2 Chainz has teamed up with YouTube Music to launch Crate Talk, a short-form video series “all about the inspiration of the who, what, when, where and how.” In the first of five episodes, Mr. Rap or Go to the League chops it up with legendary mover and shaker Steve Stoute.
Read more after the jump…
Over a game of SELF (a more “empowering” version of HORSE) on a basketball court in Atlanta, Steve talks about growing up in Queens, signing Will Smith and Enrique Iglesias, and getting Pusha T and Pharrell to make the McDonald’s “I’m Loving It” jingle, much to 2 Chainz’s astonishment. Reflecting on his own career moves, Tity Boi revealed that he turned down a record deal from Jay-Z around the time of Watch The Throne out of loyalty to his DJ, Tek (f.k.a. DJ Teknikz).
I was already speaking with Kanye on and off while they was in Paris working on Watch The Throne. Ye would hit me the whole time, talking about my mixtapes and was just speaking to me to where we just built a great relationship on the phone, because we shared some of the same similarities.
So there was a guy in Atlanta by the name of DJ Teknikz who used to DJ, his name is Tek now. He came to me one day and told me like, “Bruh, you a star.” And when he told me that, I agreed with him obviously. But he said that him and his partners wanted to go in business with me and manage me, and we built a relationship from that. We started growing and getting on the radar.
So after Kanye called everyday, I got a call from Hov. And Hov was like, “I want you to come to New York, I heard you making a lot of noise.” And the only reason that I did not go was because I said, “Can I bring my buddy Tek with me?” He was like, “Why you wanna bring your DJ for?” But I’m trying to tell them that bruh helped me get to the point where I’m on your radar, you know what I’m saying? I couldn’t go by myself. I just chose loyalty.
Watch episode one below and check back for future episodes featuring veteran producer Mike Dean, entrepreneur Gary V, model Winnie Harlow and 2 Chainz’s daughter Heaven Epps.
