The First Rule of Touring With Dave Blunts? No Shitting On the Bus.

Haters will say Dave Blunts’ 15 minutes of fame are almost up. His response? “Damn, this is a long ass 15 minutes.” The rapper first broke TikTok about a year ago when he dropped the earworm lean addiction anthem, “The Cup.” Clips from the subsequent tour began circulating, sparking fascination and concern, with Blunts even intubated on stage at some of his shows. But he’s committed to performing, and since then, he’s been carefully ascending in an industry he feels is wary of embracing his absurd and often incendiary lyricism. Earlier this year, Kanye West publicly offered Blunts both his personal trainer and his endorsement, calling him “the chosen one” and enlisting him to write his single “Cousins.” More recently, Blunts dropped his new album, You Can’t Say That, honing in on his melodic, unfiltered style before hitting the road again, this time to an even crazier crowd. “Bitches fainting when they meet me,” he told us earlier this week when he called from Atlanta to talk souvenirs from fangirls, working with Ye, and finally putting down the cup.

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MEKALA RAJAGOPAL: I’m so excited to talk. I’m such a big fan.

DAVE BLUNTS: Oh, thank you.

RAJAGOPAL: Sounds like you’re busy today.

BLUNTS: Yeah, I’m on my way to New York.

RAJAGOPAL: You’re from Iowa, what’s the music scene like out there?

BLUNTS: There is no music scene out there. It’s just a couple people with music equipment, but there is no music scene. I moved to L.A.

RAJAGOPAL: That makes sense. How’s tour life been?

BLUNTS: This shit sucks. I mean, I love performing, it’s worth it, but I got bullshit I got to go through to get to the stage. I enjoy performing, but everything else fucking sucks.

RAJAGOPAL: Right, there’s so much behind the scenes. But you had a lot of sold out shows, that’s fire.

BLUNTS: Yeah, a good majority of the tours sold out.

RAJAGOPAL: And you just played in Atlanta. Take me through your time there, what did you do?

BLUNTS: Well, I’m naturally a recluse. I don’t really do too much, so if I’m not performing, I’m just chilling at the hotel or hanging out on the bus with my friends. I went to the venue and a lot of the workers there were really big fans, so I was talking to them and taking pictures with them. It was really a welcoming and warm environment in Atlanta. 

RAJAGOPAL: I love that. Who do you bring with you on tour?

BLUNTS: I’m traveling with my two producers, my best friend Jesse Jones, my managers, my DJ, and the merch guy.

RAJAGOPAL: You guys just chill on the bus?

BLUNTS: Yeah, it’s a decent amount of room. There’s not supposed to be any shitting on the bus, but I have a theory that niggas have been shitting on this bus.

RAJAGOPAL: Why is that?

BLUNTS: Because it smells like niggas have been shitting on the bus.

RAJAGOPAL: That’s a shame. So where do you get your outfits for the stage?

BLUNTS: My grandma makes all my tracksuits. That’s all I wear. 

RAJAGOPAL: Wow, that’s sweet. What’s on your rider backstage?

BLUNTS: Watermelon and grape juice.

RAJAGOPAL: Okay, refreshing. What’s your pregame like?

BLUNTS: Well, I need to be sober-minded while I’m out there.

RAJAGOPAL: So you put down the cup?

BLUNTS: Yes, ma’am.

RAJAGOPAL: How do you get your mind right then?

BLUNTS: I’m usually just sitting there and thinking right before I go on stage. I usually am not nervous until right before I’m about to go on stage, and then I’ll get very nervous. I just sit there and just get very nervous until I have to go on stage and then once I hit the stage, I’m good.

RAJAGOPAL: I saw that your jeweler pulled up backstage.

BLUNTS: He didn’t have shit. He came with an empty bag.

RAJAGOPAL: Really? It looked like he was pulling something out.

BLUNTS: It was a bunch of cleaning supplies. They kicked that nigga out from backstage. I don’t have any jewelry on.

RAJAGOPAL: How was the crowd that night?

BLUNTS: The show was amazing. They knew every word to every single song, which normally they do, but there’s still deep cuts that they don’t know. Atlanta knew every single song. That shit was insane. That was the best crowd I had so far.

RAJAGOPAL: What’s your stage setup like?

BLUNTS: Just me and my couch. It has my name on it.

RAJAGOPAL: What’s the best song to perform?

