YG says a blunt conversation with Kendrick Lamar changed the way he approaches his craft — and now that approach has guided him to create the most focused album of his career.
In a new interview with DJ Hed that premiered on June 4, the Compton rapper admitted he had been putting out projects primarily to satisfy contractual obligations in order to exit his Def Jam deal.
That apparently changed when he had a conversation with Kendrick about his music.
"I was talking to Dot, I'm playing him the album and shit... I'm telling him about what I was doing, like putting out albums just to get out the deal 'cause my deal was fucked up," YG said around the 13:40 mark. "He [Kendrick] was like, 'Bro, you ain't never supposed to do that. You gotta give it your all every time.'"
YG continued, explaining that he realized he’d "fucked up" and claimed that he is now "coming for everything."
That renewed commitment is baked into The Gentlemen's Club, his seventh studio album and first project in six years. The record is framed as a concept album, and YG has been direct about what he wants out of it.
"The goal of this album, I'm coming for my respect. I know I did it to myself, so I gotta get this shit back up out the mud," he said.
The Gentlemen's Club arrives on all streaming platforms on June 19.
Earlier this year, YG released a song, “2004,” that may appear on the album. On the track, the rapper opened up about childhood trauma involving sexual abuse that he faced growing up.
"When I was young, I got raped by a bitch twice my age," he says on the track, which also features Buddy and The Gang. "Ever since that day, I never looked at shit the same."
Later in the song, he brings it back up. "A bitch took advantage of me, I ain't got no trust," he raps in the third verse. "The hoe was thirty years old, and I never told... I knew this wasn't regular as I grew up."
