Young Thug is quite interview-shy, as is music industry executive Lyor Cohen, so to get them both together for one interview is a feat. Ebro pulled it off for his Apple Beats 1 radio show, and a stream of their conversation has been made available.
Thugger isn't the most loquacious either, but Lyor seems to encourage him to expand a bit on his answers, right off the bat. They start with Thugger's past, being signed to Gucci Mane before linking with 300. As Thug explains, he met GuWop through a friend and a fellow rapper, PeeWee Longway.
"The first day I met GuWop I sold him a watch. We had took a watch..I sold it to him, a Rolex. It was a girl Rolex. I sold it to him, and then we was listening to beats and I was like ay, plug me in, let me go. And he ain't say nothing, he was just sitting. And I did the song, and he like, who you mess with? And we just chopped it up then, and then from then, I started going to the 'yo [studio] with him everyday, working, working, working."
He goes on to speak on how their working relationship developed into a label deal, and 1017 Thug, as well as his ferocious work ethic in general.
As the interview continued, Thug addressed his appreciation of Lil Wayne, or actually, clarifies it.
"Honestly I always paid attention to Lil Wayne. Close attention. He's always my idol, he still my idol. I still know all his music, everything that he's putting out now, I still know everything. I think when he came in as a Hot Boy, he was like a street nigga, like everybody in the streets can adjust to it. But as he grew, he started like [wearing] tight clothes and rockstar...so I guess it went the same path, cause I really always paid attention to him, so I guess it went the same way but I never wanted to live or be like him, I always just paid attention. He's iconic, I always paid attention to him like that, I never paid attention to him, like, I'd die if I don't be like him," Thug says.
Listen to the full 25-minute interview below. Lyor goes on to speak on why Thug doesn't do very many interviews, as he chooses to spend most of his time in the studio.
