In a year where Florida rap has never been louder, Loe Shimmy is mastering the art of standing out. Fresh off the WHAM Tour with Lil Baby, Sexyy Red, Rob49, and Skilla Baby, the newly-minted XXL Freshman rapper is having a breakthrough moment that feels both carefully orchestrated and organically earned. On the heels of his Billboard-charting hit "For Me" and its Brent Faiyaz-assisted remix, Shimmy returns with Rockstar Junkie—a 26-track diary of hunger, elevation, and sonic experimentation. But what makes him different isn’t just the momentum—it’s the mindset.

“I love jumping in the crowd. I love doing rock star sh*t,” he said, when asked what inspired the album's name. “Junkie, ain't like, no drugs or nothing like that. It's basically saying, how bad I want it.”

That raw desire bleeds through every part of Rockstar Junkie, a project loaded with big names (Don Toliver, Quavo, Trippie Redd, YTB Fatt) and even bigger moments. But according to Shimmy, every feature was intentional. “Long as it's genuine,” he emphasized. “I ain’t releasing no music with nobody who I didn’t get in the 'yo with and catch a vibe.”

He means it, too. Take “3 am” with Don Toliver—a fan favorite that came together in a matter of hours. The two met up in LA during Rolling Loud weekend and cut four songs in one session. “We knew that was a hit,” Shimmy says with conviction. “Amazing chemistry. He's one of them ones.”

And if he sounds confident, it’s because he is. Shimmy didn’t stumble into stardom—he spoke it into existence. “I manifested that XXL cover like two years ago,” he reflected. “One thing is getting here, but another thing is keeping it. I'm trying to take over everything for real.”

Born to an island mother and raised on a blend of Monica, Nirvana, and XXXTentacion, Shimmy’s sound pulls from many places—but it’s distinctly his. “I just built my own sauce, like a transformer,” he said. “So many genres. So much different sauce from so many different years... I just elevate and get better, trying new things, being comfortable in the move.”

That genre-bending range shines on his personal favorites from the album, like “Feenin For More” and “Abuse My Love,” which combine vulnerability with the wave he's on. “That's more my vibe. That’s the music I like to make,” he says. “But I’m gonna turn the world up, too. I'm here for all that.”

It’s not lost on him that fame can be fleeting—especially in an era of short attention spans and even shorter trends. “Every time I hit a new mark, I’m already looking at the next step,” he said. “We ain’t celebrating for more than a day. You gotta stay in their face. Once you think you've got it, you're through.”

The mindset is clear: stay hungry, stay humble, and never stop building. That’s what kept him grounded while touring arenas and what pushes him to dream even bigger. “The Weeknd got fireworks coming out of the stadium. I'm gonna get it. We're gonna get it.”

And when Rockstar Junkie finally dropped last month, he felt closer to that moment than ever. “It felt like Christmas,” he smiled. “A year’s worth of work. Now the world gets to see how I’m feeling.”

From festival stages with Drake and Kevin Durant in the crowd, Loe Shimmy is proving that manifestation, mixed with motion, turns into momentum. Rockstar Junkie is just the beginning. He’s making sure he’s not one you mention for the moment, but one you always remember.