BLUNTS: It’s hard to say. I wasn’t really paying attention to what song they responded to the most, but probably “10 PERCS.” They really like that song. My favorite song to perform is “10 PERCS” because everybody is singing that shit and it sounds like a goddamn sea shanty or some shit.

RAJAGOPAL: How does it feel now performing without the oxygen tube?

BLUNTS: It feels good. It feels right. It feels like the next step into progression.

RAJAGOPAL: You’ve mentioned that your most recent hospital visit really changed you. Do you feel different now, in general?

BLUNTS: Yeah, I definitely do. I’m determined to not go back and to really change. It’s an everyday struggle. Sometimes we fail, but it’s important that we get back up again.

RAJAGOPAL: Absolutely. Have you had any crazy fan moments on tour?

BLUNTS: Yeah, a couple. There’s a bunch of fangirls that be freaking out to meet me. It’s pretty crazy, visibly shaking and shit. There was a girl that had all of my exes’ names on her shirt, with “Fuck” next to all their names.

RAJAGOPAL: Wow. How many names were on the shirt?

BLUNTS: I don’t even fucking know. It was a good amount, maybe nine or 10. It was a long ass T-shirt.

RAJAGOPAL: She did her research. So it’s mostly the girls that are freaking out?

BLUNTS: Yeah.

RAJAGOPAL: You have a lot of female fans, I think.

BLUNTS: The things I say in my music are pretty crazy. I didn’t really think that would be too appealing to women, but hey.

RAJAGOPAL: Who threw their bra at you? 

BLUNTS: I don’t know, but it was pretty big. I was able to fit my head into it, so I was wearing that shit like a crown after the show. It was pretty cool.

RAJAGOPAL: If you were to tour internationally, what’s one city on your bucket list?

BLUNTS: Man, I got to do Australia. Every day somebody from Australia will message me or come into my Discord and beg me to come. I got to see what’s going on out there. I heard they got giant people-eating spiders.

RAJAGOPAL: I want to ask you about the new album. 

BLUNTS: This album, I feel, is like a masterpiece. It did what I wanted it to do.  It was definitely a progression for me as far as production and overall sound.

RAJAGOPAL: Why did you title it You Can’t Say That?

BLUNTS: If you look at the album cover, it’s me as a teacher, and on the board there’s a bunch of bad words, and there’s students in the class. That’s to represent people saying, “Yo, you’re teaching the kids all these things in your songs.” I’m playing into that, but I don’t necessarily think that I’m teaching kids bad words. For one, I’m not the creator of these words. These words were out there before me and they’re going to be out there after me. Second, it’s not my job. It’s the parent’s job to make sure that their kids don’t have full access to the internet. I was a kid who had full range and that’s why I be saying the shit I be saying now. I had a computer at nine years old and was able to look at the internet without any type of restrictions. At the time, the internet was changing and we didn’t really know what exactly it was. Now that we do, we got to blame the parents for allowing their kids to wander on the internet and stumble on an overweight nigga holding a double cup singing about being in love with Promethazine. 

RAJAGOPAL: Right. You’re not making music for the kids.

BLUNTS: Nope. Kids love that shit though.

RAJAGOPAL: They love anything they feel like they’re not supposed to be doing. But you’re not afraid to really go for it with your lyrics. What’s your process with writing? 

BLUNTS: I usually will have something on my mind that’s bothering me and I’ll go into the studio and make a song about it. Or sometimes I’ll be in there with my friends and we’ll just be cracking jokes already and I’ll make a song about something that we said that I thought was pretty funny. But I’m still putting my real life into the music. I have a song called “Doxycycline” about how even though I kicked this girl out of the crib, I’m still finding her stuff. I’m finding her medications and I’m like, “Oh, shit. This is chlamydia medication.” It goes, “Even though I kicked you out, I can’t get rid of you. I found your pills, girl. I know you got chlamydia.” I already couldn’t get rid of the [girl], but now I really can’t get rid of you because you gave me chlamydia. It’s funny, but it’s real.

RAJAGOPAL: Do you have a favorite bar of yours?

BLUNTS: I really like the bar in  “10 PERCS” like, “Xanax don’t help me and just put me into a trance, I’m talking about euphoria, I’m not talking about a man.” I think that’s really clever, and I came up with that right there on the spot, just freestyling. That shit was probably one of the most genius things I’ve ever said in or outside of music.

