs a new type of Family Guy, Homer Simpson-type. Then Californication. Iâm on that right now.Thatâs a long series.
I like that, though. Iâm a movie person. I donât like the TV at all, period. So me getting into these Netflix shows really started by me watching TV. I havenât watched TV in years. So it also allowed me to understand what was going on in the world. If you donât watch TV and donât read newspapers, youâre not gonna know nothing. So it gave me new knowledge on things, perspectives that I had on certain things. It gave me different perspective on things. Like Orange Is the New Black, just⊠women. It gave me a perspective on women, how they think, how they act.Have you ever tried to write from a womanâs perspective?
Yeah, definitely. Iâve written songs that are sung like a woman. Iâve done that before. I have a really good understanding of women or whatever. Iâm a studier of people in general. Itâs not that hard for me, but itâs not easy.When youâre taking a break from making music, do you ever get freaked out? I have a hard time with weekends, I feel like Iâm supposed to be doing something.
Yeah, when being creative is how you make your money, when youâre not being creative, it can come across like, âwhat the fuck am I doing?â But youâve just got to remember that thatâs what itâs about. You canât be creative every day, and thatâs why youâve got to surround yourself with people that are creative also. But if youâre to yourself, like I am, sometimes itâs a little strange. You canât be tough on yourself. Youâve got to find things to do for yourself. Thatâs why Netflix came in really handy.You should do reviews for TV shows. You give great opinions.
I mean, I took a general consensus from people. âWhat should I watch? You think you know me. What do you think I should watch?â or whatever. Then I realized that the shows women told me to watch were better than the shows men told me to watch.I heard a rumor that you were styling people that you thought were horribly styled?
Not that I thought were horribly styled. For me personally, since I started music, I havenât styled anybody. Before I did music, I styled a lot of famous DJs, artistsânot huge artists like Usher or anything. I mean, for me, thatâs what allowed me to realize that I can also survive in this game. People donât have a sense of style. What I wear, I havenât thought about an outfit in a thousand years. If you love it, you love it. If you donât, you donât. I donât give no fucks.You have a blog series about shoes.
Camp James, weâre on our 22nd episode. Camp James is my baby. Iâve been collecting kicks since â06, man. Iâve done everything when it comes to kicks, man. Whatever you can think about âem, Iâve done it, man. Campaigning, fighting, hustling, selling, flipping, whatever.I just wanted to be creative, use this artistry for something other than music. Thereâs more things that I love just as much as music, if not more, so it was like, let me talk about shoes on camera. See how it comes across.My boy who was already shooting little viral videos for me and stuff, we shot the first episode, and it was a success. It was more views and positive messages that I was talking about than on the music.It feels good to know that youâve got an ongoing series where kids walk up to me, grown-upsâI was in the mall the other day, this grown lady said âthose Jordans that you got, how much did you pay for them?â I was like, âwere you looking at the show?â Thatâs crazy. Itâs just crazy to know that you can inspire people with more than your music, just being who you are.After you signed and your song hit, your first show was in NYC at Santos Party House. It kind of was like an incredible movement at that time. Going to a new city, that song had literally two thousand people feeding to get your record.
I could have stopped doing music after Santos. That right there will always be, that was it. I had just done what I thought was my craziest show in Atlanta. MJQ. Crazy. Like, you donât understand how crazy it was. Hanging from the roof crazy. Literally. When I was going to that show, I was from the South, I didnât know how people were going to feel. It was my 11th show in my life period. I didnât know how it was going to go. Man, that day went schizo, man. To this day, I got a huge respect for New York. Hands down. They really opened my mind to, like, bro, if you can kill it here, you can kill it anywhere. If you can perform and turn up in New York, you can do it anywhere. Period. That was my take on doing shows there on out. It gave me the confidence I needed
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James is the new Atlanta in a nutshell: An example of the city's power to launch a song and an artist to overnight stardom, a cautionary tale for the limited potential of this path to fame and the rapid hype cycle that can chew up Atlanta's viral stars, and a standard bearer for a new creative class in Atlanta that's less concerned with what the Def Jams of the world can offer them. During the filming of Noisey Atlanta, VICE's Thomas Morton caught up with Trinidad James to talk about his impressions of the city and the music industry that depends on it. An edited transcript of that conversation is below.
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Thereâs southern hospitality, man. Youâre from here. People are nice. Gangsters and everybody. Everybody just wants to eat, get their money, hustle. But somebodyâs bitch ass might kill you. Other than that, everyone respectfully moves on each other. I donât trip too much about it. You can go to somebody elseâs neighborhood and get money. They ainât gonna trip. Thatâs the sweet thing about it. Itâs getting different now with the younger generation because theyâre different. How I came up and whatever, itâs cool.How are they different?
Itâs just, theyâre doing older things at a younger age. Things that I feel like we were doing in our twenties, theyâre doing in their teens. If that makes sense.Yeah. Thatâs a classic thing. Each generation gets older at a younger age, I feel like.
Yeah, I mean, you learn it faster. Youâre seeing it. The things weâre experimenting is the things theyâre learning. Like, âOK, he did that wrong. This is how Iâll do it.â Or âthis how I want to do it. I can be Gucci Mane at 13.âYou canât be Gucci Mane at 14, though.
