In 2018, STL’s own Matty Wood$ made it his mission to take the rap game by storm. With single after single, an EP and finally his unremarkably enjoyable album I’ll Be Fine; Matty proved to be one of the most hard-working artists out right now. After such a busy year it’s understandable that he’d take some time to work on his craft, but it doesn’t mean he’s left us out to dry. Singles like “22 Flows”, “Promise”, and “Bankrolls” have kept diehard fans at bay up until the release of his latest EP, The Revenge of Tony T. With this project, Matty’s unique taste for melody meets his hungriest raps yet. Tracks like “MyDopeNotYoDope” and “That One Fucked Up Beat” showcase Matty’s ability to switch between undeniably smooth melodies and punchy aggressive bars. With The Marvelous Misadventures of Tony T on the way, Matty has not only been gracious enough to bless us with new music but also a one on one with Swidlife. Check out our interview with Matty and The Revenge of Tony T below!
SWIDLIFE: What’s good dog? How are you, what’d you get into today?
MATTY WOOD$: Chilling chilling. I been doing a lotta shit, I had to take care of my car, had to go help my pops out. Man I’m high as fuck doing all this shit bro
SWIDLIFE: What happened with the whip?
MATTY WOOD$: Bruh nothing, it was just time for the benz to get like A & B checks and shit like that because it got like all computers in it and shit. Yea so I hadda get one of them jaunts done today, that shit a pocket, oh my god. Niggas be tryna wack niggas heads
SWIDLIFE: Nah, nah I bet. You said was smoking today what were you rolling up?
MATTY WOOD$: I got some thin mint cookies right now. Boy I’m so high I took my braids out, I was like “these bitches tight as hell” and they wasn’t even that tight, I’m just high as fuck.
SWIDLIFE: You really be with the strain shit? Like you really be believing that shit?
MATTY WOOD$: Sometimes, like a lot of people I feel like just be giving random names out; I ain’t even gon fake it, I’ll give some random names out on bro. Niggas be falling for that placebo high on bro. But I got this one white ass plug and he only be fucking with like stupid gas and he be like a nerd. He’ll like FaceTime me after he went to the store. And I’m like “boy, I don’t give no fuck but alright more power to you”
SWIDLIFE: Alright so then what about the exotics then? Like you think that shit is worth it or it’s just a tax and you paying for flavor.
MATTY WOOD$: Aye that shit lowkey crazy cause I ain’t gon’ fake it like. Niggas only wanna sell that za za, that exotic pack now. And that shit cool and all-
SWIDLIFE: But like a $60 egg? Like all the shit gotta taste like fruity pebbles now.
MATTY WOOD$: Exactly nigga like, what happened to the gas, what happened to the loud? And now the loud done turned to mid and there’s no loud so now it’s just mid and motherfucking za za.
SWIDLIFE: Well nah, I mean I know you were sharp to the drought for a little bit earlier this year.
MATTY WOOD$: Yeah bro this drought is something serious, that shit damn near still going on in STL. I had one dude who was bringing the runtz in like the real runtz. And that shit was real as fuck and that nigga was really tryna tax heads. But all that other shit you know what I’m saying, that shit just look like it came out of a plastic bag. That shit don’t even look right.
SWIDLIFE: Yeah man that’s why you gotta see the shit in hand like – I mean niggas rerock the shit anyways, you could buy the bags online!
MATTY WOOD$: On bro that shit crazy I be thinking bout tryna do that shit sometimes. But niggas fuck with me off the strength I be like damn I be getting plays just cause I’m Matty Woods bro. Nah bro I’m deadass bro I got a couple kids who will like pullup to me and then be like playing my music when I come to the whip. I’m like “get yo ass outta here i’m like i know this song ain’t randomly pop on you put this on”. Y’all not slick y’all funny as hell, appreciate y’all but y’all funny as shit.
SWIDLIFE: So like when you be gassed and you be hitting the 7/11, what’re you running to, what’s your go-to purchase?
MATTY WOOD$: Bro I be buying Backwoods. I be tryna get water or apple juice you know what I’m saying, I fuck with apple juice.
SWIDLIFE: Do you be up on that like fancy ass water? Like i just got into drinking like the antioxidant Smart water shit like just to feel boujee but like I don’t know if it really does anything
MATTY WOOD$: I feel that cause I don’t feel like Smartwater do anything, Ion know if that pH balance water do anything, but the bottles look nice, on bro them bottles look nice. But look Ion even be on that type of time, I’m on that real extravagant boujee life, that Fiji cool but you know sometimes you gotta spice it up get that Perrier.
