prblm Interview
by Owen Mahoney
25 August 2025
untitled
So, how does it all start with music? You now have other avenues of expression through Novagang and your brand Rrouet, but how does prblm become prblm?
It was a whole thing when I was a kid. Music wasn't necessarily my passion, but that's just something my family has always done. I caught up to it because of my friend Zak. It was like a Hippos in Tanks moment. We found each other through YouTube and added each other on Skype. I said, “Yo, you need to get Discord.” This was 2016, and I guess I got into music because of them. They showed me a deeper meaning of art, or at least a different perspective. We met because we're into Night Lovell in 2014. I was 12 years old. I was always into the cloud rap scene because of my uncle. He was friends with SpaceGhostPurrp and Denzel Curry, even X (XXXTENTACION). My family has always been into music. Music in the house, rapping and recording. They even had worked with a couple celebrities, but they just don't have a face card with it. Honestly, I started to learn more of that when I got older. When I was a kid, I didn't really get it. You know? My uncle Pat met up with Waka Flocka. My uncle Jean was connected to a lot of cool people in Miami around the time. He made sure that we were educated. My big brother, before 2010, got me into MySpace. I think I was seven.
prblm’s Uncle Pat and Wacka Flocka Flame
That’s super interesting. I had a very removed childhood from the Internet, but I love to hear how everyone first interacted with it because it has such a large impact now on how people behave.
What's funny is my Dad wanted me inside and would rather me be on the internet because a lot went on outside. Someone broke into my house when I was young and that affected us ultimately and we had to migrate somewhere else shortly. It was some traumatizing shit. He was very afraid for us to go outside, and so was my mom, because of street shit . That cycle affected him. I'm glad that I grew up in a home where my family started believing in me. They believe in me. They were very scared of the Internet shit, and then they started believing it. My mom told me straight up like, “You can make so much money off that shit. You don't need a job, bro. Jobs are for people who don't do shit. You do mad stuff.” My mom is cool as fuck.
Are you close with your family?
I'm with them right now. Shit was rocky last year, kind of hectic. But people do change, and you can rekindle with your family. I respect my dad's side of the family a lot too because of how many people they've been around in the industry and still stayed humble. They coulda really been industry, but they all decided to become pastors, and I think that's what's up. Veire Dawf was actually inspired by me going to church every day. I actually have voice memos on my phone that have hours of church and instruments being played. I just recorded all of them, and it taught me how important the bass guitar is. I incorporated that in the first demo of “IN THE EAST” because I actually did not wanna do trap drums or any of that. I wanted it to sound theatrical like a live instrumental and theatrical. It was inspired also by me going to New York because I wanted to do something organic. I'm very inspired by Bjork and other Icelandic music. I'm inspired by the homies. You know, they fucked with this album I'm working on right now. Shout out to Woesum and Gud. Shout out to Fimiguerrero. Shout out to everybody in Novagang, too. Shout out to all the boys, every single one of them. They know. They see this interview. You feel me? You actually got me inspired for my next album.
What do you mean?
When we went to that park, I thought, “I wanna put this in a song”. I think that, fundamentally, for every song that I make, a life experience is required, and I can't just make music just to make it. I actually have to live. I have to live life. I can't just say, “Oh, let's make beats.” No. I have to go outside and feel the rain to consume. I went from being kicked out of the crib to being homeless. That long walk was something simple. We just went to the park, and I was just like, “Wow.” You were talking about life. I don't know if you remember the conversation, but you were talking about how the environment makes you feel. Like, “Oh, yeah I fuck with nature. I fuck with this and that.” And I was like, “Yo, this nigga's a real human.” He is doing this shit for free. He is recording us for free. Very passionate.
untitled
How do you feel about people using different mediums to express themselves?
