Bobby Fishscale continues to feed his fans with nothing but the real, spitting his truth in the form of street anthems for the masses to listen and relate to. Putting on for his hometown of Quincy, Florida any chance he can, it’s only right he dropped a mixtape on 4/27, his hometown’s area code.
While April 27th served as a celebration each and every year, 2021 proves to be the most memorable with the release of his highly-anticipated mixtape titled “Talapia,” hosted by the legendary Bigga Rankins.
The 18-track project sees standout features from Doe Boy, ATL JACOB, and Blacc Zacc, with Bigga declaring Bobby to be well on his way to becoming of the greats.
AllHipHop: Where are you at Bobby? Miami?
Bobby Fishscale: Nah I’m in Quincy, I came back home. Because 4/27 is my hood day, so I came back home and we hanging out.
AllHipHop: Every April 27th is a celebration you?
Bobby Fishscale: Yeah, our address to our project housing and Florida’s Area code is 427. On that day, we celebrate. Bring a community together. Spread awareness about the city of Quincy. It’s big. If you google it, despite the struggle within Quincy.. 427 actually has a good meaning. It means you’re an angelic person. You’re very encouraging, you believe in yourself.
AllHipHop: How does it feel to have the mixtape out?
Bobby Fishscale: The mixtape is going crazy right now! Everybody’s been vibing with it. Shout out to Bigga Rankins hosting it, it’s going up.
AllHipHop: How does it feel to have Bigga’s support behind you?
Bobby Fishscale: Man, it’s amazing, especially after you earned it. Nothing is given to you in this music industry. I earned it. This project means a lot.
AllHipHop: Talk about the cover art inspired by “Snowfall.”
Bobby Fishscale: It’s crazy. With all that’s going on around here with all the people going to jail, they feel I’m the Franklin of the streets around here. We incorporated that with DollazNDesignz, shout out to them for the cover art. We put it together.
AllHipHop: Do you keep up with the show? Did you watch Season 4?
Bobby Fishscale: I don’t watch the show, that’s the crazy part. Because it’s fake, I don’t really like watching fake stuff, especially not about dope. I like seeing real documentaries like Pablo Escobar, El Chapo, Ralo, real people.
AllHipHop: How much do you relate to the Snowfall plot? I’m sure you had your own experiences feeling bad about addicts.
Bobby Fishscale: See, that’s what everybody tells me. A lot of people talk about Snowfall, and I done heard about it. The dope, all that. Everybody says I remind them of Franklin Saint. I had a lot of ups and downs, but it’s good and bad with it. That background fits the name of the mixtape. In the streets, “Talapia” is considered A1 coke, A1 anything. That’s why I spelled it different from the fish, I’m not talking about the fish. It’s street terminology.
AllHipHop: What are your favorite songs off the projects?
Bobby Fishscale: #1 gotta be “Momma Proud,” it’s a real deep song. The other song is “Hard Life.” “Made the change for the better but they still mad that I changed.” Even out here right now, everybody thinks they can shop with me. I’m telling them “I don’t do that no more,” they can’t believe it. “Stop lying, stop lying.” Bruh forreal, everybody gotta grow up sometime.
AllHipHop: How hard was it for you to talk away?
Bobby Fishscale: It wasn’t that hard. With the music, I always knew I was chasing M’s. With the dope, you’re chasing M’s, but the M’s a long way when you’re making $400, $500 at a time. When I got the deal, I told them. They said “what’s it going to take for you to not go back to jail? For you to give it up.” I said “y’all gotta give me enough money to where I don’t gotta sell it anymore.” They said “alright, we understand,” so we negotiated the contract.
AllHipHop: With Roc Nation?!
Bobby Fishscale: Yeah, I had to tell them that. I couldn’t even believe I stopped cold turkey because I was making a lot of money off the trap, easy money. But it comes with a lot of consequences, I didn’t want them consequences anymore so I stuck with the rap. Shout out to Doe Boy, “Bricks N Bells” is a crazy track on there. ATL JACOB and Blazz Zacc, ”Don’t Make It Hot” going crazy too. Really all of them, each one will touch people differently. You know how my music is.
AllHipHop: How proud is mama now?
Bobby Fishscale: She posted it, she said “shedding tears” or something like that. She’s proud. She used to get happy when I get a short plea in jail. “Oh they only gave him 6 months this time.” Because I never played sports, I didn’t do nothing but trap.
AllHipHop: What’s up Bigga Rankin?
Bobby Fishscale: “Talapia,” hosted by Bigga Rankins!
Bigga Rankin: Forreal man, nothing but pressure.
Bobby Fishscale: Tell them when we first met Bigga, how long this road’s been. They think it’s busy, a lot of people don’t know what’s really going on here.
Bigga Rankin: It’s been years and years. Dawg came to me, he had $7,000 and a bunch of music that couldn’t be mixed because of how they recorded it. We ended up spending $6,200 trying to get the s### fixed, get everything redone right [laughs] He’s been trying and trying and trying. The last time he took his little vacation, when he came back he was a MONSTER! Sometimes the Lord gotta snatch you and sit you down and talk to you. You listen and when you come back, you’re at a whole different pace.
AllHipHop: What did you see in Bobby that made you want to host the mixtape?
Bigga Rankin: He does not give up. He never changed. He’ll stand in the middle of the road and shake everyone’s hands if he has to. He’ll give you his last, real humble kid. Never said anything bad about nobody. He always praised other rappers and gave them good advice, whether they’re bigger or smaller than him. For a younger cat, he got a real old soul. When you’re talking to him, you never want to stop. It’s always good vibes.
