Hit-Boy has given fans some insight into the beat he made for A$AP Rocky‘s all-star cut “1Train,” taken from the Harlem rapper’s debut album.
Released on January 15, 2013, Long. Live. A$APdebuted at No.1 on the Billboard 200 chart, selling 139,000 equivalent units in its first week. It features the singles “Goldie”, “Fuckin’ Problems”, “Wild for the Night”, and “Fashion Killa.”
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One of the album’s other standout tracks is the Hit-Boy-produced ‘1Train.’ The high-octane posse cut features verses from Kendrick Lamar, Joey Bada$$, Yelawolf, Danny Brown, Action Bronson and Big K.R.I.T.
However, according to its producer, the beat was originally offered to Drake who turned it down because he already had something similar on the album he was working on at the time, which Hit-Boy later revealed was the JAY-Z-assisted “Light Up” from 2010’s Thank Me Later.
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“First person i sent this beat to was drake,” Hit-Boy tweeted on Sunday (January 15). “He said he already had a joint on his album with a similar sound.”
He continued: “So at the end of my session wit rocky for ‘goldie’ i played 1train instrumental and he took it and made it what is it.”
Hit-Boy, who also produced “Goldie” on Rocky’s debut, which celebrated its 10th anniversary on Sunday, later commented on how some people have only just clocked on to his skills at chopping up beats.
“Listen to Nas ‘thun’ off KD3 then listen to 1train,” he tweeted, referencing his work on the Queensbridge legend’s most recent album, King’s Disease III. “Why do some heads think i just start chopping ? [laughing emoji].”
To celebrate the 10th anniversary of Long. Live. A$AP, A$AP Rocky shared an unreleased video for the song “Angels” which features on the deluxe version of the album.
While sharing similar scenes to that of the original version, the new shorter cut of the video also includes some significant shots of the late A$AP Yams. You can check out the video here.
Meanwhile, Hit-Boy is keeping himself busy. Besides dropping a new track with Offset last Friday (January 13), the super producer has just confirmed that he will be stepping into the world of R&B to produce an entire album for Musiq Soulchild.
The project was first announced by Musiq in a recent interview on comedian Bill Bellamy’s Top Billin’ podcast, where he revealed the title — Victims & Villains — and hinted at a February release.
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As word spread earlier this month, Hit-Boy confirmed the collaboration on Twitter. “R&B Hit-Boy otw” he wrote in response to a fan’s enthusiastically tweet about the album.
The multi-platinum producer also confirmed the news to HipHopDX. He later shared a screenshot of his tweet on Instagram while tagging Soulchild, who replied with a series of water wave emojis.
