Hip-hop has always thrived on spectacle, drama, and emotional extremes — but in the internet age, rap beef has expanded beyond music. It now lives in livestream comments, subtweets, gossip blogs, and parasocial group chats. For all the posturing about discipline, spirituality, and self-control, rappers are just as entangled in the rumor economy as their listeners.
This week, NLE Choppa entered that arena with “KO”, a new diss track aimed at YoungBoy Never Broke Again. The tension between the two traces back to the death of Choppa’s friend King Von, who had ties to YoungBoy’s affiliate Quando Rondo. Rather than simply attacking YoungBoy, Choppa frames himself as a corrective force, casting YoungBoy as someone who corrupts impressionable listeners. The tone is both confrontational and strangely paternal. The record samples the same track 2Pac used for “Hit ’Em Up,” and the video amplifies the reference: theatrical costumes, shifting personas, exaggerated swagger. At times, the homage veers into imitation, but it also signals Choppa’s belief that diss tracks can operate as cultural interventions.
Still, the motivations behind the song feel somewhat obscured. The grievances are more moral than specific. The result resembles recent “state of the culture” records, where critique can sound like a pitch for cultural leadership. Choppa appears to be positioning himself as an artist aligned with restoration, spiritual clarity, and responsibility. And yet, the record undeniably carries the energy of someone vying for generational spotlight. What makes it work is Choppa himself: the texture of his voice, the looseness of his delivery, and the conviction behind his accusations. When he speaks about YoungBoy’s influence on fans, he is animated, almost amused, unwavering.
In person, Choppa is charismatic and emotionally open. The recent change of his name to NLE The Great reflects a larger spiritual shift. His father, once a source of conflict, now travels with him — their reconciliation visible and affecting. Choppa toggles between vulnerability and bravado with ease, leaning into a mythology of transformation.
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As the feud progresses, it will surely unfold publicly. Whether the diss is “good” may not even be the point. It is a gravitational event — charged, symbolic, messy — made to be witnessed. Choppa says he does not hate YoungBoy. He simply wants him to make different choices.
So I guess the first question is why was it time now to drop this bomb of a song?
What made the time now is a power higher than me. Like I said, when people ask me the reason why now or why in general — this is my fourth time, fifth time-sharing this story, so sometimes it’s not as fresh sharing it — but I was awakened out of my sleep with a vivid dream. The dream was me holding a young boy’s head in my hand, and I was bringing the head to my father in the dream — my dad. And when I woke up from my sleep, I wanted to pray about the dream, and I started to seek what the dream meant. And going into that space of prayer, I knew it was time.
What did you think the dream meant?
When I first got the dream, that’s one way of communication that the most high sent things to me. So when I first got the dream, I thought it was like a dream from not the most high, I thought it was a nightmare or something, because it was so gruesome in the dream. It was like flesh hanging off the skull, mosquitoes, and gnats, and biting at his flesh as it was deteriorating. And it was very vivid. And it was so vivid I can remember the smell and the dream. So when I woke up, I went into prayer about what it was. And I didn’t know what to interpret at first, so I tried not to lean on my own understanding. Within prayer I got the words and the things I needed to hear. After that it was just execution. I never want to feel like my devotion is questioned. So the steps were ordered, and I did them.
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They always say that dreams are something that lurks underneath. So for you, how much of this stuff has been building up for you?
As far as with the dreams, and it’s been years. Actually, I feel like this moment right here has been building up before birth, and I feel like that’s how big the moment is. It’s not even a thing to where it was, oh, years are built up a month to build up. I think the last few months, the last two or three months before he woke me up with that dream was preparation for what he was going to call and order me to do, or I should say the fourth quarter of preparation. But the first and the second and the third quarter were from birth and teenage years to 20s. And he’s been slowly, slowly preparing me for revolution.
What are some of your favorite bars on the third verse?
You poison the youth. And that was the way I started it off because we’ve been oppressed for a long time and I feel we add fuel to the fire by not knowing our influence and being conscious of that in general, just conscious of the influence and acknowledging our reach. And one thing I started to realize since I was first blowing up was the reach I had on the youth. And to know that whatever it is that they’re receiving, the interest we give them is what they used to take it to a mile. I’m not perfect, but I am a person that’s conscious of my darkness and my light, so I know I can’t be dark every day I wake up. I know I have to keep a great balance between those two things. And I feel like the entire third verse was basically bringing awareness to a brother that I wanted to hold accountable for that.
