Dave East: The Harlem native dishes on recording in Pablo Escobar's Medellin home

You have to admit - Dave East is staying super busy these days. From flexing his Hollywood acting chops to putting out fire tunes, he stays grinding. So it’s no surprise he’s making time to chop it up with Apple Music 1’s Ebro Darden to dish on his endless ventures in 2023.

Dave East talks about his Hollywood flex, putting out new music and more

From dishing on turning into Method Man for Hulu’s recent ‘Wu-Tang: An American Saga’ series to getting the chance to work alongside the Wu’s Ghostface Killah, it’s all types of quotable moments. So peep some highlights and head over to Apple Music for the full-fledged interview.

Dave East on How He Thinks About The Difference Between a Mixtape and an Album...

With a mixtape, with me, I'm going to approach it like an album, but I know it's more street-driven. I just know kind of the fanbase that I'm doing it for. With the album, when I'm presenting to the label, and I know it's going to be one of them, it's going to be a couple dollars behind it and all..I want to kind of do more global or bigger type of records, you know what I mean?

Dave East Tells Apple Music He Recorded His Latest Album in One of Pablo Escobar’s Stash Houses…\

I always been a fan of Pablo Escobar, and I mean, not the destruction and all that or whatever, but just his mindset as far as hustling and him, I'm a big fan of Pablo. So me going out there, I felt like, I'm like, "Bro, why we don't just do some music out here? This is a different environment, different everything. It's not New York, it's not LA, it's not Miami, it's just different.”…We had the studio set up right in the crib. We actually stayed in one of Pablo's stash houses. Pool inside the crib, some flavor, flavor, flavor crib. In Medellin, facts. Word. But yeah, I did maybe 12, 13 records off the album in that house, right in the crib. They had the chefs in there making breakfast, wake up, Mike already be in there making beats. We'd get to that pool in the crib, jump in the pool. I met his brother, his brother got one eye, I guess they sent him some ... He was locked up, they sent him some mail or something in the jail, and when he opened it it blew up in his face. I met his brother though. His older brother, yeah. So that was just a dope experience, being that I watched all them documentaries and been in tune with that. And to go over there and be able to get close like that, and meet his family, and be in the crib he was in and all that was dope.

Dave East on Portraying Method Man in ‘Wu-Tang: An American Saga”…

An American Saga helped him get RZA on “Hallway Piss”: I gave him three seasons as Meth, I figured I could get a beat, right? I love you RZA, thank you for that. I had to be Method Man. I just was, I hinted. Like, "Yo, you know I rap too. I know I'm here playing Meth, but I got my own shit going on if you got something, you know what I mean?" He looked out, big shout out to RZA.

Dave East on Working with Ghostface Killah for the First Time…

It's family. But it's crazy, I bumped into Ghost. Me and Ghost been had a vibe, but we never worked. But I bump into Ghost ... Damn, one of them clubs, I can't think of the club. It's right here in the city though. But I'm walking in the club, he walking out the club. And I bumped into him, I'm like, "Ghost, what up?" He like, "Yo," he congratulated me on the Wu-Tang show and all that, just saluted me, "I love what you're doing out here." I'm like, "Bro, we got to work. I done worked with Meth, I done got with RZA, I done did the show, me and Rae. Me and you got to lock in." He said, "Send it to me, send it through, I got you immediately." I think he was headed to go overseas or something that next day, Ghost sent me that joint back in maybe two, three days. He sent it right back.

Dave East Says He’s Acting in a New Film Next Year But That He Prefers Not To Audition…

I'm actually starting a film top of '24. I'll tell you, but I don't really want to get into the details of it. But this is one of my ... Like with me, I'ma be real with you. I'm not big on the auditioning, you know what I mean? I'll do it, I'm cool with it, but you ain't going to have me in this room jumping and sweating and then for y'all to tell me nah. Because I came in like that, big shout out to Chris Robinson, the movie Beats with Anthony Anderson, my first film I ever did, he wanted me for that role. So even though they want to see some type of audition that you could do it, I prefer the director or whoever's putting that together like, "Nah, I like him, I want him for that." I'm out here just shopping and all that, I ain't got time for all that. I don't, I'ma be real with you. I ain't got the time, E.

Dave East Says His Daughters Helped Him Navigate Recent Personal Losses…

Honestly, my kids. Kairi and Kobi. My girls. They make me understand it all. You going to take losses, you going to ... And I mean, it's all for something. I'm not just taking losses for no reason. It's wack, but it's something there to be learnt, or it's something there that I could take from that situation that could better me or better my children, better my business, better my brand, better everything I got going on. And I still sit back and cry and it hit me, but I just kind of took the pain and was like, "I got to put this into something." Because I look at my daughters, and they don't know why I'm sad, or they don't know my friend that ... I mean they don't know the dynamics of it. And they in the best mood, you know what I mean? So I was like, "I got to kind of tuck that and be here with them." Life is still going on, there's things that I still got to water that. I still got to water that grass, so ... I'll get through it through working and being with my kids. As far as just the losses I done ... I'm getting emotional thinking about the shit. But work, I just work. Writing, it's therapeutic for me to really write. Because I'm not a person that really like to talk too much about what I'm going through, unless I really know you or we grew up together, shit like that. But writing is very, very therapeutic for me. It always has been, I always was able to write and it do something for me.

Dave East Says He Had to Write “Letter to Kobi” So That His Daughter Kobi Wouldn’t Get Jealous of His Daughter Kairi Having an Album Named After Her…

 Kai got an album. I'm like, "I don't want them to grow up and Kobi be like, 'Yo, bro, you ain't even give me a song?'" I love them equally, you know you can't love one more than the other. But Kairi was my first child, it happened at an ill time, I just got my deal. So at that time, it was before COVID, so everywhere I'm going I'm getting mad fan art of Kairi. Kobi was born 2020, that was COVID. That's a COVID baby at the end of the day. Everything was slowed up, I wasn't traveling. I wasn't really posting her, you know what I mean? So I feel like I didn't want that from them later. I know how I am, that's my kids, so I know Kobi would've came to me about that, like "Yo, bro, what's up, bro, you ain't even do a song for me? You gave Kairi a whole album." So yeah, that Letter 2 Kobi, that's my heart, that's my fighter. Kairi's the lover kid, I think, Kobi's going to be the fighter.