My Most Embarrassing Interview
One bad interview. Eight years of shame. It's time to finally press play.
I think about the time I interviewed 2 Chainz at least once a week. It happened nearly a decade ago, and it’s my Roman Empire. Better yet, it’s my Roman Empire collapse.
I spoke to the rapper in 2017 for Complex about his collaboration with Timberland on a new pink boot inspired by his recent album Pretty Girls Like Trap Music. My job was to ask him about the shoe, the partnership, and any topical questions that would make for interesting fodder for our audience.
Up to that point, I’d interviewed two other musicians. I had a phoner with Flo Rida back when I interned at the now defunct FITNESS Magazine. And yes, he does work out to his own music in case you were wondering.
The DJ Khaled convo came a week or so before Chainz. It took five straight evenings of canceling plans—including a date—to sit by the phone, waiting for his call. He was promoting blue Timbs designed in his likeness. Why blue? Because HE’S THE BEST.
(Actually, I don’t remember.)
I wrote my list of questions for the rapper formerly known as Tity Boi (2 Chainz) and made my way over to a small office with a landline phone.
That’s where the magic happened.
By magic, I mean the most embarrassing interview of my life. Its memory still haunts me like the Knicks’ Game 1 collapse against the Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals. As I’m trying to fall asleep, it’ll hit me with an uppercut so forceful that it wakes up my doctor.
I was (and still am) so scarred by the experience that I never listened to the audio; partly because hearing the sound of my voice makes me feel like a spider is crawling up my spine, and mostly because, well, 2 Chainz got mad at little ole me. And with good reason.
Tension had been building throughout the conversation…and then I asked an insensitive (and vaguely threatening) question about his beloved French Bulldog Trappy.
2 Chainz proceeded to rip me a new one and hang up the phone.
Fast-forward to 2025, I’ve decided to dig up the Tity Boi tapes (what I’ll call TBT) and hit play for the first time.
Why?
In The Players’ Tribune, WWE superstar Charlotte Flair recently said that John Cena once said (I sound like the Michael Scott-Wayne Gretzky “you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take” quote), “Don’t just learn to accept the stuff that happened to you. Learn to own what’s happened to you.”
I’m ready to own this shit. Maybe I can find some catharsis, or maybe I am a masochist. You be the judge.
After this section break, I’ll listen to the 2 Chainz interview I wish I could erase from my brain and share my instant reaction.
My heart is pounding.
I feel like I’m about to watch a video of my pubescent self chanting the Torah at my Bar Mitzvah. No lie.
Well, here I am! I survived! And I have to say, listening to that interview was…uncomfortable. Maybe a little less uncomfortable than I expected going in, but still, very uncomfortable.
I’ll put it this way: It was like I was hearing audio of a bad first date—if that date featured 2 Chainz and 24-year-old Macklin.
Rather than my questions and compliments landing, they instead were taken as disrespect. Simply put, we didn’t have a connection. That is why I don’t date rappers anymore.
As the listening session wore on, more heat rushed to my cheeks. And stayed there. My jaw clenched so tightly that I came out on the other side with a headache.
It was clear that I read from a script. I didn’t ask any follow-ups based on Mr. Chainz’ answers. I gradually lost confidence, my voice became quieter, I fumbled over my words.
There were three questions that I could tell annoyed my date 2 Chainz, leading to passive aggressive responses. One other question really pissed him off:
In the annoying category:
Mack then: You’ve talked about your love for all things pink. You’ve got the pink Timbs, the pink album cover, the Pink Trap House, pink wheelchair. What draws you to pink so much, I’m curious?
2 Chainz: Nothing draws me to pink. It was the marketing and concept for my album ‘Pretty Girls Like Trap Music.’ I made everything associated with trapping pink to be associated with “pretty,” the word pretty, and things like that. So I’m not obsessed with the color or anything. It just seems like it’s great timing for that right now as far as having a color scheme.
Mack now: In fairness to Chainz, pink is a “girly” color. How dare I insinuate that a rapper could like something so “unmanly”?
