(AllHipHop News) Industry vet and one of the most talked about artists from the South, 2 Chainz, recently spoke with AllHipHop about the recent success of his T.R.U. Realigion mixtape and his plans for 2012.
Despite the fact that many fans first became accustomed to 2 Chainz in the 2007 hit “Duffle Bag Boy” featuring Lil’ Wayne, 2 Chainz has been in the industry for years.
As Tity Boi, he worked with Ludacris’ in his early days with DTP and spent time on tour with Young Money/Cash Money.
Now after being featured on a host of singles, 2 Chainz is finally getting respect and the success he has prayed for all these years.
“Just trying to stay busy, basically continue to grind, doing my feature thing, knocking out solo songs and staying busy and creative, starting off the year with some viral videos, so it should be a good summer,” 2 Chainz told AllHipHop.com in an exclusive interview. “It just feels good, it feels like the hard work that I have done paid off and it feels like a lot of the prayers that I had, have been answered.”
According to 2 Chainz, he never changed his original name, but admitted that good timing helped when he released his hit single “Riding Round, Getting It.”
“I think its just a timing thing and I think its just where we are as far as people getting interested in new kinds of music,” 2 Chainz explained to AllHipHop of his recent success and name switch. “When it came to my turn, it was something that people picked up on and on my recent verses I say it before my verse comes on, but it was really just timing and people being silly. For me it was just natural and someone told me I was brilliant for it, and I was just like ‘I didn’t do anything.'”
While the recent success is largely due to years of diligence and persistence, waves of fans came to respect and know 2 Chainz after his critically acclaimed documentary Codeine Cowboys was released last summer, which detailed 2 Chainz’ life behind the scenes and his relationships with Ludacris and Lil’ Wayne.
“With making that documentary I just wanted to put together a small summary of my relationship with Ludacris, my relationship with Lil’ Wayne aka Tunechi and of course my relationship with the Duffle Bag Boys, and wanted to show my relationship with all three and how they help me become who I am now through experiences with them.”
The year 2012 looks to be a highly successful year for 2 Chainz, as he sits amidst a bidding war of labels trying to lure him in, with lucrative offers for his yet to be titled debut release.
But don’t think 2 Chainz is content just basking in the light of his success.
“Im looking forward to my debut album, you know hopefully this year I get a nice little deal and I get to put out a real album for the masses for distribution, I’ll be excited especially if I can do some good numbers out the gate,” 2 Chainz explained of his potential for an upcoming deal and debut release. “I don’t know much about it, it just depends on a deal, and we will just go forward from there, for now I’m still moving as an independent so its a non-discussion. I can’t tell nothing right now, just working hard right now basically.”