JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Ledendz of the Streetz Tour makes a stop in Jacksonville Sunday at Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena. 2 Chainz, Gucci Mane, Jeezy and Trina will be onhand dicing it up.
Mr. 2 Chainz was kind enough to do an interview with First Coast News.
2022 has seen the release of 2 Chainz' seventh studio album "Dope Don’t Sell Itself." 12 agile tracks with features from Moneybagg Yo, Lil Baby, YoungBoy, Lil Durk and more.
2 Chainz is still cast as Atlanta's punchline-prince bombardier, but the album keeps his blast radius in familiar territory.
An easy highlight is the pastel, head nodding collaboration with YoungBoy Never Broke Again, “10 Bracelets."
"Hold up, hold up, money stuffed in briefcases
Voodoo beat I cremate it, I did the hook, Kareem made it"
2 Chainz spoke from Atlanta:
You're a basketball player, 6'5" - played at Alabama State. How's your jumpshot? What happens when the ball swings to 2 Chainz?
I was tall. I could see the floor. I played guard, had a pretty cool jump shot. Still do [laughs]. When I'm in Atlanta, I try to hit the Hawks games, sit on the floor.
I'll get a little fired up at the games. I still think I could do some things out there. I call some of the players bums. But I do a lot of stuff that rappers do, so I shouldn't be talking down to any pro athletes.
Please talk about your writing mind. How you get there with your verses and cadences. You don't write things down. When you're in the studio, how does the linguistic mindset happen?
It's something I try to do every day. It's like a calisthenic. If you work out every day, you'll get results. I record often. I got a lot of stuff you've never heard, and you may never hear.
But I do something musically every day. And when I do a feature, it's not hard for me to go into a song and try to think of something, because I'm already in writing mode.
Out of the people you've worked with—Kanye, Mase, Drake, Pharrell, Wayne, Fergie, everybody, who have you learned the most from?
Wayne's been my brother for years. I think what I get most out of being around Wayne is to think quick. How many times do you need to hear this beat before you format your verse? And that's what ranges with me. Sometimes it's five, 15, 20, 30 minutes.
Getting around some other artists who have the same techniques I have, like Wayne, he doesn't write stuff down, either. That's been the thing with him. Can I come up with this verse quicker than I did the last one? It really has to do with the beat and the inspiration behind the music, too.
