Fab Five #3: An Interview w/ thirteendegrees°
Fab Five is an interview series with up and coming rappers surrounding the albums/songs that inspire them.
Every generation is waiting to get pillaged for nostalgia. The radio records that soundtracked Allen Iverson playoff runs turn into background sounds in TV commercials. Times you experienced as a young adult are now the stages of period pieces. Nostalgia is weaponized by big companies for profit with aging sitcom actors and 10 year old bits played out by water cooler conversations days after they orginally happened, so what does it mean when truly creative forces use it?
The last few weeks have drawn me deeper into finding the answer through Clique City Vol. 2, the breakout tape from Chicago’s thirteendegrees°. What might come off as the first in an upcoming wave of artists scouring the 2010s for inspiration now that the well is starting to run dry on the early 00’s, is actually a benevolent adoration of a time centered around mindlessly enjoying life. Maybe it was just me being in middle school, but there was an ignorant optimism post-recession that bled through most of the Obama years biggest rap releases. Watch The Throne, anything Blog Era related that wasn’t Charles Hamilton or Joe Budden, Pitbull and Flo Rida’s dance-pop radio hits; it was mindless but at least it was fun.
Now, drill of all variants, rage, the overly compressed Glokk40Spaz/LAZER DIM stuff; all the major sub-genres that defined post-COVID hip-hop have thrived off raw negative emotions or drug-fueled brainrot with no joy in sight. To counter this half-decade of traumatized rap, thirteendegrees° picked apart his favorite tunes from when things were more fun, repurposing it for today’s audience. A few weeks back over FaceTime, I interviewed rap’s newest party boy about the 5 songs that inspired his sound and mission as an artist with a detour into fashion inspirations.
The following interview took place February 4th, 2025 and has been shortened and edited for clarity. This full interview is also featured in THE LINX MAG #1, up for purchase today here.
Anthony (The Linx): Growing up was there a lot of people doing music with you?
Thirteendegrees°: I only started like 2 years ago. I was so sports, so basketball focused growing up. No one in my school really was rapping. Only one rapper, MAF Teeski. You know him?
A: Nah, I’m not familiar.
T: Yeah he a street artist, he got a real good buzz. That was the only rapper from my high school.
A: How old are you?
T: 24
A: Cause a lot of your stuff reminded me of that early 10’s era. Like all that Wayne stuff mostly. I’m a little older so that was my middle school years and all that stuff feels so vivid. I think that’s what got me off rip, cause no one else tapped into that era yet.
T: Yeah all that inspired me. Wayne, T-Pain, The-Dream. Plus Thug of course. I try to mix it all in with more modern stuff to see what I can create.
A: What was it that made you start taking music serious? What has it been you put out like 5 tapes that last 2 years?
T: I was talking to this girl from Atlanta, and she asked me who in the underground up in Chicago is poppin’ that isn’t all just street shit. I was thinkin’ and all I could think of was Lucki, and that was a while ago he blew up. It made me think I could give Chicago what it was missing. That was the thing that made me think “yeah I should try this out”.
A: It’s all fun and full. The production feels fulls of ideas. I can tell from the detail you take it serious, but for it to be light and loose like that is refreshing. What were 5 songs or albums that jumped it off for you that inspire you still?
1) “Creator” by Santigold
T: She wasn’t afraid to genre-bend her music. She was all over the place in her creative style. The album that I took inspiration in, it was kinda like all over the place, but still made sense at the end of the day. That’s what really made me feel like I don’t gotta stick to one box in terms of inspiration for myself. Inspiration can come from hip-hop, rock, pop, electronic. It made me feel like I can really go outside and still make everything make sense.
2) “Paper Planes” by MIA
A: What’s special about M.I.A. to you?
T: She wasn’t afraid to go a little deep. It would be a turnt, electronic beat on some dance music shit, but would throw a deep ass bar that would make you think. It was like “OK I don’t gotta just talk about party shit or whatever other rappers are on about”. I’m a deep person and think I can throw some deep stuff in the mix.