What about him specifically bothers you especially in terms of poisoning the youth? What is he doing that you think poisons the youth?
It’s not him personally. It’s what’s controlling him exoterically and esoterically. I’m a firm believer that sometimes it’s not us for real, but it’s still things that we choose. And my thing was I’ve heard interviews from him that he’s vocalized, that he’s conscious of what he’s doing, and I have no problems with him but that’s the part where my assignment, that’s the part of my duty, that’s what I’m on the contract of, because I’m conscious of it. I know you can’t continue to consciously choose a way that’s indifferent to the most highs. And I think that’s what it’s more so about more so than anything on a personal level. It’s really about what you consciously are aware of and what you consciously choose. And I feel like that is what I was speaking to more so than him.
So would it be fair to say that you as a man of God, you’re teaching almost, you’re preaching almost?
I’m a child of God. And me being a child of God, I just wanted him to realize he’s one too. And going into prayer, one of the things that I hear from the most high regard is that he misses him. So things like that let me know that once upon a time you walked with him, once upon a time you leaned on him in prayer, you leaned on him for strength, you leaned on him for guidance and power, but now it’s not reflective of that. And like I said, I’m not perfect and I’m not saying that this record is about me being a cleaner glass than him. I let God do the judgment of that, but it’s something that God sees in me, that I had to be like the trumpets. I had to be the revelation in this situation. So I’m not saying I’m perfect, but God sees something in me that shows progress to the battles I’ve overcome, because I was once the same version of him. But because of the progress I’ve shown, I think I’m in a better position now to hold him accountable.
This is a two-part question. So what progress did you make in your life? And two, why hasn’t he made that progress, in your mind?
The progress I’ve made in my life is strengthening the connection, steady yearning and seeking that connection with something that’s greater than me. Because I’m starting to realize, the more that God is requiring for me is the less that I personally have to do or personally want for it. It’s like he’s shrinking me to be used as an instrument for what is supposed to be said. So it’s days where I may think I need to say this or this is the song I need to drop right now, but he has been in a space of debunking what I feel is best and using me as the instrument to speak on what needs to be spoken in this time. And that’s the progress I’ve been making, getting in position to receive what he wants me to be for the heavens and for him, and I feel like what he is not doing on the receiving end, I can’t. My job isn’t to really say like, “Oh, you need to do this, you need to do that.” It’s more so of whatever it is that I’m doing, he’s not doing it. And I don’t even think it’s a thing of not doing it. I don’t even think he’s thought of making an effort to do so. I feel like we get in spaces where sometimes we succumb to certain deities or certain vices and we just lay down, and I have been the person to rebel against laying down, and God sees that. He sees it all, and I feel like that is why he gave me the honors on this one, because I love doing stuff like this. That’s a part of me. Lifting up, getting to fight, but he’s teaching me how to fight in a manner to where it’s justified, and that’s the difference between anything that I say versus anything that’ll come from the other side’s mouth. My grief and my truth is justified.
You say there’s nothing personal, yet on that track, you say the word big boy. There are definitely calls to him. Are you worried about this escalating things?
In the past, it’s already been escalated. Personally, if I was to speak outside of what I’m ordered to do, personally, we’ve already had issues. But I can’t say that these issues have zero reason as to why I made this record. But some of the things that were said, and we had a conversation earlier about this, it’s more so can be viewed as personal. It can be viewed as like, “Oh yeah, I don’t fuck with you. I don’t like you. This, that, whoop.” But it’s more so speaking to something that’s controlling him. It’s speaking to what has possession of him, and I love him. I would love to give that brother a hug. I would love to shake hands with that brother, I would love to make music with him personally, but how could I if he won’t? But do I have worries about things being personal outside of this? I feel he got bigger fish to fry. I’m just playing a small role in it by using my voice.
What’s it like using — I don’t want to say using, but this song comes out and then the album will come out soon. What would you say to people that would say you’re using this song to roll out the album?
This song is coming out October 30th. November, December, January, February, March. It’s five months ahead. I think that this is just an appetizer. I think it’s phase one of the vibration you’re going to feel from me for my whole project. I wouldn’t say I’m using it. This song will be a part of the project, but it’s phase one. It gets deeper.
You had a name change. You went from NLE Choppa to NLE The Great. What inspired the name change?
