What More Can I Say?
Quando Rondo’s relationship with rap is dark and deeply personal. His story is riddled with harsh realities as he tries to navigate the road to redemption.
Interview: Joey Echevarria
Editor’s Note: This story appears in the Winter 2024 issue of XXL Magazine, on newsstands now and available for sale on the XXL website. This interview was conducted before Quando Rondo turned himself in to serve his 33-month prison sentence.
To say Quando Rondo has had a tumultuous past four years is an understatement. The Savannah, Ga. rapper signed to YoungBoy Never Broke Again’s label was involved in a fight that left Chicago rapper King Von dead. In turn, he had an attempt made on his life where his cousin was killed instead, got embroiled in rap beef, tangled with the law, and saw his label head get federal time. Quando, 25, has also put out a solo mixtape, Still Taking Risks, a joint tape with YoungBoy, 3860, and a solo album, Recovery. Now, the controversial artist is promoting the release of his new LP, Here for a Reason, while dealing with his own drama and career challenges, with some of the issues stemming from as far back as 2020.
In November of that year, Quando was involved in a fight with King Von. During that incident, Quando’s close friend and frequent collaborator, Lul Timm, shot and killed Von in what was later determined to be self-defense. Being associated with the high-profile shooting death of Von affected Quando’s public image. Von’s death also intensified the ongoing rap beef between YoungBoy and Lil Durk. Von was signed to Durk’s Only The Family, and they were childhood friends.
Despite showing signs of remorse for Von’s death when addressing the situation via various interviews, Quando has appeared to be conflicted about the tragedy’s outcome. Fans perceived that Rondo was dissing Durk on a few records, and in a 2021 virtual performance during which Quando implied he would “piss on [Von’s] grave.” Durk and YoungBoy also threw lyrical shots at each other. More drama ensued in August of 2022, when Quando’s SUV was shot up in Los Angeles, resulting in the death of his cousin, Savaiy’a Robinson, a.k.a. Lul Pab. While Quando was left dealing with the trauma of losing a close family member, he was still juggling a high-profile beef.
In June of 2023, Quando got caught up with the law when he was indicted in Georgia along with 18 other men as authorities accused him of being the gang leader of a Rollin’ 60 Crip set in Savannah, Ga. According to the indictment, Rondo allegedly traveled from Savannah to Macon, Ga., to pay a supplier for a shipment of marijuana. He was charged with two counts of conspiracy to violate Georgia’s Controlled Substance Act, one count of participating in criminal street gang activity and use of a communication facility in the commission of a felony involving controlled substances.
While out on bond, Quando was arrested by the FBI in December 2023 as part of a federal drug investigation. He was indicted on charges of conspiring with others to possess and distribute drugs, including methamphetamine, fentanyl, cocaine and marijuana. In August, Quando copped out to the Feds and pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute marijuana. The plea deal finds him facing up to five years in prison. The gang and drug charges in the State of Georgia are still pending as a judge placed a pause on the case as Quando awaits the results of the federal charges.
In October, federal authorities arrested Lil Durk and five alleged OTF associates in connection with the killing of Lul Pab, explaining that Quando was the target. The five men and Durk were indicted on charges of conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, murder-for-hire involving death and use of a machine gun in a violent crime resulting in death. Durk is accused of being the ringleader of the shooting.
Quando has been tight-lipped about his experiences, save for a few sporadic interviews. In October, he did a somewhat combative Zoom interview while on house arrest awaiting sentencing. The dad to Italy Naomi, age 5, discussed his recent conversion to Islam, his latest LP, the apology to his hometown, fatherhood and a bit more.
XXL: You have been sharing your religion online lately. When did you become a Muslim?
Quando Rondo: Man, for the last five years, I always studied Islam. I didn’t take my Shahada until about 15 months ago, though.
What led you to convert to Islam?
I got family members, uncles who are Muslim. I’ve been knew about Islam. I’ve been seeing them pray. Ramadan. I’ve been seeing all that. So, I’m like, You know what? I’m ’bout to go and take my Shahada.
Have the past 15 months been transforming for you?
I feel like I changed as a person. Everything is in transition to go to the top now. Before all this, I didn’t feel like that. I felt like I was stuck in one place.
How would you say that you’ve been changed?
