Lil Mosey fans have been waiting patiently for the day he returns with new music and now, he’s making up for lost time.

The Seattle native is best known for his viral smash “Blueberry Faygo,” which blew up over the pandemic thanks to TikTok. Soon, it took over radio airwaves all over the world, with the song’s official music video accumulating more than 328 million YouTube views and counting. 

After a long hiatus and not being active on social media, due to a 2021 case where he was wrongfully accused of rape (and has since been acquitted of all charges), Lil Mosey returned with a single titled “Life Goes On.” The record was unlike his typically melodic trap bangers and this time saw Mosey explore the pop/alternative space. While the song spoke volumes to his current state of mind at the time, fans demanded Lil Mosey return to his roots.

Subsequently, Lil Mosey’s newest single, “Thug Popstar,” is on brand for his sound, style, swag and overall stature. Mosey recently became sober, stopping all the drugs and alcohol, and even weed. He’s much more present and disciplined, which organically delivers a positive message to his fans to follow suit.

AllHipHop spoke with Lil Mosey in downtown Los Angeles about his new music, being independent, “Blueberry Faygo” taking off, working out and more.

AllHipHop: How are you feeling?

Lil Mosey: I’m good. I’m great. I’m feeling great, another day.

AllHipHop: You made “Life Goes On” back in January, right? What was your mindset then?

Lil Mosey: My mindset then and now is a lot different. Honestly, I wasn’t in a bad place, I was more in a different mindset. Musically, I wasn’t really into the usual s### I am into. 

AllHipHop: I saw that. You don’t even listen to rap anymore. 

Lil Mosey: I ain’t trying to s### on nobody. But for me personally, rap hasn’t been the same for a while. But that’s another reason why I had to come back to dropping some rap music for the fans, because I gotta give them something so they don’t feel like I felt. Where’s the music at? I feel it. So I had to… they put a new spark in me, because I wasn’t really trying to make rap music. That wasn’t really my vibe. They forced me to get back in that mode. Now we back in that mode, so now it’s time to turn up on them.

AllHipHop: Now I’m wondering, are you reassessing your entire EP and album? Because were you planning on going that direction.

Lil Mosey: I’m still gonna give them a little bit more. Some different s###, but I definitely had to hit the drawing board. The songs were there regardless, but when you make so many songs and you make a bunch of good music… especially for me, I’m the one listening to it every day. I be forgetting that nobody’s heard it yet except me. I be moving on from songs, and forgetting that I have other songs that I should be at least putting out for the fans. Before they get too old, to the point I don’t even really want to [drop]. 

As much as I’m mentally moved on, I gotta remember that I gotta still move on. But now that I’m independent — for “Thug Popstar”: I already had the song, but the second verse I recorded two days ago. So that’s cool, because I get to put music out that’s super fresh. That feels a lot better for me because it’s brand new for me, just like it’s brand new to the fans.

AllHipHop: And you can drop when you want to, that’s so valuable. You don’t understand how many artists I’ve interviewed where the label wouldn’t let them release.

Lil Mosey: I mean, I haven’t put out an album since 2019. It’s been almost five years. If it was up to me, I would’ve put out five albums by now. But you know, you get put in a situation where it’s not the best for you. I’m just blessed that I’m out of that situation. 

AllHipHop: What happened with Interscope?

Lil Mosey: Nothing personal. I love Interscope. I got love for them because at the end of the day, we did do a lot together. But we didn’t really see eye to eye on certain aspects, so it was better off that we split ways.

AllHipHop: You mentioned how you make music, then you forget about it? Isn’t that what happened with “Blueberry Faygo”?

Lil Mosey: Yeah, it is. That’s another one of my problems: forgetting the music and moving past the music. There could be more “Blueberry Faygo’s” in the vault that I’m not thinking about. If it’s meant to happen, it’s gon’ happen regardless. That’s how “Blueberry Faygo” happened.

AllHipHop: What was the best memory from that era? Because there was not a radio station you could turn on and you did not hear “Blueberry Faygo.” That s### was a movement. You felt that?

Lil Mosey: Of course. It was COVID, so a lot of the s### I would’ve experienced, I didn’t really get to experience the same way. That made it a little cooler though, because it was different. It wasn’t like any other time. When I did “Noticed” and “Stuck In A Dream,” there was no Covid. I was on tour and I was doing s###. But COVID, it was all online. The only people I was around were the people that were — I don’t know the right word. I’m not trying to say important, but a specific group of people. I wasn’t around my fans or nothing, so it was a weird experience. It was definitely weird. Unless another pandemic happens, not a lot of people can say they know what that feels like to have a hit song during pandemic. Nobody can go outside, but your song is playing everywhere. But where? I don’t know where these people are listening to this s### at, but they’re listening and they’re somewhere.

AllHipHop: Where did it blow up first? Was it TikTok? 

Lil Mosey: TikTok, yeah. That was before I really knew what TikTok was. 

AllHipHop: Taz Taylor told you that you sounded like you’re chasing a hit. What was your reaction? Because I’d be offended.

Lil Mosey: Nah, I understood what he was saying. That was four years ago, a while ago. But at that time period, my mindset wasn’t really on my music. It was on having fun. The way I was making music wasn’t feeling natural and forced. It’s a different mindset. The mindset I’m in now, the only thing I want to do is make music. At the time, I didn’t care about it. I was just having fun, I was enjoying the s###. But I had something to celebrate at the time. Right now, I’m working.

AllHipHop: Have you picked up any new hobbies since you’re not partying anymore?

Lil Mosey: Here and there. I definitely play a lot of video games [laughs]. But I’ve been in the gym. Around this same exact time last year, right after I was found not guilty: alright, now I got some stress off my shoulders, I need to lock in and get healthy. Because I felt so unhealthy. I was smoking nicotine all day, every day. 

AllHipHop: Damn, the vapes?

Lil Mosey: Yeah, for a long time. Since I was 15, for a long time. Alright, my lungs are starting to not feel the same. I gotta give this s### up, so I stopped hitting that s###. I started getting on the treadmill. I started running. It went from I couldn’t even run a mile, I couldn’t at all, now I run three miles every day almost.

AllHipHop: Who are you listening to? 

Lil Mosey: That’s the thing. Some days, I don’t got no music to listen to. 

AllHipHop: Time goes by so slow on the treadmill if you don’t listen to music.

Lil Mosey: Trust me I know. I be watching movies, all types of s###. I be listening to music. When Kanye’s album dropped out, I listened to the whole s### on the treadmill. Some people say they don’t like, I think that s###’s hard as f###. The reason I say it’s hard is because you gotta understand, they’re not just going in the studio and making a beat and rapping over that s###. They’re putting a lot into that s###, you can hear it in the music. As much as people want to act like it’s not what it is, it is a work of art at the end of the day. And I can respect it for that.