GQ: Does your dad ever come to the studio?

Pablo Dylan: You know what, he doesn’t, he really just let me do my own thing. Like sometimes I’ll play him a song and he’ll tell me if he likes it or not. But he really lets me focus on it by myself.

GQ: Does he like your stuff?

Pablo Dylan: The thing is, he’s my dad so he likes everything I do [Laughs]. But I mean, there’s some songs he really loves. I played him a song a couple of days ago, though, and he was like, "I don’t like this," and then I played him another song I did right after that and he was like, "This is a completely different level for you."

GQ: How would you describe your style? When I heard your single "Regular" I began to think of Drake. Do people ever compare you to him?

Pablo Dylan: Yeah. I definitely think we have similar voices. Which to me is an incredible honor because Drake is one of my favorite artists of all time. I think he’s an incredibly talented songwriter and artist. I got into him when I heard [Lil Wayne’s], "I’m Goin’ In." I love that song. But the first song I was really obsessed with was, "Best I Ever Had." From the beat, to the verse, to the hook...it’s one of the coldest songs ever.

GQ: On your first mixtape you collaborated with Darnell Robinson, the grandson of the late industry legend Sylvia Robinson, on the song "Top of the World." How did you guys meet?

Pablo Dylan: Well, actually it came through a friend of mine, Closer Productions. He did the beat on that song, and it just so happened that he was friends with Darnell and he sent the beat to him. K. Major put a hook on it, and later that day I did my verse. We did the whole song in a day.

"I want to be the next Eminem.

I want to be the next

Bob Dylan."

GQ: Okay, so I have to ask you this: Hip-hop was built on being from the streets. Your family is wealthy. Do you feel like that might interfere with your image?

Pablo Dylan: I think if you really look at hip-hop today, I think that image is not really there anymore. I mean, look at the biggest rappers we have today, like Drake and Wiz Khalifa. There was this XXL [issue], I think it might’ve been last year, and all the rappers on the cover were smiling. Like, that was just like... "Wow." In all honesty, I’m just going to do what I do. It definitely crossed my mind at some point, but...actually, I take that back, I don’t think it ever did. I think I’ve really just been very honest with who I am. People can relate to anyone in any situation, if they’re good enough. I think Drake opened up that door, but I think the door was ready to be opened. At the end of the day, people are going to react to whoever puts out the dopest music. Like, if 20 years ago you told people Eminem was about to be the biggest rapper in the entire world, I don’t really know how people would react to that. ****

GQ: Earlier you said you wanted to be the greatest.

Pablo Dylan: I mean, that’s my dream. Just to clarify that, I want to be the best I can be, but that’s like comparing Jay-Z with Kanye...you can’t do it, they’re two different people. I just want to be on that level where I can get people to react to my music like that. I realize that a lot of people are going to listen to what I say. I realize that I have this opportunity that comes with a huge responsibility that not a lot of people are blessed with. So I really want to take advantage of it. I really want to change something. Like, a lot of the stuff I’ve been doing recently has definitely been very political. The other day, after the whole Troy Davis thing happened, I was so infuriated I went in the studio and wrote like three songs about that situation. But I think for the rest of my life I’m just gong to make the music that I feel, whether it’s political or not. I said it in a song I just wrote, which I’m hoping to put out soon. I said, "What happens when I’m gone, do I stay here forever? / they saying that I’m stupid / I’m just tryna be clever / cause I ponder the unexplainable / never say never / life was always good but I just want it to be better when I’m gone." That’s really how I feel. It’s really honest. People think I’m really stupid for asking some of the questions that I ask, and thinking about some of the things that I think about. I mean, I’ve heard a lot of people say that to me recently, like, "What can one person do? You’re a kid, you’re dumb. Why are you doing this?" But I’m personally just really trying to be smart. I’m hoping something I do last forever. I really want to do something that people will remember for the rest of time. Like, people aren’t going to forget about Jay-Z, people aren’t going to forget about my grandfather, people aren’t going to forget about Obama. I want to be the next Eminem. I want to be the next Bob Dylan. I want people to still be talking about me after I’m dead. That would really mean I was successful.

GQ: Is there a plan B?

Pablo Dylan: Honestly, I’m putting everything into [rap], all of my time. Hopefully it’ll work. If not, I don’t even know what I’ll do.