Shirley and Playy

Well, I'm Shirley

Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. Thank you for having me

Of course, excited to chat with you for all hip-hop. How is your Thursday going

Yes, Thursday. It's going good. It's going good. Just relaxing. Staying out the way

I heard you're going to Collie Grove 2 listening later. Yeah, yeah, yeah

I'm ahead. I'm ahead there after the interview. That should be, that should be

Yeah, they had an L.A. one the other day. Yeah, that's what my PR told me

She said it was pretty dope. It was a lot of people that came out and showed love for it

For sure. So cool. I like to start my interviews by asking

for those who don't know who is play, how would you describe yourself? I'm an artist

writer slash father slash friend brother son i love it how would you describe your sound um my sound i would

explain my sound as you never know what you're going to get that's the best way to explain it

because I can do so much. I can do from Afrobeat to pop to R&B rap

after writer. So yeah, you never know what you're gonna get with me

For sure. I saw, I know you moved to Atlanta super young. And how'd you get topped in with Mike Will

That's funny, man. I was actually going to school out here. I went to Willer High School for my senior year

out here and he went to, I don't know if it was the rival school, but he went to the high school

nearby my school. And we just met from me doing parties in the area. And I've met them and

we got cool and we actually did my school football team theme song like they came out to it

He did the beat. That's fire. Yeah, back in high school, so that was pretty dope

That's fire. We'll talk about, so did you get your start more as like behind the scenes before doing your own artistry

Yeah, I would say that because for the Machik Bad thing, the Machik Bad record really popped it off for me

So I would say yeah I was behind the scenes more before that record popped off How did that happen with Luda and Nikki right Yeah yeah

Actually, I was in a studio with Traxter. He's the producer of the record

Real dope producer. I was in there with him working on records for myself

And he had the beat going. I laid the hook down. We screwed it

And I had to lead a studio without me finishing. in the verses

So it was just the hook and open verses. So I left and I forgot about the record, to be honest

And a couple months later, he called me and was like, yo, Ludacris was just in the studio

He was going through beats and the Machik Badwin came up and he won it

And I was like, give it to him. He could take it. He can have it, too

And yeah, he kept me on the hook. He put Nikki on it and history from there

How did it feel when he put Nikki on it? That's huge. Oh, yeah. I was, I was blown away by the whole record because I didn't expect it to, you know, do anything when I made it

So when I heard him on it by itself, he smashed it

And then when I heard Nikki on it, I was like, oh, gosh. Yeah, this is going to be crazy

Hell yeah. That's awesome. How did you end up working with Kelly Rowland, too, on Work It, Man

With Kelly Rowland, I was signed with Rodney Jerkins. That was when I was back when I was signed with Rodney Juerkins

And I was always in the studio writing, and Kelly Rowland came in to work with him, I think

She was in there to work with him. And he just called me in the studio to introduce me because I was just signed to him

And we really clicked it off. You know, I'm from Houston. She from Houston

We was in there vibing. I played her some of my records. She played the Working Man record

I got on it and it made her album. That was super dope

That's awesome. What's inspiration behind your name? Play? In the beginning, I was a real jokester

I'm older now, but yeah, I was a real jost. I was real good

I was real good with the ladies as well. So, yeah. I love it

Talk your shit. We'll talk about your new song, Gold on the lip

and what inspired that? And yeah. Yeah, gold on my lip. I just wanted to do something to show love to the culture of Houston

You know, we go grills out there, platinum grills, all type of grills

That's a part of the culture. And I got ESG on it

I mean he a legend in Houston Shout out Switch house I got ESG on it I was in Atlanta ran into him He came to my hotel room

I had the studio set up and there. He heard it, and he laid his verse down right there on the spot

And then I reached out to Spark Dog, which he's from Clean, Texas as well, but he live in Atlanta, too

But he's known as the Hood Dennis, so it was only right for me to get him on the second verse as well

crazy like what was i like in the studio with him um i actually spark dog i sent him the record and he

recorded it but he sent it back within a day too like he killed his verse as well spark is really

dope and if you've seen the video he's like he'll actually pull up anywhere you want to grill and

he did i grill in the club we shot it as south by south west and he did our grills in the club

How big is like the grill culture out there in Houston, like, you know

Oh, it's huge. It's huge. I mean, if you're a rapper, you definitely got a grill or two

And if you don't, you have one, you know, especially in Houston

Like, it's a big culture, man. Everybody rocking grills. What was the best memory from the music video shoot

The best memory from the video shoot. I have to say them letting us record

recorded in the bar because usually they don't you know they'd be tripping about you bringing

cameras and stuff but they let us bring the camera in and like the bartenders everybody in the

club just got in on it and it was just that was that was the dope part I love it beautiful

what is it people you want people to get from your story just to never give up just keep going

it's never too late no matter what people tell you it's never too

on your dream, just keep going no matter what nobody say, just stay at it

And it's going to happen eventually, especially if you want it as bad as you

want it. For sure. Respect. What are three things you need in the studio at all times

Three things I need in the studio. I need me some good guys

I need me some good guys. Feel you? I need, I definitely need me some candles

Need me some candles. So the vibe, right. And just, just, um, good beats

I just need some good beats in there so I could get to work. For sure

Respect. Um, talk about what were you nominated? What Grammy nomination did you get My chick bad My chick bad Oh okay Okay got you It nominated for a Grammy Yeah It was dope Like I said I didn expect nothing from my chick bad So even for

ludicrous to pick it up, that was my blessing right there. I was blessed with that. So for it to

get nominated for a Grammy, that was just overwhelming. That was, I loved it. That's awesome. Did you

celebrate? Oh yeah. They invited me to the red carpet. I got like plaques and stuff for it. It was

it's really dope. It's a lot of stuff I don't have to show for it, but that I have to show for it

you know, so that was a big blessing. How yeah. Did you have any combos with Nikki or Luda

No, I haven't met Nikki yet. Ludacris, I met Luda, but it really wasn't a

It was a lot going on. So, yeah, it wasn't really a meeting like that

I got you. Well, what do you have going on other than new single? What can we expect

A whole lot of new music. We got, sorry, I got albums ready to go

We're just trying to figure out the right times to drop. I got singles ready to go

We're trying to figure out the right times to drop. I'm working with D Green, D Green Films

He's spamming with a lot of people out of Houston area, a lot of people right now

But he's really dope. I got a lot of videos on the tuck with him. And I'll be performing at South by Southwest this year as well

So that's really. What do you like to do when you're not working

I'm a new father. I got a son, so I love kicking. Yeah, yeah

I love kicking it with the twin. If I'm not chilling with him, I'm playing basketball, bowling

I like anything that keep me active. I like to stay active a little bit

Respect. Do you have any goals for yourself as an artist at this point in your career? Yeah, I mean, I want to get another Grammy nomination

You know, that would be great for myself. and just to keep going and doing what I'm doing

Respect. Awesome. Thank you so much for your time. I appreciate it

Thank you for having me. Of course. When you come to L.A., I got gas for you

So just let me know. Oh, for sure. Next time I'm hitting you up

For sure