Paid Pat is the next hottest artist to come out of Memphis, Orange Mound to be exact.
With his grandmother raising him, an illness resulted in a young Paid Pat finding himself at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, where he became engulfed in the music of 2 Chainz and Lil Wayne. From that point on, he knew exactly that he wanted this lifestyle for himself.
From performing around campus in his college years to giving back to St. Jude on the regular, Paid Pat is far more than just a recording artist — but a hustler in his own right.
His first-ever song “Drip Drop” was released in 2018, and it’s been up ever since. Plus, meeting Waka Flocka Flame one evening on Beale Street would change the course of his music career completely, getting the cosign from one of the GOATS in the rap game.
Paid Pat describes himself as “just a chill ass n#### who likes to get money.”
AllHipHop: Being from Memphis, what was that like growing up?
Paid Pat: I feel like this s### made me. This s### wasn’t easy, but it makes it easier for what I’m trying to do now. It taught me how to hustle. I didn’t grow like a lot of people. None of this s### was handed to me. Growing up here put some hustle in me, to know how to get some money regardless.
AllHipHop: Biggest influences growing up?
Paid Pat: Lil Wayne, 2 Chainz. I f### with everybody music though, I be listening to all types of s###.
AllHipHop: What’s your favorite Lil Wayne song?
Paid Pat: Probably “Lollipop.”
AllHipHop: At what point did you realize that you could do music for a living?
Paid Pat: Probably going to the University of Memphis, that’s when they started showing most of my love. When I dropped my first real song, that went crazy. They was f###### with that s### off the jump, it was called “Drip Drop.” They were playing that m########### everywhere I go. That’s when I thought “aw yeah, you can really do this s###.” I still wasn’t even really focused like this. I really got my confidence like “yeah, I can really do this s###. This s### is me, this s### easy.”
AllHipHop: There’s a lot of fire artists coming out of Memphis, how does that feel?
Paid Pat: It’s making it look easy because the light’s on us right now. We ain’t never had no light on us like that where people tuned in. Most people stealing this s### and running with it. They make it look easy now, connect with different people and get my name out there more.
AllHipHop: When did you pick up the name Paid Pat?
Paid Pat: 3 years ago, I picked it up because I was hustlin’. My name’s Patrick so Pat’s short for Patrick. I put Paid in front of it because I always knew how to get some money. whether it was doing music, selling clothes or selling anything.
AllHipHop: You just put out “Bankroll,” how are you feeling?
Paid Pat: I’m f###### with that joint for sure, because the people f###### with it. It already got 548K views and it’s only been 2 weeks. It got 120K on Spotify. That s### lit. I be excited, chillin’ and waiting for this s### to pop.
AllHipHop: What were you on recording that one?
Paid Pat: I had a bottle of Hennesy in there. That’s how I vibe in the studio, a fifth of Henn and I’ma crank up. [laughs]
AllHipHop: How much gas do you need?
Paid Pat: Well that’s a part of my everyday routine so I be forgetting to count that sometimes. I gotta roll up back to back all day long. It gotta be exotic though. At first, I wasn’t no smoker like that so I’ll smoke anything. But now, I can’t smoke anything. I gotta have some exotic. It’s a different high. It’s a bougie high, I ain’t gotta do too much.
AllHipHop: How does cannabis improve your life?
Paid Pat: That s### be having me chill, that s### calm me down. I might be thinking of some crazy ass s###. If I didn’t have cannabis, we’ll be outside all damn night. Not rapping though.
AllHipHop: Best memory from the “Bankroll” video shoot?
Paid Pat: Having my little brother in that joint. He don’t be with the big cameras, so he jumped in that m########## for me. I was excited. It felt good because I know he be looking up to me. He wanted this s### for me more than I did, that’s what really made me start back doing this s###. I can tell he be tryna move like me. I know he really wants this s### for me. I didn’t want to let his ass down so I started back doing this s###.
AllHipHop: What does family mean to you?
Paid Pat: A lot, family means life itself.
AllHipHop: How much money you keep on you at all times?
Paid Pat: I keep at least a cool $10K on me for sure. I ain’t saying it like it’s a good thing though, it ain’t even good for me to walk around with that much. But $10K, you might catch me with a $30K or something on me. I ain’t gon’ go overboard.
AllHipHop: Do you spend like crazy also?
Paid Pat: Hell yea, that’s why I be having it on me. It might be some s### I dropped off and I’m picking it back up. This s### gotta get spent, I don’t know when my expiration date is. [laughs]
https://www.instagram.com/p/CNlVqAtp3Cz/
AllHipHop: Talk about your relationship with Waka Flocka.
