Tyga's come a long way from the days of "Coconut Juice." His official debut single under Travie McCoy's Batsquad imprint may have not blown up but it did help secure Tyga looks from MTV and of course, Lil Wayne, who makes a cameo in the music video. Of course, Tyga would later join the ranks of Young Money, cementing it as one of hip-hop's hottest conglomerates alongside Drake and Nicki Minaj.
In recent years, Tyga has seemingly forgotten the platform that Travie McCoy gave him in the early days. It's not uncommon to hear Tyga offer credit to Lil Wayne for shaping his rap career without giving McCoy his flowers. "I think Tyga gives Wayne his flowers for bringing him up and kinda forgets the fact that I put his first record out. That’s not throwing shade in any way but like, put people hit me up like, 'Did you see this interview?' And it’s Wayne this and Wayne that," Travie told HNHH in an exclusive interview. "And I’m like, alright bet."
"If that’s how you feel, cool. I know what the fuck I did for that n***a," he continued. "And I also know how much money I spent on doing what I did for that n***a. It is what it is. I’m not gonna hold any type of grudges but there are people out there that are opportunists. They see an opportunity, they gon’ jump at it. I’m not gonna fault him or shit on his name because -- I mean, look at where’s he’s at."
Travie McCoy said they'll always remain family, even if they aren't actually blood-related. I still consider him my cousin because of all the shit we’ve been through together. But yeah, Tyga’s not my real cousin, not blood cousin, but definitely family to me. I couldn’t be more proud of what he’s accomplished since we first met on Melrose," he said.
As for whether they've spoken to each other since they parted ways, Travie said they the last time they spoke was right before the pandemic. "He had a show in the city. He’s doing his thing, I’m doing mine. As long as he keeps doing his [thing], I’ll be proud of him," he added.
Unfortunately, Tyga didn't climb to the top alongside his early hypeman. Gata's role as Lil Dicky's hypeman, and then his appearance in Dave, has offered him a new shot in the limelight. For Travie, he was not only proud of Gata but moved by his character's representation of bipolar disorder.
"That show with him coming out with being bipolar, which I am myself, opened it up to a lot of people’s eyes to the fact that there’s a lot of mental health issues going on in the culture," he continued. "Before it was like, you pussy if you go to a therapist or you pussy don’t know how to deal with life. It’s the worst fucking mentality ever."
On Gata's performance, he added, "That episode where Gata opened up about his bipolar, that shit made me cry, bro. People need to know white people aren’t the only ones out there dealing with mental illnesses, you know?"
Check out our full interview with Travie McCoy here.