Mustard has shared that a number of rappers got a shot at the beat that eventually became Kendrick Lamar‘s “Hey Now” — but they turned it down.
When speaking to Peoplein an interview published on Friday (January 17), the producer remembered that he made the beat sometime around 2019. Initially he shared it not with Kendrick, but a different West Coast rapper.
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“I played it for YG… I was trying to make a West Coast version of ‘Grindin’.’ That’s why it’s so empty like that,” he said. “That’s why it’s just weird sounds. [H]e didn’t end up doing it.”
Then, Mustard continued, he let a Migos member get a crack at it.
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“After YG, And I played it for Quavo and I’m like, ‘Quavo man, if you get this, if you can connect to this song, I’m telling you,’ he’s like, ‘What the hell you want me to do to it? You want me to whisper on the beat?’ And I’m like, “Alright.” So I didn’t force it on him.”
After that, the beatmaker said he played it for Ty Dolla $ign. While Ty made it into a song, Mustard said, “I never was all the way there with it.”
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As for how the beat got to Kendrick, here’s what Mustard said.
“I was talking to Kendrick one day and I was just like, ‘Man, I got this really weird-ass beat, but I really love it. Like, I know that I love this beat.’ And I sent it to him and right away he said, ‘Oh yeah, I got it.’ And I was like, ‘Alright.’ But still, I hadn’t heard it until I went to the ‘Not Like Us’ video shoot.”
Back in early December, “Hey Now” was one of two of Mustard’s GNX contributions to make it to Billboard’s top 10. That track was at number five, and “TV Off” was at number two, during the week of the album’s debut.
At the time, Mustard shared his reaction in a post to his Instagram Story.
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“I’m just getting started #2 and #5!” he wrote, with waving hand emojis.
