By In the middle of the Brooklyn Made stage, weeds sandwich a stop sign. A DJ is playing random combinations of half-baked rap music while Tony Schnoe is on stage pouring drinks into red solo cups. It’s Tony’s first tour with Cousin Stiz and his first visit to Brooklyn this April. The Cobb County rapper wears gold-sided semi-automatic glasses, a green army jacket, a black Louis Vuitton belt, and a clean white Air Force 1. Tony opened with “EVEN ON A SUNDAY,” a track built entirely on plug-in style beats. When asked to define a plug-in for Zoom he calls, Tony replied: It’s player ass hustle music. Get money music. Sometimes your girlfriend doesn’t want to hear you doing gangsta shit all the time. Sometimes she wants to be serenaded. With plugs, the instrumentation is synthetic and digital, with a composition of tinkering bells, annoying flutes and slow drums. “Plug is a very chill, relaxed stoner type thing. But also the Super Street Atlanta turn.
Plug in music results from Atlanta street tapes trafficked on peer-to-peer sharing sites like Limewire and Frostwire, and hosting sites like Datpiff and LiveMixtapes. “It was built on traditional Atlanta. It was a mix of traditional Atlanta and the Internet age,” Benny adds. Taking inspiration from Zaytoven’s elegant piano work, Plug adds a pop spin packed with explosive digitized synths and video game sounds.
Motivation for the plugin is Tony’s new project, 24-track money hustling, flexible designer and drag, produced entirely by the plug subgenre’s most prolific producers: Big Emm, Cashcache, DJ YoungKash, Fashion Kor, GameBoomin, IceWater Black, JBand$, Mexikodro, Polo Boy Shawty, Popstar Benny, StoopidXool, and Youngstill. Motivation for the plugin , hosted by DJ Yung Rell, looks back on the vintage ’08 Gucci Mane era. Tony carries on his old Atlanta spirit on tracks like “Dats Me” and “Work Like This.” On the latter, flutes and snares come together with dreamy synths, and Tony shows pride in his swag and reveals his “bad bitch problem.”the whole of Motivation for the plugin Recorded in Tony’s kitchen, no fancy studio equipment is required.Tony takes inspiration from Gucci Mane bird flu 2Lil Wayne’s no ceiling When Carter III not only the project The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild while making a tape.
It seems like she’s looking forward to talking about the making of. Motivation for the plugin via Zoom call.for high times, Tony discusses plug music, its purpose, songs from his new project, and the differences between the 2022 mixtape and album. During the call, he dullly smokes Metro Bloomin’ brand flowers, puffing them up between reactions.
High Times: You Just Dropped Last Week Motivation for the pluginWhen did you start recording?
Tony Chenault: As soon as I finished the tour, I started recording how I felt.because reflection When we got off the tour, it was almost finished.So Motivation for the plugin It was definitely music that had just finished touring to move on to its next project.
HT: Plug Motivation is Jeezy’s play thug’s motiveWhat made you decide to use it as a theme?
Tony Chenault: Well, Mexico Doro came up with the title. I have to prove it to him. I just applied my style to it. I gave it a theme. He chose the title and I created it and brought it to life for him.
HT: What I really like about this tape is how it brings back the old ATL mixtape aesthetic.What’s the difference between a mixtape and an album? And I feel like Motivation for the plugin distinguish it.
Tony Chenault: surely. Mixtapes feel like live music. Raw. Doesn’t look like the sophisticated type of shit. It could be music recorded in the kitchen, or it could be in a trap. It may not necessarily be intended for pops or billboards. I’m not going to be on the radio. I’m looking to be in a trap. I’m looking to be on the street It’s not a project to please the average listener. Mixtapes are not meant to please fans. I feel that is the big difference.
HT: you dropped no shadows previous mixtape plug motivation. Rappers don’t rap to each other’s beats for entire projects anymore. It’s a lost art.
Tony Chenault: yes. So…for me, it’s hip-hop. That’s why I did the BBC project. I’m not going to lie to you I was one of those people who rapped to the beats of others who were my peers. And now I feel like it was definitely the right moment to do it.
HT: Do you think this whole streaming era has ruined the identity of mixtapes today?
Tony Chenault: yes. It did a little. It did a little. But I still feel like I have a lot to spare. I just feel like people have to, we have to adapt to it. I don’t really see top artists doing that. People, rap games usually imitate whatever the leading artists of the time are doing. When Lil Wayne did it, Tyga did it, or Jack did it, or Young Doro did it. Multiple artists were doing it at once. But we don’t see premiere his artists like Drake, Kendrick, J. Cole. They are not going to imitate it.
HT: What’s the big deal about having someone host your mixtape? Because DJ Yung Rell hosted some of your tapes.
Tony Chenault: yes. That role feels like a lost art form in hip hop. is important to me. That’s what I grew up with. That’s something many of these kids don’t see. You know what I mean? It’s like a narrator.
HT: I don’t hear much about DJ Scream or Evil Empire anymore, so I think it’s definitely a lost art form.
Tony Chenault: Many of them are older men, so they are now having successful intercourse. So they don’t have time to do it. They changed their venture. They may have a label now, they may have a clothing line. Because like I said before when I go back to Maine, no one is calling them to do anything. Do you feel me? Tyler was the last big shot I saw doing it.
HT: upon Motivation for the plugin, We asked the plug maker to strictly protect the sound. So why was it so comprehensive? What inspired you?
Tony Chenault: I was already planning to make a plug project. ‘When Doro gave me that title, I felt I had to stay true to being a plug. I think it’s a misunderstanding about plug music. I created a project to clarify what it is. I used an old plug. I tried to show exactly what the plug is and what the current plug is.
HT: How important was it to get everyone contributing for this project?
Tony Chenault: It feels like it was very important on the part of the producers to make sure they tapped into the new culture with each producer that was part of the Beats Plugs type of shit. I feel like I can rap. So I let them do everything else and I try to work with the best producers, the best DJs, the best directors.
HT: One of my favorite songs is “Hell’s Hot”. why were you so angry?
Tony Chenault: I was dealing with this girl and really, it was a reaction to her. She just texted me. friend, I hope you burn I was like, ‘Okay, bitch, fuck you.
HT: It’s a mean sentence.
Tony Chenault: About God. So I answered. I also use music as therapy. That was it. To be honest, I never thought I would leave this song. People started liking it.
HT: Based on some drill songs you have no shadows What do you think about mixtapes, drill music and culture?
Tony Chenault: Cool. I like it a little I’m not really into rap that talks too much about guns and violent shit, so I’m not going to lie to you like I’m a super big fan of it. . The drill wave in Chicago was cool to me, but I didn’t see much. i haven’t. I’m just a player music fan. Talk about making money or smoking weed. I like Wiz Khalifa and Curreny or Lil Wayne. I like Gucci, but I don’t like his songs when he’s always saying shit.
HT: It is understandable.Drill music knows you’re on the fence.
Tony Chenault: yes. I am. Like I said, just a little more player. I really fuck, I fuck, what’s that guy’s name? Damn, what’s that guy’s name?they dropped too slimy and too sexy tape.
HT: Cash Coburn and Cho Lee.
Tony Chenault: Yeah brother. I’m fucking with them Something that moves a hoe. Don’t get me wrong. Drill shit is cool. But I like the song where the hoe moves with the girl. you know what i mean? I want a girl to dance I don’t want to shooti don’t have a standoff [laughs].
