Delly Vadova

I'm sure most of my followers already know you, so we can jump right into it. What have you been focused on over the last month?

I’ve just been fucking working bro. Working on music. Living my life. Planning for what's next.

For the whole time I've known you since late 2022, you've been one of the most consistent artists. Your work ethic is one thing I know is really strong.

Nah for real.

My first show this year is in March. I’m probably like ten shows in now.

Have they all been in Charlotte or have they been in other states? I know you went to LA pretty recently. Did you do a show there as well?

Yeah I did a show in Los Angeles. I did a show in Atlanta as well. And a few other cities. But mostly Charlotte and the North Carolina area.

What would you say is the biggest difference between a show in Charlotte aka Wav City versus the one you did in LA?

Shit, really same difference. Like the show in LA was turnt. It was like really turnt. I had shows in Charlotte that's just as if not more turnt. It really all depends on who's there. Besides that the main difference is the venue I guess.

Do a lot of close friends go to the Charlotte shows?

There’s a lot of familiar faces at my shows in the city. But when I went to the one in LA there were a lot of familiar faces there too. Just different faces. Faces that I wouldn't see in the city. I came up in Charlotte and I know a lot of people there but not everybody comes to the shows. A lot of people do come though.

When you first decided, like “So, maybe I could become a rapper.” What was that transition like versus now?

It was always just something I was doing. And it really still is just something that I'm working on. You never know what the future holds. I might be working on a whole different project another time from now. But everything is serious because life is serious. You know what I'm saying? So whatever you're doing at that moment, take it with 100 percent.

How do you feel about turning 21?

I'm getting old. Gotta change the way I think. But I'm still the same person.

21 is a checkpoint age. Just like turning 18, right? If you were to go back to just being a kid but with the knowledge that you have now. Is there anything that you would change?

In retrospect, I really wouldn't change shit. 21 is definitely the checkpoint. But I realized it doesn't hit the same as I thought it would.

Really… how come?

There’s certain shit that you should be excited for, but I've already done so much. I'm just ready to focus on what's important to me. I've already drunk every drink there is to drink. Bought everything that's age restricted already. Seen everything. Hell, everything. The only thing that there's no restrictions to is influence. I'm just trying to be greater in this city.

My main goal is just to leverage my experience now. At the age of 21, I'm glad to say, I made it to that age. And I just want to redistribute my knowledge to the masses, to the youth. Cuz I'm not really the youth anymore.

That's really good. I can just hear from the tone of your voice that you're in a very serious moment. A very serious position where you've hit the checkpoint age. Maybe you're doing a little bit of reflecting. But really right now you're just working on what's important.

So, let's talk about what's important. What's important to Vadova right now?

Finishing my project. Focusing on the brand. That's it. I'm working on myself of course.

So, we have Green Heart Sessions which is the most recent project and I’ve been very curious. What's the inspiration behind the green heart?

Well I named it Green Heart Sessions for my boy David who passed away. He was a real genuine dude. A sweet soul. But life catches up to you. He always did the green heart. So it's really a memorial project. That's what the whole thing was about.

Not even a memorial project but like a tribute project. Just because he knew I could go far with this shit. So it only felt right to pay tribute to him. And I lost other friends as well. So it's like every time some fuck shit happens, some shit that breaks my heart to where I can say that my heart broke… I can say my heart turned green. And that's why I just ran with it. My heart’s really green.

A lot of niggas just be rapping but when you have people who support you and they’re not here anymore, it really makes you think different about what you’re doing. It can make you move differently. So it's basically a project about my life since I started rapping. Just another update of my life. Just like superintendent and 1.5. It's just a time capsule of what was going on at the time. But I still miss all my people.

Life is just too short. Life is too short to be fucking around and worry about what a lot of people are worried about. A lot of people are worried about worldly things. I'm just worried about what I'm going to leave behind.

I'm curious about how you see making music. Do you see it as a way to leave an impact? Or do you see it in a different way?

