Up next in 10
Andy Mineo recently dropped his highly anticipated album, Never Land II. Andy has put together an incredible 14-track body of work. The album, narrated by Andy’s late mother, from an interview she did before she passed. Mineo checked in with the Sway In The Morning team to talk about the project and how it came together.
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Andy Mineo Talks New album 'Never Land II' | SWAY’S UNIVERSE
https://youtu.be/Ff_YEKLRFTM
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0:00
ladies and gentlemen
0:02
bars upon bars upon bars
0:04
i needed to play the receipt had to be
0:06
in case they didn't know okay his music
0:09
has evolved so much now you might not
0:12
know that he's a spitter like that and
0:14
he's back you gotta hear the album
0:16
multi-layered musically robust
0:20
it's the type of music i like to listen
0:22
to
0:23
being a former musician i don't even
0:25
know if he knows about that
0:27
musician wow okay
0:30
what
0:32
we got andy minion here ladies and
0:34
gentlemen
0:37
andy
0:40
[Music]
0:42
oh andy
0:44
yes man yes it's been a while brother
0:47
how you been
0:49
it's been too long but here's the thing
0:51
i'm over here i know everything about
0:53
tracy g she in love
0:56
she posted on the internet we got
0:58
heather b making turkey meatball sliders
1:01
and i know about that but how do i not
1:03
know about you being a foreign
1:12
that's right andy
1:14
don't be basically in here basically
1:16
andy said receipt receipt
1:22
hey hey brother
1:24
let me say something man we we known
1:25
each other long enough now it's been
1:27
damn near ten years we've known each
1:29
other man
1:30
man don't have me talk to you like big
1:31
brother on the air man don't do that
1:33
come on andy you can get it too andy
1:35
let's check this out andy
1:37
i got a claire and i go hook it up right
1:39
now if i got to doing this interview
1:41
okay i got a clarinet upstairs in my
1:44
apartment right now
1:45
that i'll be i'll be warming it up by
1:47
blowing my warm air in through it as i
1:50
prep my fingers you come on man i got to
1:53
read i got everything man i i come on
1:55
man this is something fresh out of band
1:57
camp come on man
2:00
when the studio opened up
2:02
i'm gonna come kick a freestyle and then
2:04
you gotta hit a mean clarinet solo after
2:07
style a lot of pressure
2:09
a lot of pressure right there
2:12
ready for that
2:14
we'll see we'll see man um andy it's
2:18
great to have you on the show this is an
2:19
amazing album
2:21
for for so many reasons the musicality
2:26
of your music
2:27
yeah i you put a lot you put to me i you
2:30
know i envisioned what it must take to
2:32
create something like am i the first
2:35
track and and with the choir singing in
2:36
the background i've always been
2:38
impressed by your musicality how long
2:40
did it take you to put this project
2:42
together
2:44
i appreciate it i started in the fall of
2:46
2019
2:47
um so about two years um
2:50
you know and
2:51
in between uh the fall of 2019 and
2:55
uh when this just came out that you know
2:57
a couple weeks ago um i dropped another
3:00
project called happy thoughts and like
3:02
you know i try to just stay you know
3:04
something out once a year you know i'm
3:06
saying so there was more music coming
3:08
out than just what came out uh in that
3:10
time frame but
3:11
i took a little trip to japan like a
3:14
little inspiration trip with some
3:15
friends caught some inspiration
3:17
put that out and then we went and put
3:19
this one out so
3:20
um you know i stay working man i love i
3:23
love working in the studio i love my
3:25
collaborators the people i get to jump
3:27
in with um there's a young up-and-coming
3:29
dude who's been on a lot of my stuff his
3:31
name is beam
3:32
uh he did the introduction uh for that
3:35
album uh beam and gabriel and alias
3:38
some of those guys so
3:40
uh i like to stay around cats that got
3:42
just like dope taste and you know i
3:44
always gravitate towards the musicality
3:46
uh we love bars and all that but at the
3:48
same time we love just good music to be
3:50
able to ride too so
3:51
trying to figure out that balance you
3:52
know
3:53
do you still feel the need as an mc like
3:56
we played you doing the five fingers of
3:58
depth and i remember when heroes for
3:59
sale was coming out i feel like lecrae
4:02
and you
4:02
who um and others uh who are already
4:05
gifted lyrically
4:07
had to prove themselves you know in
4:09
different spaces
4:11
you know and
4:12
all mcs go through that in the beginning
4:14
of their career it's really about
4:16
you know showing people that i'm good
4:18
enough that i'm great i'm skilled
4:20
now we're talking nearly 10 years later
4:23
neverland twos coming out
4:25
do you still have that same burden when
4:27
you go into making music or that that
4:30
same
4:30
