FloKid Is Still That Kid From North Miami Beach

Growing up, FloKid wanted to be a basketball player. He played on the team at North Miami Beach Senior High, but eventually, his hoop dreams deflated. At the suggestion of one of his homies, he picked up the mic and pen and embarked on a new venture: rap music.

With a flow more reminiscent of J Cole and Nas than Trick Daddy, Trina, or even Denzel Curry, Flo quickly stood out from his South Florida contemporaries. His track "Regal," about a Buick Regal gifted to him by his late older brother, gained popularity online and on local airwaves like 99 Jamz.

The release of his 2018 album, Lil Jo-Z: A VP Story, helped grow his audience, leading to him supporting Snow Tha Product on the Florida leg of her tour as well as a solo tour. There was enough buzz around his name that Flo was approached by casting directors for Love & Hip Hop and Rhythm + Flow, but then the pandemic occurred.

During the lockdown, he tried to keep the momentum going with the release of the EP Practice on the Weekends in 2020. While the record featured his signature wordplay and vulnerable lyrics, it wasn't enough to keep him in the public's consciousness. In an era where rap songs need to be quick and catchy and released alongside sped-up, slowed-down, and five other edited versions, Flo just couldn't keep up. So, for his upcoming album, Nobody Cares, Work Harder, he went to the drawing board and devised a rollout plan.

Flo is at a North Miami Beach recording studio when New Times catches up with him. He's just recorded seven 16-bar freestyles that he plans to release one day at a time. It's part of a planned drop on his social media channels to generate hype for the upcoming album.

"I only gave them 16 bars because I want this to be like an appetizer. The entrée is coming, though," he says of the teasers, which feature him freestyling over recognizable beats from songs like Kanye West's "All Falls Down" and Trick Daddy's "Take it to Da House."
After some time at the studio, he insists on going to Victory Park, located just across the street from his childhood home on NE 169th Street and 20th Avenue. "I remember when we would be posted in front of the court, and the police would just run us off the curb," he shares. "It was crazy because we lived next to a police station, and bad shit would happen all the time. No police in sight when we needed them."

A pair of shoes has been thrown up on a nearby powerline — a sign of a tragedy in the area.

Eventually, Rex, Flo's childhood friend, joins the outing. "None of this used to be here," Rex says. "It used to be very different, but it's good to see how the community has changed into a safer place from when we were kids."

Down the road is North Miami Beach High School, where Flo, a 2007 graduate, spent much of his time focusing on basketball in hopes of getting a college scholarship. "It's so different nowadays. I saw this place change so much," Flo says. "It looked a lot more run down as opposed to all the nice paint jobs with logos. Everything looks much more updated. It's dope."

Walking around the campus, he shares stories of his time at NMB before eventually reaching the outdoor pavilion. "They invited me to speak to the kids one time and do a concert," Flo shares. "It was a really dope experience. I hope to do more stuff like that for my community."

The North Miami Beach native knows his community well. Though the city's demographic is mainly Black and Latino, it's also home to a sizable Jewish population. For Flo, who is of Haitian descent, growing up in the area felt like a blend of cultures. Still, it was rough at times. He lost his brother to gun violence, something that changed his outlook. "It's hard — my grandfather just died recently," he adds. "It's that lack of a male figure in my life that is very apparent."
Despite the hardships, Flo has channeled all his energy into his music. It's an outlet for him to tell his stories as well as get his message out. He's adamant about not wanting to conform to a specific sound. Instead of sounding like his contemporaries, he points to Westside Gunn's Griselda Records, which has a very dark sound, especially the production. He loves hopping on beats akin to Conductor Williams' work.

"If you want to hear some BossMan Dlow type of music, go listen to BossMan Dlow. I'm in my own lane, making the music that I want to make," Flo explains. "I don't want to do something just because it's popular."

After the tour of North Miami Beach, Flo wants to grab a bite to eat and suggests the Caribbean spot Manjay at the Citadel in Little River. While eating some griyo, he dives more into music that inspired him.

"Get Rich or Die Tryin' by 50, Friday Night Lights by J Cole, and Crenshaw by Nipsey Hussle — those are the most important albums to me," he says. "I can literally tell you when I first listened to all of them and their impact on me."

He also surveys the food hall and lets out an observation.

"This used to all be so different, man," he observes. "It used to just be lots of Haitian people because we are in Little Haiti, of course, but now it's a whole lot of culture here."