Anti-Lilly: All Good Things

Emcee Anti-Lilly and producer Phoniks have returned with their first joint album since 2019. The fourth release for the duo titled “All Good Things” picks up where their 2019 release “That’s the World” left off. All Good Things finds Anti delivering soul searching similes with his slick southern speak over Phonik’s jazz-infused, boom bap beats.

All Good Things is a 14-track album produced entirely by Phoniks and released by his label, Don’t Sleep Records. The project features appearances by Scienze, Devante Hunter, and Don’t Sleep co-founder, Awon.

Anti-Lilly spoke to The Real Hip-Hop about practicing gratitude, finding balance in his life, his relationship with Phoniks, and their new album, All Good Things.

TRHH: Explain the title of the album, All Good Things.

Anti-Lilly: I was just vibing out one day and me and Phoniks had like fifteen records at that point. It just came to me. I was at a point where I lost my aunt and I was saying, “all good things come to an end.” It was kind of just playing through my head. Where I’m at spiritually I also believe that every end is just a new beginning, so that’s why I just kind of left it at “All Good Things” because there’s like a certain ambiguity to life where none of us really knows anything. We have belief systems, we have certain things that we cling to, but I just really wanted to put across the fact that, yes, all good things they do have a natural end, but nothing ever really dies, it just transitions to another form or to another understanding. Just through my own growth and through my own loss I would say that’s what inspired the title.

TRHH: The album cover for All Good Things is so dope. Who came up with the cover art?

Anti-Lilly: Man, my mom and my older sister they got like all the pictures, so they’ll send me a photo every once in a while. That one just stuck out to me because in that picture you see me at a very vulnerable state as a child. You see me in pure joy. It was like a random day I came home and my moms got me The Game of Life. She just got it for me and my sister and I was just so happy to get to that. You could just see that pure joy on my face. I was like, man, what a contrast. I knew I had to use it and Phoniks remixed it, put his own touches on it, and that’s what we got.

TRHH: This has been the biggest gap between albums for you and Phoniks. Why did it take six years for All Good Things to drop?

Anti-Lilly: I don’t think there’s a real answer to that question. With me, I kind of always just go by my own pace, go by my own tempo. I will say also that Phoniks is going through some things, not bad, but you know he’s got a growing family and him and Awon have been doing some different things with Don’t Sleep. Everything I just feel happened at the time it needed to. One thing about this album, it wasn’t the situation like where we just locked in for like a week or a month. This was recorded over the span of maybe three to four years. Me and Phoniks we got a vibration. Whenever he feels that he’ll hit me on a certain vibe, he’ll send it to me, and it just got to a point where he didn’t have anything coming up, I didn’t have anything coming up. We had such a strong collection of records that were cohesive, so it just made sense to move forward with the release.

I’m excited, man and I’m grateful. Everything has been awesome since it dropped. You know though that feeling when you get everything mixed, you get the track list how you want it, hearing it for the first time I was like, “Damn, this is really good.” It’s been awesome, man. It feels good to just be able to put projects out again. This is actually my second album this year, me and the homie High John we put a little something, something out a few months ago — The Butterfly Effect. It just feels good to be in that creative space and yeah, man, I think it’s probably the most solo albums I ever dropped. I usually do like one joint a year. I don’t know, man, it’s just been where I’ve been at with it this year.

TRHH: On the song “New Dream” you speak about shutting the world out and not drinking for two years. What did you learn about yourself during that time?

Anti-Lilly: I learned that one, I’m always going to have that hole that needs to be filled with certain interests or certain hobbies. There was a point in time where I was feeling that space in with things that weren’t necessarily conducive. I was not necessarily embracing my pain, but just hiding from it, not really taking life in, and indulging in certain substances. That’s the slippery slope, so, I’m just at a point and a space now to where I can acknowledge that I’m always going to have those demons, I’m always going to have that pressure, but it’s all about finding that balance because there’s a lot of beautiful things in this life as well. You need to go through a little bit of both to have that true appreciation of the journey. So, just something I learned about myself is I’m resilient [laughs]. I’m still here in spite of everything and I’m here for a purpose. I need to be grateful and I need to be appreciative for every moment I get. I feel that’s the lesson that I already have learned, but sometimes you gotta learn the same lesson again.

TRHH: The last time I spoke to Awon and Phoniks, Phoniks said he saves all of the jazz samples for you. Why is that your preference and will you ever do an album completely different from the jazz sound?

Anti-Lilly: I mean, yeah. I just feel that’s maybe my pocket. It’s very comfortable for me. We have a lot of the same influences, like a lot of the same sounds, and I would say sonically that’s just probably where we’re the strongest when it comes to me and Phoniks. Him himself he’s shown different layers, the Indigo project and certain other features I’ve done, even my older stuff before I connected with Phoniks, I’ve shown that ability to step in different pockets. I don’t know if you had a chance to check out Butterfly Effect with my homie High John, but even where you definitely still have those jazz elements, there’s a lot of different drums and kicks that most of my conventional supporters wouldn’t have heard me on. It was still natural to what I do as an artist, but it wasn’t the usual sound. It’s just maybe whenever me and Phoniks put it together that’s just the vibration. It’s kind of hard to explain. I do think every time we do it it’s just a little better than the last time.

