Everything’s For Sale is barely a month old and in extremely rare circumstances, Australian fans are getting first dibs on seeing its tracks live as Boogie makes his way around the country in support of Eminem’s ‘Rapture’ tour.

Equally rare in hip-hop, is the way that Boogie opens up emotionally on the album while still giving fans plenty of tracks to turn up to. An early contender for album of the year, Everything’s For Sale delivers self-reflection and relationship woes via r&b inclined slow jams, and positions them alongside venomous raps that critique authenticity and intent in the music industry. Conflicted as an artist in the pursuit of commercial success, Boogie toys with the idea of leaning into rap stereotypes to cash in, while lacing playful bars with typically uncompromising Compton bravado. If you haven’t already, place listening to Everything’s For Sale at the top of your to-do list, and read on for our conversation in full below:

You’re currently here as part of Eminem’s Rapture Tour, which is great first of all, but also kind of a surprise because we had literally no idea who was supporting those shows until about two weeks ago.

Oh, for real? Yeah, it was kind of a surprise to me too. I didn’t know if it was confirmed for a minute and then it just happened.

Being a rapper and a father, which of those throws up more surprises?

A dad. My kid’s always doing some stuff I wouldn’t expect him to do.

What’s he up to?

Just growing. He’s nine going on 25. It’s just a time where kids [have] got more access to stuff now, so they grow up way faster, which I think is a good and a bad thing because he’s way smarter than I was at his age, which is also scary because when I’m wrong he could literally tell me. So, it’s crazy.

Also supporting on the Rapture Tour are Royce da 5’9 who you’ve worked with before –

That’s my boy.

And the Hilltop Hoods who really set the bar in Australian hip hop for a long time. Did you know much about them before teaming up on tour?

No I just found out about them the day I got on tour, no, when I came out here. Yeah when I went to Brisbane – but they’re hard though, they’re fire.

What’s been your impression of Australia and the hip hop community here?

It’s lit. I mean, it’s crazy that my music traveled as far across the world. I’m from Compton. The story I tell, the story’s in Compton, so that people can relate to it out here, it’s just crazy, it’s unreal.

You’re signed to Interscope and Shady. How did that all happen?

The Interscope thing happened a while ago. I was just rapping in my city and somehow this producer connected me with this A&R at Interscope. I ended up building a relationship with them, signing there. For a while, nothing seemed like it was popping, and then I got a call one day, saying Eminem wanted to fly me out to Detroit and then I was in Detroit.

What are your creative and personal relationships with Em like?

Honestly, I think it’s more so personal because he don’t try to get in my creative space at all. He lets me do my thing, so, any advice he give me or any talks we have, it really just be about how I’m doing and stuff like that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dUMedOr864

Let’s talk about the album. Everything’s For Sale dropped last month. Tell us about the concept behind that project.

It’s just the story of a frustrated rapper, like the space I was in in my career, the climate of the game and how it feels like it don’t matter how good you rap, you got to do the extras, you got to sacrifice your integrity and do stuff like that to get popping. So, it just me saying, “Fuck it. I’m going to sell everything and do what it takes to get popping,” basically.

How different was the process of making this album to your past mixtapes?

It really been the same process for me. I treat every project I do like it’s my album. I honestly don’t even know the difference between mixtapes and albums, because I put in the same effort. So, it was just me growing as an artist, trial and error, trying different stuff in the studio.

Not everyone does though. Some people are sitting on songs and feel like they have to put out a tape just to get them out there. Your point rings true though and I think that’s why Everything’s For Sale doesn’t sound like a first album. It’s conscious and cohesive and it’s got this mix of soulful beats as well as a couple of heaters. Which of those sounds are you more naturally drawn to?

100% the soulful beats. I literally do the turn up beats so people won’t get bored on my project. I just want to make sure I throw different energies in there. I want it to be like a rollercoaster. But yeah, if I could just do all slow songs, I’d definitely have a project with all slow songs.

The album also has a couple of high profile features on it, you go bar for bar with J.I.D and Eminem on ‘Soho’ and ‘Rainy Days’. Are there artists outside of hip hop that you are keen to work with?

Outside of hip hop? Yeah. I like singers more than I like rappers. Jorja Smith, I like her. Yeah, any singers really. I don’t like rappers.

You don’t like rappers? There’s gotta be someone.

Jay Z. Besides that, I mean, I’m not really chasing.

You’ve shown you can bar up, but you’ve also shown this other side where you let your guard down and open up on vulnerabilities. Why is that important to you?

Honestly, I don’t even care about barring up. I think the best music is people just telling honest emotions. That’s really where I be going, and that’s where I get my fulfilment at the end of the day. That’s what I do music for, to get these emotions off.

Is that something you’ve become more comfortable with as you’ve got older?

Yeah. At first I wasn’t doing it. Early on in my rap career I had gun raps, I was talking about other people’s story, and the feeling I got when I finally started telling my story was unmatched, so I just stuck with it.

For all of your confidence and ambition, you can also be quite critical of previous projects. Why is that?

I don’t know. I’m just always super tough on myself and I just always feel like I’m getting better. Everything’s For Sale, I’m definitely over that project now. I want everybody not to be over it, but I’m just saying I just know as an artist, I just feel like I’m better than that project already and I’m trying to get back in the studio.

Man, it’s good to hear you’re keen to get back in the studio already but I’m definitely not over it.

[Laughs] No, nobody has to be over it! Please! Y’all keep streaming. But I’m just over it.

Another thing that stands out to me is the creative execution of your music videos. You took that to another level by dropping a short-film a few days before Everything’s For Sale. How did that come together?

I can’t take credit for that. I’ve got great people around me, great directors. My home girl Gina and Riley, they put together that short film with this dude Malcolm. When they first came to me, they just told me how much they love my music, and they really understood it. I know with the type of music I make, it’s hard for people to like understand it just off top, because people are lazy and they don’t want to have to face their reality or have to think about stuff that’s going to make them change. So with videos, I feel like you kind of force people to do that. Like, yeah you’ve got to watch this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JKt5afvRi0

I also remember you had a couple of lines in Kendrick’s Vice documentary: Bompton. Compton seems to have this endless production line of super talented artists. Why do you think that is?

Because we just lit up. Nah, I really don’t know. I really can’t explain it. I just know it’s a beautiful story, I guess, when you make it out of a tough city like Compton. So, when somebody do make it out, it’s amazing.

You’ve got US tour dates to keep you busy until the midway part of this year. What are your plans for the rest of 2019 and beyond?

I just want to be back in the studio. That’s really my plan. Touring, it’s my first headlining tour, so I’m super excited about that because I’ve been opening up for other artists for forever now, so to finally be able to do my own thing and hopefully sell out these venues, that would be amazing.

I think that’s a really important step for a lot of artists as well to do the support shows and build your audience.

Yeah, it’s a scary step too because it can be humbling because you never know. You go to these cities and you’ve got 10 people coming out when you thought you was popping, so it’s just scary for a lot of people out there.

Besides being number one dad, what’s the endgame for you? What does success look like?

I am number one dad, as long as you know. End game? As cliché as it sounds, I really just want to be the best rapper. I want everybody else to think I’m the best rapper too. I’m not going to lie – Grammys. All that other shit that comes with being the best rapper, I guess.