Yo Gotti is in the hottest stretch of his career, thanks to the massive success of his hit single, "Down in the DM." The song currently sits in the top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and No. 1 on Urban Radio, which are the highest chart placements of his career to date. Over the years, Gotti has released plenty of music, and had high levels of success, but nothing like the wave that has come from his latest single. But, according to Gotti, he had no idea the song was going to blow up like it did. "Me personally, I just make music, and when I go into the studio, I don't really go in with a mindset of where a record is going to land on the chart," he told Complex over the phone. "It's strictly about making the best music that I can make."
So, what's Gotti's guide to getting down in the DMs? It seems to have worked for him; on the track, he raps "And I just followed Angela Simmons, boy I got a crush on Angela Simmons." Then, a few weeks later, his dreams may have become reality, as Simmons posted flowers he sent her on the 'Gram. "My philosophy is just go tell them, you like what you like, go for it" he says. "What's the worst that can happen?"
DMs aren't just on Twitter. "Whatever I can catch you on, I might slide in," he says. Instagram is still his most successful route, but that's mainly because he's still trying to get the hang of Snapchat. In fact, Gotti says that he used Snapchat for the first time on the night he recorded "Down in the DM." "My Snapchat is popping, super popping, and I look at every Snap I get sent," Gotti says.
Gotti's success rates in the DMs are high as ever, but truth be told, that's his last resort to court a girl he's interested in. "If I ain't got no other way to get to ya, I'ma slide up in that joint." As the song continues to rise on the charts, Gotti says the one thing that didn't surprise him about the success was the reaction from younger people. "They grew up in that era," he says. "Like my approach might be going up to a girl in the mall, but they do it in the DM because that's the era they came up in."
With the success of "Down in the DM," Gotti has no plans to slow things down in 2016. He's already shot a video for the single, and is planning a new album for the very near future. "I'm getting the album ready to come out, and I'm just building the label," he says. "I did a record with Future that's going to be crazy. I got a crazy joint with Pusha T."
As for when the album, which he says is going to be his best to date, Gotti reveals that it will most likely be a surprise release. So, while Yo Gotti is in a stretch of the best commercial success of his career, he's looking to go even bigger in 2016. Crazy to think it's all thanks to sliding in the DMs.
