Interview With Collegeboy Earl

Late last year Hip Hop Millennial had a chance to catch up with Detroit’s own CollegeBoy Earl. In this never released interview we speak to CollegeBoy Earl about some of the motivations behind his music. Be sure to follow him @CollegeBoyEarl and check out his new music on Soundcloud.

Collegeboy Earl is making a name for himself in the music industry scene. Born and raised in Detroit, MI he sent shockwaves through the indie Hip Hop music scene with the release of 'Honor & Glory' EP that garnered over 100,000 plays on Soundcloud.  Versatile with his unique storytelling ability he seamlessly flows real life issues into his music.  

Whether the story is a look into the mind of an actual psychopath, which can be seen and heard in his “Warning” video, or an introspective look at life which is evident from his song “Vanity of Vanities”, his unique sound and mature theme-content is what sets him a part from his counterparts.  

Where does this “dark side” of your music come from?  

The dark side of my music comes from the dark side that exists in everyone. Everyone has dark thoughts they don’t want to acknowledge but its part of human nature, and I bring out my dark side for an example.

 

You don’t really sound like a lot of other rappers right now, how do you stay original?  

The reason I don’t sound like any other rappers is because no one influenced me or my sound, I grew up in Detroit but I didn’t really listen to music much growing up.

 

Who are some of your musical inspirations?   

I got love for my city and how hard the artists work so a couple would be Snap Dogg, Dej Loaf, and Blade Icewood, rest in peace, especially Blade though.

 

The only rappers right now out of Detroit are Big Sean and Tee Grizzley are they some of your inspirations? 

Tee Grizzley and Big Sean both made it out of the city, and it’s hard to make it out of the city so shout out to them.

 

What was the concept behind your “Warning” video?  

The concept behind the “Warning” video is really just what you want to get from it, after watching it myself it kind of like opened up my mind in a way to the darkness in my music.

 

You’re very young where does all this wisdom about life come from? How long have you been rapping?  

Yeah I’m 20 with the mind of an immortal, the wisdom really came from everywhere, my parents, my sister, my brother, grandparents for sure and the rest I got just because I study a lot, like just study, but I started just like throwing words around on paper every once in a while in about the 7th or 8th grade.

 

Did you expect your ‘Honor & Glory’ EP to do that well?   

I honestly didn’t expect ‘Honor & Glory’ to do that well and I definitely didn’t expect for warning to be everybody’s favorite song.

 

What else do you have planned for 2018?

I got a lot of stuff planned, more singles. I was thinking about a small project and I definitely wanna do more shows.