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Manny Carabel/FilmMagic“Panda” made Desiigner one of the breakout stars of the past year, however with his tremendous popularity, he has also discovered the problems of being famous.
“I can’t step outside my house now, everybody knows my face,” he tells Billboard. “I got to be more careful and more focused with my surroundings, because everybody wants to reach out to me, and I don’t know if it’s good or bad.”
The New York City rapper, born Sidney Selby, also has faced criticism that he’s imitating Future, but he is not fazed by the comments. “Nothing bothers me,” he says. “It’s my funk, it’s my style.”
Selby could never have predicted he would become a hip-hop star, because his goal was to be a R&B crooner.
“I always saw myself using my voice. I was the ladies’ man. I performed ‘My Girl’ in the cafeteria. I was David Ruffin in The Temptations. I sang for years. I used to sing in the subways. I didn’t see no other way out.”
His way out of poverty growing up in Brooklyn, New York was Kanye West signing him to a recording contract, and featuring him on The Life of Pablo. Desiigner thanks West for teaching him what to takes to be successful.
“The work ethic behind everything Kanye does is crazy,” he says. “It’s greatness. He told me, ‘We’re not just rappers, we’re artists.'”
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