Within the last couple years, many of Peewee’s lobby-running mates have branched off into their own next steps. Thug’s an international superstar, and Peewee couldn’t be more proud. They grew up together, says Peewee, who remembers when everyone thought Thug’s most noteworthy talent was his football-throwing arm. “He the same,” Peewee says. “He still act the same way—silly as hell. He’ll come out of nowhere, and just point at you and joan. He’s always just been that silly-ass cool-ass little cousin.” When I ask Peewee how he feels when people are put off by Thug’s particular sort of flamboyance, he brings up Prince, pointing out a similarity between the two icons. “He got a style of his own and he don’t give a fuck,” Peewee says.

Peewee was an integral part in Thug's ascent, thanks to his own relationship with the beloved Atlanta rapper Gucci Mane. A longtime friend, Gucci signed Peewee to his label in 2013. “I been knowing Gucci before ‘So Icy,’” he says. “I knew Gucci from the streets. We did the same thing. We came up doing the same thing.”

In 2013, Peewee introduced Thug to Gucci. “I’m finna take you over here, all you gotta do is go in there and do you bro," Peewee encouraged the younger rapper. “I took him over to Guwop, and Guwop put the stamp on lil cousin,” he says. “And that’s all he really needed. He finally got that chance to show the world what he can do. He finally got what people in the world ain’t know he had in him.”