Roddy Ricch Talks Nipsey Hussle Being ‘L.A. Jay-Z,’ Making a ‘Lot of Music’ With Travis Scott

Roddy Ricch’s sophomore album Live Life Fast arrived on Friday, complete with features from Future, Jamie Foxx, Lil Baby, 21 Savage, Ty Dolla Sign, Gunna, Fivio Foreign, and more.

To celebrate the project, Ricch sat down with Zane Lowe to discuss Nipsey Hussle’s lasting influence on his community, working with Travis Scott, his own relationship with Kanye West, Virgil Abloh’s impact, the new album, and more.

“Nip was like L.A. Jay-Z. It wasn’t just a conversation thing. It was like an actual thing,” Ricch said of the fellow Compton native and “Racks in the Middle” collaborator. “Like he owned his masters. … He buying up the block. … Like you could catch him at your local gas station like on the real, hopping out, Maybach, taking pictures with people mamas, people aunties, little n***as.”

Ricch continued, “That was him. Like when you get all the hoods to just slide up on your store and you got the different religious groups pulling up. Like that ain’t normal for nobody. … That’s like bigger than life and that’s the thing. I just feel like people ain’t really feel it until it was gone.”

Elsewhere, Ricch talked about making “magic” with Scott and all the exotic locations they traveled to, including Cabo, Paris, Aspen, and Hawaii. “We got a lot of music. That’s why I can’t wait until…the world can really get a grasp of it,” Roddy said. “With all respect to what’s going on. … It’s tragic. … He like one of them people that’s like, he a great…he like a good energy to be around. Definitely like a good soul.”

Ricch touched on his relationship with Ye and how it took him some time to understand how the Donda rapper’s brain functions. “I feel like with Ye we are real good friends now. I really be tapping in with Ye a lot just having conversations, talking to him, just picking his brain. … He always been ahead, always light years ahead so you got to just pay attention to what he’s saying.”

Ricch added, “I used to think that his mind [had] so much going on. But then I started to realize his mentality is actually real simple. … You don’t have to think too hard. You just more so got to think differently. I feel like a lot of people think hard to try to get ahead. But sometimes it’s not how hard you think. It’s just how different you think.”

Ricch also noted Virgil’s influence, calling the late designer an “innovator” in fashion. “It was just cool to see a n***a really just stepping in between every line they say he couldn’t, and really dominating in all them fields,” Roddy reflected.

As for Live Life Fast, he said he used the album to give his fans “a piece of knowledge” and “drop certain science on them.”

Watch the entire interview up top.