A higher calling. I had to go higher. I had to go higher. I’ve grown, and all praises to the most high, I’ve grown, all praises to the most high again, because of the things that he is ordering me to do to meet the version of me that he set out for me to be before birth. So it’s like once you’re growing at rapid paces, you’re making progress, certain things just don’t reflect who you are in the present day. And I’m all for separating the artists from the person, but it’s a thin line too of at least carrying something that resembles you the best way you can for when people see you as the artist.
We just had another conversation earlier about this and the lady I was talking to was spot on. I’m a firm believer that we die many times and we can still live. And I don’t know if you ever heard the term dying to live, but I literally die. Every year it’s like a part of me dies, and since six years, seven years back from when I first blew up, a part of me has died every year to prepare me for right now. And Choppa is gone. It’s like he’s not gone in a manner where I don’t use that same rap, that same era, that same thing that makes me a dog.
Choppa is definitely on that song.
Yeah. It’s so many different versions of me. The Heavens is on that song. I feel MJ when I’m rapping. I feel Pac, I feel Chop, I feel Prince. I feel The Heavens, I feel Ali. I feel all of these people have fought for something and won on that song. I feel like I was the voice for that, for the people that have died standing firmly behind truth, and I feel like that’s what the great represent, NLE The Great. He represents that. He represents that cloth, the MJs, the Prince’s, those, the greats. So in order to stay on that frequency, stay on that vibration, I don’t think Choppa even… I ain’t like it no more.
What did Choppa mean to you?
Choppa, it just means ruthlessness to me, for real, and I think I was trying to find ways to get away from it, so I had a phase where I wanted to make music for the women, that appeared more sexy or more this and more that. And I did it as a sense to run away from the darkness I felt as being Choppa, the vibration it carried. But now, I’m learning how to use Choppa on the other side of the line for truth, so it’s like, is he really gone? Is that part of you really silenced? I don’t think it is. I just think I learned how to use it for the right reasons, and I feel like this song was justified as one of those. You know what I mean? So Choppa showed up. Choppa showed up and did his part on that song. Pac showed up, did his part. MJ showed up, did his part. Prince, and Ali. I channeled everything that was greater than me, in my opinion, for this.
There’s a lot of history with your camp, his camp. How much of that history went into this song as well?
I think what I felt during those processes and those trials and tribulations, there’s a lot of stuff behind the scenes that I won’t even speak on, but it’s been a lot of stuff behind the scenes where motherfuckers tried to take me out physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually. Motherfuckers tried to take me out. They tried. It’s been attacks, it’s been attempts, it’s been things of that nature. Nothing fatal, but if you had the opportunity and the chance to, you would take that. So that part of me does bring discomfort and personally it makes me like a rebel. It made me feel like a refugee against that. I do feel I had to channel that history, that assassination attempts on my character, on my mother’s character. I had to channel that pain because I brush it to the side and I had to take the high road sometimes, but it doesn’t affect what you feel. I feel like I did have to use that. I don’t feel like I would’ve been able to deliver it from a space that was not existing. So I had to use part of my hurt, part of my dislike to channel the anger.
I saw a clip of you talking to Jonathan Majors. You guys had a little bit of a disagreement, I would say, on the Bible and on Jesus. What were you trying to say in that clip?
What I was trying to say in that clip is that God is on a plane greater than any one that has walked before us. Anything He’s created, He’s above it. If it took Him six days to create the world and on the seventh day He retreated and rested, that was His creation. And to say that God is someone who walked on creation, I just strongly disagree because why would I create something to return to it? What I was trying to get him to see was that Jesus was a child to God. Jesus walked earth as God’s doings and words, as a manifestation of it, but Jesus was not God.
And I feel that’s a misconception that can set a lot of people free. Jesus was a testament to show us how to walk, what type of covenant, what type of connection we should have with source. Jesus was an example of that. And we’re children of God. Jesus was a child, I’m a child of God, you’re a child of God. Rather anyone honors it or not, you’re a child. And that was what I was trying to get him to see. So if Jesus is a child of God and I’m a child of God, Jesus is our brother. When you speak on things of that nature, sometimes it does get tricky and it can get misconstrued because people hold on to certain beliefs. Well, respect me for mine too.
He’s got his own stuff.
