Though it’s probably difficult for many jaded rap fans to admit, The Ying Yang Twins served a pivotal role in Southern Hip Hop during the last decade. Before mainstream pop culture dubbed Miley Cyrus the progenitor of twerking, Kaine and D-Roc were using the term frivolously before Hannah Montana became a hit television show. Sure, the depths of their music was questionable. Then again, who cares? “Salt Shaker,” “Whistle While You Twerk,” “Say I Yi Yi,” and “Wait (Whisper Song)” are still legitimate club classics years later. That doesn’t count their iconic collaboration with Lil Jon and The East Side Boyz “Get Low.” That ridiculously catchy hook “to the window, to the wall” or Dave Chappelle’s hilarious “Skeet Skeet” joke during The Chappelle Show were testaments to the Atlanta duo’s reach. It’s safe to say that Kaine and D-Roc could be considered trendsetters before everyone caught up.
Reinventing themselves, they’ve teamed up with popular Atlanta EDM duo Pyramid Scheme for rousing comeback “Thundercat.” Speaking with DX, The Ying Yang Twins talk their hometown’s transition from crunk to trap, going the EDM route and possibly collaborating with Lil Jon again.
The Ying Yang Twins Explains Atlanta’s Musical Transitions
DX: I was listening to U.S.A. (United States Of Atlanta)which almost turns 10-years-old this year. That album could be considered the last hurrah of the crunk movement before Atlanta Hip Hop transitioned into trap. What was it like watching the transition from crunk to trap?
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Kaine: Anything Atlanta makes a transition to is always good. The thing about the transition from crunk how you see it on the U.S.A. project to the trap — the thing about the trap music is this: what trap is doing, the EDM trap stuff and all of that, that was apart of the Bass Gang. The Ying Yang Twins are second generation Bass Gang affiliates in Atlanta. The Bass Gang was something we were known for in terms of the strip clubs which is always why the city has been on the map real hard. The more everything stays the same, the more everything changes. It’s just what they called the EDM trap, crunk, trap, we use to call it the fast/slow or booty shake. The first real group that we consider the first crunk representers was Three 6 Mafia. They were really huge with the “Tear Da Club Up” thing and they put the bass beat on it, that’s what Atlanta was known for at the time.
D-Roc: Correct.
DX: Hip Hop and EDM have a very interesting relationship right now. Some thing it’s cool while some hate it. Where are you with EDM’s relationship with Hip Hop?
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Kaine: You want to take this one Roc?
D-Roc: Yeah. See the thing about it, at least how I look at it, EDM has been around and been big. They just never really put words to it. Then people started doing remixes and putting everybody’s words on the EDM tracks. That’s how it transitioned to, “If you’re going to put my words on an EDM track, let me make one.” When everybody first started jumping on it and rapping on it, you were doing it the wrong way because they had a certain way they wanted the EDM track to go. You’re not suppose to just rap the whole track. You’re suppose to compliment the track. So, once everybody learned that, that’s what made Hip Hop a large part of it now because they were already doing it. Now, they’re doing it the entire song. They just put it at the beginning, some in the middle and some at the end. Once all the artists started learning that concept and started working with the DJs that do it, it’s helping the DJs blow up now. It’s the DJ and producer featuring the artists a lot of times so to speak. It’s a new way for something old really. Now, they’re just putting Hip Hop to it. I’d have to say Hip Hop and R&B because they’re singing on it as well now. It’s just a new wave of what everybody’s doing because everyone is partying right now. It ain’t a recession no more, we can party again.
[Laughter]
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DX: 2 Chainz called Atlanta the nucleus of music. Is the scene’s relationship with EDM further proof of its commercial dominance?
D-Roc: Well, I can’t say because EDM is coming from everywhere if you really look at it. It’s not even fully fledged U.S. artists that are blowing up right now. You got artists from other counties working with producers and DJs out here. Just look at Diplo, Major Lazers, David Guetta and all of them getting these artists to introduce them to different parts of the world. A lot of that is going on right now. I can’t say it’s Atlanta. Atlanta is where a lot of producers and artists reside but it’s artists from everywhere blowing up in the EDM world.
