The world heard some of Don Toliver's earliest music before even his own mom did. Secrecy was a kind of protection he put in place to ensure that when his songs finally reached her ears, they'd be ones he could be proud of. The results were beyond what he—or she—could ever imagine. “I knew I was going to be able to showcase the talent but never thought that it was going to be this big,” he tells Apple Music. In his Up Next film, the Houston native, who signed to Travis Scott's Cactus Jack imprint in 2018, talks about his journey from the local open mics to some of music's biggest stages. It's a story of good ol'-fashioned hard work and savvy instincts combined with sheer talent and a sound that is singular—one that some believe will define H-Town's hip-hop for years to come. And in an interview with Apple Music's Ebro Darden, he discusses his goals, his video game talents, and his mindset and productivity in the midst of quarantine. Watch the film and interview, and listen to Toliver's debut album, Heaven or Hell, along with selections from the rest of the artists in the Up Next series.
