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\n\tIn 2023, he made is major label debut under Def Jam with the Budgie-produced Ways of Knowing. However, he was subsequently dropped from the label, which in turn inspired him to release Memoirs in Armour<\/em> a year later. \u201cDue to the shift in circumstances, this project became a refuge to me, I hope you enjoy it,\u201d he shared on social media. \u201cI\u2019m happy to be putting this album out independently, the way I had always intended to be releasing music.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\tHe continued to record music, and eventually realized that he was making a follow up to Memoirs<\/em> \u2014 which had themes of knighthood and armor \u2014 while The Sword & The Soaring<\/em> was touching on things like the sword Archangel Michael is often depicted with, and how our angels in heaven protect us here on earth.<\/p>\n\n\tBillboard<\/em> talked over Zoom with Navy Blue as he was in Europe on tour with British MC Loyle Carner \u2014 about the themes of this latest project, why being vulnerable is important (especially for men) and his close friendship with the late, great Ka.<\/p>\n\n\tWhat\u2019s the underlying theme of this album?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\tWell, even in, you know, posing the question about my brother\u2026 I mean, death definitely kind of created this like doorway for me to walk through, in terms of connecting with my own spirituality. And growing up, I always viewed my brother as like a guardian angel. And a lot like Archangel Michael who, as the story goes, defeated Satan and expelled the other fallen angels to protect the heavens against evil. So, this album kind of was birthed out of that idea, because I always saw angel Michael depicted with a sword, and all of my music praises the people that have passed on and honors them.<\/p>\n
\n\tWhy did you go with \u201cOrchards\u201d for the lead single?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\tIt was the first one that I did that really made me feel like I was making an album. It kind of solidified the message. I\u2019ve always been a fan of Child Actor, and his beats are just different. They make me think differently. They\u2019re a lot like movies. I always see imagery when I hear his music and his unorthodox approach to beatmaking. The way that like that some of his beats have this\u2026they like pump almost. I don\u2019t want to talk about his, like, beatmaking \u201cdrip,\u201d but I can hear the things that he does where his music feels really alive. So, it\u2019s really cool to nestle myself into that world. With \u201cOrchards\u201d specifically, when I heard that beat, I was like, \u201cWow.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tAnd another beautiful thing that Child Actor does, is he\u2019ll send me a beat and he\u2019ll make me feel really special and say, \u201cYou\u2019re the only one that I know will get this,\u201d and it feels good to be thought of in that way, and the manner in which we communicate with each other, and constantly being like, \u201cYo, bro, thank you.\u201d We say thank you to each other very often. And since he\u2019s kind of become a part of my life, and my music making, I felt this new kind of portal open up that I didn\u2019t know was was there, which is really nice.<\/p>\n
\n\tWhy did you decide to follow up Memoirs in Armour<\/em> with this particular project?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\tIt\u2019s not as strategic and as thought out other than it\u2019s just what came through me at the time. I\u2019m always working on music, so I generally try to approach making music through the lens of just being a conduit and whatever the spirit has for me, that\u2019s what I need to say. So, it\u2019s not like, \u201cAh, I\u2019m going to do this one.\u201d It\u2019s just where my focus, went because I had another project that\u2019s been done for a while.<\/p>\n
\n\tInstead of being stagnant and waiting around, I started working mainly with Child Actor sending me a bunch of joints, and the theme just presented itself especially coming off of releasing Memoirs in Armour<\/em> last year with this theme of like knighthood and armor. And then it just felt like I was discussing the battle on this project. So, I felt like the sword was the earthly tool used for battle and the soaring meaning the heavenly council, and like our angels and protectors and how they intervene. It just felt like the culmination of my struggles of becoming and the support of what I call my angels.<\/p>\n\n\tYour stuff is always so personal. Is it like a release for you?<\/strong> Because you\u2019ve said that you make music really for yourself, and if people can connect with it, they connect with it.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\tIt\u2019s definitely a release. You release it from the confines of your head and you get to witness other people have their own experience with it \u2014 and that\u2019s really gratifying, and makes me feel like I\u2019m giving something to the world, especially during a time like this right now, where there\u2019s just so much going on in the world, a lot of sadness, a lot of traumatic events, we\u2019re extremely desensitized. It makes me feel like I\u2019m putting good energy into the world.<\/p>\n
\n\tAnd just feels like it gives me purpose, and I just want to make other people feel seen and heard and not alone through their experiences. If I could offer any help through sharing what I go through and how I get through my hardships, then I feel pretty content with who I am and what I\u2019m doing. Because I know there\u2019s a lot of music that\u2019s very fleeting, and I know there\u2019s probably people who don\u2019t identify with my music, and that\u2019s okay because I make music for those who it speaks to. You know, like Ka said, \u201cIf it don\u2019t move you, then move on.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tBut I love knowing that there are people that are invested in my journey and simultaneously invested in theirs, and we kind of get to have this kinda like dance where we grow together. It\u2019s always been my goal to speak to an experience for somebody who doesn\u2019t have the words. I\u2019ve only been on earth for 28 years, so I don\u2019t have that much experience, but I feel like none of the experiences that I\u2019ve had in getting through depression and addiction and things like that, I feel like none of it was in vain, because it gave me reference and it allows me the insight to speak on an experience that maybe somebody else is going through.<\/p>\n
