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Taylor Bennett Talks New Album "Coming Of Age", Managing Chance The Rapper, Growth & Sexuality
Apr 21, 2022
Taylor Bennett is preparing to drop his latest project "Coming of Age" and stops by Sway In The Morning to talk about the angle "Fall Short" and everything he has gone through putting this album together.
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Taylor Bennett Talks New Album "Coming Of Age", Managing Chance The Rapper, Growth & Sexuality
https://youtu.be/RwBXOdGKmww
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0:00
you know a lot of this stuff that i'm
0:01
really seeing and picking up from you
0:04
um so thank you man
0:07
damn man that's big man
0:09
[ __ ] i feel like i'm getting an award
0:10
right now heather
0:18
and then you know what heather b's not
0:20
here in the physical but she's here
0:21
online heather you there hey what up
0:24
what up what up
0:26
i know
0:27
sam h
0:29
know i'm hugging you from home yeah i'm
0:31
hugging you right back
0:34
she's hugging for home citizens um this
0:36
is an artist that from the early days of
0:38
the taylor bennett show
0:40
that we start really supporting and
0:41
having him on and i'm gonna take you
0:43
back because i cannot believe it's been
0:46
nine years
0:47
right and i look at this young man and
0:49
he looks wow nine years old he still has
0:51
an age to [ __ ]
0:54
i wonder if i still look the same you
0:55
know
1:08
went to egypt and got lost in a pyramid
1:12
somewhere
1:13
and found a flash a mountain of of you
1:15
and sip something sick and slow too
1:18
slow and
1:19
ran out the pyramid
1:22
and then start making beats legends
1:27
but you know what that is uh first of
1:29
all we got taylor bennett in here
1:31
citizens taylor bennett is back
1:33
come on chicago's finest
1:36
i'm home i was always like to tell the
1:38
story of how we met at um at an event a
1:41
get schooled event in chicago and your
1:43
brother introduced me to you as a beat
1:45
maker
1:46
and and turned away and walked off
1:50
the rest was on youtube
1:52
chance was like hey sweetie that's my
1:53
little brother he makes beats i'm out
1:55
sounds good do what you will and then
1:58
and then since then we got a chance i
2:00
feel like we watch you find yourself
2:02
right in your artistic journey it got
2:05
somewhere the lines got blurred was our
2:07
imitating life life imitating art and we
2:10
just watched you go through everything
2:12
because you were so transparent and
2:14
honest about it is that accurate
2:17
that's that's you know that's accurate
2:19
but i also would say that because it's
2:22
very interesting every relationship
2:24
should be reciprocal so i know that
2:25
that's probably like you guys
2:27
perspective from my perspective
2:30
i still can't believe i'm right here you
2:31
still can't believe it i can't believe
2:33
that you left me when i was 15 or 16
2:35
years old
2:37
come on this station like it's it's
2:39
mind-blowing like
2:41
but that's just like and honestly like
2:43
everybody like that's you guys
2:45
dedication to the culture
2:46
like
2:48
you know you introduced me to mary
2:49
wilson
2:50
like
2:51
you put me on you don't you don't even
2:53
know this project wouldn't be possible
2:55
without you i started doing research
2:57
on so many different artists once i had
3:00
that experience but what you have the
3:02
ability to do and it's so important
3:04
is to educate people on the history yes
3:07
of who we are so from my perspective you
3:11
showed me who i can be wow
3:14
like that i mean that so whole heartedly
3:16
likes and you are have been that person
3:18
you've been in my living room since i
3:20
was a kid i swear this is a dream
3:22
because
3:23
never in my life would i think that i
3:25
would actually meet you and that you
3:26
would also be like a family figure in
3:28
real life there's so many people where
3:31
you know it's a
3:32
i'm not going to say a facade but it's
3:34
just like it's a little bit extra and
3:36
you're so genuine
3:37
like so i appreciate you and of course
3:40
tracy i appreciate you and of course
3:42
kelly like but that's my perspective of
3:44
it is that like
3:46
there were some things that maybe i
3:48
wasn't honest about yeah i just don't
3:49
know
3:50
i mean that's interesting because you
3:52
you may not have uh you may not have
