Talk to me about “Worst Behaviour”.
That came about through me sending a beat to one of Drake’s people, Oliver. I’ve been sending him beats for like, months. It was great timing too because I literally made the beat maybe a couple weeks before he pushed the album back, and I heard they were looking for one more joint, one or two more records, records with upbeat vibes and a lot of energy. I sent the beat from my studio, and my manager, Brock, sent it over to them, and I guess he [Drake] immediately went in on it. He was in New York City at the time, for the MTV Video Music Awards, and he was still working on his album there too, so we sent him the joint and we got a call back from 40, and 40 was like, “yeah, this is a powerful song”, so I was like cool. Sent him the song, and then maybe in a day or two they sent the paperwork, for the publishing information and all that stuff. It pretty much went from there, but it came out of nowhere. It was definitely a different kind of song, a different option for the album that he needed so.
Its certainly an early fan favorite. When you sent him the record did you imagine him singing on it, did you imagine him rapping on it? What kind of record did you expect it to be?
No, to be honest, I never really knew. When I make a beat I never make them geared towards any specific artist I kind of just make what I feel, my whole thing is just trying to be different and unique so, I never really imagined that that’s what was going to happen with the record so, it kind of just organically came to be. In this world to be successful I don’t think you should ever follow somebody else’s stuff, and I think it worked for him because I don’t think he’s ever made a record like that, you know, Drake brought a different style, a different flow, and it was dope. Certainly something I didn’t expect.
You’re known mainly for working with a lot of working with a lot of west coast artists. Kendrick Lamar, Dom Kennedy, Casey Veggies, ScHoolboy Q just to name a few, but Drake is one of the few artists where you ventured out into another region and did a big record, so what records do you have coming with people not necessarily from California.
I’m working with Big K.R.I.T on his album. We were in the studio a couple months ago, and we cut like 6 or 7 records, and we got some really dope stuff that I’m super excited about, because, I feel like the stuff that I have will help K.R.I.T. really take it to the next level, we took the time to hash out some ideas and they’re coming on pretty dope. I’m also working with Elle Varner on her album, and I’ve been working with her for pretty much the entire year on different songs and ideas so, we have some pretty dope records. I did some stuff with Jazmine Sullivan recently, we did a song for her upcoming project. As far as rap, of course, I’m still working with Kendrick, even though he’s in Cali, but right now its definitely open ended.
We can move back to Cali now, I know Dom [Kennedy] and ScHoolboy Q have releases slated for later this year, Dom is actually dropping on the 1st*, and you guys have the “My Type Of Party” record which was one of 2012′s biggest rap songs, do you guys have anything else in the works?
Um, I don’t know, you know me and Dom, we got in couple times last year, and I know he picked like 5 or 6 beats that he was really feeling, but we didn’t get a chance to really go in like last time, so I’m not sure I think I have one on this project [Get Home Safely], but beyond this music we’ll always have stuff coming, so even if I don’t make this project we’ll always have music coming, that’s the homie. Of course, ScHoolboy Q, and Ab-Soul, we have some good stuff coming out. I feel like I have a lot of different joints, that’ll be coming out, pretty soon.
-Khari Nixon (@KingVanGogh)
*At the time of the interview, Dom Kennedy’s album, Get Home Safely, was expected to be released on October 1st. However, yesterday, he announced the new official release date would be October 15th.