I mean, you canât in reality, but in general mindset. Not from a standpoint of Gucciâs rap status, just that whole embrace of trap and hood. Thatâs the definition of the streets, in my opinion.Thatâs interesting. Do you think trap music is going to continue through this new generation?
Yes. They love it. Itâs the anthem for the younger generation.
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I mean, those drugs have always been here. As far as being popular in the hood community, itâs come and gone. But that drug been around. People been doing molly. And all those type of drugs.There was a moment where it was huge for a second.
Yeah, people rapping about it, or whatever. Like I said, I feel like the hood embraces it. It comes and goes.I was always curious if that was going to, like, change trap music. The way LSD made rock soundâ
Make it more creative!Yeah.
In my personal opinion, it made it more creative.You had such a rapid rise to fame. You were thrust into the spotlight all of a sudden. How has that been? What has happened in your career since that big thing?
Woo! Itâs like life, you know? Ups and downs. Just in general, itâs been a great learning experience. I feel like everything Iâve been through allows me to feel as great as I do about my new project. Because I know what it can do, I know what I can do with it, despite what anybodyâs talking about. I donât give a fuck. Itâs great.What was the process of making your new project like? Were you listening to new music? Whatâs the influence?
Man, watching a lot of Netflix, man. I was working on the project, and then I just stopped because I got tired of music. I didnât have nothing I wanted to talk about at the time. I felt like I only do music when I got something to say. I didnât have nothing that I wanted to say that mattered. I could make a song out of anything. Thatâs when you got all the bullshit music, when somebody makes a song about anything.
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Dude. Psh. Hilarious new cartoon. Itâs a new type of Family Guy, Homer Simpson-type. Then Californication. Iâm on that right now.Thatâs a long series.
I like that, though. Iâm a movie person. I donât like the TV at all, period. So me getting into these Netflix shows really started by me watching TV. I havenât watched TV in years. So it also allowed me to understand what was going on in the world. If you donât watch TV and donât read newspapers, youâre not gonna know nothing. So it gave me new knowledge on things, perspectives that I had on certain things. It gave me different perspective on things. Like Orange Is the New Black, just⊠women. It gave me a perspective on women, how they think, how they act.
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Yeah, definitely. Iâve written songs that are sung like a woman. Iâve done that before. I have a really good understanding of women or whatever. Iâm a studier of people in general. Itâs not that hard for me, but itâs not easy.When youâre taking a break from making music, do you ever get freaked out? I have a hard time with weekends, I feel like Iâm supposed to be doing something.
Yeah, when being creative is how you make your money, when youâre not being creative, it can come across like, âwhat the fuck am I doing?â But youâve just got to remember that thatâs what itâs about. You canât be creative every day, and thatâs why youâve got to surround yourself with people that are creative also. But if youâre to yourself, like I am, sometimes itâs a little strange. You canât be tough on yourself. Youâve got to find things to do for yourself. Thatâs why Netflix came in really handy.You should do reviews for TV shows. You give great opinions.
I mean, I took a general consensus from people. âWhat should I watch? You think you know me. What do you think I should watch?â or whatever. Then I realized that the shows women told me to watch were better than the shows men told me to watch.I heard a rumor that you were styling people that you thought were horribly styled?
Not that I thought were horribly styled. For me personally, since I started music, I havenât styled anybody. Before I did music, I styled a lot of famous DJs, artistsânot huge artists like Usher or anything. I mean, for me, thatâs what allowed me to realize that I can also survive in this game. People donât have a sense of style. What I wear, I havenât thought about an outfit in a thousand years. If you love it, you love it. If you donât, you donât. I donât give no fucks.
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Camp James, weâre on our 22nd episode. Camp James is my baby. Iâve been collecting kicks since â06, man. Iâve done everything when it comes to kicks, man. Whatever you can think about âem, Iâve done it, man. Campaigning, fighting, hustling, selling, flipping, whatever.I just wanted to be creative, use this artistry for something other than music. Thereâs more things that I love just as much as music, if not more, so it was like, let me talk about shoes on camera. See how it comes across.My boy who was already shooting little viral videos for me and stuff, we shot the first episode, and it was a success. It was more views and positive messages that I was talking about than on the music.It feels good to know that youâve got an ongoing series where kids walk up to me, grown-upsâI was in the mall the other day, this grown lady said âthose Jordans that you got, how much did you pay for them?â I was like, âwere you looking at the show?â Thatâs crazy. Itâs just crazy to know that you can inspire people with more than your music, just being who you are.After you signed and your song hit, your first show was in NYC at Santos Party House. It kind of was like an incredible movement at that time. Going to a new city, that song had literally two thousand people feeding to get your record.
I could have stopped doing music after Santos. That right there will always be, that was it. I had just done what I thought was my craziest show in Atlanta. MJQ. Crazy. Like, you donât understand how crazy it was. Hanging from the roof crazy. Literally. When I was going to that show, I was from the South, I didnât know how people were going to feel. It was my 11th show in my life period. I didnât know how it was going to go. Man, that day went schizo, man. To this day, I got a huge respect for New York. Hands down. They really opened my mind to, like, bro, if you can kill it here, you can kill it anywhere. If you can perform and turn up in New York, you can do it anywhere. Period. That was my take on doing shows there on out. It gave me the confidence I needed