SpaceGhostPurrp on Releasing Mysterious Phonk LP and "Fightin' Fake Motherf$&#ers"

But even with a British record label, a generally rootless existence, and a heavy dose of the jet life in his immediate future, Purrp remains a fanatically hard-core representative for Miami rap. "Still a fan of the Bawse. Still backin' Trick Daddy. Still got respect for Trina," he confirms, shouting out a few of the 305's boldest names. "But I feel like we need more new talent too. There are more SpaceGhostPurrps. We got more people like me.

"I'm talkin' about Metro Zu. That's my homies. And you got Denzel Curry, Yung Simmie, Yung Renegade, CCM, Harvey G, Lil Champ Fway, Junko," he says, rattling off a swag-centric shortlist of Miami's rising spitters. "There's a lot of rappers comin' outta this city. It's crazy."



He pauses, cocks his head, and then compares the MIA's surging scene to the others that have recently exploded in New York and Cali. "You know, outside Miami, [NYC's] A$AP Rocky and [L.A.'s] Odd Future doin' their thing. They respect what we do, and we respect what they do," Purrp insists. "But once everybody in our city come together, this shit gonna be outta control.

"I'm already bringing the hood together. 'Cause Carol City got they little beefs, ya know what I'm sayin'," he says. "But we just tryin' to unite and stop all this fake shit in the game."

That's the bane of SpaceGhostPurrp's existence: fucking fakery. And eliminating the liars is his mission. For him, rap and life is all about staying true, honest, and real. "When I say fake," he snarls, "I just mean people tryin' to portray theyselves as somethin' they not, instead of just being who they was in the beginning. It's livin' a lie. And I ain't gonna come out pretendin' to be no killer, no drug dealer, no thug, no goon if I know I ain't livin' it."

"The fakes... Now I ain't gonna say no names, but they know who they is," he seethes. "I could say, 'Nigga, you know who you is,' and whoever gets mad is guilty. 'Cause what's in the dark come to light. And lies catch up."

Photo by Marta Xochilt Perez

"It's just my message for the kids. They need to be theyselves. That's how [Odd Future's] Tyler won [MTV's Video Music Award for Best New Artist] when he first came out. He was being Tyler and nobody else.

"Like, I'm me. Just Purrp," he blurts. "And I was always the type to be into dark shit. I was into metal, skating, painting my middle fingernail black. Just on some gothic thing. I was always that weird-ass nigga.

"But I came from a dark past. So I can do that shit. You know, I don't do it for no fashion. That's just real."