3) “Sexy Girl Anthem” by Roscoe Dash
T: It’s just an anthem. Like every song I make I want it to sound like an anthem. Dash was so hook oriented. All his hooks for real plus the beats were so exciting. Every time you listen to them you get excited and wanna dance. That’s why I wanted to start making music. I want to see fun. This generation it’s all street shit, and all that mysterious shit. I wanna break that stigma. We’re still human, we don’t gotta do some facade for the internet. We can still be creative but still be human.
A: I imagine your shows have gotta be live as hell. All your songs are so live, so fun. Do you feel that reaction from your audiences?
T: Hell yeah. Every show I turn it up. Everybody be moshing, even the girls get jumping. The shows be live, you gotta slide.
A: Where have you been out at so far?
T: Chicago and Atlanta. I’m about to start having shows out of town cause this album is getting a lot of traction. We’ll see towards the summer.
A: I feel that Atlanta energy from your music a lot. Roscoe, Thug, early Future. Is that what you feel like you listen to mostly or is it still a mix of everything?
T: It’s a big part of my music, but I don’t wanna dumb it down to just a couple people. Rich Kidz, old Future, Young Thug but that’s definitely a couple inspirations. I just wanna put black culture back on the map in terms of…y’know less street shit. More club music, everybody havin’ fun. That’s what I wanna bring back to hip-hop, the underground especially. We all wanna be rock stars..like..we black! Why don’t nobody rep they city or wanna put on for hip-hop culture. I wanna be one of those dudes to bring everyone together.
A: You having you face forward and not hiding behind nothing is dope too. I will say the one thing similar to you and the “mysterious” kinda guys is the fashion focus. All your outfits and aesthetic feels of this old era too. Who are some of your style inspirations when you’re looking for fits or ideas.
T: A$AP Rocky, Kanye. Really those two. 'Ye back in the 2010’s was a Givenchy warrior.
A: Leathered out at all times.
T: Rocky with all the snapbacks and all the black shit. Plus the Keef shit with the dreads always in my face. Big pants saggin’. Plus all the women back then too. They used to wear a lot of spikes, a lot of furs, shit that pop off. I gain inspiration from them, scrolling on Tumblr every night at all these pictures from that time. I try to mix in some modern stuff I got, but that’s the inspo for real.
A: That was such a distinct time. Like the style now is what? What’s 2020’s fashion going to be viewed as in 20 years?
T: Everyone dressing the same now.
4) “Show Me A Good Time” by Drake
T: I just love talking about love and shit. I don’t wanna sound weird, but i’m a lover boy you know? I be tending to my feelings and shit, going in the world tough as hell, but when I make music it’s my chance to really tell how I feel. I can release it on the track and still feel good about it and hopefully whoever listens can relate. He wasn’t afraid to look soft. He killed that whole stigma of men having to be tough. He was one of the dudes that made it cool to be soft sometimes.
A: Especially how you described earlier with the idea of Chicago being known for all the street/drill stuff, when you have someone on the big stage reminding you “hey we’re all gonna fall in love one day, why are we pretending like we’re not?”
T: Exactly, I wanna be that person to the world and my fans one day.
5) “You Da Boss” by Rick Ross & Nicki Minaj
A: Nicki during that time felt as big as Wayne with the fashion, the voices, the fun music. What is it about Nicki in that time that you gravitate towards?
T: Her personality. She wasn’t playing it cool. A lot of women rappers now focus on being the boss, and she portrayed that back then but had an all “out there” personality. She gave black people a pass to not have to be on some cool, street stuff. It’s ok to be weird and unique in your own way. You don’t gotta fit this mold the world puts us in. You can dress and act outside the box and the people will love it.
A: 100%. That made her a star to me. Crazy wigs, voices, all fun.
Future Plans
A: Is there anything new going forward with what you’re working on now that you’re looking to build on, or are you focused in on perfecting what your doing now?
T: I always gotta evolve. This music game evolve changes every couple months. You gotta always add some flavor to what you got. Never just sit back thinkin’ you’re good. Even the biggest artists like Future, Drake, Carti, they always reinvent and change. I got the sound now that everyone messing with, but I can always add new sounds, new voices. The plan right now is to get a bunch of videos going, push the album independently and keep gettin’ my name out there. Give the people one more album before the summer maybe? We’ll see what happens after that.
Read our review of Clique City Vol. 2 here, and stream the album on all platforms.
This full interview is featured in THE LINX MAG #1, up for purchase today here