BigRedShooter is one of the many talented individuals behind the exhilarating underground movement in Houston, Texas called DON'TDIE USA. Originally from Alexandria, Louisiana, he is a rapper, who, in his rather short time making music, has started to find his sound and gain traction within the HTX scene by making southern alternative trap bangers. Red, alongside Houston cohorts such as BBY Kodie, HVN, and others, threw their own shows as well as designing clothes for their DON'TDIE collective. DON'TDIE and their shows has been catching the eyes of some very important people in the southern hip-hop scene; but what has been pivotal to the early success of BigRed was his first project, Big Dawg Vol. 1.
BigRedShooter and I got together to discuss his forthcoming project, Demons, which has been slated for a Valentine's Day release. We also discussed his musical inspirations, crew, and the weirdest thing he does. Check out the interview below and get hip to BigRedShooter before it's too late.
Howie: Were there a lot of musical opportunities for you in Louisiana, or had you not started taking music seriously until you got to Texas—specifically the Houston area.
BigRed: “I ain’t really drop no music until I was in Houston; that’s why everyone is like, 'Oh, Houston artist BigRedShooter' type shit. Not to say that I don’t care about that shit, but I’ve never been one to trip off that shit. I came up in Houston, but I’m from Louisiana. I wasn’t really rapping when I was out there, but as far as opportunities, there's probably not a lot out there. That hoe’s a trench, in Alexandria. There ain’t really no opportunities out there, no cap.”
You’ve talked about the rappers you grew up on being 50 Cent, Eminem, and Kanye West; you can tell a lot about a person from your answer to my next question, but what's your favorite Kanye West album?
“I feel like my shit is Late Registration, to be honest. I used to go to sleep every night listening to that on hard copy. It was like the first shit I had on hard copy, on like a boombox. I still got it, you know, ------ we wasn’t playing music off no phones back in the gap. I had a little boombox and I would just go to sleep every night, listening to Registration—that along with other shit that I burnt off Limewire, no cap.”
What is "BINNY?" I could not find that shit on Genius.
“So, what happened was, one day we were in the studio and we didn’t have to make some shit, but we kind of had to make some shit. Me and my boy HVN were in the studio until like 3:00 AM, just trying to crank some shit out, trying to have one. We were in there with BeatsByJax at Celebrity. I just freestyled that hoe, like what was that Drake shit I was listening to earlier? Like TrapMoneyBenny. 'I stay in the trap like Benny,' you feel me? I was just freestyling that shit, so that shit just came out; no real explanation.”
How’d you get involved with DON’TDIE? What was the who, what, when, where, and why of that?
“Shit, I met Gio when I was like 14 ---- He’s like, 'I got this shit called DON’TDIE, you feel me? I'm trying to throw shows and do the whoop-di-whoop-di-whoo whatever.' It’s like the shit we’re doing now; he was literally telling me I'm trying to do that shit, we’re going to make that shit work. Shit, I had made a design for that hoe in graphic design class. Shawty put it on a shirt, and then we had dropped that hoe. Ever since then, that’s been that. He started that shit, but ever since that shit's been a thing, I’ve been right there."
Where did the DON’TDIE tag (in the songs) come from?
“I don’t know, really. Gio just had made that shit and we started using it. For a couple of songs I was dropping at first, he wasn’t really mixing them but he would just throw that shit on there. Like, he’s the one that put that ‘Here’s Johnny!’ shit on 'Nina Block.'”
What’s next for the group?
“There’s really big shit, though; we really have been working. It’s a lot of shit coming in 2021. It’s all pretty much under wraps, though—we like to keep it that way, me and the others. You’re going to see that shit, though; it’s coming. I got a video coming soon to 'Nina Block' with Wyatt (Navarro). Shit bro, one night I was just asleep in my room. It was during quarantine. I woke up and went to my Instagram; I’d seen that I had new followers. I saw that shit and I thought it was a joke. I was like, 'What the fuck?' I knew shawty growing up, just from being a Tyler (the Creator) fan and all. I clicked on that shit and I was like, 'Okay, yeah, for sure.' It was funny because, at that point, I had been wearing his shoes every day for like a year. We just started DMing and whoop-di-whoop-di-whoo. Bro told me he fucked with my shit and then we had linked up in LA. We talked about shooting a video and then we did that shit. We shot that shit in Houston, in the K—the Willow—on the block. We shot that shit in LA. We shot in Austin, Texas.”
What is the weirdest shit you do?
“The weirdest shit I do... Alright, this is some weird shit; it’s not that weird, though. Every time I take a shit, I got to listen to Earl (Sweatshirt). Nah, for real. I don’t know why, but it’s G shit. Right now, I’m shitting to Rap Songs joint, no bullshit; I’m shitting to Some Rap Songs. I’ll switch it up sometimes and play Doris, though. I might even put on I Don’t Like Shit sometimes; I really do be switching it up. I’ll even shit to Solace. No, for real; I don’t know what it is, but the moment I hear that hoe I can shit. That’s got to be one of the weirdest things that I do.”
What should we expect from Demons? What were the studio sessions like and what kind of headspace were you in?
“It was really on some quarantine shit, but like not at the same time. What you should expect, though... I don’t really know, to be honest. It’s hard; you're going to fuck with that hoe, but I don’t know. The headspace I was in was really the same one, but with the first album I did, it was over a lot more time. So, I had made a lot of music, and with that shit, I just pick and choose. A lot of that shit was over a year old or two years old. Even some of the shit on the new album is older, you feel me? It’s shit I redid or Jaiden threw over another beat. I made 'RIP DEE' in 2019, and threw it over another beat. I was fucking with it a lot more, so I re-recorded it.”
Does the Valentine’s Day release date have anything to do with the themes of the album? Are we going to see BigRedRomantic?
“Are you talking about on the last one type shit? Nah, I really chose that date just because. The album has been done; I’ve just been waiting to drop that hoe. We’ve been building other shit; I have got a couple of videos. I was waiting for that video to get done, the one we shot in Cali.”
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