Music is just part of it. We are building a culture though. We could be skating or doing graffiti or making fucking clothes. It's just something for people to fuck with. What really attracts people is the world around us here.

Do you ever see music as cathartic? I remember we had a conversation about how music can be a way to say things that you can't really say in a conversation.

Hell yeah. I rap my whole life through the interface. If you’ve never listened to my music, you're never going to understand who I am as a person. Like even if you’re by my side every day. If you’ve never heard this shit, you’re not going to understand.

Everybody needs an outlet. I put my music out for other people to hear it but it's really for me. I can guarantee you I'm the main listener for my music. And nobody in this world has probably heard my music more than me.

And I'll leave it all on the table. Even my weaknesses. I'm not going to make it look pretty. I want it to be kind of ugly.

You want to leave it all on the table: the good, the bad, and everything in between. When you listen to your old music, what does it do for you? Is it self-improvement or are you talking to yourself in the songs?

There was a lot of shit that didn't happen back then when I was first making music but I was still talking about it. So it's like a lot of this shit is self-fulfilling. And now that I’ve done so much of the shit I already rapped about back then, I can give myself motivation from what a younger version of myself said. And quality-wise, I’m just getting better every year. But at some point you're not even going to be able to tell what was made this year and what was made last year. Cuz it's just too consistent. You’re only going to know by what I've experienced and what I say.

Yeah and this brings me to a very fun point that I really want to talk about … fantasy versus reality. I've always been very interested in this topic when it relates to music. I feel like if you're an artist, self-fulfillment is really important especially when you're younger. Because everyone has dreams and everyone has a life that they want to live. When you're an artist like I feel like you absolutely should base your lyrics around how you want to live even if it's fabricated. It’s not really even fabricated, if you look at it a certain way, time just hasn’t caught up to that reality that you’re making songs about. That’s what I mean by fantasy versus reality. Tell me if you relate to this.

The line between fantasy and reality is really like OD thin because all it takes is one little song or one little movement for you to be put in the public eye and then everything else comes so fast. But what I'm saying is that this isn’t even what I'm fantasizing about. This is genuinely what's going to happen. I’ve seen certain parallels in my life that have led me to a state of certainty. I know this shit going to go up. There’s stuff I can't even explain, but it's just like there’s a blanket on me. I know I'm protected.

Yeah and I feel like that's the mindset that anyone should have. And even if you look around yourself your pockets are empty. You look in your messages and no one important talks to you. There’s a crucial difference between, “Oh, I wish I had x and y” versus “No, this is what's going to happen because there's no other way.” Especially when you've had people in your life who have passed away and you realize that life is such an important thing to take seriously. Like there's no way you're going back to whatever life you lived before this.

You feel me? Like I thank my momma for the head on my shoulders. I'm already rich because of the people around me. And the people that God put around me. I'm already rich. So, none of this shit that happens to me will be a surprise. You know what I'm saying? And out of everybody, I'm like equipped to handle it.

Yes and this connects to a tweet that you made earlier. You said: “If a rapper’s mix is ass, their life is probably lit.” I want you to explain that one for me.

Only fucking nerds sit on FL every day and perfect their mix bro. Like that shit's simple bro.

If you’re constantly moving, it's just impossible to fully have all that shit. Because it’s in the hands of engineers, on other people's laptops. When you’re really on that grind, you're going to make music whenever you can. As long as you get the final export on your phone, like, you might have to leave the studio in 1 minute. Like, not even 5 minutes, 1 minute, 45 seconds, so you gotta export that bitch. If you're doing a lot of shit then you gotta understand. You gotta give these rappers grace. Niggas be thinking that they're engineers and they're Anthony Fantano and shit.

What do you think about perfectionism?

Perfectionism is a philosophy that I don't really know too much about. I know nobody’s perfect though and they can't be. If you’re striving for that shit you're wasting your time. But I can't directly judge anyone’s life. If they claim to be a perfectionist or not.

I agree in the sense that there's no point in trying to make everything perfect especially when you’re already good at what you do. You can just do something to the best of your ability at the time that you're there. Because if it's not perfect, at least it has your personality in it.

