{"id":9409,"date":"2026-03-14T01:53:53","date_gmt":"2026-03-14T01:53:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/don-toliver-billboard-house-sxsw-interview-1236199182\/"},"modified":"2026-03-14T01:53:53","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T01:53:53","slug":"don-toliver-billboard-house-sxsw-interview-1236199182","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/don-toliver-billboard-house-sxsw-interview-1236199182\/","title":{"rendered":"Don Toliver Talks \u2018OCTANE\u2019 Success, Plans for Next Album & Travis Scott at Billboard House @\u00a0SXSW"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\tDon Toliver<\/a> made the quantum leap to rap\u2019s A list with the arrival of the Houston native\u2019s OCTANE<\/em> album in January. Toliver\u2019s fifth LP topped the Billboard 200<\/a> with 162,000 album units earned \u2014 his first No. 1 \u2014 and all 18 tracks landed on the Billboard Hot 100. <\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tThe 31-year-old stopped by the Billboard House @ SXSW on Friday (March 13) ahead of his headlining performance later that night at The Stage at SXSW. <\/p>\n

\n\tSitting down with Billboard<\/em> staff writer Michael Saponara, Toliver discussed OCTANE<\/em>\u2018s success, having Travis Scott<\/a> as a mentor, sampling Justin Timberlake <\/a>on \u201cBODY\u201d and already starting to work on his next album. <\/p>\n

\n\tEven six weeks after its arrival, \u201cBODY\u201d currently remains inside the Hot 100\u2019s top 25 (No. 23). Toliver gushed about his fandom of Timberlake, but admitted he didn\u2019t initially recognize the \u201cRock Your Body\u201d sample when he was recording the track. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cHonestly, I love Justin Timberlake a lot. My mom played him, Pharrell and Outkast and all these crazy great artists when I was growing up as a kid in the car,\u201d Toliver explained. \u201cI got a lot of fond memories of that. Justin Timberlake is always one of my favorites. Justified<\/em>, that album is literally in my top 10 favorite albums of all time.<\/p>\n

\n\tHe continued: \u201cI didn\u2019t think that deep into it. As I sat with it for like a week, I was like, \u2018Hold on, this is literally one of my favorite songs of all-time.\u2019 \u2018Rock Your Body\u2019 is one of those songs that triggers an endorphin in my body. To put those two together was so iconic for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tToliver reconnected with his Cactus Jack mentor, Travis Scott, on OCTANE<\/em> standout \u201cRosary,\u201d but it was an 11th-hour appearance from La Flame, who sent over his vocals nearly at the buzzer. Their relationship has grown since Don T signed to Cactus Jack in partnership with Atlantic Records in 2018. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI really try to keep the relationship that me and him have as far away from music as I can sometimes,\u201d he said. \u201cAt the end of the day, we are human beings.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tToliver added: \u201cThis album, I was like, \u2018Whatever Travis wanna do \u2014 he could pull up however he wanna do it. I just wanted to make sure he understood my journey with the music when I played it for him. He just caught a vibe for \u2018Rosary\u2019 and he understood my idea for it. It was crazy, I really love his verse on the song.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tEven though OCTANE<\/em> arrived less than two months ago, Toliver revealed he\u2019s already working on his next album. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI am already working on my next album,\u201d he said. \u201cTo be honest, bro, I just realized within myself that I just love music and I just feel like right now if I don\u2019t put out anything, I just need to capture this moment because it\u2019s a lot going on in my life when I was making this album and when it came out and it\u2019s just fueling me to be as creative as I can possibly be.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn addition to panel conversations all weekend, Billboard House is also hosting daily performers, with Dizzy Fae, Alicia Creti, Kairo Keyz and Babyfxce E taking the stage on Friday\u2019s day 1. DJ Cortez also provided daytime sounds for the space.<\/p>\n

\n\tWatch the full interview with Don Toliver below.<\/p>\n

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