3:54
even realized you were being dishonest
3:56
about something you know because you was
3:58
always younger and bad and growing but
4:00
there's anything in particular you
4:01
wasn't honest about yourself lay it out
4:04
you hear that heather you see how i did
4:05
that to him
4:07
i edited him a little bit
4:10
yourself
4:11
um i feel like yeah i think that a big
4:14
thing a big part about this project is
4:16
expression something that i found or
4:19
find to be true is that you know
4:21
as you get more of a following as you
4:23
get more people around you it becomes
4:25
kind of hard to make creative risk and
4:27
as a lot of people say if something is
4:29
broke don't fix it and that was an issue
4:32
for me because i do think there were
4:33
different levels and times in my life
4:35
that
4:36
and this is the worst place that i think
4:38
i could be i never want to be here again
4:41
i love it but what if the fans don't
4:42
like it right right right right so i was
4:46
watching
4:48
tyler the creator
4:49
speak on something similar to this where
4:51
he says some of you artists release your
4:54
music and then you go away to hold up
4:56
let's see what the fans have to say
4:57
about it and based on that fan reaction
5:00
determines if you move forward or not
5:02
and he said why don't you like your own
5:04
music there it is don't you enjoy what
5:06
it is you create why do you need a fan
5:08
to validate that well you know what and
5:10
i would say that it's not even just the
5:12
fans because
5:15
it's the music business right okay and i
5:17
think that a lot of times even as
5:19
listeners artists and people that work
5:21
in the industry we forget that these
5:24
groups these cultures whether it be
5:26
music fashion acting are supported by
5:28
real communities real grandmothers real
5:31
fathers real sons real daughters real
5:34
sisters
5:35
and
5:36
because it is a business i think a lot
5:38
of times it might be hard
5:41
or i don't even say hard i think that
5:43
they try to make it a thing where people
5:44
care about your first week sales
5:46
you know i think that it's a thing that
5:48
people look at and i am guilty of it too
5:51
so i just want to be 100 honest
5:52
especially when it comes to hip-hop i
5:54
found artists that i genuinely like
5:57
their song like i like to hit single it
5:58
was amazing and i didn't go do my
6:00
research i didn't follow them on
6:02
instagram i didn't follow them on
6:03
twitter i didn't go look at any other
6:04
videos and then two weeks later there
6:06
was another song that was on the
6:07
billboard and i never listened to that
6:09
artist again
6:11
and that's unacceptable
6:13
and i think that it's something that has
6:15
become so
6:16
integrated with hip-hop
6:18
that it's hard for us to even
6:21
a lot of times
6:23
speak a full narrative have a full body
6:25
of work or a structure and we see that
6:27
with projects that come out and people
6:29
are like they didn't get enough time to
6:30
listen to it but something i think i've
6:32
also done is i've seen people say stuff
6:34
about records and then just not listen
6:35
to it
6:37
not listening to the music yourself
6:39
based on somebody else's opinion
6:40
yourself based off of what i've seen on
6:42
twitter what i've seen on instagram
6:44
somebody's like yo this is whack or this
6:46
project did like 20k in the first week
6:48
and i just i didn't i didn't listen to
6:50
it discouraged it discouraged me
6:53
and that's the biggest thing is that
6:55
this music is so much more than just
6:57
music
6:58
and
6:59
thank you for introducing me to mary
7:01
wilson because back in the days of barry
7:03
gordy
7:04
smokey robinson come on these words
7:06
meant something dancing in the streets
7:08
meant something
7:09
what's going on by marvin gaye meant
7:11
something
7:12
and we're losing that narrative
7:15
we're you know and i think that that's
7:17
what this project is really about is one
7:19
expression but two
7:22
creative risk and
7:24
i i am back at this space where i'm so
7:26
happy to be in my life where
7:29
i'm confident in taking this risk
7:32
taylor bennett man i love it man hey
7:34
babe coming of age that's a new project
7:37
wow coming up hey listen to listen to
7:39
heather you hear them
7:42
yeah hey listen um the reason why
7:46
i'm home and just for honesty is because
