Larry June Interview on Being Yourself, Lifestyle Rap, Hustling
Game for Sale
For 15 years, Larry June has done the slow-and-steady race to achieve hip-hop success on his terms. The West Coast rapper is a best-case scenario for the independent rap hustle.
Interview: Peter A. Berry
Editor’s Note: This story appears in the Winter 2024 issue of XXL Magazine, on newsstands now and available for sale on the XXL website.
Larry June isn’t a life coach, but he sounds like one. For the last 15 years, the San Francisco native has supplied game from a player’s point of view, turning casual observations into micro manuals for aspiring DIYers while wrapping them in flows that are as laconic as they are engrossing. Throughout that time, which began with his 2010 debut album, Cali Grown, the rapper released a lot of music. Like, a lot.
Despite being just 34, June’s unloaded over 30 projects dating back to the mid-Blog Era. Solo projects like 2022’s Spaceships on the Blade helped make him a mouthpiece for developing hustlers and shades of vaguely accessible luxury. Then there are his tapes with producers Cardo Got Wings (Mr. Midnight) and Harry Fraud (Keep Going), as well as fellow rappers like Jay Worthy (2 P’z in a Pod). With a stacked catalog, he’s remained independent, launching his label, Freeminded Records and partnering with EMPIRE.
Larry recently connected with The Alchemist for 2023’s The Great Escape and Life Is Beautiful, an LP he, Alchemist and 2 Chainz created this past January. Layered in textured soul beats, understated dexterity and perspective, it’s one of 2025’s strongest releases and evidence of a casual workman-like routine. Larry has gained an underground fan base and cult status as a DIY folk hero. He’s more interested in BMX and freshly delivered spring water than the trappings of celebrity—even if he’s ended up involved in it anyway.
While he’s not an A-lister—and Larry doesn’t aspire to be one—he’s done too much to be considered strictly underground. Nearly two weeks before this Zoom interview, he, 2 Chainz and ALC were on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon performing “Life Is Beautiful,” the title cut from their collab album. Their work as a trio earned them a 2025 BET Awards nomination for Best Group. That performance, heavy social media recognition and an expansive list of business ventures like Midnight Organic—Larry’s lifestyle brand for which he’s just unloaded a camo collection—prove he’s in high demand. The diversity of his hustle makes his career itself a gorgeous view, one he’s further illustrating today. This week, he’ll release Until Night Comes, a new joint project with Cardo.
Calling into a Zoom interview on a brisk February afternoon, Larry June discusses lifestyle rap, getting to it on your terms, witnessing 2 Chainz’s methods for the first time, healthy habits and more.
XXL: What makes life beautiful right now?
Larry June: Waking up and being able to do what I love. And I think for even a regular person, just being able to wake up and have a chance to be great and be there for your family and stuff like that. That’s how I was feeling at the time when I wrote that song [“Life Is Beautiful”] and came with the idea and that title of the album.
You’ve worked with The Alchemist before, but what did you learn from working with 2 Chainz?
It was dope being able to work with Chainz. Just seeing his method, his patterns on how he wrote his songs and just trying new things, jumping outside of the box even on smoother beats. It was fun. It was like practicing with a dope-a*s basketball player if that makes any sense. It made me want to step it up and be more comfortable with this sh*t on different type of beats and rap patterns and stuff like that.
Usually, on every album or every song you heard, I pretty much started out all the songs. [2 Chainz] started off pretty much most of the songs, so I was kinda going off of his vibe. I was able to go off of what he was doing instead of me coming with the beginning of the song and. writing everything.
Listen to Larry June, 2 Chainz and The Alchemist’s Life Is Beautiful Album
You’ve rapped for a long time now, and you’ve become an icon of lifestyle rap. Is that something you set out to do from the beginning?
In a way, but it was just more of me just tapping into who I was as a person and being able to express it through the music. So, it’s like I can be literally learning something maybe a week before that or a couple months before that, and I’m talking about it and expressing it through my music. It seems like I’m coming off [like] I’m trying to teach everybody, but I’m kind of expressing what I’ve learned and my experiences, and I feel like a lot of people can relate to it.
It is achievable and for me, it’s just talk about my life. I feel like a lot of people can relate to it because the things that I talk about is real-life stuff. I’m just telling you my perspective on it.
Why do you think people can connect to you so much on this level?
I think them being able to see sh*t firsthand. So, I never deleted a picture off Instagram. I never deleted an old music video or old songs I did, even when I was still trying to find myself. So, I feel like people were able to track back. People can track back and see my whole career. From me saying one day “I’m going to get a Grand National,” or “I’m going to do this,” they tracking the growth and they seeing like, Damn, he actually doing it. It is right there. He just scrolled down to the bottom. You’ll see [I] manifested everything I did throughout the lyrics and the songs through the content I put out. And you can see the growth.
It’s kind of like a bible to how to become successful independently, you know what I mean? In the ups and downs, and it’s like I’m living proof of this sh*t. I might not got crazy platinum records, but I’m making a living off of this stuff. I’m able to put a lot of people in position to be successful. I’m providing for my family, and that’s all people want out this game.
Watch Larry June, 2 Chainz and The Alchemist’s “Bad Choices” Video
Who are some all-time great lifestyle rappers?
Talking to the new generation, I think [Curren$y] brought that to the forefront. But you can go back to artists like Jay-Z. You go to his old Reasonable Doubt album he was literally giving you stories and giving you game way back then up until now. There’s so many of them, I don’t want to leave nobody out.
