Stove God Cook$ Speaks on The Recently Leaked Album and His Next Project

WORDS WITH WORD$ INTERVIEW #1: Stove God Cook$

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A MESSAGE FROM STOVE:

“Bread of Life” - Stove God Cook$:

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Yo, it’s the Pope, 1000WORD$.

Last month, I received a mysterious link in my DM that contained unreleased music from Stove God Cooks. I don’t wanna give up my source, but once I heard the project I had to know more. I was curious if it was “Stove Jesus” – the rumored follow-up to his 2020 album “Reasonable Drought” produced by Roc Marciano – or the “Million Dollar” album, which Stove was selling on his site for a brief time last year. The leak was taken down after a few hours.

So you know me, 1000WORD$, I shoot a text to Stove God Cooks himself to let him know an album leaked. I wanted to know if it was authorized. He replied with crying-laughing face emojis. When I asked him if it was the “Million Dollar” album or “Stove Jesus,” he replied: “None.”  

We had an hour long conversation afterwards in order for me to gain a better understanding of what some of us heard so I can share it with you guys. What you are about to read are words from Stove God Cooks and myself. We talked about the leaked album; his upcoming projects; and his experience in The Bronx performing at my show, The Cookout.

This is WORDS WITH WORD$.

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1000WORD$: What's going on, man? It's the Pope, 1000WORD$. Man, I'm here with the infamous, the fucking legendary Stove God Cooks.

Stove God Cooks: Bap bap.

1000WORD$: Let me just get straight to it, man. Last week [your] album was leaked, right? In the underground world that shit caught fire, man. People were debating whether it was the "Million Dollar" album or the "Stove Jesus" album? What can you elaborate on that?

Stove God Cooks: It wasn't the "Million Dollar" album. It was unfinished music that me and [Roc Marciano] was working [with] after "Reasonable Drought.” 

1000WORD$: Okay, because when I heard the album, I heard one of the songs that you were basically still trying to construct. I forgot what it was called, but I heard one of the verses that you laid for something else, so I know that you were probably experimenting with that beat.

Stove God Cooks: Yeah, that probably was a joint that I was fucking with. I probably didn't love it, then [Roc Marciano] probably ended up selling the beat, so I just used the verse for something else. I was able to use the verse on something else because the song was never supposed to be heard. 

1000WORD$: Facts. So it wasn't the "Million Dollar" album. You could say that it was partially little bits and pieces of "Stove Jesus" that were incomplete?

Stove God Cooks: The record my daughter is singing on was "Stove Jesus.” "Jesus Smile" was definitely "Stove Jesus.” If you heard it you knew this wasn’t no throwaway shit.

1000WORD$: How about the one with Earl Sweatshirt? How did that come about?

Stove God Cooks: We were at [The Alchemist's] crib. I was out in LA with Roc. He played me the beat. I'm like, "Yo, this shit crazy." And Roc was like, "Yo, we gotta get Earl on this shit." You know, we'd be at Alc’s crib all the time, Earl would be there all the time, Hip-Hop would be there from Roc-a-Fella. We’d just be in there. So we went to Alc’s crib, and Earl was there, and Roc just turned the beat on. It wasn’t my first time in the studio with Alc, but it was my first time recording with Alc, Roc, and everybody in the studio with me. So you know, we played the beat for hours.

1000WORD$: Who came up with that title "Cocaine on My Sweatshirt?”

Stove God Cooks: I did.

1000WORD$: That's crazy.

Stove God Cooks: We played the beat for like three, four hours. I left, came back, and Earl's verse was done. That's when I just start singing to myself, "Cocaine on my sweatshirt, ooo."

1000WORD$: Yo, that shit crazy. 

Stove God Cooks: "Ooo."

1000WORD$: Now the “Million Dollar” album, man. I don't want to get into specifics for that because I know that's in the tuck, but where did you record that? What kind of mood were you in?

Stove God Cooks: I recorded that in Miami.

