Interview ‣ 26AR
Brooklyn's Rising Star: 26AR
26AR has taken the Brooklyn drill scene by storm with consistency. Our writer Nora Lee chatted with the young star for a deeper look on his story. (All images shot by RJ Jaczko)
Nora Lee
Writer
Updated
On the Friday in late February that I met 26AR, he had released the deluxe version of Drench Em, dropped a video for “I Got The Streets,” purchased a Prada sweatsuit on 5th ave for our shoot, and rode all the way over to Williamsburg—all by about the 2 pm time we had set to chat. As we stepped outside later that afternoon, a car coasted by blasting one of his tracks, its trunk rattling from the gliding bass. “I wonder if that guy knows who he just drove past,” somebody joked. A humble grin spread across AR’s face, “I’m really outside.” This is what it looks like to be taking over the city. Now, he can set his sights on even bigger goals: “Ima be worldwide, for a fact.” It’s hard to believe that merely a year and some change ago, he found himself starting from scratch, fresh on the other side of a four year bid. It was during this time in jail that he first started writing raps, drawing on inspiration from Chicago major players such as G Herbo and Lil Durk, while matching the intensity of the first surges of Brooklyn drill that he’d heard over the phone. As soon as he had two feet planted firmly back home in Crown Heights, he hit the ground running.
Although his career took off seemingly as soon as it began, 26AR had been writing for some time. With producers like ALau and YoEliWTF in his corner, there was no shortage of speaker clattering beats to supplement his endless inventory of hard-nosed rhymes. “I stayed in contact with [ALau] in jail,” he elaborated, “When I came home, I just listened to the beats. And whatever I had that went to it, I just did that.” A mere matter of finally putting the pieces together, AR dropped his first track, “Aaron Rodgers” in November of 2019. Sure enough, by the following summer of 2020, he had secured an indisputable spot as a key figure in the latest wave of Brooklyn drill. Things are on the rise for 26AR, to say the least. But while many things have changed—streams soaring, pockets swelling, and calls from every major label exec piling up—the core facets of AR’s life have remained steadfast. Surrounding him is a chosen family: It seems that almost everyone he works with has been by his side all his life. “I’m big on loyalty,” he tells me; and it’s abundantly clear that the loyalty he receives, he is sure to show in return. “We all family, man. Family gonna win.”
Check out an excerpt from our interview below:
So I know you’re from Crown Heights but you grew up on Bergen & Nostrand?
Half Moon
Yeah, that’s B-block man, that’s the family.
26AR
And you dropped your deluxe today. I feel like that’s a good place to start. Super exciting!
Yeah!
You’ve been put on some playlists?
Yeah, I think Spotify Most Necessary.
Oh really? That's a big one. Congrats!
Thank you! And Tidal posted me too as the... I had the number one song on they drill hype playlist… And they put me as the cover.
Oh nice! I also saw that you had a video out today as well?
Yeah, “I Got The Streets”
Speaking of videos, you just hit a million on Maneuver?What was that, like last week?
Yeah, hit a million views on Maneuver. In 3 months! A million views.
Wow! Yeah that’s crazy. Did you know that was gonna be the one?
Nah, at first I ain’t know! I had thought it was regular. But once I seen the views goin’ crazy, [put] on every party playlist, I knew it was gonna start going crazy.
I’d love to hear more from you about how you got into drill. I know you were locked up at the time and you heard a bunch of shit over the phone?
Yeah that’s cause my guys used to rap, you feel me? And I just—I wanted to keep it going. They stopped though… So you feel me, when I came home, and I heard drill was lit. I just wanted to keep it going. [Keep] telling stories, continue the story like that.
What do you feel like drew you to drill in the first place? You feel like that’s where you’re gonna stay?
Drill? Nah, nah. I wanna open up. I wanna broaden my horizons... But for right now, I’ma just stick to that for right now.
It’s definitely super impressive that you’ve done all of this while independent. I feel like It’s a hard road... So what are you working on now? What’s coming up?
Shit, just straight shootin. Videos and content for my last tape that I just dropped… The deluxe. That’s for the most part. But I’m always making music, I’m always in the studio, so I got a bunch of other music.
So where do you see yourself? Like, what’s your goal? What’s the dream?
Man, I’ma be one of the top people in New York doin it. But I’ma be worldwide, for a fact.
What do you think is setting you apart right now? Cause there’s a lot of people making drill, but you’re definitely one of the main people on this wave.
Yeah, cause I ain’t Woo or Cho
Yeah?
Yeah, there’s like two sides in this shit. But I’m not in none of that shit… And like, my flow different. Different.
How does it feel though? To be where you are right now?
It feels good.It feels great... For the acknowledgement I’m getting. And I never thought... It’s just a good feeling.
You couldn’t have seen it?
I fake did.. But like not as fast.
What do you think helped with that?
My support system. My team. My managers. Gabby, Charisse.
How do you guys know each other?
Well, I know Gabby through Charisse, but Charisse, she from my town.
You keep it tight knit.
Yeah, we all family, man. Family gonna win.
So we’ve talked about your music, do you wanna tell me more about yourself?
Myself?
Yeah, what keeps you going, what keeps you up at night?
I’m 6’2”, Im handsome [laughs]
[Laughs] I’ll make sure they know that. I’ll use that quote.
Nah, nah [laughs]. My team keep me going. I gotta drive to get my people where they need to be. Get ‘em what they deserve. Cause we been through a lot.
