Hella Juiced: Mac P Dawg

Read the full interview on YoungCalifornia.com!

Mac P Dawg is just one of the many incredible talented members to come out of the Shoreline Mafia crew. Hailing from East Hollywood, the “Let Me Know” rapper actually started rapping accidentally, turning up in the studio one night with Fenix Flexin and freestyling off the dome. In fact, Fenix was the first person he linked with in high school — Mac was a freshman while Fenix was a junior. Read more…

He states, “We were young delinquets, degenerates just doing dumb shit. Going to stores, robbing people, etc.” Fast forward to 2019, Mac is now signed to R Baron and ready to feed his family with the rap money. Piggybacking off the success of Shoreline Mafia, listeners can’t help but gravitate toward his flow and West Coast swag.

Why should people fuck w/ you?
‘Cause I don’t gotta front about anything. I’m straight up, ain’t gotta lie about anything. Everything just rolls with me. That’s probably why everyone fucks with me now.

How would you describe your sound?
A lot of LA for sure. A little bit of old school Wiz, Curren$y type flow. That’s mostly what I grew up listening to, old school LA. A lot of Wiz Khalifa when I was in high school, a lot of Curren$y. Just smooth player shit.

Being from East Hollywood, how does that play into your life and career?
I mean, it’s not the ugliest. Everybody who’s not from LA probably just think Hollywood is a white place. Really once you’ve lived inside the city of Hollywood, you get to see what’s going on everyday. It might sound nice, but it’s really not. It’s so much bullshit going on the city. You feel trapped sometimes. I know so many friends I grew up with in high school and elementary who are still trapped in that little area. It’s not a good area at all, but it made me who I am.

At what point did you realize this music thing was forreal?
Shit, recently. Probably the beginning of this year. I’m not gonna say ever since a little kid I wanted to make music, but I always into it for sure. I didn’t take it seriously until this year because the first song I did, it was really on some shit when we were fucked up in the studio. I liked the beat, then started freestyling on some funny shit. Fenix and Ogeesy kinda pushed me onto it.

I didnt think we were gonna drop a song. I’m like “fuck it, let’s just do it on some fuck around shit. We’ll just stick it in the vault.” We did it. Fenix fucked with it a lot, the engineer fucked with it, everyone in the studio fucked with it. I’m like “let’s see how it goes.” We dropped it on the Shoreline page, the shit got a million in a month.

That was “HALF AND HALF”? 
Yeah, we were just playing around with that shit. It was a fuck around song, I didn’t take it serious.

“Let Me Know” with Ohgeesy is a bop. Bring us back to that studio session.
I was in the studio by myself actually, Ohgeesy wasn’t there. I really wanted a song to be played in the strip club, some ratchet type shit. A song where girls can shake their ass to. I wanted something that was repetitive and catchy as the hook, that’s when I did the “jump do a split.” I’m thinking “yeah, girls can fasho do that at strip clubs. We could do this.” I did everything. Once I got the song back to be mastered, I was thinking “who can I put on it?” I had so many people I could put on this shit, but I wanted the right person. Fenix of course always killing shit, but I already had a song with Fenix. This literally my third song, so I’m like “shit, I’ma gonna get OhG on it.” It’s all love between us. He knows he’ll do whatever he can to try to help me out too. He did the favor by jumping on and shit just went up.

What were you doing before the music? 
I’m not gon’ say, but making money the same way everyone does. Selling shit. I had a job fresh out of high school working at Five Guys. Also a theater, IPIC Theater. That’s where me, Ohgeesy, and Fenix were all working.

At IPIC in Westwood?!
In Westwood, yeah. We was all there 8 deep. 8 of the homies, deep as hell working there. It was so easy ‘cause we all worked together. Easy money. That’s how it started. Ever since a kid, the only person I really listened to was my mother and my sisters. Besides that, I didn’t like getting told what to do. Just wasn’t me. I’d do it obviously ‘cause it was a job, but throughout the time, I’m like “nah, this is not for me. I’m not doing this shit.” During that time, I wasn’t making music. I’m like “shit I can make just as much in the streets — with my own hours. My own time.” I’m like “fuck this.” I already had connections for everything. I was still doing what I was doing while I was working there, but it was wasting my time honestly. It wasn’t what I was growing up to do, I didn’t want to be a server my whole life.

How easy or difficult was it for you to start recording? 
Honestly, I don’t be freestyling nothing. I also don’t be writing. When I have free time, I don’t write. I only write when I’m in the studio. I need the energy and the environment being in the studio makes me want to write. I can’t be on the road and just write something. I need to be in the studio and write. That’s why I might take my time with the music, but just know for a fact that I really put effort into it. When I’m in the studio, I like going by myself. To this day, I like going solo. I’ll bring only 2 people, that’s it. If you’re not working, there’s no point. We can kick it outside the studio, but I just want to work when I’m in the studio. That’s all it’s about.