1000WORD$: In Miami? Yeah, the “Million Dollar” joint? What inspired you to price it at $1 million?

Stove God Cooks: I was working on the follow up to “Reasonable Drought” while I was working on shit with Gunn. The shit that me and Gunn was doing was coming together so effortlessly that I just put a lot of focus on that. I was loving the shit that me and Gunn was doing and I wanted the culture to have that moment. So I put that shit I was doing alone on pause but in my mind I was like if a motherfucker pay enough ill let it go. But in the moment the priority was the culture, getting the music out that I was working on with Gunn, which ended up being classics. Gunn’s work ethic is different. We went from fucking "[Flygod is Awesome God 2]" to… what was after "Awesome God?”

1000WORD$: I think it was "Awesome God'' and then I think it was one of the "[Hitler Wears Hermes]" joints.

Stove God Cooks: Probably "[Hitler Wears Hermes 8]," [side] A and B. So we started working on that and I'm just like, "This shit's so dope. I'm not worried about my solo album right now, but if a motherfucker pays enough, I'll let these joints go.”

1000WORD$: Do you think "Stove Jesus” will ever see the light of day?

Stove God Cooks: Yeah, yeah. I literally just hung up with Roc and we was laughing at the whole leak shit like, “Our fans deserve to hear this eventually.” 

1000WORD$: Facts, facts. As you should, man. Like I told you before, when I'm a multi-millionaire I'm buying one of them shits. I feel like that shit is a flex.

Stove God Cooks: Haha, for real. Each one don't have the same songs on it. That's what it was, the seven copies, each one is not the same album.

1000WORD$: Oh, so every “Million Dollar” album is a different album. Everybody's getting a one of one piece.

Stove God Cooks: Yeah, yeah.

1000WORD$: Damn, that's crazy. That's fucking crazy, man. That's some rare shit, man. That's super dope. What do you classify your music as? What kind of genre do you think you represent?

Stove God Cooks: I don't know, man. I guess it's like melodic street music. Underground. I don't know. What do you say?

1000WORD$: I mean, I feel like the category that you’re in is very top tier. Because like you said, you got the hooks, you got the songs, and you got everything that everybody likes to listen to when you rap. So I think it's hip-hop in its purest form, as far as what we like listening to, which is longevity rap. Hip-Hop is like a message to me. It's for motherfuckers that struggle. And then hip-hop evolved into motherfuckers hustling. So I feel like when you put the hustling back into it, the way that you do it, and paint it in a beautiful way, man, I think shit's timeless, bro. That's what I think.

Stove God Cooks: Nah, that's a fact.

1000WORD$: Now who were some of the local legends in Syracuse you grew up listening to?

Stove God Cooks: There was a couple artists locally that we felt was legendary, but there was nobody that ever took it to a level where we felt like we could really make it into the industry for real. 

1000WORD$: Nobody ever made it from out there?

Stove God Cooks: Nobody. Like I was telling the homie, you know, how you felt coming up in the Bronx it's like, first of all, it's where everything started. Then you still got legendary motherfuckers after that, [Big Pun], whoever else came out of the Bronx, [Fat Joe].

1000WORD$: KRS-One.

Stove God Cooks: You see what I'm saying? You came out of your crib. If you loved Hip-Hop it was like, y'all got the n****s that stood out here making the shit happen for real. We ain't have no shit like that. You crazy if you were like, "Nah nah nah, I'm gonna make this shit happen." They like, "Come on, my n***a."

1000WORD$: How important is it for you to represent your city? And knowing that you are potentially going to be one of the biggest artists to come out of your city, and to come out of this genre?

Stove God Cooks: It's dope for anybody to represent where they from and give that inspiration to where they from. I don't really think of it like that. I'm just gonna make the dopest shit and see where it takes me. Where I come from, for real for real, like one wrong move and it's over.

1000WORD$: Yeah.

Stove God Cooks: One wrong phone call and it's over.

