Sitting down with Snoop Doggon the most recent episode of the rapper’s interview-based Internet series, Def Jam signee YG broke down his relationship with DJ Mustard and his upcoming debut album.
Responding to a comment about his young fanbase, YG described the longevity that opportunity represents. “They gon’ grow with a nigga, be there the whole time,” he said.
Explaining how he met DJ Mustard through a good friend, YG detailed the making of his “My Nigga” single with Jeezy and Rich Homie Quan. “We met in like ‘09,” YG said of the producer. “I was fucking with this nigga named Big B. He’s from 20 Bloods, because he from that side you feel me, and that’s where Mustard’s from. That’s my boy, like my ace. That was his cousin. So when I was in jail, he was hearing about a nigga. So he told the nigga when I get out he wanna fuck with me so I started fucking with the nigga. He was linking me up with Ty Dolla $ign. My first mixtape called 4 Fingaz, he linked me up with Mustard so he could host it. Me and Mustard been rocking since then, but he was just deejaying. He started making beats in like 2010.”
Snoop Dogg responded with a memory of DJ Mustard’s uncle deejaying house-parties more than a decade ago, referencing DJ Mustard as a “baby deejay” alongside his uncle DJ T at the time.
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YG went on to explain his providing the beatmaker with his “Mustard on the beat, ho!” signature during a recording session for an early single. “That was off of ‘I’m Good,’ you feel me,” YG says. “That’s where that shit started. I was just fucking around.”
YG added a story about the writing of his “My Nigga” hook with Rich Homie Quan. “Mustard played me the beat,” he said. “We in the studio. I get the beat. I come up with half of the hook. Then I go to Atlanta…to start recording my album, and then Jeezy told me I should fuck with Rich Homie Quan. He the next nigga out the city. He told me fuck with him so they called him to the studio. I played him the record. I gave him the first half of the hook, then he came up with the other half. Niggas was flipping.”
During the interview, YG also described his My Krazy Life debut as a “day-in-the-life piece.” “I’m giving you part of my story,” he said. “I’m giving you situations I been through, I went through, show you how I deal with situations, you feel me. I’m giving you the culture of the Westcoast how we living, Los Angeles Country, Compton California, South motherfucking Central, all that shit. I’m giving you that. On top of that, DJ Mustard production. It’s hard. though. It’s a lot of music right now that’s like soft to me, and it’s soft to a lot of people. I feel like motherfuckers want [this] shit.”
Snoop Dogg Talks Missed Collaborations During Death Row Era
Referencing YG as the Prince of the city, Snoop Dogg recounted advice he says he provided to Kendrick Lamar. “Nigga I’m getting old and I can’t give it to you,” Snoop said. “You got to take it. I said the same thing to Kendrick, ‘I’m like nigga, when I do like this, it’s to open the door. It’s not to give you anything.’ But you niggas done kicked the door down. So I can’t do nothing for ya’ll but get out the way.
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“It’s a lot of ya’ll niggas, it’s a whole bunch of ya’ll, ya’ll real thick,” he added. “I love when ya’ll do shit together. That makes us look that much more stronger. See, we wasn’t able to—imagine when I was on Death Row if I could of fucked with Ice Cube, E-40, Jayo Felony, I couldn’t fuck with all those niggas when I was on Death Row.”
“That shit worked,” YG said in response with a laugh.
The 7 Days Of Funk rapper went on with a story about his own label history, referencing YG’s positioning alongside Jeezy. “Position is key, believe that,” he said. “It’s like when I was interviewing Pharrell, we was talking about how we positioned the record that we did with Interscope. The first time we did an record with Interscope, they didn’t give us no love. But the second time we had ‘Drop It Like It’s Hot’ and we had a couple other hit records, so we went in there and we just basically punked the niggas, like, ‘Nigga, fuck that. You gon’ do this. You gon’ give me a million. You gon’ do that, shut up nigga, and do that.’ You know what I’m sayin’? We was a two-headed monster. See ‘cause Pharrell went in there with the finesse, ‘Hey guys, look, this is what’s gon’ happen.’ I went in there with ‘Look motherfucker.’”
