"Now Is The Time To Do Everything I Need To Do": A Raw Interview With Rio Da Yung OG
The best rapper from Michigan talks to POW about his personal evolution, surviving almost five years in jail, his relationship with Drakeo, and more.
Art by Evan Solano
Donald Morrison is pitching on three days rest.
Rio Da Yung OG was approaching Reno, Nevada in a wood-paneled tour bus when he finally beamed onto my computer screen. The shit-talking pioneer was at the beginning of an enormous, 50-plus-stop, country-wide tour — the flyer of which went viral for how cartoonishly long and intense the schedule looks. When asked if the next three months of nonstop shows seemed daunting, Rio just shrugged and said he’s going with the flow. It’s an answer that conveys how hard it is to shake the helplessness of nearly seven years of restricted freedom.
For the entirety of Rio’s career, the Flint, Michigan-raised rapper has been under some form of confinement. He was on house arrest in 2019 when he earned his first viral hit with “Legendary,” an endless barrage of one-liners that serve as a jaw-dropping introduction to Rio’s deadpan villainy. As his music was taking off online, Rio was sentenced to spend nearly five years in federal prison, which he began in the summer of 2021. To maintain relevance, Rio says he recorded what amounts to hundreds of songs in preparation for his prison bid.
His plan worked. He’s perhaps one of the only contemporary rappers, aside from Drakeo The Ruler, to get more popular while serving years in confinement, years away from a rap ecosystem that forgets about artists the moment they’re not visible. Fiend Lives Matter in December 2021 and single “Talkin Crazy” confirmed Rio to be effortless while the numerous rappers shamelessly riding the wave he created could not find their footing. These artists attempting to capitalize on Rio’s signatures were mere knock-offs, simply playlist-filler until Rio was released to a halfway house in Atlanta in December 2024.
Rio wasted no time getting back to work after his release, continuing his prolific output with “RIO FREE,” the best first day out-track in recent memory. An accompanying album followed, and although it felt a little rushed, it still cemented his return to the top of the Michigan rap pyramid. His official debut album, F.L.I.N.T. (Feeling Like I’m Not Through), shows a less-hurried and more experimental side of Rio without losing his flow and trademark humor, used as a weapon to expose and process the pain, absurdity, and contradictions of his environment, whether that’s Flint or a federal prison in Arkansas.
I caught up with Rio in early August over video chat, hours after he left Portland, Oregon, where he performed for a sold out crowd three nights in a row in both Rose City and neighboring Renton, Washington. We spoke about the new album, what it’s like being free to roam the country after years of being locked down, how prison impacted his relationships with family, Rio’s surprise at all the white people at his shows, fatherhood, his hit “Shark,” with Jorjiana, and the passing of Drakeo. We also talked about Rio’s relationship to Flint, and how he plans to give back to the city that raised him.
https://open.spotify.com/album/5Jn2jLQVdViuoHPnXpcJu7
You're on this crazy ass tour right now. I saw the flyer going viral because there's so many dates and no real breaks. How does it feel touring so far after some many years locked down?
Rio Da Yung Og: I'm in it now. I think we like, what, 13 days in now? I'm just going with the flow, you know?
I saw that one of your kids was with you on the tour. Is he going to be with you the whole time?
Rio Da Yung Og: My son was with me for the first six days. Then I had to send him back home. He started school today, so I had to get him back home to get ready.
Damn, I bet he was bummed to leave the tour to have to go back to school.
Rio Da Yung Og: [laughs] He keeps asking me about it. It was a good experience for him though. His birthday was on July 18th, and he had said all he wanted for his birthday was to perform on stage. So I made it happen for him.
I think I saw a video of him performing! That was in Flint, right? It was your first time back since your release?
Rio Da Yung Og: The first day of the show we went to Detroit, but then we went back to Flint. They gave me a proclamation that day. The mayor wrote me a letter, and just acknowledged me for helping the community. They’re trying to put together a Key to the City for me, and my own street.
I’m sure that has to feel surreal after everything you’ve been through these past five to seven years.
Rio Da Yung Og: I had to do time FOR my city, basically. I felt like I did my time so a lot of kids in my city don't have to, you know I'm saying? I can be that voice to tell them that it's not where you want to end up.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ODIHFyf9Qc&list=RD8ODIHFyf9Qc&start_radio=1
What do you think changed the most about you personally during that time away? I feel like you went away at such a pivotal point in your career, how did it feel to have to step back?
Rio Da Yung Og: It was bittersweet. I feel like it helped me more than anything. I was able to sit down and actually find myself, find my direction in life. Because I wasn’t making music before all this. I started making music after I caught my case. So it was kind of like, this is my life, you know? I'm saying it showed me that the worst shit can happen to you, and you can make the best out of it. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was gonna be, because my life changed during the process of me going through what I went through. I feel like it was necessary.
