J.I.D has admitted that his latest album The Forever Story is difficult to perform, saying he’s “cooked” by the end of his live shows.
In an interview with People, the Dreamville signee reflected on the continued success of his third LP, which dropped last August. While J.I.D said he appreciated the album earning him comparisons to some of rap’s greatest MCs, he admitted that he’s ready to move on to his next project and have a little more fun in the booth.
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“I see people comparing me to people I should never be compared to,” the Atlanta native said. “And not in a positive way, like comparing me to DMX or André 3000. That’s why Twitter is the wild, wild west because you could just say anything and it could be a topic of conversation. But yeah, I see a lot of conversations around the project and people saying that it put me in a different position with it. I still got goals to go forward.”
He continued: “This project, it’s helping open up the door for the rest of the stuff I’m going to be doing. So I like how intentional it was. And it was so serious, to the point like I have to have fun on the next one. Because I was a little stressed. I was going through emotional shit. I was digging up old traumas. I was dialing backwards.”
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J.I.D was then asked what it’s like to perform these heavy tracks, and he admitted tearing through them each week “whooped my ass.”
“It’s hard to perform it every night, you know what I’m saying? I’m ready for the next album cycle,” he said. “The [setlist] stretch from ‘Sistanem’ to ‘Kody Blu 31,’ I’m cooked. And then ‘Working Out,’ I’m cooked. Yeah, I’m an emotional wreck at that point.”
While J.I.D has been able to power through his performances, he said earlier this year that one aspect of rap he won’t return to is freestyling, and it might be Funk Flex’s fault.
Shortly after signing to J. Cole‘s label in 2017, the ATLien took part in Flex’s freestyle series on Hot 97, rapping for around six minutes over Screwball’s “F.A.Y.B.A.N.” and Biggie’s “Who Shot Ya?”
But J.I.D revealed he didn’t get the reaction he was hoping for from Flex, which left him “a little upset.”
“That was a good time. Funk ain’t even understand what was going on,” he told the Rap Radar Podcast. “He was kerfuffled, I was giving him something and he ain’t even get it. We might go back one day. I silently retired away from the freestyles because I was mad at Flex because he didn’t respond the way I wanted to.”
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As far as new music goes, J.I.D recently made multiple appearances on the Dreamville-curated Creed III soundtrack, linking with Lute on “Ma Boy” and teaming up with Tierra Whack and BJ the Chicago Kid on “In the Room.”