Best memory shooting the visual for “Let Me Know”?
We was all fucked up off the Henny. Playing basketball, just fucking around. Because the video was simple. We wanted to do something in the strip club, but both me and Ohgeesy got our girls. We’re like “nah, we can’t do that.” We did something on some homie shit. We really didn’t plan it that much. We had a place to be at, all met up there. It was all natural, we didn’t plan it.

Are you guys still partying as hard as you were? 
I’m not gonna say as hard as I was. There’s a few things I stopped doing, a few things we all stopped doing. We weren’t even partying like that no more, it’s really just money now. It’s really me trying to get my music out into the world. I really don’t be about that bullshit. The only time I really go out is if it’s a show and gotta support my people. Besides that, the partying shit was cool once upon a time.

Talk about selling out two days at The Shrine. 
Yo, the Shrine was crazy. Especially setting it out two days in LA, that’s love. The crowd, the energy’s crazy. I love that shit.

What is it you want fans to get from your story?
I’m a regular person like anybody else. If you really put your heart into it, you can make it happen. Even the artists who are huge right now, they’re not any different from us as people. They didn’t give a fuck what people have to say, that’s the reason they’re where they at now. They really put effort into this shit. Put their heart into it and it took off. As long as you know what you want to do, you stick to it — as hard as it might seem if you’re gonna make it or not — it’s really up to you. People are gonna talk their shit, say whatever they’re gonna say, you just gotta eat it up. Put in the type of energy where it makes you stronger.

What can we expect music-wise?
Mixtapes, mixtapes, albums. I got so much shit coming out. I’ve been working with so many crazy engineers and producers. Some crazy shit coming out fasho.

Any collabs?
Real shit, I don’t really seek out artists like that. If people fuck with me, they fuck with me. If you in the studio, we’ll do. On my mixtape, I’ll probably have Ohgeesy, Fenix, Kato, Rob, people I fuck with. LA people, that’s it. If you want to fuck with me, you be on a song, let’s do it. I’m not gonna go out of my way for it.

How does your girl feel about you making records for the strip club? 
Shit, she doesn’t like it. But she knows it’s something I gotta do, like any other girl who’s dating an artist. If you know I’m not doing anything, it’s just something I gotta do to put out there, it shouldn’t be a problem.

How has your life changed since all this… attention? 
That’s probably it, the attention part. My life’s been like this since I was in middle school. I always been having fun with my life. The fans and the attention are probably the only new shit. Besides that, this lifestyle we’ve been living.

How important is social media for your career?
It’s very important. It takes a big part of my music, ‘cause I gotta let my fans know the lifestyle. I get to show them previews of all types of music coming out. It helps a lot, everything from Instagram, Twitter, everything else for sure. It helps a lot of people too. Did a big part for a lot of people’s music for sure.

Who’s your favorite person to follow on IG?
1) Probably Wiz, ‘cause he’s so happy all the time. I love that shit. He’s so happy about the life he living. 2) That real Tarzan dude. He crazy as fuck and I like how he’s trying to save the earth. He’s using social media to try to save earth. He tells a bunch of people daily shit like “don’t litter.” It’s cool, I fuck with it. He’s always in the jungles playing with animals. Crazy animals I don’t think I’d play with, like tigers. I want to do shit like that, it seems fun. I’m so down to earth, that shit’s cool. Not a lot of people are like that.

What’s a normal day in the life? Walk us through.
Wake up early as fuck, you have more hours in the day. Get all the errands done before night for sure. I usually be in the studio 4x out of the week. If I’m in the studio that day, I for sure have my own thing I gotta do before. I gotta get a haircut, I need to look fresh in the studio. I gotta dress fresh in the studio, I gotta eat good in the studio, I gotta drink good in the studio.

3 things you need in the studio?
My Hennessy, my weed, and some life. That’s it.

What would you be doing if you weren’t doing music?
Probably still on the block, doing bullshit. Not anything that I like doing but I gots to. That’s probably it. I can’t really see myself doing anything else no more. If this ain’t it, I don’t know what is.

What’s the best encounter you had with a fan?
When I was out with my mom at Target, helping her with her groceries. A fan sees me there. I tell my mom I be doing music, I tell her all this stuff, but she didn’t take me serious. She knows I’m doing it as a hobby. Once she seen a fan come up to me, she realized “oh, it’s more than just that.” I can meet a fan, it’s whatever. It makes me happy. But for one to come up in front of my moms, it made her realize this real shit. I seen her get happy off of it, it made me happy. I’m like “yeah, this real shit.” I love that shit.

Who’s the most played artist on your phone?
Right now at this moment, Young Dolph. He’s hard. Everything he drops is hard. Him as a person and his voice, you can tell it’s real shit. He’s not lying about what he’s saying. He doesn’t have to lie. I fuck with him a lot.

What advice do you have for an inspiring Mac P Dawg? 
Shit, just don’t give a fuck what they say. Keep real people in your circle. Keep people who are really interested in music and is gonna help you. You’re gonna see plently of people who will act like they’re fucking with you, but they really not. Be positive and always striving. Take care of your moms first of all for sure, that’s all I gotta say.