It's suddenly a niche group of people. There're people that think they can do everything, and there're people that just do everything, and they don't talk about it. That's the coolest type of person. The coolest kind of people are the people who are not afraid and actually do something. I think that's actually the first step to changing the system. I was talking about this yesterday where I feel like a lot of people go to school for something, but they don't go to school because they genuinely want to do something for this passion. They just do it so that they get certification to make a lot of money. That's not a real passion, but I don't judge people for doing that. Still, I do think that we should admire participation in any artform because they're about to learn something that a lot of people don't know. I will say I've been editing videos even before I made music, and I was drawing before I made music.
You have collaborated a bunch with Edward Skeletrix. What is your relationship like with him?
When we met, we had a whole conversation about his old music when it was under “cight”. One time he called me and we were on the phone for ten hours. I realized we talked the exact same way. I thought, “This is fucking creepy.” We're definitely different people, but almost the same. People were telling me you talk like him, but you don't sound like him. We both pause. Our takes are different, but when it comes to speech patterns we are similar. We were discussing on the phone the other day about how he has been believing me. He lived in a car, and he was really passionate about this shit. I believed in him. When he made those songs (Blurry Picture (Psychosis) and zo6 GET OUt), he said, “These are gonna be my biggest songs.” To this day, they are still his biggest songs.
What has your relationship been with social media? I saw you posting a lot more.
I have to get more tuned in with social media. I kind of treat it like a diary. I hope niggas don't think I'm super sad because I deactivated. When I post stuff, it does not come from a place of depression. I just have passions and concerns in this world. If people heard how I talked or heard my voice, they're probably gonna think I sound down. I like to make a scene with shit, but that doesn't mean making a paragraph on my story talking about the political state of Haiti or something like that. I just care about that world because my grandma lives in Haiti and she can't come here any more. My mom got deported when I was around eight years old. Then, my mom got her citizenship in 2016, but my grandma can't come back to America. That shit physically affects my life. It's not just some woke liberal shit. I think we should fuck with woke people. Woke people are cool, but that's the whole reason why I'm so into politics. It is because everybody should be. It does affect my life, and a lot of people say a lot of mean things about Haitians.
untitled
I remember you saying you don’t want to make music with your vocals for a while. Does this still hold true?
I didn't wanna do it. I genuinely do not want to do it any more for a while. The first person who really made me want to get back into it was Ike from Bassvictim. He wanted me to make a whole album with him. I guess I'm the first rapper he hit up to make an album. It was going to be a Bassvictim x prblm album. I wanted to hang this shit up, but mad people were hitting me up like Ssaliva and Fatshaudi. That's the kind of shit I was very energized by and it's not that I don't like the album. The album is crazy. I can't even sit there and lie to myself. I definitely outdone myself. I’m definitely going to go harder than that, but it's going to take me a long time. I'm going to try to be more subversive and get people on it that I'm trying to get.
So the next album will be more instrumental, live-sounding?
Live sounding. Sometimes even more opera. I think I'm gonna do more than eight songs like I did before. I might make that shit a little extensive. I also want it to be an inclusive project. I might go to Europe to make the album. I'm tired of making the Carti beats for niggas. I even told that to Fimiguerrero last night. I told him I'm going to get you on some new shit. He was like, “Plug me in.” I showed him my favorite artist right now, Samba Jean-Baptiste. Fuck all the other shit. That's the reason why I posted my story. I'm not saying I was giving up on rappers. I just wanna get rappers on shit that I made. People don't really see the vision. Actually all those beats, or almost all of them, from Veire Dawf were sent out.
Could you talk a bit about the song you submitted for DAL 2?
That's a Dijon remix. I sent it to Gud because it was inspired by him. I was telling him how I really go to church. When I heard Dijon, it reminded me of his voice, and I just started playing the keys, and started doing esoteric shit. I think Dijon's voice lowkey brought that whole thing together. You could say it's the melody too, but his voice is so powerful. I'm always trying to make a statement with myself and what I put out.
Follow prblm on Instagram. Listen to him on Spotify, SoundCloud and Apple Music
Check out Novagang on Instagram, X, And SoundCloud