7:48
um my grandfather made his transition on
7:50
friday um almost made it to 100 years
7:53
old man so we just yeah we just been
7:55
celebrating his life and me
7:58
sway and tracy and the citizens actually
8:00
spent this morning talking about him as
8:03
well and with you being a father and
8:05
having a conversation that you have it
8:07
now i met your father you know through
8:10
you and coming up to the show how has do
8:13
you think about legacy much more now
8:15
yeah and in what ways and what are you
8:17
doing to preserve your family's legacy
8:20
so
8:21
the bennetts are a family business so
8:23
you know i manage and work with my
8:25
brother chance the rapper my father is
8:27
my senior advisor and chief of staff as
8:29
well as my brothers
8:31
and i think like your manager your
8:33
manager your new manager and my new
8:35
manager right there james moore my
8:37
brother-in-law right what
8:39
um
8:40
i think like the the the big thing about
8:43
it in terms of family and in terms of
8:44
structure and legacy i've always and i
8:47
still feel like my dad is the most
8:49
successful man that i've ever met
8:51
amy i've never met anybody that's more
8:53
successful define success because
8:55
success for him is family it's health
8:58
it's also having money as a tool to get
9:00
the things that we need to get
9:02
but most importantly is balance
9:06
balance is so important we spend so much
9:08
time and that's why i went on this whole
9:10
physical thing besides the fact i was
9:12
having a son i went on this whole health
9:14
thing because i was looking at my life
9:16
and i was saying i have some things but
9:17
i don't have a lot of other things
9:20
and i do believe that mental health and
9:22
physical health can be something where
9:23
it feels like
9:25
i'll get to it later
9:28
but mentality wise and you guys know
9:30
what i'm saying i want to get to it now
9:32
yeah
9:33
i want to be there now i don't this
9:36
project is so important to me because of
9:37
course i want to collaborate with jay-z
9:39
of course i want to collaborate with
9:41
drake but when i first came up here when
9:43
i was 16 and 17 i wanted to collaborate
9:45
with matt and kim i wanted to work with
9:47
the plain white teas i wanted to work
9:48
with mr hudson and i had to get to a
9:51
space
9:52
where i can have success and it's my own
9:55
success and it's not defined by the
9:58
charts or the billboards and that whole
10:01
idea
10:02
comes from thinking ahead and thinking
10:04
about what's next and more importantly
10:07
thinking about not just my future but
10:09
our future and that definitely i get
10:11
that you know from my dad
10:13
taylor bennett here we're talking to
10:15
coming of age project i love the wisdom
10:17
shut out the pot shout out the pops
10:21
right here right here he's in there oh
10:22
what up ken in the building
10:27
i love it i got so much for you t like
10:30
ah where do we begin well first of all
10:32
when you came in here especially when
10:33
you're talking about really pouring into
10:35
your physical health and knowing how
10:37
that contributes to your mental health
10:39
like all of it is one in the same you
10:41
know
10:42
a lot of times we hear how you do one
10:43
thing is how you do everything and i'm
10:45
like man i've never seen someone a man
10:47
in particular with brows that are
10:49
groomed with mel well manicured nails no
10:52
offense callaway take some notes
10:55
i'm like i don't have these things
10:58
what are you talking
11:03
but taylor because i've also seen how
11:05
in accepting yourself and taking risk
11:08
how that also plays into your aesthetics
11:10
and i'm curious if you consider yourself
11:13
or if you have a goal of being a sex
11:14
symbol at all because i peep the the
11:16
photo shoots in the showers my man
11:18
you know what in the shower you know
11:20
what and i'll tell you and it's so dope
11:22
that you laid that question out like
11:23
this so in 2018 when i put out be
11:26
yourself i don't know if you guys
11:28
remember or saw the cover art yes but
11:29
it's me and these little tight tighty
11:31
whities these rainbow underwear i've
11:33
been trying to erase that vision you
11:34
know what i'm saying
11:36
i'm like look check it out this is
11:37
exactly what it was
11:39
but i didn't the point i'm trying to
11:41
