Rich Homie Quan is on the come-up. After the surprising success of his breakthrough hit, "Type Of Way," Quan easily could've faded into obscurity as a one-hit wonder, but instead he came back even harder with an unforgettable hook on YG's "My Nigga". Now the Atlanta rapper has dropped another solid mixtape with I Promise I Will Never Stop Going In, and is in the process of meeting with labels.
In an interview with XXL, Quan spoke of how his collaboration with YG came together, his alleged "beef" with Future, the criteria he's looking for in a deal, and the fact that he had no idea he'd even recorded a mixtape with Gucci Mane.
Read some excerpts from the interview below.
How did “My Nigga” with YG and Jeezy come together?
Shout out to Jeezy. Me and YG would’ve never met if it wasn’t for him. That was the first time I ever met YG. He was down in Atlanta working on his album and I went to the studio, Patchwerk, and it was pandemonium. DJ Mustard was there and he was like, “Get Quan on that song.” So he played me the beat and told me how he wanted it to go and I put my own twist on it and it was murder she wrote. After I left the studio, I didn’t hear the song until it dropped. I was like, God, that song turned out hard. Then we shot the video a few weeks later and the song just took off.
How does it feel to have two big hit songs in one year?
It feels good but it’s just the beginning. I feel like my career is gonna have a lot of big songs. There are a lot of songs that people still need to hear. [My] new mixtape [is] filled with a lot of new bangers and you can hear the maturity, how I’ve grown since my last mixtape.
I’ve got ask you about the Future diss track that showed up online earlier this year. How did that come about?
It’s not a diss song. I didn’t leak the song. I don’t know who leaked the song, but it was recorded long ago. It’s not a diss song and I didn’t diss him in the song, not once. You can listen. The bloggers make it a diss but it’s not a diss. I was just being real.
You think people twisted the story?
Yeah, ’cause I never leaked the song. I didn’t diss him. People just want drama. That’s what sells. Me and Future have no beef. I ain’t in his lane and he’s not in mine. I salute him on what he’s doing.
What about the Trust God Fuck 12 project that came out with Gucci Mane?
I did some songs in Gucci’s studio and the songs that Gucci put on his mixtape were done in his studio. I didn’t even know we had a mixtape together. I hadn’t even heard the songs in so long. But that’s Gucci. Big shoutout to Gucci still. I woke up one morning and I saw the hits from Twitter, like, “Yeah, Gucci Mane and Rich Homie Quan mixtape,” and I didn’t even know it. I was like, “I didn’t even know I did a mixtape.”
Have you been meeting with labels?
Yeah, it’s been going good. I just want something with longevity. I want something that’s gonna last. I don’t wanna be here this year and you don’t know where I am next year. So I’m just trying to make the right decision and make sure all my i’s are dotted and my t’s are crossed. It’s not even about the money because I know in the music business you accumulate money so many ways. It’s about being the best throughout my whole career. Five years from now I wanna be on top. 10 years from then I still wanna be on top. I wanna make sure that whatever label I sign with believes in me the way I believe in me. That’s it really.