Rapper AZ Returns To Brooklyn For New BET Web Series

“NEW YORK, NY – MARCH 08: Recording artist AZ attends the #BLX season 2 screening event at The Monarch Rooftop Lounge on March 8, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Bennett Raglin/BET/Getty Images for BET Networks)”

Q: What’s the craziest thing you ever witnessed growing up?

A: “Everything! I saw bodies on the floor, best friends fighting, families fighting. Things you really couldn’t understand, like why are sisters fighting? Why are best friends shooting at each other? Certain questions I’d always ask myself, but that’s life.”

Q: You were part of what many see as hip-hop’s golden era. What do you think about today’s hip-hop?

A: “It is what it is. It’s the vibration of the streets. When we were coming up, it was just venting on what we’d see and where we lived, and that’s the same thing that’s going on now. What I’m hearing is a lot of – I wouldn’t say séance music – but a lot of chanting and a lot of partying, and that’s what’s going on. They’re in a zone where they’re partying, and just carefree to an extent. It’s an escape. That’s what music has always been for me, was an escape and a way to vent. And I guess right now, the youth that’s rapping, that’s a way to vent.”

“NEW YORK, NY – MARCH 08: A general view of atmosphere at the #BLX season 2 screening event at The Monarch Rooftop Lounge on March 8, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Bennett Raglin/BET/Getty Images for BET Networks)”

Q: We heard you’re afraid of getting trapped in elevators.

A: “I got stuck in an elevator for like four hours in East New York, in one of the projects. I was young, about 14, so it really had a psychological effect on me to an extent, although I got over it. A few years ago I wound up getting stuck again for an hour and a half. It threw me for a loop, so I have to monitor the elevators I get in. And I love speaking about it, because it’s not a hidden secret. It’s okay.”