2012 was a year that saw 2 Chainz explode into the forefront of rap, but he was far from an overnight success and has been in the game for over a decade. In a sit down with Fuse’s Ashanti Tity Boi talks about putting in his time, and the recording process for “Birthday Song” with Kanye West, and his hesitancy to sign with G.O.O.D. Music.
Comparing himself to other rappers who become suddenly big, Chainz says he was never worried because unlike other artists trying to quickly put together a body of work to support a single, he had an extensive collection of music and just needed that one breakout hit. “I noticed when people get in the game they come with the song then they gotta come with a body of work to complement the song,” the Georgia native adds, “With me, I had the body of work, I just had to come up with the song.”
One of the biggest tracks of the year was 2 Chainz collaborative effort with ‘Ye on “Birthday Song”, and Tity Boi was originally surprised West wanted to jump on a trap-sounding track, “I just had ideas on songs that I wanted to do with Kanye, and I was playing it for him on my tour bus.” As others have noted, recording with Kanye is never easy, “when ‘Ye record, it’s not it, it’s not just it...I played it for him, he was like ‘send it to me’.”
Speaking about his relationship with the G.O.O.D. Music honcho, he was asked if 2 Chainz would perhaps signs with Yeezy’s label, but the rapper is hesitant at this time, “We been talking about it all the time, you know DONDA, they helped me with the album packaging...we talk all the time. Saying it is his past signing with other artists that has caused him to stay solo for the time being, “it’s just I came from a situation where I under artists already. He completely understands that.”