Paid Pat: That’s big bro for sure. He’s a mentor. He’s just a real n*gga. He’s the one who really motivated me to do this s### again too. The time he called my phone, I wasn’t even on no rapping s###. I’d already made my mind up, I was through with this s###. I didn’t know what I was gonna do with my life, but I knew I was gonna go do something.
I gotta make some money regardless. F### the music s###! But then he called me like, “You need to get back on that s###, what you doing?!” So I got back on the s###. It’s crazy because that’s what really made me want to do it, because I didn’t have nobody. Everybody knew who I was, but I didn’t have no big names really f### with me genuinely. Him calling me out the blue, damn okay. I can do that s###.
AllHipHop: How’d y’all meet initially?
Paid Pat: He’d came down to Memphis, I didn’t know he was gonna be down here. We’re chillin’ on Beale street and he’d came down Beale Street, everybody’s screaming and running. Damn, who’s this? I seen him because he big as hell. He walked past us and said, “Damn, what y’all young n*ggas on?” Everybody else screaming and running. I might be a fan of your music, but I might not be a fan type s###.
I didn’t know what he was gonna be on. We’re chilling, we ain’t finna do too much. He walked up to us like “what y’all got going on?” I told him who I was, he told me to DM him on Instagram. Immediately I’m thinking he’s just talking. He ended up sending me his number and we been locked in ever since. He said he knew I was a star when he seen me type s###.
AllHipHop: How does that make you feel?
Paid Pat: The s### was lit. The s###’s crazy because this the same person who’s music I used to listen to in middle school. I never knew we’d be cool as hell.
AllHipHop: Y’all got a song together?
Paid Pat: Nah, we finna do a tape together though. We ain’t got no song yet. I be focused on me, I’m not into looking for features or none of that s###. I want the people to know who I am. I don’t want the people to look at me like “oh this is Paid Pat who got on because of Flocka.” I want them to see me, not “this him who I’m on the song with.” Nah, I want them to see me. My tape finna be just me.
AllHipHop: You got a name yet?
Paid Pat: Pay Up. It’s coming out in a couple months.
AllHipHop: Is “TrapMixGod” gonna be on there?
Paid Pat: Nah, that’s just a single. “TrapMixGod” is almost 2 years old, something I been had in my phone. I ain’t even like the song, Flocka liked the song. He said “bruh, you gotta put this song out bro.” I said “I don’t wanna put that old ass s### out.” [laughs] We ended up putting it out and it did what it did.
AllHipHop: What were you on when you recorded “Took A Break”?
Paid Pat: That’s when I was getting back on the business. That’s why I said “took a break,” because I took a break from the industry.
AllHipHop: How long?
Paid Pat: Probably a year and a half. I don’t even know what I was doing. Everything, in the way. Just bullshitting.
AllHipHop: When’s “Hollywood” dropping?
Paid Pat: That’s dropping on the tape. I had a shot at a little studio, on the green screen, then we went back to the hood. We came back to Memphis. It’s “real n*gga, I’ll never ever go Hollywood.” So we went back to the hood.
AllHipHop: How’s the independent grind been?
Paid Pat: This s### tough, but you gotta be ready for this s###. You gotta make the people f### with you. Everybody’s there for the moment. They riding the wave, whoever got it at that moment. If you coming up, they ain’t too much focused on you like that. You gotta stick with that s###. The s### gon’ pop. The s### gon’ happen when it happens, you can’t really force that s###. People be tryna force it when you ain’t gotta force it. Everybody gonna get a turn, you don’t know when your turn.
AllHipHop: What’re you most excited for when shows open back up?
Paid Pat: I’m excited to travel more and do shows. When all this s### opens back up, I’ma be more busy. I’ma be moving back and forth on some everyday s###. I’m ready for this s### really to move and see different places, new people.
AllHipHop: What can we expect next?
Paid Pat: The project, exect the project in a couple of months. I’m wrapping it up now so the s### finna come out. I might drop something in between time, some singles. But the project’s what I’m focused on right now.
AllHipHop: Is there someone you’d like to collab with?
Paid Pat: Polo G. I f### with Polo G, but that s### gonna happen when it happens.
AllHipHop: Anything else you wanna let the people know?
Paid Pat: Never give up on your dreams. Watch out for all the fake love ‘cause that’s what I’m getting right now. I had a buzz a couple years ago, but I started bullshitting and I wasn’t focused on that s###. A lot of people had just changed up on me, just left me. I’m talking in middle of the road for dead type s###. I got up and did this s### again by myself, people real deal left. I got back up and did it by myself. The same people hit me back up now like, “Damn, I knew you could do it!” All that fake ass s### man, a n#### don’t wanna hear that s###. Watch for that s###, it’s gonna be a lot of that s###.