AllHipHop: Coming up, Bobby why did you look up to Bigga?
Bobby Fishscale: He was the way through the streets. Bigga’s been an A&R to the streets before street people even knew what an A&R was. All we knew was get our music to Bigga. If Bigga hosted an open mic, we drove 6 hours to get there. Bigga’s the biggest to me, to the streets. Bigga gave away a lot of knowledge that many people weren’t giving away. Bigga a real one.
Bigga Rankin: That’s beautiful man. A lot of people don’t really understand my job is to get the young ones out the streets, before the law tricks them out the streets. It’s been a heavy journey. I have way more t-shirts at the house that say “rest in peace” than say “made it.” When you have more t-shirts that say “RIP,” it really hurts. All these kids are young kids, haven’t enjoyed life. Haven’t took a vacation, haven’t been out the country.
Haven’t been into the store to buy a Gucci belt or Gucci hat. Some of these kids haven’t ever enjoyed nothing, that’s what hurts most of all. They never get to see this type of life they’re hoping to live, it was gone. That hurts more than anything in this game, ‘cause I have a lot of kids. I take these rappers as my kids, ones that are younger than me and it hurts when they leave. I pray to God things get better, and there will be less violence and more hits.
AllHipHop: Bigga, what songs do you like on the record?
Bigga Rankin: I’m an intro person, the first song that comes on anything I do is my favorite song. Because I listen to the song, if it has soul, morals, and values, it’s kicking, then I can really write to it and match it. He had that one and another one called “Never Quit.” That really got me because many people come into the game and they quit right when it’s time for them to make it. You can’t give up. If you give up, you should have never started anyway. Bobby’s going to be one of the biggest stars. Bobby really doesn’t stop, he gets up working. He never says anything negative, everything’s been positive.
Bobby Fishscale: Yeah I don’t like negative.
AllHipHop: Bobby we saw you with Kodak, what’s your guys’ relationship?
Bobby Fishscale: Me and Kodak the same, it’s crazy. Y’all know me and Kodak, it’s more friendship than music and business. We give each other advice more than anything. Music comes, you can’t rush what you know is going to happen. Black at a point where he’s transitioning to be bigger than ever. He ain’t no jit no more, he’s turning to a man. He’s more on the business side of everything, on some ownership. On some see the biggest picture.
AllHipHop: Can we expect visuals off the project?
Bobby Fishscale: Yeah, shoutout Benny Flashh. We did 3 videos in one day back in Miami. That’s light, we started late. I climbed on top of the building too, I do my own stunts. We done been on top of food trucks, buildings, ain’t no telling what we’re on tomorrow. Last night, we’re on a yacht. The yacht scene is going to be crazy.
https://www.instagram.com/p/COCPkRmFwZq/
AllHipHop: You said “trying to hide the pain, so I went and bought some chains.” How much does jewelry help you?
Bobby Fishscale: It’s crazy ‘cause you see how many views them chains get. People embrace you for buying jewelry. If you want to get love, go buy a chain. Go buy a big chain like this, you gon’ get love. I was trying to hide the pain, but somehow they still seen it.
AllHipHop: Bring us back to when you were stealing from your mom’s purse. What does it mean to be able to pay her back?
Bobby Fishscale: My next documentary, I’ma really open up and let my people do all the talking. It takes them to really tell you what I did. I done did some bad stuff. Not really bad, but I was selling dope young. My mama will tell you, even in my last documentary with random people on the porch. “Oh that boy was selling that stuff out his grandma’s window when I was 13!” Now my mama got a new house on the way, so everything’s good.
AllHipHop: What’re you most excited for with Rolling Loud coming up?
Bobby Fishscale: That’s going to be big. 85K people, sold out in two hours. Big you gonna be at Rolling Loud?
Bigga Rankin: Definitely man! I gotta come do the intro at Rolling Loud, you know that.
Bobby Fishscale: We definitely gotta be side by side, shoulder to shoulder.
Bigga Rankin: That’s a bet. People don’t understand, I tell everybody Bobby’s going to be one of the biggest. The reason God’s going to help him is because he’s helping people under him now. One thing about being in the rap game, the window’s so small you can’t even get in with a backpack.
When you do get in, you gotta help people. When you help people before you get in, sometimes that holds you back — but that doesn’t stop nothing. I know God got a real plan for this young man. If he keeps on with that good work ethic — in this business, your catalog tells your story. Your work ethic motivates other people to work too, and listen to you.
He’s very different. He found out 7 years ago he was in the music game, and now he’s in the music business. Big difference, you got to dot your i’s and cross your t’s. He learned that. I swear to God, I pray for him all the time. I want him to be one of the top, because he got the heart to help other people get to the top.
I love Bobby man Bobby’s one of the real ones. I’m an OG. Being around younger guys, I try to explain to them: one thing about this journey, the road is a long road with a lot of signs. You don’t read them, you’ll get lost forever. There’s a sign everywhere for everything you do, you just gotta pay attention. He got that knowledge, he got an old soul. He gon’ listen to you, he’s not going to cut you off. If there’s something wrong that you’re saying, he’ll tell you. As long as it’s right, he gon’ be like “man that’s true. That’s good.” A lot of people don’t do that, ‘cause people with money think they know everything.
AllHipHop: Where can they get Talapia?
Bobby Fishscale: Everywhere, click the link in my bio!