I’m getting older and wiser, and I understand more now that you have to be close to God. I got a sense of can’t keep going down the wrong road. It’s like, are you going to go down the wrong road until you’re 50? I need new results. I did the wrong thing. Let’s see what doing the right thing get me.
Has being a Muslim at all changed the content and the direction you might take your lyrics, your bars, that kinda thing?
My boy, I think you’re asking the wrong kinda questions. Man, this is just my religion, you feel me?
How is your new album, Here for a Reason, different from your previous work?
I feel like when you been through so much and you still here, you here for a reason.
In what ways is it different from your previous work?
It’s different music on there. It’s not like no original Quando sound. I stepped out of the box a little bit to try to gain new fans. That’s basically what this new tape about, gaining new fans because all fans don’t listen to the same type of music.
What motivates you to make music these days?
Just people, period. Some people prefer to record by themselves. Some people prefer to record with five, six people around. It’s like when the people be around, they energy is up because they happy they watching you do something that a lot of people can’t watch you do. So that energy is seeing… like it travels. I asked people because I was thinking about that for two, three weeks. I was like, that’s crazy. People give me motivation when I’m recording and in my song-recording process.
You are currently in the middle of a federal case? What’s the status of the case right now for you?
Sh*t, I don’t know.
On Instagram, you recently publicly apologized to your hometown of Savannah, Ga. for your legal problems there. What’s your current relationship with the city, government and police?
I don’t really be around no police officers or nothing to know what my status is with them. And I ain’t trying to be around no police officer. I don’t know them type people. But I know that they’re going to forever stereotype people like me. So, I ain’t trying to be around them. My apology wasn’t necessarily to the police. It was to the city of Savannah.
The people in Savannah?
The people in the city because police ain’t right. They don’t like us. I’m not going to say they don’t like us, but you get what I’m saying. We try to stay away from them and keep it that way.
You’ve dealt with a lot lately. Having good friends is important. What’s your relationship with Lul Timm like these days?
Come on, man. Man, big bro, you asking crazy questions now, big bro. You know that’s my partner.
Of course.
That’s what it is.
So, nothing that went down with King Von has affected your relationship?
Man, I’m about to get out this sh*t, man. I’m going to holla at y’all.
Quando Rondo disconnects the Zoom, but his team gets him back on six minutes later.
Quando Rondo photo
loading…
XXL: Yo.
Quando Rondo: You all can’t hear me?
Yeah.
Man, big bro, I ain’t going to lie. I don’t know if you’re trying to get some sh*t to put in your magazine or something. But listen, big bro, if you really ain’t about to ask a ni**a some questions about music, that’s going to be a positive look on me or something like that, for XXL, big bro, we could end this call. Because y’all be dragging sh*t. How long y’all going to drag sh*t out? The next 30 years?
Understood, but what we’re trying to get is just…
Nah, man, you all don’t understand, man. Y’all looking for fuss, anything that’s gon’ bring some attention.
We’re trying to get a glimpse for the audience of who you are and how far you’ve come.
Man, bro. The audience ain’t trying to hear about that situation, bro.
Yeah, bet. Alright, cool.
Sh*t still business. Never personal.
Right, of course. You’re still signed to NBA Young Boy’s Never Broke Again?
Man, bro, bro, bro. Cuz, you asking me crazy stuff. Big bro, big bro, man, cuz. Ask some, you know this, ask some other sh*t… All y’all do the same thing. You all ask the same questions. All interviewers. Five different interviewers ask the same thing. How was it growing up? What you mean? I done been in the industry damn near six, seven years. I’m pretty sure the fans already heard me say 20 times how it was growing up. You still signed to NBA? Everybody know that. All fans know that already. The sh*t that y’all constantly put out…
And when we first got on the phone, we just talking about repeating the same stuff. You all repeatedly do the same thing with me, though. If you all was interviewing Kevin Gates or Lil Baby or somebody else, you all have strictly real positive-a*s answers to ask. But instead, you all want to ask me a bunch of sh*t to put in a f**king magazine or whatever y’all doing, to put it out there, and the sh*t going to look negative on me. That ain’t cool, bro. That’s how I’m looking at it. That’s how I’m taking it.
We’re just trying to get what you want out there about your life, the things you’ve had, the experiences, the music. The last time you talked with XXL, you were very happy to be a new father. Has being a dad changed your outlook on life and your music?