RAJAGOPAL: That’s a good one. I think on that topic, you clarify that you’re not gay in a lot of your songs. Why do you think that is?

BLUNTS: I mean, I have no problem with gay people or transgender people or any part of the LGBTQ community. Why do I say in my songs that I’m not gay? Simple: I’m not gay.

RAJAGOPAL: I thought as much.

BLUNTS: There’s not really much thought into it. It’s just, shit, I’m not gay. I’m just letting them know.

RAJAGOPAL: Is there anything that’s been on your mind lately that you feel like you want to rap about?

BLUNTS: There definitely are opportunities that I would’ve had the chance to get if I didn’t have such crazy lyrics, which I’m not saddened by, because if somebody doesn’t want to work with me because of something I said, I don’t want to work with them anyway. But it is definitely frustrating when there are people telling me, “It’s kind of hard for me to get this opportunity for you when you’re making this type of music.” And it’s like, you knew who you were getting into business with and now you’re mad that the controversial guy is being controversial. I’m probably going to make a couple songs about it, the irony of the music industry.

RAJAGOPAL: Yeah. They love it, but then they’re scared of it at the same time.

BLUNTS: Exactly.

RAJAGOPAL: Okay, I have to ask about “Cousins.”

BLUNTS: We all have them. 

RAJAGOPAL: [Laughs] What was your role in that song?

BLUNTS: Well, I wrote it.

RAJAGOPAL: Are you working on Ye’s new album?

BLUNTS: I wrote the “Cousins” song and I wrote some other songs for him. Do I know if he’s going to use them for his new album? I’m not sure. That’s the process for anybody who works with a bigger artist. They write a bunch of songs for them and just hope that their shit gets picked. “Cousins” was one of them that got picked. I really liked that song, because he had told me about the situation with him and his cousin, and I could tell that the song was very freeing for him when I made it. I believe that he chose me to write songs because I have a blunt approach to it, and that’s the way that this song needed to be. I mean, it happened exactly like I said in the song, no double entendres. Just, like, “I gave him head.”

RAJAGOPAL: Yeah, your style is very straightforward—

BLUNTS: Emphasis on straight.

RAJAGOPAL: Exactly. What’s your relationship like?

BLUNTS: We definitely have conversations. He’s offered advice. Good guy. 

RAJAGOPAL: How do you feel about your album after that?

BLUNTS: I think the sound of my album is going to be replicated and copied. I mean, you can already see other people using the sound, like Ye. I’m not saying that he stole anything from me, we’ve been collaborating on music together, but my sound being so influential that a musical genius would want to use the sound is a big accomplishment. If you want to put an asterisk next to it because of everything that he’s got going on, go ahead. But at the end of the day, with me only being in the industry for a year, that shit ain’t nothing but a win. That’s how I choose to look at it. 

RAJAGOPAL: How do you feel about the haters?

BLUNTS: I like how there’s a loud minority online of people who do not like the album. They’re like, “What the fuck is this shit? It’s a bunch of slurs and it’s vulgar and it’s counterculture and it’s incel music.” That’s hilarious to me because I wasn’t brought up by sensitive people, so they’re who I wanted to piss off. People who are soft, sensitive, can’t take a joke, probably picked last for sporting events during gym class, Anthony Fantano. Those are the type of people who I enjoy watching their reviews of my music, because they just very clearly don’t get it.

RAJAGOPAL: Do you thrive off the love and the hate?

BLUNTS: I wouldn’t say I thrive off the hate because it is a little disheartening to know that somebody doesn’t really get what I’m trying to do, but also watching somebody be so wrong is hilarious. Every month somebody says, “His 15 minutes are almost over.” It’s like damn, this is a long ass 15 minutes. [Laughs] You know what I’m saying? Or people are like, “We don’t take him seriously.” And then I’m having sold out shows every night with people screaming my lyrics. Bitches fainting when they meet me. And these bitches have boyfriends. They’re wanting to throw it all away for the night. I guess I’m not taken seriously, but a nigga is seriously getting paid and seriously taking care of his family.

RAJAGOPAL: There we go. What are you looking forward to the most right now?

BLUNTS: I’m looking forward to finishing this tour and getting off this bus these niggas keep shitting on. I just started dating this new girl and she has autism, so dealing with that is a fun challenge.

RAJAGOPAL: You like a challenge?

BLUNTS: Yeah. A lot of resting, hanging out with my autistic girlfriend and that’s about it.