"Rumors” has a verse about online rumors you suffered through in high school.

It's totally true, and I talked about it not because it’s something I’m stuck on but because it was a moment in my life early on where I first experienced being trolled. Getting to see what it’s like having a bunch of people diss you — especially people who don’t know you well — was really funny for me. I remember the night the website went up, my friend called me and was like, "Yo, did you see this thing about you? It’s crazy." I remember thinking, Ah man, I’m gonna be the biggest loser, no one’s gonna like me.

But funnily enough, it lowkey kinda made me popular. I started meeting people. It got my name out a little bit, and it just so happened it was right around the time that I was trying to be a rapper amongst my school, passing out CDs and getting people to really know me for that. A gift and a curse, you know?

The song is also about an acquaintance being accused of sexual misconduct.

I’ve had several friends who have been called out for their misconduct. Some of them aren’t even friends — just artists I’ve worked with. I collaborate constantly, and some of my collaborators have been called out, publicly and privately — mostly privately. I felt the need to address that. There are a lot of layers to this. A lot of guys are being taught the wrong things when it comes to dealing with women, what it means to date, what sex is really about, and how to behave yourself — especially artists and entertainers who are told that sex can be a sign of success or that "it goes along with the job." A lot of guys think they can take advantage of or mistreat people — it isn’t even just about assault, it’s [also] ghosting people, misogyny, a lot of stuff that’s normalized if you’re an artist.

It really fucks with me. I have a lot of women friends. I’m dating a woman. I’ve had a lot of women tell me they’ve been hurt –– even before this #MeToo thing happened. This isn’t nothing new. I’ve known so many scumbags in my day. Even stuff that I’ve done to hurt women — I’ve definitely been a jerk before. But what I’m talking about in this song is straight-up assault. I did some music in the last couple of years with this guy that I didn’t know really well. I had a close friend of mine tell me that he assaulted her and I just had to sever ties with him. I had to tell him, "Dude, I’m not trying to put you on blast or anything but not only have you done this, but you did this to a good friend of mine, and I just can’t rock with you anymore."

You also get at the layers of hearing more nebulous rumors about people you know.

I’m supportive, too. There are friends of mine have who have been called out who are making a true effort to rehabilitate themselves, apologize, and make up for the terrible stuff they’ve done. I can at least stand back and support that, even if I don’t wanna be in their lives constantly. But in the case of the guy that I’m talking about in this song, when I spoke to him about it, he just straight-up denied it. He wanted to be like, "Yo who told you that, I think I know who you’re talking about, just tell me, is it this person?" It’s like, dude, just be straight up with me. I didn’t come here to argue with you or to get in a fight about it. Somebody that I trust told me that you did this to them. I believe them. I’m giving you the floor to be honest about it — it’s not anybody else’s business, this is purely between us.

I was honestly offended that they didn’t fess up to it. I can see how it’s hard, but just keep it real, man. Anything you do in the dark is gonna come to the light. If you’ve hurt somebody and you get called out for it, just own up to it. Even if you don’t get called out for it — own up to it.