Ab-Soul Explains The Story Behind "W.W.S.D."

BYPatrick Lyons9.7K Views
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Speaking with HNHH, Ab-Soul discusses his new track "W.W.S.D." and explains what led him to sample Jackson Browne's "These Days."

A little under two weeks ago, Ab-Soul surprised us all by dropping a track entitled "W.W.S.D." out of the blue. The one-off track bore similar artwork to his album These Days, but its sonic characteristics couldn't have been more different from the album's overall character. Heavily sampling Jackson Browne's 1973 track "These Days," "W.W.S.D." had a unique sound that we just had to ask Soulo about -- so we did!

In a new interview with HNHH, Soulo describes how a conversation with a fan inspired the track. 

"Before I had announced the album title, I was shooting the 'Hearses' video with Smoke DZA, and this dude -- a part of the camera crew -- he was outside smoking a cigarette during the break. And he was like, 'C'mon man, just tell me what it's called. Is it gonna be Black Lip Pastor?' And I'm like, 'Uh, nah, it's gonna be called These Days, but don't say nothin'.' He was like, 'Ahh, that's so fucking tight. Have you heard Jackson Browne's 'These Days'? You gotta sample that for real.' So that stuck with me, and I went home and I heard it, and I was like, 'Wowwww... you know what I'm saying?' So I knew it would be crazy to clear a sample like that, and I didn't even really want to sample it, I just wanted to fill in the gaps of the record already, so I planned to put it out later."

Watch the full interview below:



About The Author
<b>Feature Writer</b> Ever since he borrowed a copy of "Speakerboxxx/The Love Below" from his local library, Patrick's love affair with hip-hop has been on an extended honeymoon phase. He now contributes features to HNHH, hoping to share his knowledge and passion with this site's broad audience. <strong>Favorite Hip Hop Artists:</strong> André 3000, Danny Brown, Kanye, Weezy, Gucci Mane, Action Bronson, MF DOOM, Ghostface Killah <strong>Favorite Producers:</strong> Lex Luger, Kanye (again), RZA, Young Chop, Madlib, J Dilla, Hudson Mohawke
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