Nipsey Hussle's "Victory Lap" Almost Didn't Get Released, MyGuyMars Recalls

Nipsey Hussle‘s 2018 album Victory Lap almost didn't happen, according to MyGuyMars. The producer reflected on the making of Nipsey's iconic album during a recent interview with HipHopDX. He explained to the outlet that almost everyone working on it was unsure it would ever be finished.

“I definitely remember the conversations [about Victory Lap] from Nip, but I remember more-so the conversations from everybody else saying it’s not coming out,” MyGuyMars told interviewer Jeremy Hecht. “It was crazy because he had an era where he was low-key blackballed and then you know, a gangsta from L.A. is not the most accepted internationally. So it was like the odds were really against us so we had to do more than anybody else to break these records, to break him.”

He continued: “It was even songs like the songs that y’all hear now. We had to go in and really treat ourselves like if we were the other producers. We were competing with ourselves. Like take the beat out and do another beat or take the vocal and try something else. So I think with Nipsey having that energy and us challenging each other, that’s what made the songs the greatest songs and the greatest stories and people feel like, ‘Dang, I’m riding on Crenshaw right now,’ or, ‘I could see the songs and it sound like it look!’ Because he was very intentional like you said about how he wanted to convey the things and because we knew that info we were able to convey it sonically.”

He also explained that there was pressure to "create the best that you can" while in the studio for the project. From there, MyGuyMars revealed that the team took influence from Dr. Dre and his work on Doggystyle and The Chronic. “We studied what Dre was doing with Doggystyle, The Chronic. These are classic projects and we wanted to do a classic project and that was Nip’s whole thing. He was like, ‘In order to do a classic project, I have to have my main producers and establish a sound.’ So like anything that happened, it came through us. Even if it was outside producers – if we had to retouch the beats, if we had to remake the beats. But that’s why I feel like the energy was so fire because you had to come with your A-game or don’t come in the studio.”

[Via]