RetcH Talks ‘Point Guard’ Video, ‘FTW 2’ & Four-Year Hiatus: ‘I Have a Totally New Perspective on This Whole Thing’

Last month, RetcH dropped his first album in four years since 2022’s Administrative Segregation .

During the hiatus, the New Jersey rapper was both dealing with lingering legal issues, while also enjoying the fruits of his labor.

“When I really think about that time, what I was doing was just running around enjoying life.

I was having a good time,” he tells me during our hour-long convo at Billboard’s New York City office.

“I had just got off house arrest after I got sentenced to three years for a probation violation, which stemmed from catching a gun charge in California.

I also still had an open case at the time, which ended up coming back around later on.” He’s now ready to get back to work and has a new perspective on things, especially music.

“All types of different things factored into my shift in perspective,” he told me during our interview.

“It could be often that I run into artists or people that take being in this business for granted.

You gotta think about what got us here, you know what I’m saying? For the most part, it’s the love of music.

So, the fact that any of us are even able to make a living off of this thing right here is a beautiful thing.

It’s a blessing for everybody: me, you, and anybody else that works in this building.

It’s a craft.” At 19, RetcH came out the gate with an album that many rap fans consider a classic in Polo Sporting Goods , with fellow Jersey native (by way of Chicago) producer Thelonious Martin.

That tape put RetcHy Lo Sweater on the map and raised expectations, which I would say he met with the release of the much more sinister Finesse the World a couple years later in 2015.

Now, with FTW 2 , he decided to go back to the darker tone that made 2015’s Finesse the World a fan favorite.