The thing is, I’m not religious. I just believe in doing right by people, treating people the way I want to be treated. Karma, cause and effect. Prayer, faith, consistency, and God, I should have said Him first, but the best for last, God. That’s just me. I can learn from a Buddhist how to meditate. I can learn from a Muslim how to fast. I can learn from a Christian that sometimes we can go to church. I can learn from an atheist. I don’t know what I can learn, but I know I won’t align with what he thinks, but I might be able to… I have learned from atheists. You want to know what they believe? They believe that they can do it all themselves without something greater than them.
At one point in my time, I could have said I was an atheist because once I tried to do these things without Him clearing out the way and trusting His path. His way better. So I’ve walked many different things and taken from different religions to have a free thinking and an open mind. And if a person can respect my views, then it’s okay. But those are my views and that’s how I apply to my life and that’s what keeps me in good graces with the Lord.
Let’s talk about Memphis a little bit, as a city right now. I know there was a lot of things happening post-pandemic. How are you feeling about your home town right now?
The thing I need people to understand in Memphis is that it’s one of the most powerful cities in the world, not just the country but the world.
Yeah, I mean it’s literally one of the most significant American cities that we have.
People should dive into what Memphis was hundreds of years ago and they’ll understand why we are the most violent or we the most this and we the most that. I mean the energy that that land gives off, the energy that that sacred land gives off creates a lot of stuff. It stirs up a lot of stuff. But if Memphis is so bad, why is Elon Musk building that AI whole facility on it? Why is FedEx headquarters there? Why is Amazon headquarters there? Why are they gentrifying us and moving us out of our hoods and people?
Yeah. I mean, I think a lot of that stuff is racist. It’s like if it’s a significant black city, it’s violent.
Memphis is home to the first black subdivision-
Yeah. But they don’t… That’s not what people talk about when they talk about it. But it is one of them.
I mean you hit on it with the racism thing. It was the first black subdivision, Orange Mound. They defunded the school, and they raised the prices of rent, and they put more police in the area to mess with the blacks. It was a whole attack on 5,000 acres of land, Orange Mound, first black subdivision, they attacked it. They killed it. They squashed it. And now Orange Mound is one of the most violent hoods in Memphis, Tennessee. Whenever we rise up, they try to put their foot right back on our neck. And it’s part of what this song is about. We need more people that stand for something that want to rise and lift the people up. You know what I’m saying?
So I guess tying that back into the song, would you say that you were disappointed in him from not having that mentality?
I wouldn’t say I’m disappointed in him because, personally, like I said he’s going to do him, but something greater than me is, I know that for sure, and I know it’s been conversations and I feel like he’s had enough time and isolation to make that right with Him, referring to the Almighty, to follow. He had enough time to make whatever he used his voice for right. I feel like you can do two things: you can take it seriously, or you can play with it.
I want to talk about your family. Your father was here. How close, or what’s it like having your father so close to you? And what about the rest of your family? How are you guys doing?
In my past life, I didn’t have a father. One thing I had to try to learn with my father was how to accept him and appreciate him because of the hate I was carrying for not having one in my past life. So in this life, it was harder for me to appreciate him in the early goings, because I didn’t understand that his love was love. I didn’t understand how tough he was on me some days for my greater good. And I thought some days it was because he didn’t like me. I started to build the same type of resentment that I built when I didn’t have one in this life towards the figure being there.
Last question, how did the reconciliation start, I guess, with you and your father?
It started with me addressing the trauma. It started with me talking to myself, and it started with forgiveness as well. Forgiving him for being a dad his first time with me. You know what I’m saying? It’s all our first time.
No, literally: our parents are doing it for the first time too.
So I had to forgive him for the days too where he wasn’t the best, but his intentions were there.
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Last last question, or to pick up on that: how are you with your children as a dad and how important is that to you and your spiritual life?
I’m balanced. Try to be a fun guy. Now I have to be serious, but I’m balanced. I don’t try to use force. My daughter, the way I give her discipline, I make her sit on a wall, do some push-ups, treat her like a boy, show her one time, “This ain’t what you want.” You don’t want to… Try to show her the rough side in that way. Make her do things. Of course, women workout too. But I put her through intense workouts like she’s an NFL linebacker and I feel like that’s how she stays out of trouble. She knows that when she comes to daddy, she gets out of line, she has to sit on that wall. I’m going to start adding books too. That’s what my parents did, they used to put books on us while we sat on the wall. The books for all you in trouble. So things like that. Try not to whoop them, you know?
What can we expect from the album?
Number one. That’s all. That’s it. Number one in the whole world, globally, number one.
