Liim Talks Max B & Being Rap’s New Lover Boy

Harlem has itself another rap star.

Liim seemingly came out of nowhere and dropped a critically acclaimed project in Liim Lasalle Loves You, a coming-of-age, genre-bending debut that has caught the attention of the likes of Tyler, The Creator. Signed to veteran record exec Sickamore’s three times LOUDER (IIIXL) label, Liim’s rise has been fast.

The Harlem rapper grew up in a strict Muslim household where secular music wasn’t allowed to be played. This made him curious which then led to him discovering his natural calling. He’s been putting out music since about 2022, with the release of his single “Pupils,” while also doubling as a model for Supreme — and was noticed in 2023 by an IIIXL A&R in one of the skate brand’s ads. “I don’t know,” he answers, after being asked what made the upstart label sign him. “But I know one of the A&R’s, Ezana [Atakli], said he seen me in a Supreme thing, and then he clicked on my s—t and heard my music. I had a song called ‘Mary J’ at the time.”

And while he’s been actively putting out records for the better part of three years, it wasn’t until he began making this particular project that he found his sound. Producer Shamshawan DM’d Liim wanting to work and the two hit it off immediately. “From there, I started recording everyday,” he said. “It was crazy, because I never been in that type of mentality with music. I wasn’t struggling at all. I didn’t have to write nothing. I was just spitting. It was just working out for me.” He’s now found himself among the new rising talent here in the city that started this rap thing, alongside the likes of his labelmate Laila! and sexy drill aficionado Cash Cobain.

Liim stopped by the Billboard office in New York City with his management to talk about his influences, the crafting of his debut album, and growing up in a city full of opportunity for a kid like him.

Check out our convo below.

I peeped that Tyler co-signed you — and let me know if I’m buggin’, but I hear his influence in this album. Is that true?

How do you feel like you hear the influence?

Just some of the melodies, like “Why Why” reminds me of some of his R&B stuff.

I feel like what it is — [from what] I’ve seen from Tyler’s interviews or whatever — when he talks about his influences in music, we got pretty similar ones. And if not me and him having similar ones, him and my producer, Shamshawan, they both love the Neptunes and s—t. So the production is kind of in that world. I f—k with a lot of bossa nova music and s—t like that, so the first track is kind of bossa nova, then it goes into a kind of Pharrell-y vibe. I don’t think I take direct inspiration from him.

Well, I mean some of the tracks just reminded me of some of his. You’re also into Max B, so it’s a mix of all these influences that you have. And what’s interesting is that you say you grew up not being able to play certain music in your house because your mother is Muslim. Can you talk about that?

No music. All you heard was the Quran playing in the crib.

Did that make you more curious about music?

Facts.

So, how does she feel about you career choice?

She’s proud of me. As I got older, I was like, “That don’t make no sense.” And my mom is on her Dīn and whatnot, but she’ll listen to my music just to support.

You had told Kid Mero that Max B reminded you of your late father because he was a Harlem dude. How did you get put on to Max?

It’s funny, even though growing up in Harlem and s—t, I never really heard kids my age listen to Max B ever. But when I started skateboarding, it was them n—as — the older skaters were fans, and always had Max B playing.

Skaters are an underrated subculture within rap music. A lot of them have good taste when it comes to music and style. I also noticed that you use a camcorder aesthetic in some of your videos. You used to run around with a camcorder?

I used to film skateboarders sometimes before I was making music. I just know how to use that camera. A lot of my earlier videos I shot by myself type s—t, or I would tell my homie to hold the camera like this. My goal is to do high-budget videos, but the camera’s mad cheap.

You must be a fan of that era because you’re hella young and dress like you could be in Dipset, and even though you’re not making “traditional” New York music, I can still tell that you’re from the city.

I don’t know. I feel like the music that was coming out as I was getting older, like the drill and all that s—t… I’ve made a few drill songs and s—t like that, but I was like, this s—t is kind of ass, bro. Everybody’s saying the exact same thing. And then I was thinking about it, and all my music really changed. I don’t know how n—s want to call it? Woke? I don’t know, just conscious of my people, Black people and s—t like murder music, and where that came from. We didn’t make murder music. That’s lowkey some s—t white people say, and that’s not really us. We had Marvin Gaye. We had Stevie [Wonder], all these n—as that sing about love. I feel like I’m trying to bring love back into music.