(AllHipHop News) Throughout the history of Hip-Hop, rappers have occasionally paid homage to the rappers that came in waves before their time. Be it in the form of sampling an older song, quoting lyrics or collaborating like 2 Chainz did with Wayne recently, there are levels of respect to this rap game that are earned.
In this interview with The Breakfast Club we learn why 2 Chainz has steadily ascended the social ladders of Rap, as the ATL rapper entertained with humor and candor.
During his time on the Power 105/Revolt radio show with Angela, Envy and Charlamagne, 2 Chainz spoke on a host of topics including his most recent Collegrove project. The effort is a dedication of sorts to Lil Wayne, who influenced and believed in 2 Chainz’ potential to make it in Rap.
“I been rockin with Wayne since forever. I know people say real and all that stuff all the time, but I just feel like he’s one of the realest people in the game. He still has a crazy work ethic and we’ve been working on this project really our whole life, but really just saying we were going to put out a project for like a year. Great feedback – it’s my album, but its like [Raekwon & Ghostface],” 2 Chainz explained with the help of Angela Yee finishing his sentence.
“That’s definitely what this is, I’m a huge Wu-Tang fan, Raekwon, then you had Only Built for Cuban Linx. It was really Raekwon’s album but it had Ghostface on the cover,” 2 Chainz explained. “It was epic, so for this album it’s a dedication to my brother, one of my favorite rappers of all time and it was fun. Just imagine being in the studio – it was just fun creating this project.”
The project includes a host of the current Atlanta producers including Zaytoven, Mike Will and Metro Boomin to name a few. Mannie Fresh is also on production showcasing the music from both rapper’s cities.
2 Chainz says he didn’t have any difficulty clearing samples in the face of rumors that the project would be a mixtape, eluding to the fact that he has good relationships and the fact that Wayne and Baby are also both on Universal.
But was it all fate? For 2 Chainz yest, he considers linking up with Wayne a blessing that came through God, due to the changes that came in his life afterwards in 2008.
“That blessing which came from God, but came through Lil Wayne – it changed my life because it gave me a taste of shows, the life, something that I wanted to be a part of. When I went on tour with him and was able to see his work ethic and see what it took to get to this level, which I acknowledge every chance that I get – it changed the way I looked at music. I was playing with it at first – you can’t play with this music. I owned a studio and wasn’t using it every day. That changed after ’08. Ever since ’08 I’ve been doing music every single day of my life – whether its recording something musically every day of my life, and I’ve enjoyed the fruits of my labor from it,” 2 Chainz explained.
At that point 2 Chainz explained to Charlamagne why he never signed with Young Money:
“Because I was being loyal to ‘Cris [Ludacris] and Dolla. You know what I’m saying, it was a situation where I didn’t want it to be like I was clique hoppin at the time. I swear that was my answer – it ain’t like I didn’t want to. It was like I was working on another Playaz Circle project, I really felt like this could work, you know what I’m saying? Deep down I’m thinking that these records cold, I’m listening to what everybody like and like any other artist you compare and contrast. I’m like our bars up to par, our production up to par but it never clicked and the dots never clicked fan wise. It did on the underground level but not on a mass level.”