AD prides himself on being a student of the game. He says he has been influenced by Xzibit and The Game, fellow West Side rappers. But he also took lessons from Bone-thugs-n-harmony when he toured with them.
“It’s different as an artist when you see people’s songs live and how they can connect with the crowd,” he says in an episode of Unique Access. “Back then, I was just making songs I feel, stuff that I thought sounded good. Performing them didn’t translate the right way. So it’s like, ‘Damn, this beat ain’t really hitting the right way for the crowd, or what I’m saying right here ain’t really hitting the right way.'”
After traveling with the legendary Cleveland group, AD says he was able to really appreciate their body of work. He says it challenged him to approach his craft differently. The Compton, California rapper put that into action on his Blue:89 mixtape, which was released last year, and says his new-found energy is especially apparent on the opening track, “Blue.”
“That was my first tour and I went and I seen it I seen how they connected with the fans, they got hits,” he says. “People don’t know, they could do an hour set and you’re gonna be singing. Another thing I didn’t know as well is they got songs with all the dead legends, with their catalogue and stuff like that. So after being on the road with them and seeing, I said, ‘You know what, I’m an energetic person, I’ll even make more music that’s more energetic for the fans and stuff like that and that’s what I did.”