AD, a rising star from Compton, has produced some of the most thundering L.A. gangsta-rap hits over the last several years. He’s built like an offensive lineman, tatted like Kat Von D and goes harder than Halo. So if fans don’t interrupt him to cheerily ask him how his day is going, it’s no surprise.
“People listen to the music and perceive me like I’m some deranged, crazy gang member,” AD says when we meet at a cafe not far from Hollywood, where he currently resides. “I’ll see people at the mall and they’ll recognize me, but won’t say nothing because they’re afraid that I’ll bang on them.”
This comes with the territory when your video for the YG-aided “Thug” (8 million–plus views) starts with a news account about an on-set shooting incident involving 30 spent shell cases from an AK-47. Or the clip for the G Perico collaboration, “#CripLivesMatter,” where AD wears enough blue to get drafted by the Dodgers and gracefully C-walks across the screen.
Speak On It!