The chart-topping rapper opened up to ET about why he always knew he was going to be a star.
Toosii is currently singing everyone's favorite song!
The rapper, whose real name is Nau'Jour Lazier Grainger, has been in the Top 10 of Billboard's Hot 100 charts for weeks with his lead single, "Favorite Song." On the heels of his first album, NAUJOUR, the 23-year-old has already performed during Blake Shelton's farewell show on The Voice, sold out a tour, performed on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and walked the carpet at the 2023 BET Awards.
"It's a blessing. It's a blessing. It's a blessing," he told ET. "I just feel like we can't become content. I got to continue to work and continue to stay focused. I try not to get too caught up in it, whether it's at five, whether it drops to 45. Whether it drop off the charts. At the end of the day, it's like, 'We made a moment.'" But it's nothing until you can do it again and again and again. So, I got to do it again and again and again."
Toosii originally hails from Syracuse, New York, but was raised in North Carolina. Like his father and brother before him, he had dreams of making music. However, he was the first one to drop everything to make it happen.
"My brother used to make music, my dad used to make music, and those were kind of role models to me," he shared. "So being that they were role models to me, I wanted to do everything that they did. My brother played sports, he played football, baseball and basketball. I wanted to play football, baseball and basketball. So, my family used to make music, and I kind of got into it. I just took it to another level."
As the "difference maker" in his family, Toosii dropped out of high school -- after landing a sports scholarship. However, he realized music was his true passion.
"I realized that this was it for me, this was what was working," Toosii said. "I always loved music. It was always my coping mechanism. I feel like that was the turning point for me as well. I realized this is what I love to do more than anything. I gave up everything. I dropped out of school at 17, I gave up on sports. I had scholarships for football. And I was just like, 'I want to focus on the music.' Because the music is my plan A, and it ain't no plan B."
The "This Is Love" rapper always had the confidence he would be a star.
"Some people just got it in them, where they know they going to be different," he said about putting the faith in his dreams. "And I've always been that person. I knew I was going to be different. And then, outside of me just knowing I was going to be different, it was the matter of continuing to put the work in. And sometimes, I don't realize how big I am."
Toosii's list of musical influences includes the people he would see on MTV -- everyone from J.Cole, Chance the Rapper, Train, Billie Eilish and Drake to name a few.
While he has joined the ranks of his inspirations on the Billboard Top 10, he's all about being himself.
"I'm going to continue to be myself because at the end of the day, when I started making music, I didn't do it for nobody else," he shared. "It was more so of me doing the music for me. And like I said, it was my coping mechanism."
While he doesn't have one person in the industry he goes to for advice, Toosii said that a few big names have offered sound wisdom about the music business including Future, who joined him for the "Favorite Song" (Toxic Version).
"I just take bits and pieces from everybody that I meet," he said. "History don't do nothing but repeat itself. That's something Young Thug told me. He said, 'It's not nothing that I'm doing that somebody already did.' And that's very true. Outside of that, it's just the motivation that other artists give me. I remember meeting Future, and the first thing that he said to me was, 'Damn, man, you got the hooks.' I was like, 'I appreciate it, man.'"
Like Future and Drake, Toosii's debut album is full of songs where he leads with his heart, and puts his emotions on his sleeve.
"I just wanted to give people my real life," he said about the album which includes a picture of his mother and son on the cover. "I think the biggest thing was giving people my real life."
"Another Love Song" finds him being unapologetic about his feelings as he sings, "I know you're tired of the love songs, the love songs/ But baby, I been tired of being loved wrong."
And he's not sorry about it.
"I feel like people get tired of sad songs and love songs, but like I said, it's my coping mechanism," he shared. "So until I stop hurting, that's what you going to get."
While hip-hop is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, Toosii is already thinking about the mark he wants to leave in the iconic genre.
"I just want them to say that I was a real artist and I had a good heart," he told ET. "That's all I want. I want people to know I was a good person. It's nothing more."
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