[But] I feel like those two kept their foot on the gas and kept going no matter what. Even if it’s on the underground level to the mainstream level, they stayed on it and they never changed.
That is real. On a related note, the whole Life is Beautiful album is stand on business, but in a chill way. On “Munyon Canyon,” you said you never had a job and never had a GED. Is that lyric true, and if so, is there a job that you always wanted to try, and you never could?
So, I signed up for a job at Six Flags in ninth grade, but I just never went to the job. But I definitely was approved. That’s the only thing I ever did job-wise. I hustled. It was niggas coming through the projects and give a job like, “Hey, you want to go do this little construction job?” I go do some sh*t off paper, knock down a wall. But I never had a job on paper, I was a product of my environment.
I’m in high school, I’m seeing older niggas getting money and pulling up in whips, and that’s who I’m with every day. So, you kind of lean towards getting some quick money, especially when I don’t have any aspirations of being a doctor or lawyer. It was never a dream for me. I was always a hustler from a kid. I used to rake leaves when I was in ATL, washing cars and selling candy. I always was a hand-to-hand person; you give me the product, I’m going to sell it.
So, I wasn’t glamorizing not having a job or a GED. I’m just saying that it ain’t no rules to this sh*t. It is about being a good person and having the passion and sticking to it, no matter what.
Expanding off the independent hustler spirit, what is some advice you have for people trying to generate passive income?
When it comes to passive income, I think my take on it and [what] was successful for me was focusing on one thing first. Master that one thing and use that as leverage to do something else. It’s all about leveraging this sh*t. So, for instance, I do music. A lot of people know me, they know me as a good businessman in music. I can go open up X, Y and Z businesses because people believe in me as a company already.
Focus on one thing, master that, leverage that to do this and that, and then whatever you love to do, you can make money off of it. I love the hand-to-hand sales; I love selling the product. So, the first thing I ran into was merchandise. I started off selling merchandise out of the trunk, and I used that to get cool with warehouses and be able to collab with bigger brands and building a team. So, I think just thinking of one thing and mastering that.
What’s the most important thing you think young artists should understand before jumping into pursuing music full time?
I think first you need to see if you really want to do it. And not just want the perception of an artist or the lifestyle or fame. Do you really love making music, genuinely? I think that’s the first thing, because you want to put your time into something that you love. And if you don’t love it, when it’s a time where you’re discouraged, you going to give up because you don’t love it anyway.
It’s like a chick dealing with you that kind of like you a little bit, but when sh*t get tricky, I ain’t really feeling that. Onto the next. So, I feel like you want to be able to love what you doing, so love it. Put your best into it and be yourself.
You’re known as a healthy guy. What are some things that you’re doing to work out and stay fit right now?
For right now, I haven’t been biking as much. I think right now, I’ve just been kind of focusing more on a diet. Diet and recording. So, when I’m not on super, I’m inspired right now. I’m in the studio a lot, you know what I mean? Right now, I wake up in the morning, I fast until around one o’clock. I drink my spring water, I fast, but I do fruits and vegetables, maybe some aw spinach [in] a green juice.
I’ll take walks while listening to music or drive to a random little beach, take a walk around there because I’m [in] inspired mode. I’m in my mode where I’m inspired to make music, but when I’m not, I’m biking, I’m jogging, I’m doing outside workouts a lot.
I do a lot of sh*t with my son, too. So, I gotta make time for that as well. Right now, the last couple months, I’ve been focusing on diet and just music and it’s crazy. The diet is very important. Off my diet alone, I lost 20 pounds just by eating different.
You mentioned your son. How old is he, and do you see any of yourself in him?
Thirteen. He’s his own self, but he’s definitely a young man. Very responsible. He knows exactly how he want his stuff to look and he’s confident. He’s a good person, well-mannered. I see a lot of me in him from the way he speaks to people, the way he carries himself. We are a product of our kids, man. So, we always gon’ see those traits, man. Especially if you are a good parent.
I’m happy he ain’t out here trying to go rob nobody or act like he’s somebody he’s not. He stands behind what he likes. And that’s what I love about him, man. He’s himself; he’s not trying to be like Lil Larry June.
You’ve done a lot so far, but what do you think your legacy is in hip-hop to date?
I don’t know. I gotta wait and see, ’cause I’m just being me. The people will talk later on. So, it’s something I gotta just see. I can say what I would want my legacy to be. I would want people to look back at me and be like, “Man, he inspired me to change my life and eat healthy and make investments and be a proud parent.”
I would love for the positivity to be spoken on my name despite everything I went through in the past or anything like that. I would love for that to be my legacy. I would love if people would be like, “Man, he the first person that made me want to go buy a bike.” That’s kind of what I want because that’s just me. I hope I can lead that for the next generation and anybody else who want to come in the game and feel like they might not really be accepted because they different. That’s kinda what I would like my legacy to be.
Watch Larry June and Cardo Got Wings’ “On The Unda” Video
The summer 2025 issue of XXL magazine featuring Larry June’s interview is available to purchase here. The issue also includes interviews with the 2025 Freshman Class and producer Cardo Got Wings, as well as conversations with Aminé, Key Glock, Monaleo, Tech N9ne, Nardo Wick, and more. There is a look back at what the 2024 XXL Freshman Class has been doing and deep dive into who’s the biggest and best XXL Freshman ever.