This is one of the biggest reasons why I've connected with your music. I was a teenage opioid addict. I got clean from that in 2014. I can tell that you've struggled with similar drugs, just based on the music. A good example is your song “Last Day Out.” You have such a unique perspective on addiction, prison, consequences, personal ownership of fault. You never make yourself a victim of circumstance, and it just felt very authentic. I definitely benefited from going to jail at one point, not as long as you did. But I did need it. I did need to sit my ass down for a second.
Rio Da Yung Og: Yeah, sometimes I feel like even if a person gets life in prison, like that might be saving them from dying, you know? I'm just saying, like, there’s definitely a good side to everything. Sometimes stuff happens for a reason, definitely.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sB51CUUod1w&list=RDsB51CUUod1w&start_radio=1
How do you balance needing that time to sit down, versus getting out of prison and jumping into the life of an entertainer and rapper? It just seems very fast, with your recording schedule and being on this tour. Are you able to still get moments to slow down?
Rio Da Yung Og: Not really, honestly. I haven't really had a chance to enjoy the experience of being a rapper. I've been in custody my whole career. There’s been so many restrictions, like me not being able to travel for the first four years of my career. I just had to make it work. Before prison, I was saying to myself just ‘work, work, work, work.’ That's why I feel like the prison bid was like the most time to myself that I’ll probably get for a while. You know what I'm saying? Because there's so much more that I need to do in my career. I’ve been rapping for five, six years already, I still haven't done a lot of stuff. Now it's time for me to do everything I need to do. You know what I'm saying?
And it's funny, because from a fan's perspective, even while you were gone, there was constantly new music coming out, like “Talking Crazy,” is one of your biggest songs. You also had a great project, lots of features, it kind of never felt like you were gone. You had so many artists, like putting on for you too, and just so many people carrying the torch and really paying homage to your style, and so never really felt like you were absent from the culture.
Rio Da Yung Og: I tried to make it like that, because I was on pre-trial for two years. I was preparing myself to go to prison. So I tried to pre-record a lot and do a lot of videos. And I actually feel like I kind of had dropped the ball, because I had dropped too much music. As soon as I got locked up, I felt like I wasn't being patient enough. I was supposed to spread it out a little more, but we still made it work. We were able to get some music out basically every year. The two tapes I dropped when I was in prison, I was in a hole both times they dropped. So I wasn't able to post it. I wasn't able to do anything like I was in the hole. So for the music to still do the numbers it did with me not being able to promote it or say anything. It showed me that it was a little bigger than I thought.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAQJZ6Ix7AU&list=RDIAQJZ6Ix7AU&start_radio=1
How does it feel now that you're out, doing these shows and seeing people with the “Rio Free” shirts, and the fans that know every word to the music. How does it feel connecting with fans this way after all these years?
Rio Da Yung Og: It's still kind of surreal. I didn't think it'd be like that. I knew people knew me and everything, but I didn't know it was gonna be that serious, where everybody knows the lyrics. I used to hear stuff my people would say, and I’d see the streaming numbers, I’d look on Instagram. But to see it in person is like, totally different, you know? I'm saying, this first leg of the tour, we've been to all these random spots in places like Idaho, Nebraska, Washington, and it's all white people. I can't believe this. Like, I haven't really seen too many black people in the crowd.
That's something that I hear a lot of rappers talk about. It's like an artist imagines they’re making their music with a specific listener in mind, then they find out it's like all these white people buying tickets to the shows and knowing all the words. It’s like, what the hell? I didn't know who my music was getting to or impacting so heavily.
Rio Da Yung Og: Yeah, that’s a different type of feeling.
I've always thought that your music is very cinematic. You’re like a Quentin Tarantino type antihero, or likeable villain, you know? But you’re also very funny, very deadpan. Have you ever thought about this connection? Or drawn inspiration from films?
Rio Da Yung Og: Nah, it was different for me. It always started with the neighborhood for me. You know, black people, the ghetto, this is where I came from.
I've seen this video on YouTube of you and RMC Mike punching-in with each other, making music and showing your process. It seemed very off-the-cuff, just kind of trying to make each other laugh. Has your process changed that much since doing time? The new record feels almost like an elevation in terms of beat choices and the density of the rapping on songs like “Another Story.” Have you started writing a little or changed your artistic process at all?
Rio Da Yung Og: No, I haven't. I feel like I’ve rapped so much since I've been on house arrest, that it's like I can damn near write the shit it in my head for real now instead of freestyling. I’ve recorded over 600 songs since December. It's only getting easier for me. I've been in a space where I want to just work with new producers and new ideas. I'm saying different producers because it's so easy to do what I'm used to doing, which is shit-talking. I've been seeing a lot of comments from fans saying they want the whole Rio back. But that's not what growth is about. You know what I'm saying?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GvnoJfYfdQ&list=RD7GvnoJfYfdQ&start_radio=1
Absolutely.
Rio Da Yung Og: When I dropped “Sneaky B,” a lot of people were saying they ain't liking this stuff, but the numbers are getting higher and higher. So it's like, it seemed like one of when the fans react and say, it's not the old flow, they want the old flow. But growth really makes what I’m doing get bigger, because after so long, it sits on them, and they be like, “Well, damn, we actually just talking crazy, this is hard!”
