You Should Stan: Lilbootycall lives and raps candidly

Michael Bocanegra’s music pursuit started when he threw out his clarinet in middle school. Frustrated with all the teasing, he left it in a locker on the last day of school, something he now regrets, though it ended up launching his music career.

If it weren’t for that moment, Bocanegra, who took up the stage name Lilbootycall, wouldn’t have the skyrocketing rap career he has today.

“If I never threw away that clarinet, it wouldn’t have sparked that want to pursue music,” he said. 

With his experimental first mixtape, “Jesus Said Run It Back,” LBC puts it all out there. Just as he is during the interview, his tracks are candid. He’s not shy to talk about his personal battles, and he calls himself “a motivational speaker for those who want to give up.”

In fact, his stage name comes from him feeling like he was a last-minute “booty call” after his friends’ — and girls’ — original plans would fall through.

The album ignites with “Bandaid,” where he raps “I been scared to die, so I just drive to every state / They all filled with lies, diamonds over heart, it ease the pain,” and “No one care about the kid, but ay man its ok / I don’t need no ass up in my face to see the cake.”

To kick off my column, I chatted with the San Antonio native about his music,  his work with one of my favorite artists, Cuco, and what makes this 22-year-old kid with colored hair so relatable. 

Oh, and my favorite song off his new album is roadtrip-staple “Mariah.”

Talk to me about growing up in San Antonio.

Being a young kid, I grew up in not the best area, so music and art was really praised over there. 

All I really had was music to make you feel anything. I’d listen to the radio by your bed, because there’s nothing to really do outside. And if there was stuff to do outside, your parents wouldn’t let you go out.

You collaborated with one of my favorite artists, Cuco. How was working with him?

So I’m sitting in my room in San Antonio, and I get a DM, and it’s him: “Yo, bro I have a show tonight in your city, I want you to come out.” I was like “Oh shit, that’s lit! For sure. I’mma come out.” I go to the San Antonio show and I meet him, and we’re just chilling in the green room — I came here just to watch a show or whatever, so just to meet him was dope. But then he goes, “Yo are you trying to perform tonight?” Everything was set up already and they knew what they were doing. So I was like, “OK, bet.”

That was the first time I ever really performed in a big crowd. At the time I was doing shows, but only like 15 to 20 people were coming. And he had a sold-out show. The fact that I played “Sailor Moon” and everybody in the city went crazy for me, it just opened my eyes. After that, he asked me to come to Dallas. We went to Dallas, did the same thing and people went crazy. Eventually, I sent him a beat and we made stuff. 

Since you mentioned “Sailor Moon,” that’s one of the top songs you have out. What’s that song brought on for you?

To be honest, I hate that song now. I hate that song so much. It’s the one that people try boxing me in on. Like I said, I’m an artist: I like creating different things and exploring and doing what I want. 

I just felt like the fact that people really enjoyed that song so much, that’s all they wanted to hear from me. People were trying to keep me in this style forever. In reality though, if you listen to all my music, each song is different from each other. Literally no one can find my music and be like, “this song sounds like this.” None of my songs sound similar. That’s what I think.

Do you really still hate it?

I really got over the “Sailor Moon hating stage” because, you know, I’m on tour right now for my album. I play my old music and nobody really knows it, which is crazy. I kind of outgrew my old fan base, which is lit because they really helped establish me, but it’s the fact that I want to continue to grow and change. 

I did a bit of a Twitter and Insta stalk. To be honest, you seem relatable. Is that just you being you?

I really be going through it sometimes. Like mental issues and shit. It catches up to me no matter how successful I get or how much money I get. I’m not even there yet. There’s still so much stuff to work on. I’m still a human at the end of the day and I still think about things. I still fall in love. I live everyday like everyone else.

What you just said about mental health, like that shit, nobody talks about it. The fact that there’s people like you that are okay with saying that, it’s important.

Yeah. With everything, there are pros and cons to it. A lot of people like that I’m relatable because I speak about that. But then, the cons is that there’s so many people that tell me to shut up and call me a crybaby. Everybody on the internet acts like they’re emotionless. Everyone wants to be savage or whatever.

What is cool about your music is that I can’t compare it directly to someone else’s. I think that’s pretty dope. Going off of that, who have been some of your inspirations?

When I was younger, probably Juicy J. That’s why I collabed with him on the album. [Note from me: they sing together on “18K,” a light piano-backed track that truly sets the mood for the whole album.] I felt like it was a necessity. Paul Wall. Mike Jones. And a lot of Southern artists. And recently, Lil Uzi, Post Malone, Tyler, the Creator, Childish Gambino, Kid Cudi for sure. Travis Scott, Kanye West, Big Sean. When you really think about all those artists, they are just themselves and they’re not afraid to create. 

I just watched your video for “Prescriptions,” where you write a prescription and the thing you ask for appears. It’s kind of dope, not gonna lie. What’s something for you in your life now that you wish you could just write up and get it?

Probably real love. It’s so easy finding somebody. But it’s not easy finding somebody that likes you for you. There might be somebody out there that likes me for what I’m doing, or how I look, or my social status. But it’s like nobody really knows the real me. The person I show on the internet isn’t me completely. I just wish I could find somebody that would take the time to know me for me.

So the column is called “You Should Stan.” Why do you think people should stan Lilbootycall?

People should stan me because I’m myself. I’m a motivational speaker for people that want to give up. And I feel like, everybody in the world, no matter what race or how tall you are, what size or what your ethnicity is, everybody has wanted to give up. Everybody has given up in certain ways. I wanted to give up a lot so I’m glad to be that person to encourage people not to give up.

Do you feel that you’re at a point now where you can say you can’t give up anymore?

Yeah. I be talking to my manager a lot about that. Like, he keeps telling me, “Bro, this is way bigger than you now. You just can’t give up now.” Like, like I said a motivational speaker. Like, if you give up, you have thousands of kids looking up to you. He was the one that was pushing me to do better. It’s at this point where I just gotta keep going. Ain’t no giving up.

Tomàs Mier is a senior writing about up-and-coming artists for the Daily Trojan. His column “You Should Stan” runs every other Friday.