OMB Peezy Says Rap Success Hasn’t Stopped Him From Feeling Lonely

OMB Peezy said rap success hadn’t spared him from loneliness, and he said he turned to the microphone when he needed to talk.

In an interview with Men’s Journal, the Alabama rapper pushed back on the idea that making it in music meant endless cash and a life with no problems. He spoke with writer Annmarie Gajdos in New York City.

“I get lonely all the time,” Peezy said.

Asked who he called in those moments, he answered, “The microphone.” He described recording as a way to bring out feelings and memories he had put aside.

“Every album is like therapy for real,” he said.

His latest project, Save Yourself, arrived October 16 through Overkill Ent. The album includes “Language Barrier,” “Stay Away From Me,” and “Save Your Life,” which draws on The Fray’s “How to Save a Life.” Trap Dickey joined him on “What She Wants,” which reworks TLC’s “No Scrubs.”

That use of the booth as a place to vent has roots in his earlier work. During a 2021 interview with AllHipHop about Too Deep For Tears, Peezy explained that he had moved past simply touching on pain. He wanted listeners to know the specific things he had lived through.

“I always been going through sh-t since a youngin’. Whenever I get in a situation, I say “Sh-t, f-ck it.” If I know I can’t change the situation or I know I couldn’t prevent the situation from happening, “sh-t f-ck it. It is what it is.,” Peezy said.

The sessions could get personal enough that he wanted the room dark. He recalled switching off the booth light while making “Soul Ties” and “I Try” because he did not want people watching his face as he worked through his feelings.

Peezy also said he kept recording through the pandemic until most of his planned tracklist had changed. Only two songs from the original list remained. Life events kept giving him new things to address on record.

More recently, in a statement accompanying Save Yourself, he said he had spent roughly a year and a half making changes. That included changing his surroundings and working to shift the way people saw him.

In the new interview, Peezy said he prayed for peace and felt he was beginning to find it. His advice was to spend time alone with the television off and the phone put away.