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Face Time: A$AP Rocky, Machine Gun Kelly and Dillon Francis

February 27, 2013
	<p>Rap artist Machine Gun Kelly</p>

Rap artist Machine Gun Kelly

The “2013 mtvU Woodie Awards” are approaching quickly. On March 17, some of the youngest, most popular music artists in the game will compete for awards such as “Woodie of the Year,” “Best Video Woodie” and “Branching Out Woodie.”

Yesterday, mtvU hosted a conference call for college journalists to interview rappers A$AP Rocky and Machine Gun Kelly and artist Dillon Francis. Here’s what they had to say:

A$AP Rocky

On realizing how popular he was becoming:
“I realized I was on the come up when I started to see strange people I didn’t know come up to me and congratulate me on my music. That’s when I knew I was on the rise.”

On being upset when his album “Long. Live. A$AP” leaked a month before it was released:
“I was actually. But people would come up to me like, ‘I’m sorry (for downloading the album early), but it was amazing’… and I said ‘Man, this is what I really wanted.’”

On rapping since he was 8 years old:
“I didn’t even make sense. I would put words that didn’t work together just to rhyme. I used to rap about jewelry and money and clothes and stuff.”

On his fashion being influenced by his family:
“I’m just one of those cats that had a lot of guidance with older folks from my brother and father and stuff. My style is unique to me. I just love to keep it at a hundred most times. My style is straight up trill, that’s bottom line.”

On what he spent his advance money on after signing to Sony Music Entertainment:
“Not a damn thing. That advance money was for me to work on my project. It was an investment. I didn’t use that money on cars and (stuff), that’s (stupid) … just business related things. When I got my show money, I went shopping. I can tell you that much.”

Machine Gun Kelly

On his parenting style:
“I want my daughter to know what I went through. I want her to know what I do to provide for her. She’s one of the smartest 3 year olds I know. The sluttiest people I know had the strictest parents, so I’m a pretty laid-back parent.”

On meeting Jay-Z during the NBA All-Star Weekend:
“We were starstruck when he walked in the building. He actually bought me and my friend tequila shots. I said I’m going to hold this cup for the rest of my life.”

On his fans:
“You gotta look at facts. If you put my fans up against other fans, everyone else would lose. And that’s just facts. It’s a cult fan base … it’s not a fad.”

On how he wants to be remembered:
“The voice of the generation. That’s how I would describe it. The voice of those boys who are working at the gas station to save up enough money to go to my show.”

Dillon Francis

On getting inspiration for his beats:
“I always got inspirations from Blink-182 and a lot of comedians. I just like doing funny stuff. I was always considered the class clown in school. I wanted to keep doing that in music.”

On being able to work with Calvin Harris:
“I never thought I’d be able to work with him, or even be friends with him. It’s really bizarre that I’ve been able to make a song with him and have it on his album.”

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