thought process as a rapper or do you
4:33
feel proven
4:35
yeah no it's interesting it's like
4:37
i still feel that i feel like oh no now
4:40
i gotta jump on something and bar people
4:41
up you know what i'm saying right um but
4:43
at the same time it's like yo we did
4:45
this you know i'm saying we did this we
4:47
showed this but you know that's why i
4:48
was thinking recently man um i was like
4:51
yo i think i need to just drop a mixtape
4:53
called the reminder or something just be
4:55
like just pop out bar people uh give
4:58
them you know just remind you real quick
5:01
so before we jump into these jams yes
5:03
then we gotta do that so
5:05
uh it's it's always attention i think
5:07
some of the best artists feel that you
5:08
know the same thing even j cole is
5:10
talking about just like
5:12
yeah i've done these songs and you know
5:13
i got a huge following but i still want
5:14
to jump out and bar people up and you
5:17
know i just want to remind people like
5:18
yo i can still do this especially when
5:19
you're a mc you have skills for real you
5:22
can yeah um pop out and do that so i try
5:24
to you know make sure that the writing
5:26
is tight and every record i get on you
5:28
know what i'm saying you're always going
5:29
to catch bars you're always going to
5:30
catch things but
5:32
um
5:32
sometimes i get the itch man yeah come
5:34
on man sometimes i gotta pop back up
5:36
there come on man you're gonna have to
5:38
come back up andy meneo here hb yeah no
5:41
i love it andy it's funny because uh you
5:43
know i listen
5:44
to just so much music in my house and
5:46
it's funny you mention my kitchen when
5:48
i'm cooking and i'm doing my thing and i
5:50
literally thought about you the other
5:52
day um and just explore exactly what you
5:55
said because you popped up on on my my
5:57
pandora list playing and i was like i
6:01
wonder if andy mineo no bs like would do
6:05
a versus or could y'all expand it to
6:07
that because i know we've been you know
6:09
showcasing our legends and we have
6:11
female artists and r b artists and do
6:14
and do you feel like you would have to
6:16
fight for that like you or lecrae maybe
6:18
a derrick miner or a cape like would
6:21
y'all have to fight for something like
6:22
that or
6:24
you you feel left out of it completely
6:28
yeah you know none of us are in a major
6:30
label system right so a lot of the
6:32
records that we have might be massive
6:35
to our fan base
6:37
uh but to the rest of the world a lot of
6:39
people haven't experienced those things
6:40
so i think some of the closest we've
6:42
experienced has just been last year my
6:44
record coming in hot you know just went
6:46
crazy on the internet and everyone was
6:48
posting it so i think people are more
6:50
familiar with that but outside of that
6:52
um i think it's just harder for the
6:54
general public to to get involved
6:56
because you know again we don't have
6:59
radio play
7:00
uh it was just more of a niche
7:02
experience with our music right now at
7:04
the moment and that's what we're working
7:06
on expanding i think lecrae
7:08
uh
7:09
you know might have some success in that
7:11
as well just seeing that he got some
7:13
radio stuff when he went to columbia
7:15
so there's some familiarity with those
7:17
records
7:18
but we get asked all the time amongst
7:20
our fans like yo come do this let's do a
7:22
versus but
7:24
um
7:25
you know i think it's it's a difficult
7:27
one to expand outside of our niche at
7:29
the at the moment
7:32
no that's fair enough andy minio's here
7:34
man where andy where you at what part of
7:36
the city you in are you in new york
7:38
um my brother i am in the west coast i
7:41
just
7:43
uh i got a show in bakersfield
7:45
california tonight i got l.a on thursday
7:47
and i got san francisco coming up so
7:50
i was just at the lakers game last night
7:52
just what amazing o'clock and the crust
7:54
is not out my eyes
7:57
hey that guy was hanging out with
7:58
winners man the warriors shout out to
8:00
the warriors i know you're a big fan
8:01
andy i know you're a big fan yeah man
8:04
yeah shout out to staff he got me some
8:06
tickets last minute to pop in there
8:08
steph curry got you tickets to the
8:09
warriors game
8:11
he did he just
8:14
i'm like yo i'm in the city he's like
8:16
pop over and i was like a block away
8:18
from the staples center of my tour bus
8:20
so he just
8:21
popped in there and had a good time man
8:23
yeah try to top that sway
8:26
hey hey can you hear steph and ask him
8:28
i'm not sure if i got the right number
8:29
tell him
8:34
yo text me his number andy i'm not sure
8:35
if i got the right one i wanna
8:47
[Laughter]
8:52
no no he said text him now i'm hanging
8:54
out oh yeah okay i'm thinking well first
8:57
of all andy i'm so happy that we get to
8:58
speak to you it's been a while my guy
9:01
