NLE Choppa Is More Than Meets the Eye

It started with a selfie. Bryson Potts—known to the world as platinum-selling Memphis rapper NLE Choppa—was taking a mirror snap of himself that he was especially impressed with. “And the line just came to me: ‘If I was a bad bitch, I’d wanna fuck me too!’” he says. With that, a cheeky, confident flex became the linchpin lyric for the most sexed-up party song of 2024, a rowdy dancefloor packer that delivered pure fun, felt at times as ubiquitous as Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso,” and capped what Choppa called his “Slut Szn,” which included a summertime tour, a fall mixtape, SLUT SZN, and raunchy merch emblazoned with another much-quoted lyric, “Bitch, is we fuckin’ or what?”

Sex is, obviously, as much a part of hip-hop as oxygen to air. Boasts about getting head and banging someone else’s girl seem at times like they’re a prerequisite in young rap. But NLE Choppa’s recent take on sex is less predatory and objectifying, more a celebration of sex, and confidence. He first made the turn with the original track “Slut Me Out” in 2022, itself eye-opening and in-your-face (a sample lyric: “Rip off my shirt if you love me /Spit in my face when you fuck me”). But, working with producers Emrld and Synthetic, “Slut Me Out 2” was a banger aimed straight at the clubs, and it delivered. It didn’t so much take Choppa to another level as it broadened his base, with more women and younger fans (a video of the rapper performing the song at a spring Bat Mitzvah, kids singing along with every word, went hilariously viral). Notably, the LGBTQ+ community embraced the anthem, and Choppa has returned the support, even performing at an Atlanta Pride event in September, sadly still a rarity for a rap star.

And a star he is. Even if he’s sometimes unjustly overlooked in tastemaker conversations about his generation’s most significant talent, what Choppa achieved in his first five years, from the ages of 16 through 21, was remarkable and undeniable. His seventeen gold or platinum tracks since his breakout hit, 2019’s “Shotta Flow,” were featured on last year’s hits compilation, Certified; there have been eight mixtapes, an EP and two albums; a move into fashion with his eye-catching Duck Boots; starring and co-directing The Wash, a short SLUT SZN-accompanying hood comedy film; another acting role in a much darker feature, Black Heat; and even authoring an upcoming  inspirational children’s book, Cricket Stop Cricking.

Belt/harness by Alexander McQueen.

No one has been more key to his success and life than his straight-talking, no-nonsense mom and manager, Angeleta Potts, nicknamed “Momma Choppa.” She indulged young Bryson’s early dreams of a basketball career (he’s a seriously talented baller), moving the family within Memphis so that he could play for the best school, only to have him, unbeknownst to her at first, pivot to making street-oriented rap with his friends.  “I was working, and he calls me up,” she recalls of the early interest in “Shotta Flow.” “And he says, ‘Mom I need you to get on the phone with this record label, they’re trying to sign me.’ I said, ‘Boy get off my phone.’ Click, and I hung up on him.” Eventually Angeleta, whose background is in business and accounting, got on board.

Still, a suddenly-successful teen can be…a lot. And when Choppa was enjoying early success and wilding in Los Angeles, the two had a serious falling out, but reconciled after a seven-month estrangement, and mom has been indispensable to the rapper ever since. “I think he came to realize how much of an asset that I could be for him, more than just his mom,” she says. “Just looking back to all the things I said to him, or taught him, to be a better person, or to be a better parent when you get to have kids, or just to listen to my point of view on things. We actually came to realize that we’re more so alike than we thought, and that’s probably why we’d butt heads at the beginning. But we made a plan together.”

For all his accomplishments, the most fascinating aspect of Choppa is his duality. The Covid onset of 2020, along with the birth of his first child, coincided with a personal epiphany, as he adopted veganism and meditation, reconnected with God, who he frequently cites as his greatest advisor, and made a musical shift. If his early brand was solidly street and rooted in menace and retribution—what he calls “murder music”—by the fall of that year he’d pivoted toward something more zen, inspiring the mixtape From Dark to Light. And while he hasn’t abandoned toughness or lyrical shots at his opps, he’s come to recognize two sides to himself, sometimes in conflict, but mostly coexisting. NLE Choppa is a part of Bryson Potts, but Bryson is not Choppa. Hence the title of a 2022 mixtape: Me Vs. Me.