make is like i didn't have a six-pack i
11:43
wasn't in shape
11:45
as you know in my opinion
11:47
and
11:48
it was a thing where i had to do that to
11:51
accept myself that was part of me
11:52
learning who i was yeah that was part of
11:54
me saying let me just look at this image
11:57
this this is who i am
11:58
and from getting comfortable in that way
12:01
it started to affect
12:03
how i did start thinking and the
12:05
confidence that i did have because i did
12:06
start saying
12:08
i want to get to this now and i did
12:10
start and just like you said first of
12:12
all a big thing let's talk about mental
12:13
health because everybody has mental
12:14
health that's a big misconception is
12:17
that if you're talking about your mental
12:18
health or you're talking about therapy
12:20
or anything there's something going on
12:21
with you that's not right false
12:23
everybody has mental health and is
12:25
actually something that's challenged
12:26
every day constantly constantly and if
12:30
it becomes something that you let
12:32
be just pressed
12:34
it can affect you in a lot of ways and
12:36
me being able to express myself and
12:38
accept myself on that level and then
12:40
also start working out did give me the
12:43
confidence to say i am a sex symbol
12:46
i don't want to be a sex symbol yeah i
12:48
am a sex symbol but it also there we go
12:53
it's also a thing where it's like i
12:55
believe everybody is beautiful
12:57
i believe that everybody is special i
12:59
don't believe that anybody comes from
13:01
any area where
13:03
it's i'm not sympathetic or i don't have
13:07
sympathy for their emotions or how they
13:09
feel and i believe that
13:12
there is a narrative that's very much so
13:14
push that was always pushed on me as a
13:15
kid that i shouldn't cry that is not
13:17
tough that you know i i shouldn't be
13:20
emotional or there might be certain
13:22
things that i should hold my tongue back
13:23
from saying as a man
13:26
and what i've learned and what i've seen
13:28
is actually
13:30
from doing a lot of research the most
13:32
creative things that i have accomplished
13:34
or the most creative processes that i've
13:37
been a part of are when i am expressing
13:39
myself fully yeah and that i'm not
13:42
saying and i do believe that and i think
13:44
it's you know drake shout out to drake
13:46
shout out to kanye west like these are
13:47
people that when i was growing up
13:49
inspired me to tap in with
13:53
my my vulnerability
13:55
and
13:56
even though i had rainbow tidy whities
13:58
on that's an extension from kanye west
14:00
having a pink polo on skinny jeans even
14:02
though i have dancing in the rain that's
14:04
an extension from houston atlanta vegas
14:06
or from drake's different songs where he
14:09
so
14:10
you know it is about legacy and i do
14:12
believe there's a legacy that's also
14:13
involved in hip-hop where from jay-z to
14:17
so many different artists like it's just
14:18
a thing where it's like
14:20
i am inspired by your brave right your
14:24
braveness your bravery yeah and i think
14:26
that's where be yourself comes in that
14:28
whole campaign because it's like
14:30
no one is the standard for all we're not
14:32
meant to be copy and paste versions of
14:34
each other even if we admire
14:37
someone you know what i mean become your
14:38
own norm it's super hard i feel like
14:40
whenever you go to spaces you can go so
14:42
many places how about this i'll give you
14:44
an example i can go so many places today
14:46
and feel like i might not belong i could
14:48
go to a show yeah feel like i'm not
14:49
supposed to be there i could go to a
14:51
friend's house feel like i'm not in the
14:52
right environment i could get in a car
14:54
pool or i could be at the airport and
14:56
feel like i'm not in the right space and
14:58
the goal for this project is there's so
14:59
many places that you have to meet a
15:01
quota um yup yup the goal of this
15:04
project is to be inclusive
15:06
for expression
15:07
everybody's welcome
15:09
everybody and i really mean everybody
15:10
and i think the the true potential of
15:12
hip-hop
15:14
and people hearing and seeing
15:16
because we don't just hip-hop isn't you
15:19
know it's not just a a game nah hip-hop
15:22
is something that's inspiring yes
15:24
hip-hop is something that changes
15:25
