Drake & Murda Beatz Made "Nice For What" While Playing NBA 2K

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Drake performs on the Coachella stage during day 2 of the Coachella Valley Music And Arts Festival (Weekend 1) at the Empire Polo Club on April 15, 2017 in Indio, California.
Murda Beatz tells the story behind "Nice For What."

Drake has 2018 in the palm of his hands. The rapper has already held the number one spot for the majority of 2018 with two different singles and he's yet to drop his album. "God's Plan" had top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 for 11 weeks and was replaced by his Murda Beatz produced single, "Nice For What" which maintained the top spot until last week. In a recent interview with RapRadar, Murda Beatz shared an interesting anecdote about how his first chart topping single came to fruition.

Murda Beatz recently shared an interesting anecdote about his "Nice For What" came to be with RapRadar. He explained to Elliot Wilson and B. Dot that he was chilling at Drake's home in Toronto and came up with the idea to use a female vocal sample. After Murda's manager suggested they use Lauryn Hill's "Ex-Factor," the two of them created "Nice For What" while playing NBA 2K in an hour and half.

"We were chillin' at Drake's house, we were playing 2K, and we came up with the idea to get like a female artist, like to sample a female artist," he said. "I asked my manager, like, 'Yo, what do you think?' He's like, '"Ex-Factor."' And Drake's like, 'Oh, what part?' And we picked the part, chopped it up, I made the beat while he was playing 2K, you know what I'm sayin'? He's like, 'This shit fire.' Boom, made the beat right there. He sat there, wrote the shit in front of me, cut the shit in front of me. We had the shit done, beat and song, probably in like an hour and a half. And then I think he finished the second verse later on."

He then revealed that it's not often that he sits down with an artist, specifically a Canadian artist, and builds the song from the ground up.

Peep the interview below. 


About The Author
Aron A. is a features editor for HotNewHipHop. Beginning his tenure at HotNewHipHop in July 2017, he has comprehensively documented the biggest stories in the culture over the past few years. Throughout his time, Aron’s helped introduce a number of buzzing up-and-coming artists to our audience, identifying regional trends and highlighting hip-hop from across the globe. As a Canadian-based music journalist, he has also made a concerted effort to put spotlights on artists hailing from North of the border as part of Rise & Grind, the weekly interview series that he created and launched in 2021. Aron also broke a number of stories through his extensive interviews with beloved figures in the culture. These include industry vets (Quality Control co-founder Kevin "Coach K" Lee, Wayno Clark), definitive producers (DJ Paul, Hit-Boy, Zaytoven), cultural disruptors (Soulja Boy), lyrical heavyweights (Pusha T, Styles P, Danny Brown), cultural pioneers (Dapper Dan, Big Daddy Kane), and the next generation of stars (Lil Durk, Latto, Fivio Foreign, Denzel Curry). Aron also penned cover stories with the likes of Rick Ross, Central Cee, Moneybagg Yo, Vince Staples, and Bobby Shmurda.
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