Interview: Cordae On His New Album, Living With Survivor's Guilt, Recording In NZ With Gunna, & More

2x GRAMMY® Award-nominated rapper Cordae has released his hugely anticipated new album ‘FROM A BIRD’S EYE VIEW.’

Prior to the release, Ange caught up with Cordae and spoke to him about the album, dealing with survivor’s guilt, recording with Gunna, and more.

Ange: Hey Cordae, how are you, bro?

Cordae: Good. How about yourself?

Ange: I'm good. Thank you. Congrats last night on Fallon. Your set was really good.

Cordae: Oh, thank you. I appreciate that. Thank you so much.

Ange: Are you back in LA now? 

Cordae: I'm still in New York. Getting in the grind.

Ange: Okay, so firstly, can I say that the freestyle over the Kendrick instrumental was bold as fuck. But also a week before your album drops, like it really shows your growth. Do you consider yourself a leader of a new school?

Cordae: I don't know man. I don't like to project that and put anything on myself. You know, I kind of like for the people to decide that. I don't want to call myself leader of the new school.

Ange: Fair enough. I get that. I'm also I want to say I'm sorry to hear about your boy being murdered. How were you able to use the album as a way to heal?

Cordae: You know cause a lot of times I often deal with survivor's guilt. You know, because so many homies I grew up with are dead in jail man. And this is normal because it's something that I dealt with so often. And I'm talking with different people from different walks of life and like, they tell me like, no It's not normal, bro. You know, so I'm dealing with survivor's guilt. It is a thing within itself. But I'm being an artist, you know, we got to translate all of our feelings and emotions into song form. That's all I know how to do. You know, that's how I deal with all of my issues, how I deal with all of my problems. 

Ange: I'm not sure about you, but definitely for me, I've done a lot of soul searching the last few years with how everything's changed in the world. Was that a reason why you traveled to Ghana and Egypt.

Cordae: Absolutely. Probably honestly, like, I don't know when else I would have had the time to do that or had the thought to just go to Ghana or to just go to Egypt? So like last minute or so. You know without much thought into it, but I might have always done it because this is something that's calling my spirit, you know? You get that hunch or that gut feeling? I've been practicing acting upon it immediately versus just trying to think things through, go with everything. So I just go with my gut and my soul.

Ange: Yeah, cool. Sweet. Gunna name dropped New Zealand on ‘Today’. And you guys were here for a festival…Did you record the track here? Or did you hit the studio in the States?

Cordae: Now we did that record in New Zealand. We did that. We started in Australia, and we finished it in New Zealand. So we finished a record out in New Zealand. And yeah, we did. We recorded it over at iHeart studios, actually. And yeah, you know, Gun is a good, a really good friend of mine, honestly, you know, and it was a great thing.

Ange: Yeah, now we need to get you back over here sometime soon. 

Cordae: Yeah, sure. 

Ange: So with Chronicles? How did you decide to have H.E.R and Durk on the track?

Cordae: You know, what's funny, man, I literally decided that the moment I made that record, I was like, I'm gonna put H.E.R and Durk on this thing. I knew they would both execute the vision and what I wanted to accomplish.

Ange: Sweet, so what's the story behind the album cover?

Cordae: My boy, Avi, he created that giant. He lives in London right now. Like he’s just a good guy, man. You know? very good guy. Very cool. So sorry to go on a tangent. I found him because I was looking for tight beats on YouTube. And I noticed that this particular producer, I forgot his name, always had very cool cover art on his tight beats. And so I reached out I was like, Yo, I need these like this cover art. And he reached out like, Yo, this is crazy blah, blah. And so we were talking, you know, through zoom sessions and things of that nature when creating a cover art and I was like, we’re not going to get it done until we're in the same room. I had them fly from London to LA to finish it up because I was out in LA finishing the album so on, it was dope.

Ange: You say on ‘Sinister’, ‘I ain't goin' nowhere, twenty year career minimum.’ That's easy. You were just warming up with ‘The Lost Boy,’ and ‘From A Bird's Eye View’ really shows that you aren’t playing. I just want to mention that.

Cordae: Thank you so much. I appreciate that.

Ange: It's a really good album; I think I've listened to it like four times, like in the last two days. And the fact that it's also short, a lot of albums these days are like 18/19 tracks, and a lot of people are not going to pay attention to that. So I really respect the fact that you put in the work and didn’t drag the album.

Cordae: Appreciate that. Thank you so much. 

Ange: Yeah, so congrats again on the album. Like I said earlier, hopefully we'll get you back to New Zealand sometime soon. Because you were meant to come here April 2020…

Cordae: Yeah. So I was highly upset about that, because that tour was like sold out. And when I performed out there, it was a vibe to say the least. So I can't wait to come back and do another sold out tour out there. Man headlining and it's gonna be fun, man. I can't wait.

Ange: Oh, yes. Definitely a big venue as well.

Cordae: Absolutely, absolutely. Yeah. Appreciate that. And I appreciate all the love and genuine support that you've shown me, since the very beginning, the early stages of my career, something that I don't take for granted. Something that I don't notice. Because at the end of the day, you don't have to do anything for anybody. So all the love and support that I can get. I really appreciate that from you. Thank you, Ange

Ange: Got you, bro, good luck with Friday.

Cordae: All right. Thank you. I appreciate that, and see you soon.