This month, Sprite launched its new global platform, It’s That Fresh—a top-down update for the brand that ties in music, basketball, spicy food, fashion and street culture.
To soundtrack this new era, Sprite reached out to one of rap’s most prolific and most gilded architects, Mustard, to produce the ‘Sprite Sound’—a track that captured the new direction using sounds sampled even from the drink itself. Since he emerged in the early 2010s, Mustard’s knack for guiding a project and putting his stamp on a piece of work without overshadowing his teammates has made him one of the most respected producers in the game. It started, he says, when he was cutting his teeth as a DJ—learning what worked and what didn’t work. Having to make those decisions in an instant honed his instincts pretty quickly.
Most recently, his work on GNX with Kendrick Lamar (and, of course, “Not Like Us”) have cemented him in the history books, but he was banging out big hits almost as soon as he started. From “Rack City” to “Boo’d Up”, barely a year has gone by without the King Midas of L.A. topping the charts at least half a dozen times.
Complex UK caught up with Mustard recently to break down exactly what went into making the track, what goes into making (and recognising) a smash hit, and some of his favourite collaborators over the years.
COMPLEX: We’re here to talk about the collaboration with Sprite and the track that you created, “Sprite Sound”. Firstly, how did your relationship with Sprite come to be?
Mustard: I was in the studio and some of the team came by and was asking me if I would be down to try something for it. I was just like, “Of course! It’s Sprite, why wouldn’t I?” I grew up on Sprite, so just the idea of me doing something with them, whatever they wanted me to do, was really cool. So we met at one of the studios I was at, and we started venturing out and trying to figure out what it is and what it should sound like. We went back and forth and played with sounds and bottles and all type of random shit that was like Sprite sounds. And that’s basically how that came together.
How did it compare to when an artist comes to you and you’re pitching ideas to each other?
You know what? With artists, it’s a little different because you’re building on something that’s way longer, and you don’t have to worry about words. That’s the whole driving force of this; I got to be, like, the driver, so it was different in that sense. I think, with this, I actually had way more freedom than working with an artist, if that makes any sense.
So there was a lot of sampling involved?
Yeah, sampling a lot of opening bottles, a lot of random sounds. If you think about Sprite, what do you think of? That was one of the first conversations we had: like, what do you think about when you think about Sprite? The 808s and all that stuff is one thing, but the first thing that comes to my head when I think about Sprite is my childhood. I grew up on canned soda, so that “tsss” of the can opening is a real core memory. So then you connect it to music and it’s kind of random, but cool at the same time. The only thing that’s additional to it is like an 808, where it’s like, that’s my signature! I put that in a lot of my beats. If you think about a can of soda or even, like, opening up a bottle of soda, it has a sound. When I think about Sprite, I think about being a kid, riding my bicycle outside and drinking Sprites.
You’re famous for your ear for the right sounds and what makes a hit. How much of that is experience, how much of that is instinct?
I always go by a feeling. I guess it’s mostly intuition or instinct, but I’m a student as well. I don’t know it all. Sometimes I’ve been wrong—I’m right more often than I’m wrong, but there are times that I am wrong. Usually, what it comes down to is what feels most authentic to me and what feels good listening to it. It’s that simple. I don’t think anybody has the right formula in their head that tells them this is going to be a hit. If that was the case, we’d all be Michael Jackson.
Have you ever been surprised by a sleeper hit? Like, you’ve produced an album or something with someone and the track that became a hit was not the one you had in mind?
Honestly, not really. That’s usually something I can figure out. I can’t think of any examples right now. When I’m playing music for the people, I can usually pinpoint which song is gonna be the one that everybody gravitates to because, as I said, it gives me that feeling. It makes me want to feel a certain way. Just like the Sprite thing, when you hear it, it’s now going to be the signature sound. I wanted it to sound just like the Sprite logo looks. If you see a Sprite somewhere, straightaway you think of being outside, riding your bike in the sun. I was trying to make that just as iconic as that Sprite logo.
At this point in your career, how do you keep yourself inspired and stop from becoming complacent?
Doing things like this, to be honest. Doing those things that are outside of what I’d normally do. Also, I don’t force anything. If I go to the studio two days in a row and I just can’t get nothing out, maybe I’ll just come to the studio and not actually make any music. I’ll still go, but I’ll try to switch up my routine or my environment and try to find something that brings me into the room and makes me think differently. Sometimes I just take a day off, just completely stay away from my computer and keyboard, and give myself a break. I don’t really try to force anything. It never works.
I’ve heard you talk about the difference between being a beatmaker and a producer—was it always your intention to be a producer rather than a beatmaker, or did one evolve from the other?
It started with being a DJ! Then, once I started producing beats and producing… That has to be something that’s in you and not something you strive for. Beatmakers are striving to be producers, but they just don’t have that thing in them to finish a record. Beatmakers are people that can make a million great beats, but they can’t see an album all the way through. I can actually make a million great beats, go figure something out, figure out a whole project. If Sprite calls, I can then go and play with bottles and sounds and give a finished product to Sprite and be like, “This is what I think the Sprite signature sound should sound like.” A beatmaker, I don’t think they would know where to start. There’s nothing wrong with being a beatmaker, though.
What influence do you think California had on you as a producer? I feel like there’s a unique blend of West and South in some of that music.
I think that’s literally my whole identity. Although I can make songs like “Needed Me” or a banger for Ella Mai or maybe “FWU” with Don Toliver, besides those songs, I think the majority of my sound is, like, something that I just grew up on—whether it was like Lil Jon, E-40, Too $hort, Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre. Those are people I’ve been listening to for as long as I can remember. My mom was a big Luther Vandross fan, and that inspired me a lot when I made “Boo’d Up” for Ella. My mum played R&B around the house so much that I just ended up falling in love with it.
On the subject of collaborators, is there anyone that stands out as someone you’ve gelled with the easiest, where it was just instant?
Obviously, Kendrick. He’s probably the easiest person to work with because he’s so talented and he can take a beat of mine and make it better than I envision it to be. Then you have Ella; she’s the protégé that I could just say, “Hey, I think you should try this,” and she’ll try it, and she’ll nail it! Then you have Don Toliver where I can play any beat and he can add a great melody to anything. So I have a lot of people that I gel with, but those are probably the main people that I find it easiest to work with.
You mentioned Ella Mai there, but on the rap side, have you been able to check out any of the UK rap scene? Is there anyone that you’ve got your eye on?
I really like Skepta. I like Central Cee—a lot of the London rappers, in general. I did some work with Krept & Konan a long time ago; I’ve definitely dibbled and dabbled, but I haven’t really worked with anybody out there for a while. I want to, though. Definitely Skepta.
For more on the Mustard x Sprite collab, visit Sprite.com