Mack then: As someone who’s been in the game for a while, do you find these young Atlanta guys coming to you for advice? Or do you ever reach out to them to offer advice?
2 Chainz: I don't think it's like that. I think it's organic. Don't nobody calls anyone. And it's not like, I'm not sure what you… It's not like that. We’re all grown men, we're all adults, we’re just different ages. I don’t really hear about anyone calling or checking up, you know? You’ve gotta ride your own wave, you’ve got to go through your own personal experience.
Mack now: He’s right, communication is overrated.
Mack then: You recently mentioned that you’ve got a new album coming out soon. Is there anything you can tell us about that? Any features? The name of it?
2 Chainz: I got features and I got the name of it.
Mack then: But you can’t share any of that with us right now?
2 Chainz: This isn’t gonna be the first time I mention those things. I gotta make it a movie man, use my platform where I can get it. You know what’s going on bro, you good at what you do, it’s just not the time right now. I’m lining up all the stars.
Mack now: This is very fair. Why would an artist give a random editor he just met an exclusive during an interview promoting an unrelated brand partnership? That logic is obvious to me now, but I don’t think I understood that back then.
In the anger category:
Mack then: I saw you brought your dog Trappy on the Jimmy Fallon show not too long ago. Super cute. And really, it was so funny, he was drowsing off a little bit. If you were to get another dog, what do you think you'd want to name it?
2 Chainz: I don’t know man, that doesn’t have anything to do with the shoe. I don’t know bro. I’m glad I got the dog that I got. I don’t want to cheat on my dog.
Mack now pt. 1: This is the portion of the interview I most dreaded reliving. I could have sworn I asked, “If something happened to Trappy [i.e., he died] what would you name your next dog?” Fortunately, what I actually said wasn’t as egregious, but I get why he took it the way he did. My intention wasn’t to insult. I just liked the idea of Trappy having a friend.
Mack now pt. 2: The remix. His “ripping me a new one” was a lot cooler, calmer, and more comical than I remembered. Dog owner monogamy for the win! Also, 2 Chainz didn’t exactly hang up on me in a fury. Instead, I swiftly wrapped up the call, we told each other to take care, and both got out of there without any further damage. I must have blacked out that ending because it didn’t sound familiar to me. At all.
Clearly, many of the questions struck a nerve with my subject, maybe because he was annoyed he had to do the interview in the first place. Maybe he didn’t want me to talk about a loved one, nor liked the idea of a white man speaking to him about hip-hop culture. There’s also a world where he actually wasn’t that upset, and I’m just a sensitive Sally. I’ll never know the answer for sure, but all reasons are valid.
Regardless, this 11-minute conversation has lived in my mind rent free for eight years.
My mid-20s self wanted everyone to like him. He had (at times) crippling social anxiety. He was insecure. Post-Chainz interview, he felt inadequate at the one thing he wanted to be great at professionally.
My 32-year-old self hasn’t completely shed these feelings (although I tolerate them better) but I can see how squarely the interview hit those pressure points. It was the ultimate nightmare scenario, hence the near decade of subsequent haunting.
Listening back, I’m proud of a kid who stepped outside of his comfort zone to speak to a double-platinum recording artist. I like that I can recount the awkward experience with my whole chest (and a level of clarity) for a Substack entry. It is also, objectively, a pretty goddam funny story.
In the immortal words of a certain Grammy Award winning rapper: Dos Cadenas, that’s the genius, sold out arenas you can s*ck my p*n**.
That doesn’t really have to do with anything, it’s just my favorite 2 Chainz line.
(During my research for the piece, I read that Trappy passed away in 2023. That made me sad.)
Way to confront those demons, Mack! The best way out is almost always through. As an aside, I thought your questions were pretty dope. Especially given how new you were to the process. I felt like Mr. Chainz was being a tad defensive and difficult. But what do I know. RIP, Trappy.
Instead of “ripped me a new one” please tell us exactly what he said to you! I was so curious about that. . .especially if he hung up on you :)
Thanks for writing this!