Overthink it later in what sense?

ADVERTISEMENT

Go to the studio and goddamn mix this shit. The whole song is an art piece. You're not supposed to look at a real good art piece and see it for what it is right then and there. It's all about layers. Layers, layers, layers, and more layers. That's what music is for me. This adlib has to have this; this verse has to come in with a reverse reverb. This verse has to come in with a reverse reverb, with a delay right here to make it stutter. And then pause the beat, BOOM, then in drop in. It's all kinds of sonic tricks. That's the shit Gucci be wanting me to do. Take that shit and morph it. “Make it sound like how it sound right here, this natural vibe, but on steroids. Even bigger. Let's break the beat right here. Bring that bass up, bring that bass up.”

One of the engineers, he's a great engineer. He was like, "Man, Mike, I can't put my name on this if it sounds distorted like that.” I was just like, “Bruh, I don't mean no disrespect by this, but you might not have to put your name on it!" We gotta have this shit sounding dirty, we gotta have this shit sounding new. When this shit come on in the club this shit has to sound like an earthquake. When I went to South Africa for the first time and I heard a lion roar, I never heard no shit like that in my life, ever. This has to be that. This has to come on sounding like What the fuck? From top to bottom.

How Gucci say different words — “I PUSH THEM LEGS WAY BACK WAAAAAY” — all that plays a part. That has to stand out. The way this 808's moving has to stand out. It has to rumble a certain kind of way, so Gucci’s just on top of that shit riding. Then Zay putting these crazy melodies on here. You gotta reverb that out, that has to be big. Everything on this song gotta be bigger than life.

ADVERTISEMENT

I feel like that's what this album is. This is a classic hip-hop album. I haven't really [heard] an album that felt this good since Get Rich Or Die Trying. That's what everybody searching for. Me and Gucci had certain references that we were talking about with this album: All Eyez On Me, The Chronic. He mentioned Layin Da Smack Down by Project Pat. We were just talking about different, solid albums. And we was like, “We gotta bring that solid album of today.” It has to be somebody that's gon elevate this trap sound, this down South rap shit right now. Everybody's doing their thing, but elevate it in a different way.

When you hear the album you'll understand. It just sound all the way new. It don't sound remotely like nothing else that's going on. But it still sounds like classic Gucci. It don't sound like he changed up or he's chasing a sound or he's trying to change. But bar for bar, he's just snapping. Bar for bar, bar for bar, bar for bar, bar for bar.