people's lives yes hip-hop is something
15:27
that changes your day your mood
15:29
instantly it's a it's a
15:31
it's medicinal
15:33
it really is
15:35
and i think that just as important as
15:36
the words that we say and affirmations
15:38
are so are the words that we say in
15:40
hip-hop talk about it there you go man
15:42
get that man around you just sit here
15:43
always in your head is repeating all day
15:46
you thinking that yup they try to tell
15:47
you that the words don't matter
15:50
they try to make it seem like
15:52
they make it seem like a lot yeah they
15:54
are they'll they'll they'll make you
15:56
seem like you're not who you are yeah
15:58
they will they will convince you that
15:59
you can be more successful being someone
16:02
else and a big thing about this project
16:04
and the way where i am right now is that
16:06
it is a very experimental project i am
16:08
taking a creative risk but at the same
16:11
time
16:12
i would rather
16:13
fail being myself than trying to be
16:15
somebody else yeah and it is a very true
16:18
belief of mine that everybody falls
16:21
nobody has an exception yep
16:24
so if i fall i just want to know that i
16:26
did it on my own terms and i was who i
16:28
should be and wanted to be and tried to
16:30
be
16:31
and not
16:33
trying to attempt what others say
16:35
success is because success is your own
16:37
definition come on taylor bennett damn
16:39
how old are you again
16:41
i'm 26 years old
16:42
you dropped him off at the temple
16:44
somewhere right what happened i was over
16:46
there with her petition hands too he's
16:48
hanging
16:55
is that what pharrell does when you hang
16:57
out with him like you come back you
16:58
floating on a clown man i've never met
17:01
pharrell i know that honestly they have
17:02
reached out i love to work with you i
17:04
had to squeeze that in there right there
17:05
for rob huge fan man wow yeah he's an
17:08
amazing person um taylor you're an
17:11
amazing person taylor bennett is here
17:12
we're talking about his new project
17:13
coming of age we're going to play the
17:15
new single fall short momentarily but we
17:16
got a few people on the line let's go to
17:18
billy on from austin billy rise and
17:20
shine billy what's popping what up bills
17:24
what's good yeah i'm actually from
17:25
chicago i met eight years ago let's go
17:28
man i know you don't remember me but uh
17:29
you came and bought some tacos overnight
17:32
i was managing and your homeboy was you
17:34
know
17:35
getting a little argument with my uh
17:37
co-worker i had to come to i'm like like
17:38
what are you arguing with right i come
17:40
to the window and there's you
17:41
ah
17:43
taco spot was it because i do you
18:05
[Music]
18:12
my dog man that's beautiful well billy
18:14
man i i appreciate you calling in and
18:16
just giving me you know what i'm saying
18:17
every time you don't know what to expect
18:18
and that's just dope man like thank you
18:20
man yeah it is scary yeah yeah you had
18:22
great energy yeah
18:24
that night so thank you for that when i
18:25
met you yeah great energy i appreciate
18:27
you man that's love you're a citizen
18:29
billy you're a citizen
18:30
all right let me take a couple more
18:32
calls we got jade on the line from
18:33
connecticut rise and shine jay hey jay
18:36
what up
18:38
jade
18:54
everything's good listen i have kind of
18:56
a deeper topic
18:58
um for taylor
19:01
definitely so i
19:03
i uh
19:04
i'm kind of i resonate with you because
19:07
my dad he
19:09
he came out as gay when i was 10 years
19:12
old right
19:13
and i i really
19:16
what i see in you is that you're doing
19:17
it from the front instead of the back
19:19
you know my
19:21
how it was for my family was that he had
19:23
obligations
19:25
and
19:26
he took care of you know his priority
19:28
but he couldn't really beat his
19:29
authentic self so my question for you is
19:31
how are you going to navigate um your
19:33
authentic self
19:35
with your child in the future and i can
19:37
just see from everything the way you
19:38
live your lifestyle i know you're gonna
19:40
handle it but at the same time
19:43
like
19:44
i wanted to know if
19:46
that is something that you think about
19:48
as far as how do you navigate
19:51
telling your son
19:54
you know this is who i am but it doesn't
19:56
define me
19:57
i think a big thing about it is like