Jacket by Bottega Veneta • pants by Courreges • shoes by Bottega Veneta • belt/harness by Alexander McQueen • jewelry his own.

He’s as much an all-around entertainer as he is a pure rapper. But he’s also a thinker, with much to say on politics, social justice, personal balance, determination and discipline. At times he can seem strikingly progressive, more so than many in hip-hop, and at others, he expresses views that are traditional bordering on patriarchal. Ying and yang. But anyone who sits down with Bryson Potts—as Playgirl did on the rooftop bar of a Midtown hotel in late October—expecting either the horny hedonist of “Slut Me Out” or the gun-toting fighter of “Shotta Flow” has another thing coming.

We talked about, naturally, sex in music, confidence, gender roles, why he is more than just a “rapper,” his plans for 2025, including acting, and the one time he publicly lost his cool last  year—when hip-hop bible Complex did not include him in a list of the “20 Best Rappers In Their 20s Right Now.” And only days after our conversation, Choppa was in Los Angeles, premiering The Wash, and collecting yet another armful of RIAA plaques—not a bad way to celebrate his 22^nd birthday.

Choppa! Congratulations on what has been another amazing year!

Thank you!

Jacket by Bottega Veneta • pants by Courreges • shoes by Bottega Veneta • belt/harness by Alexander McQueen • jewelry his own.

What did 2024 and “Slut Me Out 2,” which led to the whole SLUT SZN touring and mixtape mean to you? It seems like “Slut Me Out 2” kind of became this crowd-pleaser that expanded—and I don’t want to say, “took you to another level,” but more so… 

Took me to new territory.

Right. That’s what it is, right?

Yeah man, new territory. 2024 meant evolution for me. I mean, that was my word of the year. Every year I pick a word. This year was to evolve, and that’s in all aspects across the board. Whether it was in my personal life, my family, my music, creative approach with music videos, movies, whatever. It was just to evolve everything around me, cause I was in a space to where, “You know what, I’m getting close to striking gold every time, but I feel like I’m still digging.” So you know, once you get to that point, and you become so focused on what that is, to get that big scoop to strike gold. And I feel like it was just me doing something different, but still making it me. And you know, “Slut Me Out 2” was one of those things. I was dealing with a lot of death, and street stuff that had had me yearn for a different space in my life. “Slut Me Out 2” was something that brought confidence to me, on different levels and also brought fun.

Yeah so “Slut Me Out”, one, it was also me wanting something different, but it was just like the beginning of new territory. And then I just thought, “You know what? I’m gonna venture off for a minute, and do other things. But “Slut Me Out,” the first one, brought me the highest on the Billboard Hot 100. And I feel like I could’ve took it number one. So I feel like I owed it to myself to come back to it this year, with a different approach, and to not leave it so soon. And to stay in the territory that the most people wanted me to be in. And along the way I found out that “Slut Me Out 2” isn’t a song about sex. It’s a song about confidence! So there’s certain things that I found out, you know I was looking at it like, “Well maybe this is not the most righteous” or whatever. But at the end of the day, God, he accepted my creativity on all aspects.

“Slut Me Out” was like the gift that kept on giving. There was a remix with Sexxy Red, one with Sukihana, sped up and slowed down versions, so-called “raunchy remixes,” then this year, also remixes of “Slut Me Out 2” including even a country version! But I am curious when that idea came to you to make number two, and make something, I don’t think we can call it disco, but…. 

Like, “retro-futuristic” is what I like to call it…

Yeah and the word people always use is “anthem.”

Yeah it is.

And the way it connected with such a wide range of people, old, young, male, female, straight, gay, and I think that has to do with, as you were saying earlier, the lyric “If I was a bad bitch, I’d wanna fuck me to,” or “Is we fucking, or what?”—both of which became like tag lines. But what it really conveys is…

A boldness! A boldness, with confidence.

Yeah.

