An open secret of the music industry is that its bureaucracy and profit-driven expectations often lead to artists’ burnout. In some extreme instances, people even fall out of love with music itself. For Amir Tripp, that tipping point felt dangerously close shortly after releasing his debut project Pyro in 2018.

The impressive 11-song album was a fiery showcase of a sharp lyricist wholly proficient in telling stories of a rising emcee from Chicago with soulfulness, candor and gravitas. However, Pyro largely flew under the radar while behind-the-scenes dealings had a taxing effect on Amir, who then took a step back from the scene.

This hiatus allowed Amir to focus on his craft, take stock of his relationship with the industry and come back without compromising his passion. In conversation, he is careful to never go beyond alluding to feeling soured by the business aspect of the music business. Yet, it’s apparent in his newest records that he’s ready to prove people in his corner right —and others wrong.

Growing up listening to the likes of DJ Premiere, Nas, OutKast, and J. Cole, Amir’s care for songwriting and rapping dexterity is more than evident in songs like, “NEW GROWTH” (in collaboration with Kenny Black), “9254 A Grammy,” “Master P,” and “2 Hell if We Don’t Pray.” Mostly accompanied by the production of his longtime partner-in-crime, Zay Rock, these records showcase his versatility with catchy hooks, captivating themes, and deft rhyme schemes.

Set on continuing his hot streak through 2023, Amir sat down with These Days to catch up on his return, new music, and what’s next. Read below.

You dropped a really good project a few years ago. Where have you been since?

Where I've been since? Just growing and really perfecting my craft. And that's the thing, people think that when you release good music: you're ready to be an artist, you're ready for the music business and everything that comes with it. But that's not necessarily the case. In this time away, I've been just prepping myself mentally and actually getting myself ready to be in the music business. Making music and being in the music business are two different things. I'm at a space now where I can create what I want to create and actually thrive in the business aspect of shit.

Were there any lessons you learned about the music business that sparked that thought?

Forsure. Sometimes the business and the art —well, nine times out of 10—they're kind of juxtaposed. The business is not going to agree with the art and the art is not going to agree with the business. But if you can find a space, where your art does agree with the business? It was just kind of honing in on what I do and my selling points, so to speak. Like, what makes me unique and really just trying to hone in on that. With the time away, I've also thought, “what do I offer to the game?” There's a lot of n***** out here sounding the same and providing the same thing. They're not wrong for doing that 'cause that's what people like, but what do I offer that's unique? And that's kind of what I've been focusing on.

I know that can be a hard question, but have you arrived at what you offer? Can you express it?

I guess, when you rap, sometimes you're just rapping but you don't realize who your audience is. I just discovered, "Oh, I'm rapping to the generations." That's my audience and I finally understand that. And when I finally was able to understand that —I think I came to this conclusion a couple of weeks ago—it just puts everything into focus, this is who I'm rapping to. Once you understand that, it makes everything else a lot easier.

Could you describe what “rapping to the generations” means to you?

Speaking to the people. I feel like some artists do that really well already, where they kind of capture it. It's like I'm taking a still picture of the culture with the song and I'm really just trying to capture how my generation feels —how the culture feels—at that particular time when I'm making a song.

I feel like in the past six months or so is when you kind of come back with a more steady output. Was there anything specifically that sparked that inspiration to get back?

Timing is everything and then creating the right team around you. I have to salute Trippy World [Amir’s videographer], he's been a big asset for me because he's someone that just understands the vision. And I also have to shout out Zay Rock, my producer, who's been rocking with me forever, and Frankie Vergara. It's just creating that team around you so you aren't sacrificing your vision for anything, you know? People that completely get your vision. And that's kind of made it easier to come out when you have a team. I was also of the mindset like, "I do everything in myself and shit." Once I kind of got out of that and just created a team, the stars aligned and everything kind of came into focus.

Speaking of the visuals, you and Trippy World have come out with a lot of really cool stuff. How involved are you in the direction and the vision for it?

Super involved now. I've done videos with videographers, and I didn't even really know the concept until I showed up. I didn't really have any input on what the actual video was. But now, I mean, me and Trippy are collaborators, we're literally thinking everything out. The one video I have, "New Growth," I literally came up with that idea as I was rapping the song. Like, as I'm writing the song, "Yo, this would be fire if I kind of like redid those old Apple commercials with the silhouette and I'm just kind of vibing out." And we did it and we nailed it better than the old Apple commercials in my opinion. I felt so proud of that video because it was the first one where I actually had some input on the actual vision of everything.

Speaking of the songs, any song that you've released recently that you're like, "Damn, I'm really glad that this is out"?

Honestly, all my work now, I'm just super proud of everything I'm releasing. But I'm super proud of "New Growth," for sure. Because it's gaining some traction from some people that I've looked up to my whole life. To see DJ Premier come in and say, “this is fire” and I'm chopping it with him in my DMs? I fucking love Reasonable Doubt and Illmatic. For someone who produced those albums to be like, "Yo, you fire" it's extremely gratifying.

What can you tell us about the full-length body of work you’re working on?

What can I tell you about it? It's gonna be really good [...] it's hard to describe. I kind of wanted to take off where Pyro left off. So if you've been wondering what I've been doing in my life since then, you're gonna hear it on the album. I look at bodies of work or albums like timestamps of the artists. You're not gonna get Pyro 2, you're gonna get something different. This is me reflecting on where I'm at right now.

And where are you at right now?

I'm just in a really good space. I don't know how to describe it. Life throws shit at you, you know? You have your valleys and peaks and I definitely think I'm peaking right now. I'm just in a really good space to be creative. I think one of the worst tragedies is the creative not having a space to create. And I feel like I have that space right now.

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New Flows & New Growth: A Q&A With Amir Tripp