1000WORD$: Gone.

Stove God Cooks:  So I don't be attached to this shit. Everybody in this music shit is not solid. So I don't put my all into like, "Yo, I'm gonna be the biggest n***a in five years." It's like, we don't even know what this shit is ever going to be. This shit is not scripted. 

1000WORD$: Word. 

Stove God Cooks: I'm just like, "Yo, let's make the dopest shit now."

1000WORD$: How do you feel like your notoriety has changed throughout the years? How do you feel people receive you now? I know people all over the world fuck with you. How do you feel about that?

Stove God Cooks: It still blows my mind, where it's like, "This shit's for real." My little brother lives in Charlotte. I flew out there to fuck with my little brother, see my nephews and shit. I'm at the airport in Charlotte and [some] n***a like, "Yo, Stove. You the illest ever." I'm like, "Yo, this shit's crazy son, for real." This shit still fucks me up like, this shit crazy.

1000WORD$: You went to Paris too.

Stove God Cooks: Yeah, I went to Paris with [Westside Gunn].

1000WORD$: That was your first time going to Paris?

Stove God Cooks: Yeah, that was my first time.

1000WORD$: How was that experience?

Stove God Cooks: Shit was amazing. We recorded "10.” We recorded that shit in Paris.

1000WORD$: What did you expect to see? You see Paris on TV. Was it like, man, "What the fuck am I gonna do out there?"

Stove God Cooks: Gunn don’t really give you time to have any expectations. He just hit me up and said “We’re going to Paris. We leaving in three days.” Ain't no expectations, no nothing, you know what I'm saying? I don't know. We went to the Eiffel [Tower] and all of that. Them moments be like, "Damn."

1000WORD$: Yeah, facts. I could tell because like you said, there's nothing up there in Syracuse. I was able to walk out my door and absorb a lot of shit, but you said where you from, a wrong phone call, a knock at the wrong crib would probably get you… you know what I'm saying?

Stove God Cooks: That’s a fact. That’s a fact

1000WORD$: Now fast forward, how was it performing at The Cookout? How was it knowing that you were gonna perform in the Bronx, the birthplace of this shit? I threw the event. I felt like if I was gonna do a big memorable show, you had to be involved. I was like, "Let me reach out to my man Stove and see what's up." You ain't know how the shit was gonna turn out, you know what I'm saying? You ain't even know how the shit was gonna look.

Stove God Cooks: I got trust in the motherfuckers that I fuck with.

1000WORD$: Yeah, and I appreciate that. Now when that whole shit was showtime, how did you feel? How can you describe that as an artist, seeing that?

Stove God Cooks: Unbelievable, for this shit to come full circle, and we’re where this shit started, and we in the trenches for real.

1000WORD$: For real, for real.

Stove God Cooks: And it's packed out. Street n****s, art motherfuckers, like, we bringing everybody together. And they’re all singing this shit. It's like, "Nah, we did this shit for real."

1000WORD$: Facts.

Stove God Cooks: It be moments like that. It don't be the arenas, it don’t be the festivals. It be moments like that where it's like, "Nah, we did this shit for real, because only real n****s can do shit like this."

1000WORD$: Facts. All elements of hip-hop were present that day. Artists, spitters, writers, photographers, dancers, street n****s, you know what I'm saying? Everybody was chilling, drinking champagne, motherfuckers was chilling. Now, you just recently got written up by Harvard University. Shout out to Ryan, my boy Ryan, who wrote the article.

Stove God Cooks: Shoutout to the homie.

1000WORD$: It all goes back to where we all from, as individuals, and what obstacles we faced. You are featured in one of the oldest publications in the country.

Stove God Cooks: That's the shit that makes you live forever.

1000WORD$: Facts.

Stove God Cooks: Students going to Harvard listening to our shit? We ain't got no place in shit like that. 

1000WORD$: We don't.

