Maxo joins Jeff Weiss & Free at Gold Diggers in LA to talk about how he feels like an anomaly in an industry that doesn’t fit his wide-ranging artistic sensibilities. The Pomona-raised rapper opens up about life in the Inland Empire & LA, creative frustrations with industry gatekeepers, ayahuasca, LA’s jazz history, his friendship with Alchemist and more. He drops plenty of unpopular truths about sex in jail, Linkin Park, Bjork, the NWA movie, NBA Youngboy and Kid Cudi.

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00:00 Not Fitting the Industry

02:20 Growing Up in Pomona & Inland Empire 

03:45 Why LA Is the Worst City to Party In

05:24 Family, Working-Class Parents & Being the Middle Child

06:58 Parenting, Attention & Raising Kids in the Screen Era

08:18 Finding his voice in music

11:51 Gatekeepers & Algorithms

16:05 Earliest Musical Influences

18:09 Being Different, Moving Between Worlds

19:44 Basketball, Discipline & Staying in Your Lane

22:16 Fitting Everywhere and Nowhere at the Same Time

23:18 Early Influences: Bay, Hyphy, Wayne, DOOM & Mixtapes

26:14 LA’s Jazz History, Central Ave & Cultural Memory

29:07 Why Most Music Biopics Are Bullsh*t

35:13 Complexity, Kendrick, NBA YoungBoy & Expression

40:26 What Actually Inspires the Sound

47:06 Losing the Monoculture (Chappelle, Boondocks, TV)

51:08 Def Jam: Creative Frustration & Industry Reality

54:20 Trend-Chasing Labels & Refusing to Compromise

56:13 No Regrets, Staying Pure & Owning the Work