May 30, 2019
– Ryan Leutz
More Than A Fighting Chance: The ABG Neal Interview
Brooklyn’s ABG Neal and Krimelife Ca$$’ online presence has exploded since WorldStarHipHop dropped their new song, Posted, as an exclusive in April. These two have gained quite an underground following in NYC over the last few years, each having logged millions of views on Soundcloud and YouTube, even before their WorldStar placement. Recently, ABG and Ca$$ have been musically inseparable, releasing a string of hits together in addition to Posted, like their menacing block anthem, Forrest Gump.
Alas, within a week of their triumphant Posted premier and with the release of their debut album scheduled for the following month, Ca$$ was incarcerated, something that at the tender age of 22, he is unfortunately very used to. ABG Neal and Ca$$ rep their brand, Krimelife, throughout their art and their personal lives, with Ca$$ having caught a new charge every year since he was 14 years old. Ca$$ is currently being held in Riker’s Island with his arrest prompting a slew of internet support advocating his freedom with the hashtags #FreeKrime and #TiltsBackwards.
This has left ABG Neal, clad in his signature red GAP hoodie, ready to continue their streak of murderous rap releases on his lonesome. Despite Ca$$’ incarceration, ABG Neal, also known as Cuban Santana, LiL DiRTBAG, and BiG BLOODY, hasn’t missed a beat, previewing new music on his Instagram just this week. Fresh off of his latest interview with No Jumper and the impressive release of his new track Who’s Dat, which has amassed almost 500k views on YouTube in less than two weeks, ABG Neal took a moment to talk to me about boxing, his Krimelife affiliation, and the fate of his rap career.
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Ryan Leutz: What made you start rapping?
ABG Neal: A few years ago I was sitting there like, either I’m gonna go to jail for forever for doin’ what I’m doin’ or I’m gonna be a star. And it’s no 9 to 5 that’s gonna cut it to provide for my family, so I had to do it.
RL: So you saw money in it?
ABG: Absolutely.
RL: Do you see yourself as a career rapper?
ABG: Yeah, I really have no other option, so I would think so. Honestly bro, the difference between me and a lot of these other rappers is that they be having an image to portray for so long and it’s not gonna work out for them. I’m just myself all the time so I feel like I could do this shit for forever, you know what I’m sayin’?
RL: Where do you draw musical inspiration from?
ABG: My inspiration is my block. Just being on the block… that’s where all my ideas come from, I just be rapping what I see and what’s going on. If you’re asking artists, 50 Cent, Camron and Max B.
RL: How did you get the name ABG Neal, and how does ABG differ from Krimelife?
ABG: ABG has been my handle on some street shit before I started rapping. ABG isn’t like YBN or whatever, where Nahmir and all them are a part of YBN. I am ABG. What happened is, I was boxing before I started rapping. I was a boxer, so that’s where the name came from, it stands for Anybody Get It. When I started rappin’ I just put my actual name into the stage name because ABG seemed a little too plain. People be getting confused but, I myself am ABG, that’s me.
RL: Tell me more about your boxing career.
ABG: I’d been doin’ that my whole life. I started when I was around 8 and I stopped when I started getting involved in some street shit. I was a real boxer too, not even on no hood shit.
RL: Krimelife seems to be a lifestyle as much as it is a part of your title. What made you start banging/ committing Krimes?
ABG: I know how to answer this the right way without being incriminating… basically it was my environment. I was exposed like real early, not to get into details, because everybody in my family was in the streets, actively or before. I was like, “How am I not gonna be tough?” I feel like I had to be that even though my family didn’t want that. They wanted me to break the cycle and be different but… just couldn’t do it *laughs*.
RL: How did you meet Ca$$?
ABG: Our manager linked us, maybe a year or two ago. We were both doin’ our own rapping shit, and my manager was like “Yo y’all kinda like the same people, so the both of you together would be wilin’.”
RL: It seems like you and Ca$$ are starting to be grouped together, almost as a duo. Is that true to your guys’ relationship?
ABG: We kinda get that question a lot. I’m cool with that and realistically we both know that were at our best together rather than solo. I mean, we both blew up as one, so clearly what we were doin’ without each other wasn’t working, because we blew up together. So it got to the point where we stopped making songs without each other. We’re both solo artists but our best potential is with each other, so we just go with the flow.
RL: Has his incarceration affected the momentum of any aspects of your career or the KLB movement? And when can we expect Ca$$ home?
ABG: I don’t think anything’s slowed down, people might think so but, I don’t. It’s really just making me go crazy for the both of us. [Ca$$] just made a mistake… but I’m not God or the judge so I don’t know what’s gonna happen.
RL: What made you rep the GAP hoodies?
ABG: Me personally, I’m big on doing the opposite. I like doing shit that people are scared to do, like if people are goin’ that way, I’m goin’ the other way. So I remember when I first saw the GAP sweatsuits, like, you know the ones we be wearin’?
RL: Yeah, the all-red joints.
ABG: I was like yo, these are fire, and once I seen it I was like, I’m making this my thing. Just because no one else does it, I’m gonna do it. It’s just different… like if you see a kid that doesn’t really have money wearing GAP, you’re like oh I know why he’s wearing GAP. But if you see someone wearing GAP and you know the person gets fly and they know what they’re doin’ clothes-wise… they could pull it off. I know I could come out with some Rocawear right now and I’d pull it off.
RL: Y’all make GAP look tough!
ABG: That’s what I’m sayin’! You gotta wear stuff the right way. And to be honest, I knew it was gonna be shock value to the internet. We were already wearin’ it, but I was like yo we gotta embrace this. I want people to be like, “What the fuck? How are they tough rocking GAP?
RL: Y’all also seem to prefer beads over the metal chains and watches commonly seen on most of your rap counterparts. How come?
ABG: I guess people not from New York, don’t really know but, its more for gangs. Like the colors you wear with the beads is for whatever gang niggas is in or whatever. Jewelry’s cool but, everybody does jewelry, so I’m just gonna be my gang-banging self *laughs*.
RL: Both you and Ca$$ have very light complexions, with Ca$$ even getting his stage name (which is a take on Casper the Friendly Ghost) from his light skin. Do you ever catch static for your unrepentant representation as a minority, especially with your use of the N-word?
ABG: To be honest, only on the internet, because that’s the only place a person can be totally ignorant and get away with it. I’ve never had an issue in person because… I just feel like the internet is the only place they’ll say it and they barely say it at that.
RL: What are your plans for the future? Any projects to expect?
ABG: Me and Ca$$ had a tape ready, that we was planning on dropping this month, which is crazy. It’s some shit called Gorgeous Gangstas and it was just me and him on that. It’s definitely gonna drop, but with everything goin’ on I just gotta holla at my mans and see how that’s gonna get planned out. But I got my first solo project called Bix 8 Baby, it should be droppin’ in May.
RL: Any features on Bix 8 Baby? I heard that Jay Critch feature you had, it’s impressive.
ABG: Yeah that’s my guy. But it depends… for right now I got a song with Fenix Flexin from Shoreline Mafia, but we might just drop it. We just gotta see how I’m feelin’ but, I’m not really into doin’ songs with people anyways. I look at it like, I’m an artist…
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Check out ABG Neal’s Soundcloud, and his video for “Who’s Dat“, as well as the rest of his music on Apple Music, Spotify, Pandora and more!
Ryan Leutz 