SWIDLIFE: Nah bro I can’t do no Perrier, you be on the carbonated water it’s like soda with like no flavor?!?
MATTY WOOD$: Yeah bro I be on my lil boujee shit sometimes. But like most of the time I’m just finna grab Ice Mountain or anything but Dasani or muhfucking Aquafina.
SWIDLIFE: Everybody hates Dasani, that’s crazy
MATTY WOOD$: And you know what’s crazy too??! Everybody talking bout they diamonds on Dasani, Aquafina; niggas really be out here faking the fact telling on themselves. Y’all don’t want your diamonds on Fiji water?!? y’all finna go Aquafina Dasani just for the rhyme bro??! like damn bro you done played yourself out.
SWIDLIFE: That’s crazy, you right. I be peeping you posting about anime and shit and I done had hella niggas try and get me into anime and really try and tell me like, yo this shit bangs you need to watch so and so dada. the closest thing to an anime I’ve watched, well actually it is an anime and it should be classified as an anime, is Boondocks and and like Dragonball Z obviously as a youngin.
MATTY WOOD$: Of course, of course. Yeah okay look i’m finna give you a hard one. I’m finna give you a hard one and it’s just cuz like this one is pure english they don’t got like no japanese dub I don’t think but this shit called Afro Samurai and Samuel L Jackson does the voice. That shit hard as fuck and there’s like the Kanye teddy bear in there kinda looking muhfucker in there
SWIDLIFE: That’s a bet. So besides watching anime in your freetime, what music you been listening to lately, like what you been bumping? I been on a big detroit trip for like the past two months.
MATTY WOOD$: I feel that I feel that. What have I been listening to lately? Shit I done just peeped that KSupreme tape that just dropped, that shit decent. D Savage dropped some shit, that shit hard. That shit smooth as hell, he in his melody pocket
SWIDLIFE: Before music were you ever clouted up for shit besides rap?
MATTY WOOD$: Nah not for real yo, I mean I used to do some sports type shit, but I mean like nothing too big or anything, the shit I got the most medals or whatever for like that was I used to do track but I used to just like jump and shit forreal.
SWIDLIFE: You think you could do that with your lungs right now?
MATTY WOOD$: Aye but like jumping kinda different, like the standing long jump that’s not shit. And like the running long jump you really don’t gotta run too far but I still ain’t done that shit in forever so
SWIDLIFE: You did that in high school?
MATTY WOOD$: Uh nah I did that shit like–damn wow, I’m so high my whole life just kinda feel like one period–that was like grade school. But like all the way up until high school like I tried out for track in high school but I think I was like nah I’m not finna fucking run, I’m finna fucking smoke some dope. It’s crazy cuz I’m like man if god made me like 4-5 inches taller I woulda had hoop dreams. Fuck this rap shit, bro Jeremy Lin got paid like to sit the bench forreal forreal and you know what? I will do that shit and I will be the best benchwarmer! I’m finna be the high five man, I’m finna be like “yeah, life’s a party, yay team,” just let me touch the ball and get a ring and let me get that check and I will sit my ass on the bench, Ion give a fuck.
SWIDLIFE: If you had that Jeremy Lin bag, like say we threw you in like Neimans or like Saks Fifth, head to toe what are you copping? Like what brands are you rocking, if you could pick anything, I’m talking sky’s the limit.
MATTY WOOD$: I’m in Saks or Neimans namsayin first off I’m gonna go get me some Balenciagas, I’m finna get me the fat jaunts, the moon boots, on bro I’m finna go get a pair of those. That shit so funny bro cuz I literally will probably never rock the shit I’ll probably just do it like one time in my life, but yeah i’ll prolly get one of those-
SWIDLIFE: What about the denim?
MATTY WOOD$: Bro I be in Neimans and Saks sometimes and that shit be cool but it don’t be the shit I be rocking. That shit be cool sometimes they got some Off White denim in there, I seen some shit that was decent but like I’m not really no biker denim typa person.