And that was really the point of making the record. I think that what was on my heart, when I was making the song, was more so just an embodiment of fun. Of wanting to have fun. When I recorded the song, I laughed the whole time! I was laughing and smiling, and I felt so happy making the song. That’s really the only word I can use to kind of explain, man. And I feel like when I made it, with that intent and with that purity, I feel like the energy transferred to the listener. 

Underwear by Calvin Klein • gloves by Valentino • jewelry his own.

“Slut” is a word that for a long time has been used to disparage a woman, we all know the term “slut shaming”…

Mm hmm

But something about “Slut Me Out” is it almost kind of reclaims the word, and almost says like, “Yeah, I’ll be a slut.”

Owning it! Yeah and that’s a thing that people say I do a good job of. You know, no matter how I may feel behind the scenes sometimes, because you know, some words and some things may get to you. But at the end of the day, I hold my head up, and I own every fucking thing I do. If I was to walk outside ass fucking naked tomorrow, I would say I did it! No matter what y’all say, I did it! And I did it damn good. So I feel like that’s—I like to talk about something called “God-fidence.” Because, you know, as long as I am validated by him, as long as I am taking shit up, in prayer, with him, and he’s not telling me, “Okay, you’re doing too much now,” then I’m good, in my eyes. You know what I’m saying? And I feel like that’s what gives me that edge to just time and time again keep coming out with whatever—saying whatever I want, doing whatever I want. Because I know how I live, as Bryson. But I also know how outgoing and expressive NLE Choppa is.

So then do you feel like it’s—do you view Choppa as a character in some ways?

Yes. You have to! In order to be as successful as I am, I have to be NLE Choppa, as a made-up person.

And so do you have a routine before a show, before you take the stage, where you have to get in that mindset?

Listen to music. I have to listen to Choppa, I have to hear that, to fully get into it. Because I’m always Bryson. I love being chill, calm, talking to my daughter, spending time with my kids. I barely even talk sometimes! But Choppa is the person who like—he breaks out the cage!

Jacket and pants by Dsquared2 • underwear by Calvin Klein.

I saw an interview you did a couple of years ago where you said that in some ways you think of women as being even smarter than men. But then in the same conversation you talked about men as being leaders and providers, which to me is a very traditional point of view. So let me ask, do you believe in equality of the sexes, and would you go so far as to call yourself a feminist? You’ve had two very strong and capable women, your mom and your grandma, in your life.

So, you mean as far as women leading?

Yes.  

Man, I have seen my mother lead, and carry a whole family on her back. So I am not opposed to a woman leading. But I do still feel it’s the man’s duty to lead. And you know, great women step up where men lack. So when men are lacking leadership, you have alpha women who step and show them, if not half the ropes, then 75 per cent, if not one hundred. So I feel like where men lack, women always make up. But I do feel that the priority is to always make sure that men are strong enough to lead. But when a man is not strong enough to lead, you do have women that will step up, to lead.

But is there any reason why a woman shouldn’t be a natural leader?

I think women are natural leaders in general, it’s just about the way that women lead. So it’s just like I feel like men may look like the front runners a lot of the time, but sometimes on the back burner it’s a great woman that is leading. It doesn’t mean she’s less important because she’s not on the front line. I feel like everyone plays a role. It’s just like—the right side of my body being the dominant side of my body. I’m using it the most. But that does not discredit my left hand! Because once this hand is not working a certain way, I have this hand. Or if this hand goes numb, I have this hand. So at the end of the day, it all goes back to the greater interest of my whole body. You get what I’m saying? So I feel like yeah, the main reason the world is fucked up is because men are lacking leadership. And the world knows how important it is to have a strong male, regardless. It’s just that along the way our males are getting weaker and weaker, so it’s taken to the point where people are like, “Okay, well I’ll lead,” or “I’ll do this” or “I’ll do it.” And it’s untraditional because of how things are lacking.

Shirt by Ayanegui • underwear & garter by Gucci • boots by Gucci • jewelry his own.

I want to ask you about the importance that your mom has had on both your life and career. You’ve spoken on it before and in at least one interview you made the comparison to Ye’s late mother Donda. It seems to me that a lot of the dedication and discipline I see in you had to come from her.