And from my perspective, it doesn't really feel like the old Rio has left necessarily. Even on “Sneaky B,” the beat is crazy and I love that you're kind of branching out. And with the new fans that you get, they'll be able to go back and find your older stuff and really enjoy it.
Rio Da Yung Og: I've been rapping with a lot of people, you know what I'm saying? Like females and just new artists. So the people, they don't understand what's going on. But that's why I said when the album drops, they will see that I ain't went nowhere. But I really hadn’t been giving fans much music because I couldn't. I was just in a situation where I couldn't record, where I couldn't drop music. So, the fans were only hearing a little bit, and it was all like features or something I just did quickly. So they’re hearing what they used to hear. But with this album, dropping 20 songs, they finna’ get what they’re looking for, basically.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_vlNOnXmDM&list=RDe_vlNOnXmDM&start_radio=1
It's still so impressive that you dropped “Rio Free” and the album right when you got out. I remember when the video hit and seeing you walk onto the plane, it was just such a big moment for hip-hop, because I feel like it's hard for some rappers to do a lot of time and come and bounce back, hit it hard like that. And then I gotta say I love “Shark” with Jorjiana. That has to be my song of the summer. What was it like linking up with her?
Rio Da Yung Og: It was cool, because we didn't do the song in person. She had sent me the verse, and I did my part real quick, and I was kind of sick when I made that verse. So my voice was kind of gone. I had to get it out right then and there. When she pulled up to do the video, it just came together, like I had moved it around and put the shark back in it, because first it was just her verse and then my verse. When they mixed it up, it made it better. I didn't expect it to do what it did, though.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Bj6QCU3Ggg&list=RD0Bj6QCU3Ggg&start_radio=1
It seems like family and loyalty are big themes in your songs, especially since you've gotten out. How has your experience in prison affected those relationships, and how does it show up for you in your recent work?
Rio Da Yung Og: Honestly, my prison experience kind of put a wedge between me and a lot of my family, you know what I'm saying? And I don't know if it's good or bad. I be feeling like everything happened for a reason. When you go to prison, you see who is really with you. It's easy to say you with somebody when they’re winning or they’re helping out so much, but when you're in a position where you really can't do nothing. People's true colors come out. I saw a lot for what it was.
When someone goes to prison, they kind of expect people to change. Because we are in prison, right? I had to sit down and realize that it's like, Nah, y'all didn't go through the traumatizing experience I did, so I might have gone through change, but when I look back, people are the same they were when I left. Because we are so close, you know what I'm saying? When we put distance in between each other, the true colors come out. And it just be simple as that, I don't feel like nobody meant harm or nothing, it’s just I didn't see their true character before prison.
Definitely. A lot can happen in that time and it shows you who's really down and who's kind of just looking out for themselves and just hanging around. What's your favorite city outside of Flint or Detroit, if you had to say?
Rio Da Yung Og: Los Angeles, hands down!
That’s a good answer, I’m wearing my old Free Drakeo The Ruler shirt now.
Rio Da Yung Og: Yeah, I just went to LA the other day and took a picture at the Drakeo mural they got painted.
I remember watching a vlog with you and him back when you visited LA before you went to prison. How was it meeting Drakeo and Ralfy The Plug back then? What's your relationship like with the Stinc Team?
Rio Da Yung Og: I just talked to Ralfy. Actually, he just sent me three songs with Drakeo on there that he wanted me to do for his album. I guess they're gonna drop a Drakeo album. And Drakeo had hit me a lot of times before he passed. He was trying to get me on his tape, but I was just so busy, I wasn't able to do it in time. So I feel like I gotta do it. Because that was like the last conversation we had when I came to LA and met him. He had done a song or two, and it was cool. Because he was so hard to me. It was like when I saw Ralfy the other day, he had been hitting me on Instagram. I told him, like, when I get out there, it'd be easy. So I want to record my verse for the Drakeo songs in LA, I want to get that LA feeling.
I saw that Ralfy gifted you some kind of Drakeo figurine that looked really awesome.
Rio Da Yung Og: He said it was the last one. He gave it to me. It means a lot to me for real, because, you know, he was special.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vA16xrGaMcM&list=RDvA16xrGaMcM&start_radio=1
Do you remember when you heard that Drakeo had passed while you were locked up?
Rio Da Yung Og: Yeah, I remember. I thought it was fake because it didn't sound right, you know? Like, it was at a festival with Snoop Dogg and, like, everybody there. I thought it was false information. I'm like, maybe it was a fight or something. But the next day, when I saw it was serious, that shit hurt me. I had a good experience with Drakeo whenever we talked. When you meet somebody that's just like us, like, an instant connection, it feels like I lost somebody close, you know?
I remember hearing you guys on the song “Black Holocaust.” It was like, how are my two favorite rappers linking up? But also it made sense that y’all would be fans of each other.
Rio Da Yung Og: “Black Holocaust” is special because when we did that, he was locked up and I was on house arrest. It was special because we were still able to pull it off.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjgH7BTfwNc&list=RDyjgH7BTfwNc&start_radio=1