SWIDLIFE: I was boutta ask what you think about everybody talking about Amiris saying it’s just like expensive H&M denim–
MATTY WOOD$: I can’t even fake it bro, I was in florida and I had to cop some denim cuz I was out there for an extra day, so I just had to cop some H&M shit. Like damn they got some biker pants in this motherfucker forreal, I’m like fake it til you make it, everybody can’t afford everything. But on the gang don’t be coming out tryna drip yo shit out like “yea nigga you see what I got on right now nigga you seen the shit” like yea nigga take yo pic but still at the end of the day boy yo shit $15 and my shit $700. So don’t try to fake your funk, be good, look good, and feel good about it but, you know what I’m saying, don’t try to. Niggas be trying to
SWIDLIFE: Anything to look good bro, like that’s what it is. But alright so still on the topic of having a bag would you ever in your life blow a bag on some pussy?
MATTY WOOD$: Like, like full blown sex?
SWIDLIFE: Yeah, or she talking about like “you gotta take me shopping,” like you gotta drop like 10-20K at the mall
MATTY WOOD$: Awh hell yeah, come on bitch let’s go have some fucking fun, I got some bread I’ll blow a bag on a bitch right now, and I’m not even that paid, like I don’t give a fuck. Look I got a hobby, I like going to strip clubs cause like I kinda got a baby face or whatever and Ion give no fuck. But the bitches in the strip club be like, they just be so nice cause I be so respectful and shit you know what I’m saying? Niggas in the strip club be asking for all types of shit sometimes and I’m like I ain’t asking for shit bitch I came here to pay yo bills, today, tonight. That’s what I’m on bro like we had uh we had went to uh SXSW or whatever and we had went to the strip club out there I think I had turned like 22 or some shit and I got on that Rush Hour shit like that Rush Hour 2 shit with Chris Tucker in the muhfucking asian massage parlor being like “I want you you you you you i was like yea you you, you you you y’all two can dance on my mans right there go dance on my mans.” We all in the back section it’s like me and 3 of my guys and I’m like we all getting dances at this point I’m not even throwing ones I’m throwing dubs I’m like I don’t give a fuck like you know what I’m saying I can’t take this money when I die so for right now imma spend it on you.
SWIDLIFE: Yeah nah I feel that I was thinking about that earlier today like the money gonna come and go regardless like-
MATTY WOOD$: True, I mean like you gotta stack and shit.
SWIDLIFE: Yea nah for sure for sure but at the end of the day the shit circulates.
MATTY WOOD$: On god bitch we could go to the Cheesecake Factory any day I’ll blow a bag on Cheesecake Factory anyday.
SWIDLIFE: I been like I been tucking bread away in Bitcoin lately I don’t know if you’ve ever fucked around with that shit
MATTY WOOD$: Aye that shit real as fuck I got like prolly like $50 worth of Bitcoin floating around round somewhere shits lost, that shit crazy.
SWIDLIFE: I just be peeping the shit everyday like hoping it’s finna stack up, hoping the prices go up-
MATTY WOOD$: I know some niggas who’ve got some bread off that shit forreal forreal and I was like no wayyyy. But I’m too black for that shit like either you finna do the Bitcoin shit and go the full white on or you just finna be a nigga and just scam niggas out they bread with it. Some niggas doing that Bitcoin shit but that’s a whole different level I don’t even wanna see that shit
SWIDLIFE: Like what do you think about that bruh this shit really just popped off like I know like people attribute it to Teejay or whatever but it was really kinda before I’d seen it happening.
MATTY WOOD$: Yeah it’s just like that nigga Teejay for real rap about that shit and that shit, I don’t give no fuck I fuck with dude. My nigga said “made half a mill in a year I’m getting watched by the IRS.” I felt that shit ion even scam but I felt that shit. I was like damn folk you can’t make some of that shit up, some of that shit be funny as hell, but some of that shit be real as fuck.
SWIDLIFE: I mean like it’s just crazy to think about like all these like, I don’t know cause the perception of rap so much is just like, at least from like White America(‘s perspective), is just hood niggas. But it’s really dudes sitting on computers like on some nerd shit like, and that’s so fire to me.
MATTY WOOD$: On bro, like niggas be on the computers all day bro. Aye this shit crazy bro.
SWIDLIFE: Just straight jugging the banks, all the businesses everything, that’s wild.
MATTY WOOD$: Yeah bro I don’t know how to take that shit either.
SWIDLIFE: So I be peeping like you be calling like everybody Tone and I just be mad confused like who is Tone bro.
