Benz Shelton had someone to focus on. As an aspiring rapper growing up in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the then-teenager looked to Kid Cudi for inspiration.
“I just related to everything that he said and the fact that he was able to express his insecurities through music to kids my age at that time and to be able to interpret something someone older could say,” Benz Shelton says during an exclusive interview with HipHopDX. “That was just incredible to me and that made me want to write down my thoughts and express things so other people can interpret them for whatever they need to interpret it for.”
Kid Cudi’s material led Benz Shelton to craft the songs that would eventually appear on his Trippy Ass White Boy project, which is available as a stream below.
“I live in Albuquerque, New Mexico, which isn’t a predominantly Caucasian [area],” he says. “I’m kind of a minority here and when I moved here that is what people would always call me. They would always call me the ‘White Boy.’ They would never call me by my name. They would always call me ‘White Boy.’ I’ve always been an awkward person, so the ‘Trippy Ass White Boy’ just kind of always came together. That’s how I specifically made this my anthem and we decided to title the whole project Trippy Ass White Boy because I guess that’s just kind of like the phase that I am in in my life right now.”
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That phase is depicted in the video for Trippy Ass White Boy selection “FLGN,” whose video is premiering on HipHopDX.
Benz Shelton says he wanted the video, which features him chained to a stove and smoking weed, to have a distinct presentation.
“I just kind of have a weird way of looking at things,” the 22-year-old rapper says. “Over time the meaning of the song probably contradicted itself, as I became a different person, learning how to treat females respectfully. Instead of making a video to feel sexual, I thought I’d maybe make it more about something more funny. I guess that’s the first thing that came to my mind. I guess just the concept of a grandma smoking weed with a younger dude. I don’t think I’ve heard of that before.”
Benz Shelton says that by doing something different than many other rappers, including discussions about his real life, one that includes his struggling to make it, will resonate with listeners.
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“I think at this point there’s so many people that are in the same position that I am in,” Benz Shelton says. “They’ll easily be able to relate to the fact that I don’t have money, but you know what, that doesn’t make me a loser. That makes me a muthafuckin winner. That makes me a person that can come to a show and rock this whole shit and feel like I am the homie because we are homies. I feel like you do. That’s what’s the most important to me. Identifying with other people and making people feel like everything is cool. We are all the same.”
