AR-Ab on Meek Mill: We Don't Want to Kill Each Other, So Let's Be Cordial
2,109Rappers Dark Lo and AR-Ab sat down with VladTV to talk about Lo's Darkaveli double disk filled with 28 tracks, how they banded, what it took for AR to hear him out, and why there isn't any real gang life in Philadelphia, and it's essentially every man for himself.
While violence is something not to be glorified, Dark Lo says that he noticed it was common once he watched Boyz in the Hood as a child. However, it wasn't until he turned 9 when he witnessed one kid get brutally beaten by other boys in the neighborhood. Unlike Chicago and their gang culture, Lo says that gangs are nonexistent, but they do have sections or "blocks" that retaliate against one another. "In Philly it's blocks." Lo said, "In Philly, it's basically every man for theyself, but if you from 23rd street, we'll still kill each other, but you can't come kill us, [we're] 23rd street."
While facing many adversities, Dark Lo ended up in prison, and once he got out, he heard about AR-Ab's buzz and gravitated to his lyrical skills. After they met up, which AR says was typically doing "street s***," he says Lo revealed that he rapped, but AR made sure he approached him with a CD versus a hot 16 on the spot. "He comes and we making a drug deal, and he says 'you know I rap.'" AR says he responded, "'I ain't tryna hear that s***, you don't rap, man.'" He joked, "I'm looking like he had a beard, looking like a gangsta...I said bring some CDs; I don't want to hear you rap."
Fortunately, once AR got the CD, he and his team liked what they heard, and the rest was history. Further into the interview, Dark Lo talks about feeding the streets with Darkaveli and AR-Ab explains why he rather stay cordial with Meek Mill than have each other shoot at one another.