Taylor Bennett is a huge Young Thug fan, and his appreciation for the rapper only grew stronger when he got a chance to work with him on his new project Be Yourself. In a recent interview with Ebro for Beats 1, Bennett spoke of how Thug had inspired the project, down to the cover art, which he said was made with the Jeffery cover in mind. "Young Thug is a huge inspiration on this project," he said. "I don't mean that just off me solely really kicking it with him and linking with him to do the track."
As it turns out, the Be Yourself track "Better Than You Ever Been" was not the only music the two worked on together. "As crazy as this shit sounds, I've got hella raps to 808 Mafia beats just 'cause of him," he said, explaining that he and Thug got in the studio while he was in Atlanta.
According to Taylor, he was able to hear a lot of unreleased Thug material in the process. "I pull up with the homies and shit and he's in the studio working already. I kid you not, I listened to the man play like 300 fully finished, mixed and mastered tracks," he said. They were also far from throwaways: "These are good tracks," he said.
Bennett, who came out as bisexual last year, was inspired by the inclusive atmosphere of Thug's session, as well as his focus on identity. "To see the setting and know where he comes from... and to be able to view the energy that he gives off in a room full of people to let them know that it don't matter who the fuck you is, I love you no matter what," he said. "Even though the world ain't always gonna be like that for me."
Watch clips from the interview above and listen to Bennett's Be Yourself EP here. Young Thug's next project Slime Language is expected to be released very soon, if not this week.
We recently compiled all of Young Thug's many leaks from 2018. You can check out the comprehensive list here.