20:00
and i'm glad that you said that so let's
20:02
start off on the first part of the thing
20:05
a lot of us can't just be ourselves
20:08
so a lot of times
20:11
and i'm not saying exactly for your
20:13
situation but i do think a lot of times
20:16
people aren't comfortable saying who
20:17
they are and you know who they love and
20:19
i think that that opinion isn't because
20:21
of how they feel but how the people that
20:23
are outside of them you know really feel
20:26
um
20:27
so i want to start it off right there by
20:29
saying that i think that that's super
20:31
awesome you know for your dad i think
20:33
it's super awesome that you support your
20:34
dad i think it's super awesome that you
20:36
support me because you see similarities
20:39
that's awesome
20:40
and you're a great person and you're a
20:42
great daughter
20:43
and if you're a fan of my music you're a
20:44
great fan
20:46
um
20:46
and then the second part that i want to
20:48
say
20:49
is
20:51
there's so much
20:52
you know growing up and seeing cartoons
20:54
you don't really realize how
20:55
impressionable they are until you have
20:56
children and then you watch the same
20:58
cartoons and there's you know i really
21:00
like this there's this one uh sesame
21:02
street episode shout out to them where
21:05
they talk about colors and they talk
21:06
about the idea that there's like one of
21:08
the characters is like i want to play
21:10
with this and it's red and it's like a
21:12
girl and then like some girl comes and
21:13
she's like you're not supposed to play
21:14
with that that's blah blah blah and then
21:16
they go into this whole breakdown of
21:18
song that they can play with any color
21:19
in all colors and
21:22
being gay or being bisexual
21:25
or any
21:26
idea that has to do with the sexual
21:29
preference does not change who you are
21:31
but i do believe that in a systematic
21:35
system it can limit where you can go
21:38
and i think that it is more of a fear to
21:40
be yourself
21:42
and to portray someone else than it is
21:45
for you to just be
21:47
who you are and i think that that again
21:49
is something and that's why we're doing
21:51
be yourself that's why i have this
21:52
campaign this tour this project because
21:55
we do need an environment we do need
21:57
somewhere that we can grow we do need
21:59
somewhere that we can go and feel
22:00
comfortable expressing ourselves so we
22:03
can learn who we are that's why i love
22:06
this space this is my home
22:08
yeah because y'all let me express myself
22:11
here yeah and then for the last part of
22:13
the question
22:14
um
22:15
you know i think the most important
22:17
thing for my son is for him to know that
22:18
his father was comfortable being who he
22:20
is amen because if i put that idea on
22:23
him and i don't teach him the lessons
22:25
that i've learned and things that i've
22:27
seen then what kind of father would i be
22:31
jay thank you for your call jade thank
22:34
you jay shout out great question jay
22:36
yeah an amazing question
22:37
i appreciate y'all so much i'm just like
22:40
you guys are everything to me so um
22:43
thank you
22:45
the whole family i appreciate y'all love
22:47
you jake
22:49
wait hold up
22:50
let taylor do it let's let taylor give
22:52
her a citizenship you're a citizen jay
22:54
you're a citizen jay i'm sway in the
22:56
morning
22:57
all right there you go he didn't do it
22:58
right
23:02
he was like
23:03
he was being himself he was just being
23:05
himself i can't even knock him down no
23:07
matter what he does he's being himself
23:08
so i won't even say nothing like that
23:11
he's just being here
23:13
citizens we're going to play the new
23:14
singles is available now it's called
23:16
fall short
23:18
incredible video you just see you just
23:20
see taylor bennett being himself you
23:22
know and it's um i like the energy i
23:25
like the visuals i love the performance
23:28
aspect
23:29
um
23:30
i love that young woman that queen has
23:32
featured ah shout out my girl caleb
23:35
there you go she's an actor she's a star
23:37
she's a star yes she is and so we're
23:40
going to play this and hey man you got
23:42
any bars you bring any bars i got i got
23:44
a
23:45
a briefcase full of bars we're coming
23:46
back with some bars
24:02
[Music]
24:04
you
#Arts & Entertainment