They thought my dad was part of “the business,” because of “Uncle Bob.” Suddenly, I got obsessed, and followed the culture: “Goodfellas.” “Casino.” The feds raided my dad’s spot because he was friends with an Italian guy in the Mafia. When I was young, my father had a Mexican restaurant that we had a studio apartment above. Only up.Ĭan you say when the obsession with the Mafia started? My streams, my sales and my presence have never gone down. I’ve been doing it since 2006, and it’s rising steadily. I could show people stuff that’d make them shake, but I don’t. Look at artists today flashing piles of money and Instragramming their goods. You identify with bosses running familial businesses who are quiet and play things close to the vest? So I did my Mob trio and ended it with “Gotti.” Now, I’m a positive guy, but I felt as if I was on my Mafia shit right now. Everything runs through me in one way or another.
Now, and I say this with all humbleness, I feel like I am truly a boss. Before that, I had the Latin history trio. That’s why I believe I have a real core fan base, a support system.Įnding at “Gotti,” why have your last three albums focused on the Mafia’s most legendarily silent Dons? Why focus on the Italian mob at all? I’ve never been afraid of revealing what I’m going through, positive and negative. The message across all of my albums is: be transparent. Or the B-Real “Prohibition” collaboration, recalling my business shit coming together. Or “The White Album” (2011), remembering my mom dying of cancer, and me focusing on my daughter. I can listen to 2008’s “Drought Season,” and recall being hungry, having to survive. Variety spoke with Berner on the “Draped Up” single’s release day to discuss all of this, as well as an upcoming collaboration with his “neighbor,” Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead, with whom he freestyled during a 2021 Wolf Bros show, performing the Dead’s “Liberty.”Īcross your 40-plus albums, is there an arc, a driving lyrical force?
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