Rob49 has something big to tell me: He’s just realized that Bart Simpson said “What the Halle Berry?” on an old episode of The Simpsons. On two occasions, the “WTHelly” rapper interrupts our Zoom conversation to excitedly mention the revelation, asking someone offscreen to go to the Amazon Prime app to find the exact episode. “That made my day bigger than the song going big,” he raves.
Given the magnitude of his success with “WTHelly,” the Simpsons clip must have really made his day. Since he dropped the song in March, you’ve probably seen an influx of people jokingly following up “what the hell?” with “what the helly?,” the lead query of his high-octane song-of-the-summer contender. With millions of streams on Spotify and Youtube, it’s the kind of viral hit that everyone in the family can enjoy, provided they’re all old enough to say the word “hell.”
Rob says the song almost didn’t make his recently-released album Let Me Fly, but his mother insisted it would be a hit; she was right. Now, Justin Bieber, Latto, Big Sean, and G Herbo are all tabbed for four upcoming “WTHelly” remixes. They’re just the latest artists to co-sign him, joining New Orleans great Lil Wayne, who featured on Rob’s “Wassam Baby” last year, and early advocate Birdman, who Rob says asked him to be on every album he ever does.
Rob ended up releasing “WTHelly” as the lead single from his album, which he says shows him taking more creative control of his music than ever. Rob debuted with 2020’s Vulture and broke out with 2022’s Welcome to Vulture Island, which marked him as an aggressive, blunt rapper with an ear for uptempo production.
Songs like “Homebody” and his short, graphic appearance on Travis Scott’s 2023 hit “Topia Twins” show that he has no problem telling the ladies everything on his mind. But he also makes mood music for the people who come from gruff environments like his native Fourth and Ninth Wards of New Orleans. When he raps “I done took two pills, I’m bussin’/I’m clutchin’, middle of the jungle” over the surging production of “Pack Flipper,” he’s a reminder for the people who’ve been there, and a tour guide for those who would never go physically.
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Throughout his catalog, Rob raps with an untamable presence that feels like a speeding Porsche set to skid off the road at any second. Listeners can take the ride through Rob’s rhymes, and he knows the kind of velocitized beats to augment the experience.
Rob admits his prior projects have often followed trends, but he’s grown more confident in his own musicality as his career has developed. His new process resulted in a project where fans get the Rob49 they know and love on “WTHelly,” like “Preach” (with YTB Fatt) and “On Sight,” but he also digs deeper than ever on introspective tracks like “Hear Me Momma” and “Where I’m From,” where he raps, “I ain’t never think I’d be rich, livin’ how my life is.” When I ask him what kept him motivated during the dark times, he says, “Just knowing you can be the one to change everything.”
In five years, Rob’s life has been totally upended. Things are moving fast — on this day, they’re moving a bit too fast when he prematurely cuts our interview before I’m done asking questions. “I’m damn near busy as hell right now y’all,” he says in his bellowing New Orleans twang. “I’m not even going to lie.”
How are you feeling about the feedback you’ve gotten for “WTHelly”? Does it feel like it’s hitting differently than your previous hits?
Yeah, yeah, it is hitting definitely different than everything. It never was this crazy. This is the cleanest song I ever made that was a hit, honestly. The cleanest dirty song. It’s crazy, right? It’s almost like the dirtiest song, but it’s clean because “WTHellly” is not a curse word. It wasn’t intentional at all. I just realized it a week ago.
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I heard you say that the title came from something you and your friends say. Do you remember the first time somebody said it and how y’all reacted?
I remember I was like, “Brother, stop fucking saying that shit around me. Brother, say, ‘What the fuck?’” And they kept saying, “What the helly? What the helly?” Until one day I made a mistake and said it. And then that shit was stuck in my head. I was on tour and they was in the studio, I’m like, “Man, I’m about to make the ‘WTHelly’ song.”
Do you have a favorite meme or reaction of somebody playing the song?
The choir and the old ladies. That’s my favorite. [They say] “What the hell? What the hell? What the hell?” — that’s what they were saying on that. “What the Halle Berry?”
In church?
Yeah, for sure. They’re going straight to where they was talking about. They didn’t say “helly-lujah.” They should have said that. They should have went that way with it, but they just went the straight doggish way.
You posted a screenshot with four “WTHelly” remixes. How did they come together?
All of them reached out to me. Every single one. The only one I reached out to was [G Herbo]. And I reached out to Herb because we did it months before. We did it five months before it came out.
So the other three artists just sent you a file like, “This is a version of your song with my verse on it. Here you go?”
