YG is a style icon, storyteller, and hitmaker but what comes next?
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Every great hip-hop saga is, at its core, a story about friendship.
The pair have patched things up since then, and this summersStay Dangerousdocuments the renewal of the partnership.
The latest single,Big Bank,is creeping up the Billboard Hot 100.
He also spilled some early details about the future of 4Hunnid, his label and clothing line.
The clothes, like the man wearing them, are an undeniable mix of street-savvy and lighthearted.
I was hoping you would come through in the sunglasses.
I was wondering where you got those.Theyre calledRoberi & Fraudor something.
Its, like, an overseas brand.
I was wondering if you were consciously doing that.Yeah, were for sure consciously doing that.
But we got different tiers of the 4Hunnid brand.
We got the lower: the regular printables, the T-shirts, and the hoodies.
Then we got our cut-and-sew line.
Then were gonna be doing special capsules with different retailers like Barneys.
Were gonna have a Barneys collection.
Different collections for higher-end retailers.
And that shit gon be expensive.
But our mid-price products … probably anywhere from $40 to $150, $200.
Thats the shit we sell online.
And then the higher end shit gonna be Barneys and all that other stuff.
One of the things Im trying with the brand is representing the streets.
And we got real street motherfuckers behind it.
And its paying real homage to the streets.
Cause a lot of these brands, they steal from the culture, steal from the people.
They dont really pay homage and give back.
They dont do nothing like … Im using models from the streets.
The homegirls from my hood.
Im using the homies from the hood.
For certain shit, Im making sure theyre a part of the whole situation.
Im using real models too, also.
But Im blending it in for sure.
InSu Whoop,you spoke out against fake Bloods.
Probably due to the internet.
He was playing with the fashion shit.
I guess you could say Im picking up where he left it off.
I want to ask about titles.
I feel like you have the best series of album titles right now.
You hadMy Krazy Life, which was you introducing yourself to people who didnt really follow the mixtapes.
You hadStill Brazy, where youre maintaining.
So I was wondering what the thought behindStay Dangerouswas.Stay Dangerous, man.
The concept behind that is staying on your shit.
Staying on the edge.
Staying ten steps ahead of the next motherfucker.
Not just your enemies, but everybody.
Being proactive, not reactive.
Knowledge is dangerous, you know what Im talking about?
So yeah, when I say stay dangerous, I mean all that.
It aint really like, as far as the album concept …
The last two albums I did, it was like, deep storylines …
I dont really got no deep-ass storylines and shit.
Like, this song connecting with this song ah ah ahhh.
I put it together right, but it aint no deep-ass storyline.
The new one reminds me of your mixtape stuff, like4 Hunnid DegreezandJust Red Up.
My main focus was doing that.
We bout to come turn up.
And we bout to make some real music though.
We bout to make some hits.
Im gonna put this shit together to where it feel like its a real album.
So getting back to the basics was definitely a priority.
Youve worked with Ty Dolla $ign for about ten years.
Its ten years since Toot It and Boot It, right?
He was always big bro.
He was teaching us shit.
He was helping Mustard when Mustard started making beats, cause Mustard wasnt making beats at first.
He was my DJ.
He was just DJing.
He started making beats.
Ty used to give him advice, sounds, and all jot down of shit.
It feel good to see the homies that you came up with before the fame and the money.
Niggas was sleeping at each other house, all punch in of regular shit.
So its a blessing for sure.
That shit rare, you feel me?
We aint no group.
We homies, though.
We was all from the same clique.
And we all got our own shit going on.
Most musical partnerships dont last ten years.
How do you keep the energy going?Niggas just be having real conversations with each other.
Try and be intermediaries for each other?Yeah.
Motherfuckers gonna holla about it.
But if we do this shit together, its gonna be crazy.
And wesupposedto do it together.
Aint no reason why we shouldnt.
We came in this shit together.
The connection is more important than the fame.Hell yeah.
So this nigga knew what key in of shit … he knew all my little shit.
I knew the homie.
I knew how to get out what I need to get out from him.
He know how to get out what he need to get out from me.
Because we spent that much time with each other.
So we had to spend that punch in of time again, on some regular shit.
Just in the studio, talking, just being regular.
Me and bro, we like neighbors.
We live in the same gated community and shit.
Our kids be hanging with each other every day.
You had to get back on a friendship level before you could get back into the studio?Wehadto.
Its like, niggas is homies first.
Its gonna come and come.
And thats what happened.
Big Bank, Power, Too Brazy, Too Cocky.
Them four was made from scratch.
And then Slay, he had already played me Slay with Quavo on it.
He gave me that.
What others … Bomptown Finest was …
So that song was done different.
I think I said that was done from scratch.
Talk to me about666.Thats a Mike Will beat?Yeah.
How did it come together?
Thats when I came up with theStay Dangeroustitle concept.
Mike Will was in the studio with me every day.
He was pulling up, he was having producers pull up.
He had this one young white boy pull up named Ziti.
One of his new producers.
He like a little Murda Beatzlooking motherfucker.
He young, though.
He like a little kid.
He pulled up, and Im like, Bro, I need some shit.
I need some hard shit.
Hes like, I got you.
Im like, You sure?
He started pressing play … Shit crazy.
This little nigga got it.
I did another joint on his shit.
I did a couple of joints … We got some shit.
Got some shit in the cut.
Cause with that, what you do … you continue to build your brand, build your celebrity.
And with that, you take your sound, and you make it universal.
You just need some great records.
And all that shit just gonna be nothing.
Expands the sound, the appeal, and everything.
And I feel like a lot of rappers have kids, but we dont hear that honesty.
Is it tough balancing your time?
Its really for the best for all my people.
So its like, I be having that thought, but then I be havingthatin my head too.
But she lives with me.
So I check that I go the extra mile.
Is it stressful feeling like you have to carry a lot of people?
You gotta tell me.
So, they start breaking it down and Im like … Im a victim of this shit.
You know what Im saying?
So, whats the game, going forward?
IsJust Red Up 3stillcoming soon?I dont know, dude.
This whole shit we got going on now is taking what we started and adding real shit to it.
Thats why I switched it up fromJust Red Up.
I went through like four different albums, bro.
I had four different albums all filled with different music.
With different tracks?Different tracks.
What are you doing with that stuff?Were figuring it out right now.
But you know every rapper got that shit going on.
A lot of artists on labels dont have freedom to make those decisions for themselves.
So, CTE is a good situation?
Hows working with them?Jeezy, thats big bro.
I met Jeezy, and we was just vibing.
Over a period of time, he became a like big bro.
Over time, the shit he was telling me, I saw the shit play out in real life.
I was like yeah, the nigga telling me some real shit, some right shit.
Jeezy is the nigga Ill go to and press play and ask that nigga everything about the record.
What you think about this?
What you think about this?
Yeah, so working with bro is solid.
Hes for sure one of my mentors and all that.
Who are you looking at as far as signing?
Are you thinking of picking anybody up?No, we just started right now.
We got enough artists right now.
We focused on building our artists and things and making shit pop off.
Me and Mustard are 50/50 with RJ.
Rich, Slim 400, Sad Boy [Loko].
Those are our artists right now.
They the main focus.
I probably wont sign no other artist no time soon.
My next artist is probably going to nevermind, I aint gon tell you.