Stove God Cooks: That's how a n***a feel. We ain't got no place in shit like that. But if we're the culture, then we're the heart of all this shit, for real.

1000WORD$: Word.

Stove God Cooks: That's why I love and respect [Westside Gunn] so much, because he is for the culture, for real.

1000WORD$: For real, for real.

Stove God Cooks: You know, we gotta do what we gotta do to feed our kids and all. But first and foremost, let me leave my footprint in the culture. That's it, and take it to another level. We bring the culture through the door of some places where you know they didn't respect that shit ten years ago.

1000WORD$:  Stove, man, people are always asking, "When you dropping, man? When you dropping?" When you think you're gonna drop?

Stove God Cooks: Probably May.

1000WORD$: May?

Stove God Cooks: Like for real, May.

1000WORD$: May Mayhem.

Stove God Cooks: I'm trying to drop in May. My shit damn near done. S.C.M.I.C.

1000WORD$: That's the name of your album? That's fire. I can't wait, man. What does that mean? I don't want to ask too much because I be a nosy motherfucker. I'm a fan ass n***a. I'm thinking about the artwork. Where are you going as far as the artwork? What pictures are you using?

Stove God Cooks: I don't know. You know, [AA Rashid] did the first artwork.

1000WORD$: Yeah.

Stove God Cooks: Yeah, he did the first one. I don't know yet. We ain't there yet. I'm just making sure I love the album. They're gonna compare it to the first one.

1000WORD$: Yo, I'm gonna show you some shit that I actually did. I got a Jesus cooking crack on a stove. Now that you say, "I'm busy, I'm cooking." I'm not saying to use this shit but now that you talk about that concept I want to show you this. Look at this shit that I did. It's exactly what I said. I did this shit one night. I was smoking and we printed this shit out.

Stove God Cooks: Haha, crazy.

1000WORD$: So look, he’s holding the vial and the shit’s gold. It's a black Jesus, bro. I will gift you that. I think you need that as like an art piece that I created. Hold on, I don't think I did it justice. Look at that shit. That n***a got the jar.

Stove God Cooks: Cooking.

1000WORD$: Yo, if you wished to be a wrestler, what wrestler would you be?

Stove God Cooks: Ray Mysterio.

1000WORD$: Yeah that's fire. Ray Mysterio's fucking fire.

Stove God Cooks: With the moves. And it was effortless, like how that shit sounds when you hear [Stove God Cooks] come on. The shit sounds effortless.

1000WORD$: “Like Ray Mysterio gliding through the ropes.”

Stove God Cooks: Come on, that's it.

1000WORD$: Yeah, Stove.

Stove God Cooks: Yeah, that’s it. For real.

1000WORD$: Stove, man. How do you feel about people sending you art of yourself?

Stove God Cooks: That shit was weird as fuck at first. For real, that shit was weird as fuck. "They painting pictures in my likeness now. I'll have Lil Boosie out the two-seater come wipe you down."

1000WORD$: My man said, "They love my album like I died." Haha, that shit is the realest shit I've ever heard.

Stove God Cooks: I knew. I knew. I told Roc, I told Busta Rhymes, everybody that was around when I was putting that shit together, "Yo, if I bring them into my world, it's over."

1000WORD$: Facts.

Stove God Cooks: One song, they might not understand it. Two songs, they might not understand it. That n***a Busta was like, "Yo, we just gotta put one of these shits out, for a single." I'm like, "Yo son, they're not gonna understand this shit." But once they listen to the album and they're gonna be in my world, I know they're gonna get it. I didn't think that shit was gonna be what it turned into. I just thought it was gonna be like, "Oh that n***a is dope enough to where we'll listen again." I ain't think it was gonna be what it is right now, ever.

1000WORD$: You know what made me really, really double back on the album? Because at first I didn't really digest it properly. But I kept telling myself, "Yo, he named his shit "Reasonable Drought.” He named this shit "Reasonable Drought.” I kept telling myself that because before I heard "Reasonable Drought," I would listen to "Reasonable Doubt" at least twice a month. And then and then I found myself listening to "Reasonable Drought." When I really dived into that shit, I listened to that shit almost every day. To this day. To this fucking day.