but the same way that you've been
9:02
following us on social it's been the
9:04
same way for me and you as well as
9:07
looking at lecrae and coming in hot you
9:09
touched on it wow first of all just
9:11
shout out to you guys because the
9:13
longevity the run of that song yeah
9:17
oh my gosh the way it took over tick
9:20
tock reels and you guys capitalized you
9:22
made sure this wasn't going to be a bull
9:24
like out of control that you were able
9:26
to um tame it and make sure that you get
9:29
reap the full benefits of the song so i
9:30
loved it i got my shirt everything so
9:33
one is i'm wondering how much do you
9:37
actually really care about mainstream
9:39
success because we know with all
9:41
different types of success there is a
9:43
fine print and like to me i don't
9:46
necessarily look at folks who
9:48
have
9:49
full control over a niche and then to
9:51
think to myself dang but i wish that
9:54
they were you know
9:56
standing side by side with drake
9:59
because i i look at you guys and i'm
10:00
like i'm happy that they have this
10:03
success of core audience but i also feel
10:06
like this means they'll have their
10:07
sanity along with it
10:10
yeah
10:12
yeah you know someone asked me one time
10:13
they're like how do you deal with
10:15
success or whatever and listen i've had
10:16
success in a in a slow ride you know
10:20
it's been a slow ride uh vertically it
10:22
wasn't like overnight something happened
10:24
and all of a sudden i gotta have
10:25
security guards you know what i'm saying
10:27
so it definitely helps you keep your
10:29
sandy keep uh a normal life you know not
10:32
have to walk around with bodyguards or
10:34
whatever so
10:36
i love that i love that i'm on a tour
10:38
bus right now about to play you know
10:40
shows off to california we just finished
10:42
up texas on and be able to do what i
10:45
love for a living at the same time i'd
10:47
be lying if i said i was um content
10:49
there's this new uh new song on the
10:52
album
10:53
uh called trying and the opening lines
10:55
are i'm trying to be content and trying
10:56
to be complacent trying to stay grounded
10:58
while i'm trying to break it you know
11:00
trying to stay motivated my motives
11:02
wayne and i got invitation into the game
11:04
don't want to overstay it so it's like
11:06
that i want to be content but i don't
11:08
want to be complacent i would love to
11:10
expand
11:11
the audience that we have and continue
11:12
for people to find out about our music
11:14
and my heart
11:15
um
11:17
but at the same time i'm super grateful
11:18
and appreciative for what we got to be
11:20
able to do we love for real at a high
11:22
level yeah so
11:24
it just feels good sometimes i'll be out
11:26
or i was at the game last night and
11:27
you'll hear coming in hot played over
11:29
the speakers and you're like wow you see
11:31
people stand up dancing you know or at
11:33
the the dodgers game my boy sent me a
11:35
video uh dodgers atlanta you know albert
11:38
pujol is walking out to i ain't done
11:40
another one of my records it feels good
11:42
when you when you see
11:44
people respond to the music and people
11:46
who might not even know who you are just
11:48
you know
11:49
singing out your lyrics
11:51
that's the type of stuff that's like ah
11:53
we would love to get more of that you
11:54
know
11:57
yeah it's just different when you're out
11:59
and about and your song come on people
12:01
singing it and then you're like wow yeah
12:03
that makes a lot of sense that's a great
12:05
feeling you know so
12:07
another try to figure it out
12:09
another song that i really love um from
12:11
this album nobody's coming
12:14
is so beautifully um reflective and
12:16
honest and it had me curious because
12:19
you're speaking about um you know not
12:21
dwelling on the things that you can't
12:23
change also um
12:26
realizing that you may be the answer to
12:28
all your questions
12:30
and but there's also for me like it
12:33
feels like this lingering the question i
12:35
had when i was listening to us
12:36
what is
12:38
lingering on your mind like when in
12:40
terms of like anxiety sway started off
12:43
when he introduced you just speaking a
12:44
lot of times when artists who do have a
12:47
strong faith folks may forget that still
12:50
means you have challenges just like the
12:52
everyday
12:53
human and so i was i was hoping you
12:56
would share some of the things that are
12:57
on your mind that you pray for
13:00
yeah
13:02
you know on that record i said um i
13:04
might just have to be what i never had
13:05
from me
13:06
and you know it's just getting to that
13:08
um
13:10
point in my life where i'm thinking
13:11
about becoming a father not you know
13:13
this isn't like an announcement or
13:14
nothing but me and my lady are like yo
13:16
maybe we should start having kids and
13:18
start start thinking about what is it
