Sign up for our newsletter

Stay informed on our latest news!

Finding Ground with Destroy Lonely

We sat down with Lone after his packed performance at Ksubi’s NYFW event, where smoke filled the air, and people spilled out from the dressing room into the cobblestone streets of SoHo, which had just been defaced with spray paint — someone's Mercedes-Benz caught in the crossfire. In our conversation, Lone spoke about his journey with manifestation, his decision to live without a stylist, and the meaning behind the term aura, which frequently appears in his comment sections.

Jack Kissane— Lone! How’s New York Fashion Week been treating you?

 

Destroy Lonely— It was lit. That shit was cool.

 

How's it been the weeks following the release of the album?

 

Shit, I've been enjoying just seeing everybody's reactions and listening to what my friends got to say and my family and shit. It is been a really good time actually.

 

That's awesome to hear. It's currently #1 on Billboard's top R&B and Hip-Hop Album chart right now. How's it feel to get recognition like that?

 

Shit, I don't know how it feels yet. I would never really understand and try to even judge myself by shit like that, but I just appreciate my fans and shit for fucking with me enough for something like that to happen and I feel blessed.

 

You talk about listening to feedback from your fans. Is that usually how you measure success after dropping music? How do you know if something's hitting for you?

 

Well, it definitely starts with me and my friends and my team first and then from there I look at how my fans are reacting and shit and that definitely for the better, or for the worse affects how I feel about what I have going on at the time.

 

The album is pretty inescapable in my world, and personally my favorite cut off of it is the opening track "Forever." The way the song builds with the instrumentation into your verse is crazy. Who sang the intro to the track?

 

Yeah, it's a sample from this band called All Saints, but yeah [lil88] had found a sample through my fans in a way.

 

How heavy of a hand do you have in the creative direction for everything we see as fans?

 

It is totally my hand, that part. Everything creatively is done on my end from the music to how it looks to how it sounds. Everything comes from my brand and then I push it out to whoever can help me execute the vision that I have. But it always starts from me just having some random idea that I want to bring to life. It always starts with me and it always ends with me.

Everything creatively is done on my end from the music to how it looks to how it sounds. Everything comes from my brand and then I push it out to whoever can help me execute the vision that I have... It always starts with me and it always ends with me.

Throughout the project and on your Instagram there's a constant theme of you talking about Baby Money. Where did that name and image come from and what does that mean to you?

 

So it really started with my friends Ken & 88. They used to call me 'Money Lone' and then got all my friends to call me that at the time. I was the youngest so I just kind of changed it into "Baby Money," but that just started from some real personal friends, joking around shit.

 

Word, I mean that song ["Baby Money'] off the project is definitely up there as one of my favorites too. I'm 20 years old and in school and so obviously you and your music are almost inescapable, but especially "Baby Money," I hear it from the time I wake up with my friends playing it in the crib, to commuting to school through my own doing, then especially at the functions. It's reallly playing everywhere man.

 

That's hard!

 

Do you have a favorite track to perform? Obviously you haven't performed tracks off the new album yet, but going into this new tour, how do you think your sets will differ from your No Stylist tour and do you have a favorite song that you're looking forward to performing?

 

Yeah, totally. I feel like the sets will just be way more energetic, way louder, way crazier, just because of the tone of the music that I dropped this time, but also a lot more welcoming to old and new fans. I got a larger discography of music now I guess, so I'll be able to mix a whole bunch of things together and play with my sounds and shit. But I'm really excited to perform "PASS ME THE KEYS," "LOCK IN," "SAY THAT, and "NO WORRIES." Like I want to perform all the lit songs for sure. I don't see myself as the craziest most turnt up artist, so it's like now I feel like I got some bangers that I could do that with.

 

Beyond music, what's your favorite medium to express yourself with? Do you have any hidden talents? Or how are you spending your time beyond the studio & stages?

 

[Laughs] Nah, I wish I could paint. That's pretty awesome. But yeah, I got a lot of things that I'm into outside of making music. I actually do really like four-wheelers and dirt bikes and shit. I like snowboarding, I play video games a lot, and I like fashion of course. I don't know I'm just really simple to be honest like I'm just inspired by life and everyday shit, honestly. I just live in my brain for real.

Everything I do is inspired by something that I got going on in my real life at the time.

I've seen recently you did a shoot with Alpine Reserve. Is that shift in the stuff that you're wearing and you're style overall due to these new experiences as far as going on tour and visiting different cities and doing outdoor activities?

