Andy Mineo joins Ebro Darden on Apple Music 1 discuss exploring his childhood through his new album ‘Never Land II’, his relationship with frequent collaborator Lecrae, being labeled a Christian rapper, and more. Below is the video and key quotes from the discussion courtesy of Ebro Darden on Apple Music 1.
Andy Mineo Tells Apple Music About Being Labeled a Christian Rapper…
Sometimes the titles can work against or for. It could work for somebody when they rally people that believe the same things as them. It could work against them if they don’t believe the same things and they’re like, “oh, thats not for me, I don’t want to mess with that” and it kinda marginalizes the art. People don’t give it a chance to shine. So that’s why for me in particular, like sometimes I’ve shied away from that title, because I’m like, “this isn’t helpful for people getting exposed to good art,” but at the same time I would never want to deny my faith or anything like that, so it’s a weird tension point, you know?
Andy Mineo Tells Apple Music About His Relationship With Fellow Christian Rapper Lecrae…
Lecrae and I linked back … like way back in 2009. He was putting out a lot of music and for me, I was new to my faith, my spiritual journey, and I knew he was making music that was like the soundtrack to that movement … Him and I connected, we worked on a song on his album Rehab and that was the highest selling song on the album. So from the rip we had creative chemistry. He ends up coming to New York, they offered me a deal, and I was getting offers at that time from Sony and a bunch of other places, and I decide to sign with Reach which is a independent label that Lecrae owns, he’s part owner of, and I really believed in the mission and the vision so we jumped on board with them and they’ve been an incredible label home for me for the last 10 years … Lecrae is like a big bro to me man, like he’s a little bit older than me, and he goes and he takes all the punches publicly so that he can come back and be like, “alright don’t go over there, they slapped me over here, move like this.” So he’s always looking out for me, and it’s an honor to work with him, man. He’s a legend, and great rapper.
Andy Mineo Tells Apple Music About The Responsibilities That Come With Faith…
If you proclaim to be like, “hey I want to live my life and my standards against Jesus; I want to follow Jesus and his teachings and align my life with that,” there’s a certain level of responsibility that comes with that, and expectation, you know? Like, “alright, I want to be a follower of Jesus” and he says, “love your enemies.” So I’m like aright, “how do I put that into practice? I can’t be talking about killing my enemies on the next song or else i’m clearly hypocritical.” So there’s a certain level thats expected and then the other part is like, I think we live in a time of transparency where it’s like, you can’t hide if you wanted to. Everyone’s got phones… You’re going to get exposed out here. So, I think what we should have is a heathy balance, which is the understanding that people who proclaim to be of faith, that’s never meant that they’re perfect in the first place. It just means that they’re aiming at this standard and they’re trying to live their life with this, but of course they’re human and they’re going to fail so … The Christian faith is all about grace, right? It’s like, “oh I’m not perfect so I need help, and I need faith, and I need guidance,” so I hope that’s what people are getting.
Andy Mineo Tells Apple Music About The Title of His Album…
So Never Land 1 was an album that I came out with a little earlier in my career, and that had like my first song that ever went gold was on there, and it was kinda like a milestone for me. And Never Land is about… Growing up my favorite movie was “Hook.” You know, Peter Pan and Never Land is that place where you go to where you never grow up, but it also has this like… there’s this youthfulness, this never losing that childlike desire for a lust of life, and things are big and that wonder and you’re not cynical, you know? So there’s that childlike aspect, but then at the same time they had no guidance, any of these kids and they’re trying to figure out who their king is… So I’ve always related to that … So Never Land II is like, alright let’s return back to this as I been thinking about having a kid and also wanting to–as a man i’m getting a little bit older, where you start seeing death, you start seeing divorce, you start seeing people that you grew up with living they life a whole different way. I think a lot of heartbreak, betrayal, things like that happen. The loss of my mother; I just had to bury my mother. Life can really beat you up and it can take away some of that child-like hope and vulnerability and that innocence. So this is a return to that like “yo let’s try not to lose that as life continues to beat us up.”
Andy Mineo Tells Apple Music About The Opening of the Album…
Basically this beat was made by a friend of mine, his name is Beam … He’s been working with me for a minute. Beam and Vory came in the studio with me, it was like 2 years ago now, and we were working on a different project and he played me this intro, and I was like, “hold up what is this?” It was this amazing intro and I was like, “yo this thing is way too long” and he’s like, “nah but it’s amazing we gotta keep it.” So I was like, “listen, let me get this, I want to use it for my album” and we broke it up into two parts. So obviously you have the iconic epic intro, then it transitions into the first bop. And when I went in and recreated the beat I sampled the first half into the second half’s beat. “Am I… Falling,” so the main lyrics for that are, “am I falling from the sky or falling in your hand? Is it a disguise, or is it in your plan? Can you tell me why when I don’t understand? Am I at the end or did I just begin?” Like, “am I falling?” And so it’s a question that a lot of times in life when you feel like, “damn I’m falling,” or like, “I’m messing up or I’m tripping.” A lot of times you look back at those moments In your life and you realize they weren’t the end of something, they were the beginning of something new… I’m realizing a lot of these trials and heartbreak, and some of the things I’ve experienced, are teaching me things. A lot of times I want to get out of those situations, but I’m realizing God is trying to let me get things out of them. So it’s kinda this question, am I falling? Or am I falling up?