\n\tI know at first you were kind of apprehensive with sharing your music, and<\/strong> I feel like rap is a form of therapy for you, at least that\u2019s how most of your stuff comes across to me. Do you feel nervous about having your feelings out there?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\tAs human beings we\u2019re deeply concerned about how we\u2019re perceived, and we want to control as much of it as we can. I feel very proud to share that with the world. I think it\u2019s a shame that the world that we live in that you get, \u201cWow, that\u2019s so powerful,\u201d for telling your truth. It\u2019s just a testament to where we\u2019re at where me just talking about my feelings is like, \u201cWow, it\u2019s so vulnerable.\u201d I\u2019m just trying to shine a little light on a path that doesn\u2019t get enough love, which is self love and self discovery and honest expression. <\/p>\n
\n\tWe\u2019re fed so many lies and people are talking about things that don\u2019t hold much weight. All we really have is this lifetime, and I just don\u2019t want to squander my opportunity. I want to talk about real things. I think there\u2019s enough music out there that doesn\u2019t really talk about things that are of any importance. I try to not get in my own head about that \u2014 but yes, as a man also, yeah, it definitely can feel that people might think I\u2019m soft or whatever. But, you know, I see strength in that.<\/p>\n
\n\tIt\u2019s very powerful for men to talk about feelings and lived experience. There\u2019s a stigma behind that, so it feels quite important for me \u2014 because it\u2019s who I am, it\u2019s how I\u2019ve always been, I always kind of lead with my heart first. I\u2019ve been living this way since I was a kid, man, feeling like, \u201cMan, it\u2019s hard out here.\u201d I wear my heart on my sleeve. I cry, I go through stuff, and I tell people how I feel, and that\u2019s not normalized. It can be a little isolating at times, but as I release more music, it\u2019s attracting more people that think like me and want to better themselves. And that feels really good.<\/p>\n
\n\tDid you keep a journal growing up or write poetry? Your style kind of feels like poetry.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\tYeah, I grew up writing a lot. It just it always felt like the place that I could make sense of my thoughts. And yeah, I think for a long time I used to kind of push against that like, you know, \u201cOh, it\u2019s poetry.\u201d But, yeah, that\u2019s exactly what it is. Rap music is poetry, whether it comes across poetic, quote unquote, or not. I don\u2019t journal as much anymore, but I definitely approach writing as a form of journaling. I try to welcome in God, and just see what comes out. <\/p>\n
\n\tWhen I\u2019m going through a tough time, it\u2019s generally like the first line that just \u2014 whether the music creates the space for me to do that or something that I\u2019ve seen \u2014 it doesn\u2019t really matter, it just happens. That\u2019s the beauty of it. It doesn\u2019t feel so forced. I\u2019m not going into a studio and forcing myself to make a song. It\u2019s just a natural expression for me, and poetry has always been a way for me to feel. Poetry is beauty, man, it\u2019s like a place where you get to say things in a manner that\u2026 you don\u2019t get to speak that way in everyday life. So, it\u2019s really nice to to make these experiences that were painful and make them beautiful.<\/p>\n
\n\tI know you had the situation with Def Jam and I wanted to ask, how did you end up at Def Jam and what did you learn from that experience?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\tI guess I learned to trust my gut and that there\u2019s nothing that a label could do for me that I can\u2019t do for myself. I\u2019ve always been a self-sustainable person and sometimes, in hopes of bringing your music to more people, you lose a little bit of yourself in the process. It kind of reminds me of when Drake won a won a Grammy a few years ago and he got on stage and he said, \u201cThis don\u2019t mean nothing.\u201d He said, \u201cIf you got people coming out to your shows in the snow, in the rain, you\u2019ve already won. You don\u2019t need this.\u201d And I always loved when he said that, because that\u2019s how I feel. If there\u2019s one person in the world who puts their headphones on and vibes out to my music, I\u2019m content. <\/p>\n
\n\tI learned through that process and I\u2019m grateful for the experience. I\u2019m grateful for it all. No experience, no matter how stressful or annoying as things might be, none of it is in vain. It\u2019s all part of the greater plan. Had that situation not happened, Memoirs in Armour<\/em> wouldn\u2019t have come out. I wouldn\u2019t have made that album. I wouldn\u2019t have made The Sword and The Soaring<\/em>, so that was the blessing hidden in the frustration of what happened with them.<\/p>\n\n\tWhy did you decide to record Memoirs<\/em> after that situation.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\tYeah, I didn\u2019t want to be sitting around. I just gotta start making new joints and revisit a couple old joints that I thought weren\u2019t good enough that were sitting in the hard drive for a year or two. I was like, \u201cYou know, these are good. People deserve to hear these.\u201d Joints like \u201cSlow\u201d and \u201cTime Slips\u201d and \u201cSay the Word,\u201d joints that have just been sitting there, and I\u2019m glad that they got to come out. You know, had the situation with Def Jam not happened, then I wouldn\u2019t have made that album, and I\u2019m proud of it. <\/p>\n