TRHH: To that point, how has the relationship changed creatively since Stories From the Brass Section?

Anti-Lilly: He’s one of my closest friends. It sounds weird because I’m like that friend that I don’t call you every day, I won’t text you every day, but if I give you that title that means we’re we locked in forever. Once you travel with somebody, once you created with somebody more than once, every time you do something with that person that connection becomes a little stronger. We’re literally on two different sides of the country and that’s someone that I have full trust in, someone that I have unconditional love for, and whatever he needs I got him and I know that’s likewise. I’m just so happy to see how he’s growing as well. Like I said, man, this dude’s got a whole family now and I remember being 22-23 just not even on that vibration. And just to see where we are now it’s crazy. I think just traveling, spending all of these hours together, being able to create the things we’ve created, and leaning on each other artistically, it’s difficult to not have a close relationship with someone like that.

TRHH: On the last verse of “If I Fly” you say, “Thirty-one years it’s been a struggle to do what’s best for me/Blessings lay ahead of me, lessons lay ahead of me.” How were you able to get to the point where you were able to do what’s best for you?

Anti-Lilly: I don’t think I’m really there yet. I’m at the point where I can acknowledge it and even in that verse you kind of hear that contrast like, yes, I have more blessings coming my way, but I also have more lessons coming my way. I’m going to stumble some more, I’m going to go the wrong direction again, but my main word I use is “appreciation.” It’s gratitude. You’re here for a reason and I just tend to focus on that, where so many times in the past the question was, “Why, why, why?” I’m at peace, bro, where I don’t need all the answers. I’m grateful to be here, I have a family that loves me, I got a woman that loves me, I’m able to do what I love. I can’t ask for much more.

That’s really what I was trying to put across in that song. Previously, I had a version that’s not on this album, and I never even told Phoniks this, but we were gonna do like a 2-parter. One song was going to be called ‘If I Fail” and this song that came out was “If I fly” and it’s just that contrast. So many times in the past I focused on if I fail and even getting into my own head — that stifled me and I’ll be the first to admit that. That impostor syndrome is a real thing where now it’s like, man, I’m not even in a space where I could worry about that. I could fail, but I could fly too. That’s kind of the gist behind that.

TRHH: Failure can be a crippling thing. The fear of failing is something that’s held me back. It’s held a lot of people back. But you have to fail. A lot of people don’t really know that — you have to fail. What’s the Michael Jordan quote?

Anti-Lilly: “You miss every shot you don’t take.” It takes a lot of self-accountability, a lot of self-reflection as well. I’m guilty of that. Most of us aren’t really comfortable holding ourselves accountable personally. Like, not just doing it in a setting with other people, but I actually mean having those talks with yourself, facing your shadows and being like, “Yeah, I need to get my shit together. I’m taking everything that I’m blessed with for granted.” Losing loved ones, seeing some of my favorite artists in different mediums leave this earth it’s like, “Fuck! I’m still here!” I have that chance to really either just let it go to waste and be a “woulda, coulda, shoulda” or at least try to make an impact. And that impact doesn’t necessarily have to be a Grammy, but to the people I know that reach out to me, or the people who listen to me monthly, if I’m able to by sharing my story, by sharing my thoughts, to make any type of positive impact, I can’t take that for granted.

TRHH: I forget which song it was but you got a lyric where you say “Five days a week for two days of peace.”

Anti-Lilly: Yeah, that’s on that “If I Fly.”

TRHH: OK. That one hit me, man. Like, how did we get here [laughs]?

Anti-Lilly: We took that carrot, bro [laughs].

TRHH: That’s the worst payoff. Like, it ain’t even fair, bro. We work all week for two day.

Anti-Lilly: Yeah, they did that one, bro [laughs]. And it’s something that a lot of us obviously dread, but the other part that doesn’t really get brought up is the comfort that comes with it. Because you have that fear of the unknown, but you’re comfortable with what you’re getting already. It may not be what you want to do, but once you get to the point where you like, “Hey, man I can keep my bills paid and have just enough to maybe do one or two little extra things, and hey, at least I get my weekends.” Life is so much more than that, freedom is so much more than that. I still have a job now. It’s nothing wrong with working a job, but the more that I’m aging, having that freedom, that’s something that we all desire, and that’s something that I’m putting myself in a position take more advantage of.

TRHH: What do you hope to achieve with All Good Things?

Anti-Lilly: Man, I want to get back to Chicago, bro!

TRHH: [LAUGHS]!

Anti-Lilly: It’s been a minute! Nah, man, it’s already achieved, bro. The victory is already here. It’s out! It’s not sitting on my laptop no more, it’s not sitting in Phoniks’ studio no more, it’s out. Again, bro, I hate to do this, but I’m just grateful. I’m here, I’m creating, I’m doing what I love, and it’s so much more to come. Everything is where it needs be. I’m controlling the controllables, bro, that’s what it’s all about. I love this Hip-Hop. Just the ability to be able to contribute to the vast catalog of this genre, it’s an indescribable feeling. To be able to talk with you on this again, it’s something I don’t take for granted. It’s already accomplished, man, it’s already accomplished.

Purchase: Anti-Lilly & Phoniks – All Good Things