Ying Yang Twins Call “Thundercat” Their Official Reintroduction
DX: Considering the track with Pyramid Scheme, is EDM the best way for someone right now to gain fans who may not be familiar with your specific brand of music?
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D-Roc: I can’t say they weren’t fans of our music as producers and DJs were mixing our music with the EDM tracks and playing that in the clubs. We’ve seen that when we’ve been to Europe, China and all these other countries. This is what they do. Now we’re coming with something new; a whole new song. Now we’re going to compliment and feed you everything you wanted. If you were already doing it, we’re just complimenting everything you’ve already been hearing.
DX: How’d you end up linking up with Pyramid Scheme for “Thundercat?”
Kaine: We actually knew one of them, Adam. We knew him for some years now. We use to record out of the studio where he worked at. And, the song was actually something else and he had the vocals. He let us hear it after he put it together. No harm no foul. So, that’s how that one came about.
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DX: Would you consider “Thundercat” a reinvention for the Ying Yang Twinz?
Kaine: I wouldn’t so much call it a reinvention. More like reuniting or coming back. For the industry, it’s a reinvention because we haven’t been out in a while.
D-Roc: I feel like we were already doing EDM on U.S.A. because “Shake” was an EDM song to me. It transitioned from there. Now, we’re just doing full fledged EDM.
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Kaine: This is the official reintroduction of Ying Yang coming back to the game and picking up where everyone is at right now. You can never get back into the game without doing what’s going on.
D-Roc: We make it do what it do baby.
DX: What have you guys been listening to in terms of Hip Hop, EDM or both?
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D-Roc: Oh I listen to everything. That’s how I found about Diplo and Major Lazers. I have David Guetta in my playlist as well. That Justin Bieber track is one of my favorites right now.
DX: See yourself working with Bieber in the future?
D-Roc: Yeah! If he wanna work, we’ll work with Justin Bieber. I’m a Belieber.
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[Laughter]
Ying Yang Twins Talk Twerking & If They’ll Work With Lil Jon Again
DX: A few years ago you dropped the Miley Cyrus track in the midst of the twerking craze. However, you guys had the females Twerking a decade prior. Do you think twerking is dead?
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Kaine: It’s not dead at all. It’ll never die. The common English term for Twerking is shake dancing.
D-Roc: That’ll never go no where.
Kaine: Are they going to give the real recognition to where it goes or where it goes to? The development of the word Twerk is what you should have asked because they let Miley Cyrus get into the dictionary because when we had the world twerking, she was playing with a Pictionary.
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[Laughter]
DX: Another huge hit with you guys was “Get Low” with Lil Jon and The Eastside Boys. That still gets played in the clubs. I mean when you hear “To The Window To The Wall,” it’s almost telekinetic how everyone falls in line with the words.
Kaine: Great music never dies. This is why people are coming around to the Ying Yang Twins because we’re fun guys. Somewhere along the lines within the last six or seven years, the new artists haven’t been doing anything but bragging. Nobody hasn’t had any artistry in their music except people like Big Sean, Nicki Minaj and Meek Mill who all use their brain. It seems like everybody is following the last man. Our city holds that by being the mecca because it’s the come-out city for the south. In the south, you really have to go to Atlanta to really blow up. Every other city doesn’t have the ambitional drive that Atlanta, Georgia possesse. That’s why everybody has to make it here. It’s the lift off station for the south.
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DX: Considering Lil Jon’s huge success within the EDM world. Do you guys see yourselves collaborating with him again?
Kaine: Always. D-Roc and Lil Jon always stay in contact with each other via the internet. We just haven’t gotten around to getting back into the studio with each other. We’ve been talking about this for quite some time. But, the time has to permit itself. It’s just all of us having the time to get together.