\n\tThere\u2019s definitely more music to come that I\u2019m excited for the world to hear, but it felt necessary to do The Sword and The Soaring<\/em>, because Memoirs<\/em> was only 10 joints. I thought it was very concise and a solid album, but it feels good to give the listeners a bit more and something to really sit with and digest and dive all the way in.<\/p>\n\n\tYou mentioned being self sufficient earlier and I was curious about your relationship with Ka, because he was very big on that. He recorded, produced, made his own videos. Mailed everything out himself. Can you kind of talk about the relationship you guys had a little bit?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\tFor sure, man. Ka\u2019s a one-of-a-kind artist, and it\u2019s very rare that you get to meet your heroes, even if the saying goes that you shouldn\u2019t meet them. But in this case, I met one of my heroes, and out of that blossomed a really beautiful friendship and relationship. He became somebody that I could confide in. He was like a big brother\/uncle figure. It\u2019s almost like I felt connected to him, like I knew him before this life type s\u2014t. I remember meeting him early on, and the first bit of advice that he gave me in regards to making music, he said, \u201cOnly make music with people that you\u2019ve built a friendship with,\u201d because then what you make is real. It\u2019s not like a transaction. So, that was always some of my favorite advice \u2014 because that means the world to me, when you make music with somebody that you really connect with.<\/p>\n
\n\tWhen Ka was finally willing to work with me\u2026 I didn\u2019t even ask, I just played him a joint and he said, \u201cNah, send me that.\u201d That solidified who I was to him. It made me feel really seen, understood. Even before knowing him, his music always felt like a hug to me. When I heard his music for the first time, it fully shifted everything that I was doing \u2014 not that I was doing anything different per se, but it gave me purpose. I just wanna make people feel, I wanna make someone else feel the way that I feel when I listen to this guy. He\u2019s speaking about life in a way that feels sacred. The way that he speaks about his lived experience in such a poetic manner, in such a simple way that I could understand was always so intriguing. So, of course, as we do when we\u2019re inspired, I tried to just take that little bit of magic that I was offered and tried to do something with it.<\/p>\n
\n\tI mean, the little bit of magic being that, like, just that moment when I was like, \u201cWow, I want to do this,\u201d and he was incredibly supportive of me. And beyond the music, he was a great friend and a confidant of sorts, someone that I could rely on, especially as an elder. Someone that I could really talk about the things that I was going through and get his advice on. I always yearned for that kind of big brother figure, and Ka was a force. I feel really lucky to even have gotten to know him, or to have known him in this lifetime.<\/p>\n
\n\tHow\u2019s your experience been performing overseas?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\tThe past 14 shows that I\u2019ve done out here in Europe have been beautiful. Especially as a supporting act, because there\u2019s a lot of new listeners \u2014 so it\u2019s like, I\u2019m going out there and I\u2019m sharing my music with new people, and it\u2019s really beautiful to witness people connect with it in the present moment, which is nice. Without any reference to who I am, what the music sounds like, I just come on the stage \u2014 and there\u2019s definitely some listeners that are there \u2014 but it\u2019s beautiful. It\u2019s hard to do, but it\u2019s also why I do it: for the experience, just challenging myself to get out there and be present, smile and share my music. <\/p>\n
\n\tI definitely feel like I\u2019ve left some of those shows with new listeners and people going, \u201cWow, that was beautiful\u201d \u2014 especially with the language barrier, maybe they go home, and they want to have a deeper look into what I\u2019m saying. I have some beautiful moments where I\u2019m singing \u201cLa Noche\u201d with people in the crowd, and it\u2019s really amazing, man. I\u2019m really grateful. Loyle Carner is a really solid dude, and he\u2019s been really helpful, especially with how to navigate going out there and sharing such vulnerable music and feeling like sometimes you\u2019re not getting anything back from the audience, but they\u2019re listening. Just because they\u2019re not bouncing and putting their hands up, they\u2019re present, and they\u2019re listening to what I have to say and that\u2019s all I could ask for really.<\/p>\n
\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.billboard.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Navy Blue is an interesting person. He was childhood friends with Earl Sweatshirt and introduced him to Tyler, The Creator, with Earl then returning the favor years later by introducing Navy to the late Brooklyn rapper Ka, which led to not only a working relationship, but a genuine friendship. He came up as a skateboarder […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2010122,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25179],"tags":[411002,22767,354535,309524,32215,21932],"class_list":["post-2149331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-billboard-style","tag-fashion","tag-features","tag-genre-hiphop","tag-interviews","tag-music-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Melanie-Santiler-Cimafunks-Ese-Besito-Voted-Best-New-Latin-Music.gif","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2149331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2149331"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2149331\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2149332,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2149331\/revisions\/2149332"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2010122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2149331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2149331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2149331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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