On the eve of his debut album Rich As In Spirit, Rich Homie Quan stopped by Rap-Up HQ to discuss his newest work and his current state.

“I’m in a positive place right now,” reveals the Atlanta rapper. “You can hear it in my music. I just feel good about the body of work that I’ve done. It’s mine. I’m excited to call it mine.”

The album title comes from a night in jail, where he was asked what his name means. “I end up going to jail,” he explains. “I had a [cellmate] by the name of Chicken. He was like, ‘I see your name is Rich Homie. What it stand for?’ I didn’t have a meaning, but the first thing he said was, ‘Rich as in spirit.’ It hit my spirit. I felt it, opposed to heard it. I didn’t hear it. I felt it…It stuck with me. I had to name my first album that.”

Earlier in the recording process, Rich Homie hit the studio with his idol Lil Wayne. “Who didn’t wanna be Wayne? At some point, I was growing braids trying to look exactly like Wayne,” he says. “When I realized how talented he was, it was over with. He already had me going from the look, then, when…I could read lyrics…I felt like it was relatable to the story I was going through…Wayne’s the G.O.A.T.”

He also collaborated with his celebrity crush Ashanti, however, their collaboration didn’t make the album. “She’s still fine,” he shares. “When I was in the studio with her, I’m trying to stay focused and keep it music, and professional. But I told her, ‘You know I like you.’ She shot me down.”

Quan first emerged on the scene as a member of Rich Gang. His partner-in-rhyme, at the time, was Young Thug. Today, they’re on separate paths, but R-H-Q said that doesn’t rule out future pairings. “Me and Thug got a whole lot of music,” he says. “That’s just ours. We’ve probably got over 100 songs the world ain’t ever heard. Music is timeless. I have no bad blood with Thug. It’s a good relationship. I wish him the best and hope he does the same for me.”

Rich As In Spirit is due at midnight.