Having a child, it should change anybody because at the end of the day, this is your child. You got to be here for this person. You got to make decisions for them until they’re old enough to make their own.
Does your little girl gravitate to anything in music like you do?
Yeah, I be watching her. She be doing a little singing and rapping jive. But man, bro, I just look at it like this. Think about all the major artists in the industry who kids that’s all grown up now. All them don’t make it because it’s like they’re going to always have their father’s life. Accept somebody like Coi Leray. She made it, but you still see… They bring her father in everything, and she basically be like, “I did this. I made it.” You feel me?
So, when I see, like, my daughter doing music and stuff, I don’t really take it to heart or nothing because I feel like… This another thing. You might be a father that’s in the NFL. Don’t force your son to play football, see what he want to do first. I’m just waiting to see what she prefer to do in life, then invest in it.
Whose music do you like these days? Anybody you rock with?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, man, it’s crazy because I’d be listening to 50 Cent now on everything. I be listening to old 50 Cent music. I’m talking about old 50 Cent music, not his hits. I’m talking about…
Power of a Dollar and all that?
Yeah. People best songs be the ones that’s ducked off. That somebody got to turn you on to. You feel me?
Why do you think that is?
’Cause, man, we live in a copycat world. Bro, if this song got 30 million views and it’s called “I Like Hats,” but this song got 800,000 views and it’s called “The Pain I’ve Been Going Through,” they’re going to click on “I Like Hats” just because it got 15 million views. People are not trying to give stuff a listen that they don’t see [what] everybody else giving [people] to listen to. That’s why I like underground. I like the stuff that ain’t that noted. I like music that everybody ain’t necessarily listening to.
How do you handle keeping creative and motivated to make the music you want?
To keep it real, this is a long story short. Sometimes, man, you got to do a radio-type sound song because they got a better chance of getting bigger. You got to do a trendy-type song, like ABC rap-type song because once that go big, then you can rap how you want to rap.
You’re obviously trying to get the hits and expand the fan base, but what’s the ultimate goal you want to capture for yourself when creating music?
You know what the ultimate goal is. What every artist ultimate goal is: to be the biggest in the world. To have every song you drop hit deep. And you know, keep reaching new milestones. Know that levels don’t never stop going. Numbers forever.
Is there anyone you want to collab with at some point?
The people that I want to collab with, I feel like they’re older, and they’re not going to come how they came back then.
You think they fell off?
No. Hell no. How you fall off when you’re $30 million rich?
That’s a great point, but why do you feel like they might come as correct as they may have been?
I said they might not come how they came back then.
What you mean?
Because these people 45 years old now. They not 19. They done been driving Rolls-Royces last 20 years. They ain’t in no cut, ain’t in no alley in Cali or ain’t in no cut in Harlem, or on no porch in Georgia, no more like that. Being a part of poverty and all that. So, I just know they’re not going to come the same. You feel me?
If I do collab with an older person, ’cause that’s who I prefer to collab with, we’re going to have to focus on making a hit song before we make a gutter song because you got a better chance coming this way than that way.
What are you doing to unwind and ease your mind these days? You said you were gaming a little earlier. Do you have any other hobbies?
Man, that’s all I do is play the game all day. Play the game and in the studio.
What’s next for you, musically? Are there any upcoming projects we should look out for?
Man, I actually got a little solo album I’m putting together myself. I got something I’m working on right now to have that come up right behind everything, and I’m trying to set it up how I want it, so it go how I want it to.
Listen to Quando Rondo’s Here for a Reason Album
Quando Rondo photo
loading…
The Winter 2024 issue of XXL magazine featuring Quando Rondo’s interview is available for purchase now and is on newsstands. The issue also includes GloRilla and Sexyy Red on the cover, conversations with Ab-Soul, Dej Loaf, Ferg, Nav, Kash Doll, Sauce Walka, Anycia, Baby Kia, OsamaSon, BLP Kosher, Sugarhill Ddot, dancehall artist Skillibeng and producer Ace Charisma. There’s also a look at the new season of the Netflix reality competition show Rhythm + Flow through the eyes of its judges Latto, DJ Khaled and Ludacris, a discussion with high-powered hip-hop attorney Drew Findling, plus 18 hip-hop heavyweights discuss the state of lyricism.