For example, there's this song from you and Bleedlivin called “Organz.” And that's one of my favorite songs from you. Because you have this tonality at the one minute mark where it's like you go super high pitched. The flow is actually insane. But the point is that if anyone were to listen to the song starting at one minute they would be like what the fuck is this guy talking about? Like what the hell is this sound? He's singing in a high pitched ass voice and this shit is weird as fuck.

However, it’s actually the imperfectness of that song that actually made it one of my favourite songs from you. When you're actually in a flow state and you're actually just like producing shit, sending it, whatever, wherever it goes, as long as you were in that moment, you were present and you made it you, I think that’s all it takes and people will love that.

I don't remember the last time I tried to make something perfect. I just go with the flow. You know what I'm saying? For Organz in particular, I was just literally trying to sound like my nigga bleed. He sent the beat so I tried to rap like him. And so I don't ever take that shit too serious. I just try to be me. Authenticity always means more than perfection to people. Cuz people don't even realize perfection when they're staring it in the eyes.

Alright, since I'm on your social media right now, let's talk about this other quote. This one is from Tumblr and you said: “These niggas stay recognizing my recognition for a cosign. WAV shit initiation is rare.”

Shit. I mean I was probably on some dickhead shit that day. But that’s pretty true. I fuck with everybody. But what I fuck with is when people do they’re own shit. Just because I'm fucking with you doesn’t mean like you gotta ride with me 100% of the time. I recognize people. I see them for what they’re doing. Stay on your path. Stay on your path. Nothing in life worth wanting just comes to you.

When it comes to certain operations, you can't add everybody. In life, the more people you add when you're trying to complete a task, the harder it is to complete the task. You ever been out with so many people and you can't even decide where to go. Like, what's the next move? There’s just too many people. I don't like too many people.

Yeah, I can think of a lot of lyrics where you talk about this. Got this other one from Tumblr. You said: “The only feeling like Cash and Sex is Music.” This one is one of my favorites because I reposted it as well.

That shit really is self-explanatory.

The other lyric that I thought of when you said that is – I don't remember what song by you I was listening to but you said like “I'm cool being in the background” And it resonated with me because that's how I live, too. But I'm not an artist.

I mean that's facts though. Like, I'm just cool, bro. Like, cool off certain shit. You don't always gotta be the main nigga in some shit. Sometimes, it's about accepting your role. It was really a metaphorical bar. Like, just accept your role, bro. That's just how life goes.

Alright, here's another one. This one's from your Twitter. “Treating that hoe like some zot.” And bro, I went through your Twitter. I found this tweet twice. I found it twice. So, you have to explain this one to me.

That's just like a bar like if you say it then you know it. You feel me? Like you treating the hoe like some… Okay, so you know at the start, you just love the zot. You open the pack and it just smells good. You can't wait to take it down. Once it's gone, it's gone, though. You treating the hoe like it's endearing though, because you know it's intimate. You take the blunt. You roll it. You inhale it. You experience it.

Bro, I showed Arcade this tweet and we just kept saying it back and forth for like fucking 20 minutes. Treating that hoe like some zot. It's just like, it's catchy as fuck. I didn't know what zot was.

But now we're close to the end though so I won't keep you on here for too long. But there's just a few more topics I want to talk about.

Yeah, take your time. That's a good bar to ruminate on. I'm trying to say more with less. So, if you really smoke that zot, I just told you a whole story with that one bar.

Is there a song that you think is like the closest that you can get to like describing your day-to-day life?

A lot of the best examples are unreleased music. Hearts Turned Green is like the best example of that. Everything on that project is real. Like from “I don't want to work in the insurance department” to “Damn, my old hoes don't even fuck with me”. Just like hella real bars on there. Unadulterated. I didn’t even write. These are generally thoughts that are coming to my head and I'm writing them down as they come. I don't record often.

What's a question that you wanted me to ask you?

I think you pretty much nailed it. I don't really think I can't really think of nothing that I wanted you to ask that you didn't already ask.