MATTY WOOD$: Alright everybody Tone like look, you could be like you could be Tone, Tony she could be Toni with the i you know what I’m saying, Tony Tone. I don’t know like, you know “Wassup nigga wassup Tone. But like it’s lowkey some Chicago shit all my niggas from Chicago be on that shit and they be like wassup Tone Tony and I just kinda ran with that shit.
SWIDLIFE: Stan from chicago right?
MATTY WOOD$: Yea
SWIDLIFE: So how’d you and him link up what’s the story behind that?
MATTY WOOD$: My nigga Anwar who I used to be making music with my nigga he go to Mizzou and like my nigga Zay too like they all went to Mizzou and they from STL and so they had linked up at Mizzou with that nigga Stan and they was all like kinda like living together like smoking together that was like who they smoked with type shit. So like and then a nigga got around to like maybe like a year later or some shit cause he was doing shit with Warhol and shit. I started like forreal forreal like getting serious and dropping music and then bro was like “you go crazy” and I was like you go crazy he was like “you tryna host some shit” and then you know what I’m saying it just kinda started. We always been like kinda like friends or like known about each other just through the fact that was who my niggas hung out with type shit
SWIDLIFE: That’s wassup, so your cat is named Tone as well i’m assuming? I peeped you have an instagram page for your cat or something
MATTY WOOD$: On bro timwoodsss22 I just brought that bitch back the other day.
SWIDLIFE: So what’s the story like how did you find him like how did you get him cause personally I’m a dog person.
MATTY WOOD$: Nah look bro I’m finna tell you some crazy shit until I met tim I was under the impression I was allergic to cats like deathly allergic to cats and when I was a kid and shit some of my friends had cats. I used to go into they crib, they cat would rub up on me, I get hives everywhere break the fuck out all that shit. So I ain’t never fuck with cats, they was always mean to me too so I ain’t fuck with cats. But like I think it was like I was finna move into my second place on my own and I was staying in the hood this time like the hood hood forreal forreal and dude the landlord was like “Yo there’s this cat it’s a feral cat” or some shit and like it just be outside it be tryna come in and shit don’t let that motherfucker inside that motherfucker got bed bugs that motherfucker dirty that motherfucker do all this shit. I’m like okay I don’t fuck with cats anyways I wouldn’t let that motherfucker inside my crib anyway. So a couple days go by whatever whatever I see the nigga outside I’m like aye get the fuck back bro get the fuck back and he was tryna get in the crib, and like I think it was like the people below me who stayed below me because it was like a four people flat, the people that stayed below me used to stay at my top place too and it was their cat then they got rid of it and then the neighbor who stayed next to me just left food out and shit for it, that dude was gay he had a boyfriend, they was taking care of the cat. But so yeah and then one day it was just like raining or some shit and I seen this nigga in my window and he said “meow” and I was like damn Tone it is raining outside that shit crazy bro like it’s raining hard as hell outside. And he looking at me and I’m looking at him and then he say “meow” and I’m like bet and I walk out the room, I look back he not in the window so I go to the front door and he at the front door and I was like “oh oh okay!” And then I had got this bag and it was just on my floor and I open the door and he just went straight into the bag and I was like “Oh this nigga in his bag, okay this nigga in his bag.” And like I used to like let him in and out of like my crib like not let him stay with me forreal and then I was like “this my nigga.” I was drunk as hell and I named that nigga Tim, and that’s my nigga that’s my son the only reason I rap, just tryna show that nigga some shit he ain’t never seen before. Tryna take that boy some place nice.
SWIDLIFE: I feel you I feel you. So I peeped like you said you was finna drop a project soon which I was like kinda not expecting, so what’s up with that what’s the word with that?
MATTY WOOD$: Alright well I’m not gon lie I’m a music hoarder bro I just be hoarding my shit I don’t be dropping shit and like I don’t know I kinda got a messy way of doing things but I’m kinda like getting more straight at that shit now or like getting shit mixed and just like having random shit be out different places you know what I’m saying. But I been making a lot of shit I done been like out of town hella places this year and shit so I just been making like a lot of new sounds. So I’m finna drop this tape called The Revenge of Tony T, the revenge of tony tone you know what I’m saying. it’s just, it’s not like no mixtape or anything just like a lil EP you know what I’m saying with a cool lil prolly like I think it’s like 5 songs or some shit. I think I did all these songs or like most of them in Chicago I think I did like one in like Minneapolis or some shit i don’t know.