Exactly. I actually called Justin Bieber and was like, “Man, you should get on the remix.” And he’s like, “I thought you was going to say that.” And while we were still on the phone, he’s like, “Check your messages. I just sent you the remix.”
He had already recorded it, waiting on you.
Yeah. Had already did that shit. Probably did it before because I called him right then and there.
Did y’all have a prior relationship?
That’s my nigga. I been with him a lot.
He’s been going viral recently with some of his music choices. Do y’all share music with each other?
Hell yeah. We always be on that. That’s really the nigga I look at and take what I like from what they do.
When did y’all first meet?
On Nardo Wick’s tour. When I met him, I’m like, “Man, I listen to you all day, brother.” I had showed him my Apple Music to show him like, “Man, your shit been downloaded. I really do this.” He showed me I been downloaded on his phone. [Then] I had seen an interview of him saying, “My favorite songs right now is two.” He’s like, “Rob49 actually got both of the songs.”
Do you know your plan to roll out the remixes?
I don’t feel like you don’t need no rollout, man. I think we just go. First I’m going to go with the Justin Bieber first, then I’m going to go with the Latto and Herb one together. Then I might drop one more. I don’t know. Might drop the Big Sean one.
I saw that you opened a venue called the Nest Lounge in New Orleans. What made you want to open a lounge?
I always just wanted, when people come to New Orleans, them to have somewhere to go. And that’s how I came up with it. For real. It’s not a lot of choices. [We] really don’t have nothing.
Really? I thought New Orleans was a big party city.
Yeah. But not for people like us. Lil Baby not bouta’ go walk on Bourbon. You feel me? Everybody came down [to the lounge]…. That’s my shit. 100 percent my shit. Ain’t no partners. These niggas be doing partners and all that.
How important is it for you to give back to the community in New Orleans?
I don’t know. I really don’t think of it like that. It’s just like, I know I’m in love with my hometown. Everybody in love with their hometown. I know a lot of niggas leave, but I be trying my hardest to stay there even though it’s not the best thing for me. So I don’t be there as much, but be trying.
What’s the meaning behind your album title, Let Me Fly?
When I put it as my title, a lot of people [were] like, “Man, you tripping with that.” But I put it because I’m like, “Man, this is going to be the one.” This before “WTHelly” came. I’m like, this going to be the one that be like, “Man, give dude his shot because he coming crazy.” Let Me Fly. It’s my turn. And it actually worked out in my favor.
Why did you think people would say you were tripping with it?
Because they didn’t understand the meaning behind what I was saying. But I understand that. It’s all right.
What do you think is the story being told on the project? Is it just your evolution, like you said?
Yeah, it’s an evolution. This not everyday Rob, you heard all that. Now this is what we doing. This just popping shit. It ain’t even too much storytelling. I probably got three of them on the song. But other than that, just popping it. Every song, every line, every ad lib.
I heard Birdman talking on the intro and then on “Scarface.” How did that come together?
He just called me one day and was like, “Man, Neph’, do me a favor.” I’m like, “What?” [He’s like], “Man, I want to be on every album you ever drop in your life.” I told him all right and I told him I promise, and that was three albums ago. So when I said I promised, even though I shouldn’t have promised that, I just was like, “Fuck it. I told him. So that’s what it is.”
He just fuck with me. He been fucking with me since before I even made it. When I ain’t have nothing. Nigga flew me to L.A. and was like, “Man, I wanna sign you.” This before I was even signed to anybody. I probably had a thousand dollars to my name. He was telling me, “You going to be the biggest. Trust me.” So he been believing.
How much does outside opinion factor into what you want to do with your music?
It mattered too much, honestly. But now I’m in a state like, man, I don’t give no fuck what nobody think. I know this shit hard because I said it out my mouth. I wouldn’t have said it if it wasn’t hard.
On two of the features on your album — Meek Mill on “Supposedly” and Herbo on “Swerve” — you’re doing verses back and forth with them. Was that on purpose, or did it just happen like that with both of the songs?
It wasn’t on purpose. We just really recorded it together. With Meek, I had wound up structuring that like that because he had been had the song. He played ‘em for me.
Do you write your bars or do you write in your head?
I be punching in. I ain’t writing. I ain’t write in four years, five years.
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What made you decide to make that shift?
I don’t know. I just felt it was better energy with the punch.
Listening to the project, your energy and your cadences are some of the most unique things about the project. How do you decide how you’re going to approach a track, cadence-wise?
It’s a feeling that you get. You asking me that question, I kind of was like, “Huh?” But it’s like when you hear the beat, whatever vibe you get from it, whatever feeling you get from it, that’s what you’re going to say out your mouth.
