4TUNAT Talks “Dreams”, Skype Rap Battles, Recent NFL Placement, Musical Inspirations, and More!

If you haven’t noticed yet there is a ton of fresh new sounds leading the next generation of hip-hop coming out of Atlanta. Among the most notable is 4TUNAT, at only 20 years old he’s already making a big splash in the underground rap scene. Having worked on music for many years now, reaching a pivotal point in his career when singing with Geffen Records, he’s on the up-and-up.

I had the privilege to speak with 4TUNAT on his journey so far in music, some of his biggest inspirations, and recount a few career highlights! We are also given some insight into what to expect in 2023. If you’re not tapped into his music just yet, start with “Dreams”, 4TUNAT’s latest release, and follow with his personal favorites mentioned below!

Tell me a little bit of background about yourself, how you got into music and the transition to taking it seriously.

Initially, I’ve always been doing music I was a part of choirs and singing so I've been doing that for a minute. The rapping started at lunch tables at school and when I went to Canada one summer I met a producer around the same age as me, I must have been like 12, so I started rapping. My cousin introduced me to rap battling over Skype and you would have matches with these people. I started really making music around that time as well and took it more seriously, I felt rap battling couldn't elevate me to where I wanted to be in life. I started solely focusing on music and writing in 2015, so yeah that's when I started taking it seriously, for about 7 years now. I've been just locked in making music with Greyson Selin one of my main producers from Canada and 2Fly, but yeah I just met so many people that really reinforced the route of the music I chose.

You’re from Atlanta, how has this influenced your sound/style and music?

I think Atlanta just got that sauce. The way we talk, the way we dress, I feel like Atlanta just has that and it definitely influenced me. I met my manager here and it's so open to music. It’s one of the meccas for hip-hop, that's played an important role. Being born here and from here, knowing what's around the city. That's helped me get inspired in the music and just in the way I carry myself.

Who are some of your largest musical influences?

So biggest musical influences when I was young were a lot of Usher, Ne-Yo, Biggie, and T-Pain, I used to love that. More of my recent ones have been Drake, The Fugees, and Wyclef Jean, there are so many. Definitely of the new age people Trippie Redd, Lil Uzi, and Juice Wrld. I would say I used to also like a lot of reggae, Damian Marley, and some gospel I wouldn't say it influenced my sound as much.

Where does your lyrical inspiration come from, and what are you mostly speaking about in your music?

Really all of my inspiration comes from life. I’ll talk about things that may irk me or I get all my grievances and all my emotions out. Anything with people or life experiences and things happening I get it all out on the mic. It's coming from this inner desire to want to deliver something of substance and good to the people listening, but also in the same way as my journal, to document the moments of life and have people listen.

Tell me a bit about your latest release “Dreams” and the story behind it.

So around the time I recorded dreams, I was being shopped around different labels and my life was changing a lot. I recorded that song and I have a lot of references to big bros and the team around me. The hook goes / dreams gotta keep it / all of my dreams are really coming true and dreams turn into reality. I was out there in LA and just living the dream I always wanted to live.

Do you have a personal favorite single you've put out so far?

Yeah one of my favorite times of recording was either “MAX” or “Gilette” these are under the label, and my all-time favorite song that’s released is probably “Long Time Ago”, which was back in 2020. I really love when I recorded Gilette and MAX and the videos were fun and some of the best times in life
How would you describe your music to someone who’s never listened?

I would say a lot of genre-bending with a cosmic splash.

What have been some career highlights for you?

Definitely, “Gilette” being featured on NFL, that was huge! Also when I did a video with Overcast. It's one thing to be a consumer and just digest content and another thing to see all the content being made by certain creators and be able to actually work with them, to have your whole vision come to life. Every release is a highlight of my year, of life. Every new release is something new for me, pushing me to the next level from what the last one was.

What can we expect to see from you in 2023?

Visuals wise I think an array of crazier videos, every video getting better from the last, and definitely a more cohesive story. I'm really into story-building for my album coming out next year. These singles are connected to what the album is about, connected to the overall vision, of 4TUNAT. For now, this is just phase one of 4TUNAT, and the next phase is coming.