Yeah man. And my pops too as well. But my mom is like the backbone. She is what shaped me, my drive and my ambition, my motivation. And that’s why, one of the main things I was saying is that once a man is not able to lead, she was able to step up. And my dad, he’s a great guy, great person. But he wasn’t the bread winner, or the go-getter of our household. It was my mother. And you know what I’m saying I feel like, creating that role in the crib, it was ordained, divinely. But I feel like for me as a man, it crippled me a small bit. Because I had to learn more so how to be a man from a woman. And that’s where I am looking at it now, as I’m growing, and I’m taking a step back to realize the curse that’s within that. And that’s because I’m—my mom, she’s emotion. And my dad, he’s logic.

Back in February, you celebrated the five-year anniversary of “Shotta Flow” [2019]. And you dropped [the hits collection] Certified last spring, which really condenses for anyone to see all the—at this point seventeen—gold or platinum songs you have had. Are you the type of person to take stock and think, “This is what I have accomplished in these five years, and now in the next five I want…”? Do you have a plan in your head for what’s next or do you take it as it comes?

Really just taking it as it comes, but it’s always on time with reflection. If that makes sense. I feel like I am always in deep alignment with things of that nature, like how Certified came, and it’s really over the last few years, of the records I had, I was already in alignment with my next. And so once it came, it was a  no-brainer to do a reflection on my career, but I am already evolving to my next. So I feel like I’m always on divine timing. Whenever things come to a circle, it’s always good. Because I’m already headed toward my next.

Belt & harness by Alexander McQueen • pants by Courreges • jewelry his own.

I know part of what’s next for you is more acting! You’ve got the short film The Wash.   And is there any more film stuff?

I got another movie coming in February. I can’t speak too much on it. But it’s called Black Heat. It’s got [New York rapper] Dream Doll in it…

I’ve read a little bit about it, and you play kind of the villain?

Yeah.

Is he a drug guy?

No he’s a pimp. Like an abusing pimp. But drugs too, yeah.

And then there’s a children’s book? What’s the story with that?

Yeah, Cricket Stop Cricking, it’s finished. And it’s just a storyline of, just pay attention to signs. You know, God can speak to you in many ways, and if you’re too on your high horse to hear him out, you might be knocked down.

Sounds like there’s a spiritual element to it?

Extremely spiritual.

Jacket and pants by Dsquared2 • underwear by Calvin Klein.

Finally, before I let you go—normally I don’t see you often get angry or upset about things, but I have to ask you about the Complex thing a while ago—their decision not to include you in their “20 Best Rappers in Their 20s Right Now” list.

Mm hmm

It felt like it triggered something in you.

It was a breaking point. It was like it had built up.

You posted something like, “I feel like I’ve been tucking my tail, trying to be positive, but y’all got me fucked up.”  And you said once SLUT SZN is over, you wanted gonna get some shit off your chest. Is this about more than just that one list? Is it about a longer-term feeling of maybe certain people don’t put respect on you

Yes

And why do you think that is?

Uh—delayed gratification. Sometimes, when you’re so ahead, people just can’t see how far ahead you are! People don’t even understand the race that I’m running. The laps that I’m taking. Some days it’s looked at as though I’m behind, but I’m just on a further lap than you! I’m still coming from behind, but I’m five laps in, and you may be 20! But your first five laps, you didn’t run as fast as me. And with the next five laps? With the longevity that’s in place, and the head I got on my shoulders, I’m gonna run even faster than your five. You know, I had that outburst because I felt played with. And I always have felt played with when it came to my creativity and my success. Because I feel that, it’s a short list of people that’s done things around the same age as me. You’ve got the Justin Biebers, you’ve got Michael Jackson. And if we’re even gonna speak on him, Michael Jackson didn’t have a great solo career until Thriller that gave him that huge break around age 24, 25. And since the age of 15—very similar to Lil Wayne—I’ve been doing things that have not been seen before. From my label, to my music, to me, to fashion, to entrepreneurship, all of these things. And you know, I just feel it won’t be caught up to until it’s caught up.

More photos and the backstage video exclusively on PLAYGIRL+