Your own artist, Snootie Wild, has seen tremendous success recently. Your Cocaine Music Group is definitely progressing quickly. How are you looking to develop it more in the future?

Yo Gotti: I just want to give as many talented artists the opportunity I can, and the one that people didn’t give me. I think Snootie has had a good run, being a new artist to come out. The focus is just continuing to build on that, and make him an even bigger artist. I just signed a new artist named Blac Youngsta, who has a record called “Heavy,” which I think is going to be one of the hottest records out here in the streets in the next couple of months. He dope too. We’re just trying to build a label out.

“Rihanna” is becoming one of the hotter records out right now. What about Rihanna specifically inspired you to tribute a track to her?

Yo Gotti: It most definitely is a wordplay. But I just think Rihanna is dope in every aspect. As a female, she’s bossed up. She does what she wants to do, how she wants to do it, and doesn’t give a f*ck about what the media say or how they try to portray her. From what I see on the outside looking in, it seems like she’s confident with who she is, and what she is. I respect that. To me, that says a lot.

Has she hit you up about the song, or acknowledged it in any way to you as far as you know?

Yo Gotti: Nah, I ain’t heard from her. I seen Cali Jonez playing that sh*t on Snapchat or something, though.

Do you feel any pressure to top I Am with The Art of Hustle?

Yo Gotti: I liked I Am. I think it was a dope album. I think just being a competitor; you just want to top everything and everybody. It’s just motivational. If you don’t want to be the best person, you are f*cked up in the head, I feel like [laughs]. People in my city might look at me as their competition, but I try to tell them to not look at me as their competition. I tell them that you need to be looking at Jay Z, Drake, Wayne, Kanye or whoever is the biggest in the game at the time. You’re losing if you looking at me, since I’m looking at them as my competition!

You’ve been in the game for a minute now. How have you been able to develop your level of longevity?

Yo Gotti: In the streets they’ve got this term, “Dope gon’ sell itself.” In the game, as long as you give them the product, it’s about being consistent. That’s why mixtapes are important too because a lot of times mixtapes just fill the void of when you getting ready for the album. To keep the people that have been rocking with you, you have to keep them with their fix. Motherf*ckas attention span is short nowadays. I think just throwing records out like that is important when you can.

Do you have any key techniques to success? They say you were raised around a family full of hustlers.

Yo Gotti: Take the hustle serious. You can hustle anything. It’s all about your approach. It’s all about how you break it down and figure out how to get yours out of the situation. Keep it real with the people who f*ck with you and who help you. Respect is everything. The only way you get respect is if you give respect. Understand that it’s about the team, and not just you. Yo Gotti, the brand, is way bigger than just one person. It’s a lot of people that you see on the scene that put in work for me to even do this sh*t.