 

Yeah, a million percent because everything I do is inspired by something that I got going on in my real life at the time. I don't really just be pulling shit just from nowhere, so a hundred percent inspired by shit that I'm on. I just got some fast ass cars and shit. I'm just doing some X Games shit. [Laughs] That sounds corny, but I don't know. That's just how I feel right now.

 

Before the rap money came through what was your closet looking like? Like what were you stepping in when you were in high school?

 

Shit, when I was in school I was broke as shit, so I was wearing fucking Vans and Converse. It was normal H&M, black skinny jeans, and whatever. Or just any cool T-shirt I can get my hands on. Then I started making my own money doing whatever the fuck I was doing back then. I would wear Supreme and Palace. But I don't know, I got into clothes mad early because even before I was rapping for a little period of time in between and after school and shit, I had found a way to make money so I wasn't fucked up or nothing. I just wasn't rich as hell.

 

You described wearing Palace and Supreme. Did you grow up skating or was it just like you were tapped in with skate culture and that was the shit to wear?

 

Both. When I was at 12, 13, I was really really into skateboarding. I wanted to skateboard so bad, but then I had fell and fucked my arm up and I just gave up on that shit. But I love skate culture. That shit is another piece of the world that inspired my whole existence.

 

Yeah totally, I grew up on the same shit being close to soccer but always idolizing skate culture and live that to this day. Because yeah, fashion-wise, skate culture has always had an instrumental role in what people are wearing and what's cool or not. Recently you've worked with more so capital-F fashion labels like Givenchy, Marc Jacobs, and notably 1017 ALYX 9SM. What is your favorite brand to work with in the fashion world?

 

I couldn't necessarily say that I have a favorite just because I appreciate the art entirely and I'm just honored to be able to put my 2 cents in or just push the culture forward in any way. So I can't necessarily pinpoint a favorite, but I do love that world and respect it because I'm a student of shit and I didn't come up going to fashion school or really knowing too much about clothes unless it was something that I was into or wanted to study. So I'm just learning and just appreciating it for real.

 

When do you think you became a student of the fashion game? Was that a recent thing? I know that you said that you've been tapped in with the culture for a minute, but as far as really studying the art of it itself, did that only come recently with all of the success you've been having in music?

 

No, fuck no. No way. I've been the same person way before I was "successful" in music. I wouldn't even look at myself right now as being that successful. I guess I got a different definition of success, but hell nah, bro. I didn't have this shit, but I was definitely well aware of what I liked and what I wanted to learn about and the actual, I guess for lack of better words, textbook knowledge of fashion, brands, and designers way before I ever put on some [designer] clothes and it definitely didn't have nothing to do with money or rapping.

I wouldn't even look at myself right now as being that successful. I guess I got a different definition of success.

I've read that you're super into and grounded in manifestation, and in this interview, you've mentioned the different ways that you perceive success. Who or what got you into manifestation?

 

Honestly, my mom and my grandma for real. They raised me telling me I can do whatever the fuck I want. My folks weren't restricting me or telling me I can't do this or that. They was just always supportive and just saying 'Shit, if you could believe it, you could do it.' Literally from the time I popped out the fucking pussy, that's what n*ggas was telling me. So it is not something that I got into or something that I learned. It's just I always been like that my whole life. Believing in anything I want or feel like I could achieve and get. I guess that's just how I am as a person. And then I learned that it was called manifestation and all that shit and all the extra intricate words that people throw on top of it. I learned that shit and realized, "Oh, I've been doing this my whole life."

 

What's it like having such an instrumental role in one of the most influential moments in music and culture right now as far as being a part of Opium?

 

I really just am honored to be a part of something like it and I appreciate my older brother [Playboy] Carti for giving me the opportunity to stand next to him. And also, I appreciate my brother Ken (Ken Carson) my brothers Homixide Gang. It is something that I cherish a lot and I personally don't want anything to change or nothing. I'm very happy with where I'm at and I'm happy to be here.

 

Lastly, what are your thoughts on the term aura and are the fans dragging it?

 

[Laughs] I feel like I shouldn't answer this, but I will. They just need to let people live, man. I feel like I'm getting old. I just don't understand the internet anymore. I don't understand what's right. I don't understand what's wrong. I just know I'm going to do what the fuck I'm going to do and shit... [Laughs] Fuck that!

Confirm your age

Please confirm that you are at least 18 years old.

I confirm Whooops!