Check out our exclusive interview with Turtle Boy Duluth. For audio of the interview click on the embed player below.
All right, we’re here with Turtle Boy Duluth. How it going, man?
It’s going gravy.
All right. You just recently dropped your new single, and a music video for Morning Dew. Tell me a little bit about the single and the video and how it came together for you.
Okay. So the single Morning Dew, it was actually just a song I would, I made messing around. In 2018, I got done making an album, and it was like 15 songs from the album, and I made that within like a 2 week window of time. And when I was done with the album, I just figured I might well, might as well just experiment and just make something, it doesn’t even matter what I make. So that’s, yeah, that song was totally a joke.
Gotcha. All right. and um, will this uh, song be on any upcoming, like, mixtapes or albums? Um, do you have any, um, mixtapes or albums in the works? Just what’s up next for you?
Okay, look, yeah, so, um, I have an album that I’m working on that song, Morning Dew, will not be on the album. I’m just lucky. I had an old computer that broke in 2019 and I’m just lucky that morning dew was still on the hard drive. I just found it, and I was, but it was unmixed and unmastered. And I couldn’t get to the files. So I had to send somebody, they had to use a stem splitter to even get that song out. Got you. All right.
I don’t know if it’s beginning stages or close to being done, what’s kind of the musical direction, just what are people in store for once they check out the album and do you have a kind of a target, uh, date set to drop it?
Okay, that’s a good question. No target date set to drop it. And what are they gonna expect? Look, I like music. I like all different kinds of music. I like the best of all musics. I like Nirvana, the grunge sound. I like Tupac. I like bone thugs and harmony. I like the, you know, just the best of music, even Morgan Wallen, whoever, and after studying musicians and artists, I’m trying to make this, maybe it’ll be a shorter album, but I’m trying to make it less songs, but really good songs that take a little bit about the best of everything in music and combine it.
Okay, absolutely. Absolutely. All right, we’re now 9 months into 2026. Just what’s your thoughts right now on the state of hip hop in 2026? And maybe some, you named a few artists, maybe some new music that you’re listening to, just what’s currently on your playlist right now.
Okay, um, well, the state of hip hop right now, I felt like there’s a misdirection, like, nobody really knows what direction to go after, you know, so much auto tunes, so much not having auto tunes. People don’t really know how to make the music sound. So that opens up the market for someone like me who has a clearly identifiable sound that I want to produce consistently for high quality music, continuous continuing us into the future of hip hop and American culture and world culture at that, because we actually influence the whole world. But who do I listen to? I listen to, uh, TDE. I like all the TDE artists.
Absolutely. can’t go wrong with TDE. That’s a, that’s a dope collective, putting out some really dope music right now. All right, do you have any upcoming shows or tour dates or anything coming up for you? let people know about?
No, nothing scheduled.
Got you. All right, for people looking at, check out your music, see what you got going on, what’s your social media website information, where they can check out and see what you got?
Uh, we have a website, TurtleboyDuluth.com. Do this, you know, turn up where everyone else I spell that, and then deliver the D U L U T H, and, um, from there, you can really find all my other branches of networks. I don’t like the internet at all. So, yeah, that’s my struggle.
Absolutely. All right, well, that’s all the questions I have for you. Appreciate you getting down for the interview. Is there any last words or shout outs you want to get out there to the people?
Um, Last words or shout outs. I would say last word is, you know, it’s 2026 right now. And the average part is, it takes about 8 years to break into the music industry. I’ve been working on this for like 10 years. That’s when I first started making my first videos, and having my own home studio. And so next year is 2027. 2028, my band, that’s, that’s gonna be my time.
Absolutely, man. Well, appreciate the time. Appreciate the interview, and any new music that you got going on. You always got a place here with I2G hip hop.
Oh, thank you, DeMarcus, for having me.