13:20
like if i bring somebody in this world
13:22
and what's the responsibilities and the
13:24
things i got to do as a man to make sure
13:26
that i bring someone here and raise him
13:27
right
13:28
um or you just you know the longer you
13:30
live the more you experience right the
13:32
betrayal um heartbreak you know people
13:36
dying people that you love and so we all
13:38
start to
13:39
we all start to get hit a little bit
13:41
harder with the reality of life
13:44
and how do you not become cynical when
13:46
those things happen
13:47
how do you not um
13:50
how do you not walk through life with a
13:51
chip on your shoulder and try to figure
13:52
out how to make the best of this those
13:54
are the things that
13:55
i've been experiencing which is what
13:57
neverland 2 is about it's about this
13:59
return to
14:00
you know in neverland you never grow up
14:02
and it's that return to like how do we
14:04
have that child life faith love hope um
14:07
you know belief that anything is
14:09
possible the older that we get
14:12
and um the things that i've been praying
14:14
for is like all right well
14:17
what that lyric says in the song if
14:18
nothing changes before i'm gone i got no
14:20
one else i could blame it on if if we're
14:23
waiting for other people to come and
14:25
change this place and make it better
14:28
then we're playing ourselves we have to
14:30
be the the people that are going to make
14:31
the change to to make this world better
14:33
and to make the things that we want to
14:35
see happen happen you know i said in the
14:37
opening lyrics of that song
14:39
um i've been waiting for the day with my
14:41
father come around waiting for the day
14:43
we paint the town but then it all hit me
14:44
last night nobody's coming
14:46
there's a sadness and a reality to the
14:48
fact that no like we might be waiting
14:51
for something to happen that might never
14:52
happen
14:53
but that just should give us the energy
14:54
to make it happen ourselves you know
14:57
so
14:58
yeah that's awesome and prior to that i
15:00
mean right before that song you got the
15:02
um interlude new father and
15:05
it's the woman whose voice is the thread
15:08
throughout the album is that your mom
15:13
that's my mother who recently passed man
15:15
yeah that's that's what i yeah man and
15:17
i'm sorry about your loss
15:19
and
15:20
and hearing absolutely and hearing her
15:23
voice through the album
15:24
seemed so special her telling these
15:26
stories and and that and and that new
15:29
father segment that caught my ear
15:31
because he was telling the story of how
15:33
you were young and you said a prayer you
15:35
went you prayed for a new father is that
15:37
true
15:39
yeah
15:40
from from my mom
15:42
she remembers that that story obviously
15:44
i was too young to really remember but i
15:47
heard her tell that story a few times
15:48
and we had these um these tapes that had
15:50
some leftover interviews
15:52
that we never got to use and so i found
15:54
them after she passed and
15:56
i was like wow these stories are so
15:57
interesting and it kind of weaves in
15:58
with the whole concept of neverland too
16:01
so we put it in there and yeah that's a
16:03
real story
16:04
man she tells it is
16:06
you know wild
16:07
oh she tells it great man it's great
16:09
hearing your mom on this album brother
16:11
i'm glad you uh incorporated her voice
16:15
uh this is a great album i'm actually
16:17
going to play that song nobody's coming
16:19
um to sum things up
16:21
uh i want to say congratulations to you
16:23
i can't wait to see you in person and
16:25
then and then uh you know
16:27
if you really want to get these lyrics
16:28
off
16:30
we got the perfect laugh
16:32
yeah okay we go we're going to make that
16:34
happen are you still a pastor
16:35
[Applause]
16:40
okay all right never been to pass
16:42
okay all right maybe i read that wrong
16:46
maybe that's your few maybe that's your
16:48
future um andy
16:50
great great project uh congratulations i
16:54
want to encourage folks to go get it
16:55
neverland two
16:57
um
16:58
man i can't wait to see you man i'm
17:00
gonna play this song nobody's coming
17:04
hey man don't i still got a gift you got
17:06
me
17:09
oh my god yeah i had an uptown like
17:12
years ago i was holding on to that thing
17:14
trying to get it to you
17:16
and we missed each other a bunch of
17:17
times but don't worry we'll get up i'll
17:18
come up there when they open up their
17:20
studios put down some buyers
17:23
and uh
17:25
[Music]
17:28
hey bad love you andy andy mineo ladies
17:30
and gentlemen uh this is the song
17:32
powerful song nobody's coming
17:35
um enjoy it andy we'll talk to you soon
17:37
brother
17:38
all right man much love much love to
17:41
youtube man
17:45
[Music]
17:57
you
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