Stove God Cooks: When I told [Roc Marciano], "Yo, I'm calling it Reasonable Drought," for a month that n***a was like, "You sure? For real? You know ‘Reasonable Dought’ is like HOV baby?" I'm like, "Nah nah nah, that's the point though." I stand on it so much, to where I know if he heard it he would respect it. When I seen Biggs from Roc-A-Fella, he was like, "Everybody love your shit." I'm like, "Yo, I tried to tell you n****s." I tried to tell them.

1000WORD$: That's so crazy. You think that HOV really listened?

Stove God Cooks: I think that shit worked out the way it was supposed to.

1000WORD$: You had the vision, bro. And if you think about it, it's kind of like "Reasonable Doubt" as far as the rollout because that wasn't his biggest album. People went back to visit that shit.

Stove God Cooks: Yeah, that's why I called it that. Gunn told me, "Yo, get on ["Flygod is an Awesome God 2"] and then they're gonna go back and see you dropped a classic." I knew that “Reasonable Drought” wasn't gonna be no shit that we're gonna go Billboard. But for the motherfuckers that's coming from my world, they're gonna hear this and be like, "Nah, only a n***a that's really really from that can talk like this." That was the point. If you listen to "Reasonable Doubt" [you can tell] HOV is from that. Only n****s from that can really talk like that. "Murder is a tough thing to digest / It's a slow process."

1000WORD$: "And I ain't got nothing but time."

Stove God Cooks: You know what I'm saying? Like, "We used to fight for building blocks / Now we fight for blocks with buildings that make a killin' / The closest of friends when we first started." You can only talk like that when you really walked it.

1000WORD$: Yeah, HOV in those times was really special, man. He was elegant. He was talking that shit. Like you said, you really had to be in that circle of bosses type shit to really talk like that.

Stove God Cooks: A lot of people that say, "Yo, I don't like ‘Reasonable Doubt.’" I know, because you don't understand it.

1000WORD$: Word. He said, "While I'm watchin’ every n**** watching me closely / My shit is butter for the bread they wanna toast me / I keep my head, both of them where they supposed to be / Hoes'll get you sidetracked then clapped from close feet." Like crazy shit, bro. Yo, when your album dropped, "John $tarks" was my shit bro.

Stove God Cooks: I was gonna take that one off the album.

1000WORD$: You were gonna take that off the album? 

Stove God Cooks: That was probably the last song I recorded. I remember we left the studio with my mans and I was like, "Man, I don't like this. I'm not putting this shit on there." He was driving and my mans was like, "Nah nah, you gotta keep this one.” I was gonna take that shit off because it ain't have no hook. He's like, "Nah, just put it on there." So I kept it on there for the homie. Motherfuckers ended up loving that shit. 

1000WORD$: Bro, that shit remind me of reading a Don Diva magazine, like the Feds magazine.

Stove God Cooks: That's what it was. I was writing this shit as I’m living it. After I recorded “John Starks,” I didn’t wanna record anymore. It already felt good. You know, I sequenced the shit and everything myself. So I just sat there and lived with it. I was like, "Aight yeah, we can do it." And they really loved that shit.

1000WORD$: Bro, you said, "Promised you the moon, brought back the stars instead / A call collect came from up North, them boys done scarred his head."

Stove God Cooks: "...I tried to tell you that this life is not forever."

1000WORD$: "...These cocaine endeavors."

Stove God Cooks: "...for this cheddar come with drastic measures."

1000WORD$: You know how many times I've been sitting with my people and we get a call that one of my mans split somebody or got split, you know what I mean? Shit like that. When you hear shit like that. Shit's really real. Stove, man. This conversation was legendary bro. I appreciate this conversation, man. I appreciate you. Thank you, my bro.