Over the course of the last 12 months, 2 Chainz has enjoyed a year that’s been almost too good to be true. Since changing his name in early 2011 from Tity Boi to 2 Chainz, he’s made dozens and dozens of appearances on other artists’ songs. He’s released his critically-acclaimed mixtape, T.R.U. REALigion. He’s taken over the radio with his hit, “Spend It.” He’s signed to Def Jam. And, he’s even managed to get into the good graces of Kanye West, who asked 2 Chainz to appear on “Mercy,” the first single from the G.O.O.D. Music compilation album that Kanye & Co. are currently putting together.
In fact, ‘Ye apparently feels so strongly about 2 Chainz’s talent that he took to his Twitter account late last week and sent out a tweet that had some folks speculating about whether he had signed 2 Chainz to his label. “2 Chainz is charging 100k for a verse now,” the tweet read, “cause he’s G.O.O.D!!!!!!”
Quite the accomplishment, eh? Well, yes…and no. You see, while getting a co-sign from Kanye was, is, and probably always will be a good thing, we’re not so sure that we want to see 2 Chainz signed to Kanye’s label (as of today, no official announcement has been made and 2 Chainz has denied that he’s signed to G.O.O.D.) We actually think he’d be better off if he just kept going down the path he’s been going for the last year or so. So, we put together a list of the 5 Reasons 2 Chainz Shouldn’t Sign to Kanye West’s G.O.O.D. Music. It’ll probably be all good if he does end up signing to G.O.O.D., but we think it could be even better if he sticks to the script and does his own thing.—Chris Yuscavage
Reason #1: The last time 2 Chainz was signed to another rapper’s label, it didn’t work out so well.
As a member of Playaz Circle, 2 Chainz (then known as Tity Boi) and his partner Dolla Boy released two albums, Supply & Demand (2007) and Flight 360: The Takeoff (2009), on Ludacris’ label Disturbing tha Peace. And while both spawned minor regional hits, neither really gave 2 Chainz or Dolla Boy the kind of visibility you’d expect. Part of that was because they never got the right push from the label. But, a larger part of it was because they were simply stuck in the mix with a bunch of other artists signed to Luda. That tends to happen when you’re signed to a major rapper’s label. And, who really wants to be put in that situation?
Reason #2: 2 Chainz already has plenty of visibility without the help of a major rapper like Kanye West.
Say what you want about 2 Chainz right now—he’s awesome, he sucks, he uses the same rhyme scheme on every song—but you can’t say that the guy hasn’t worked his ass off (he calls it “griming”) to get his name and his face out there. And, he’s largely done that on his own. So, he doesn’t really need Kanye’s co-sign in order to get people to check for him. He’s managed to get plenty of attention for himself. Signing with ‘Ye might help increase his visibility, but it also might stunt his growth at this point if G.O.O.D. tries to have a hand in how he’s marketed to the public. If you’re 2 Chainz, why risk it?
Reason #3: We’d rather have 2 Chainz focus on his own solo debut, Based on a T.R.U. Story, than have him working on the G.O.O.D. compilation.
The “Mercy” guest appearance was a BIG look for 2 Chainz. Of all the guest appearances he’s done in 2012, that was the one that really made us sit up and say, “This guy might become a bonafide superstar by the end of the year.” At the same time, if he did sign with G.O.O.D., he’d be forced to contribute a lot more to the G.O.O.D. album. That wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing for us, but it would take up a good amount of his time and force him to work on something other than his debut album right now.
Reason #4: Pusha T, Cyhi Da Prynce, Mos Def, Q-Tip, and Teyana Taylor are all already signed to G.O.O.D.
How exciting was it when Pusha T signed to G.O.O.D.? The thought was that he’d finally get to release his long-awaited solo album. And, yet, he’s yet to do it. Same for Cyhi. Same for Mos Def. Same for…well, you get the point. If 2 Chainz signs to G.O.O.D., he’d have to either get in the back of the line and wait his turn to release his music or skip to the front of the line and potentially piss off people who’ve been waiting for all of the artists listed above to drop their albums. Either way, it’s not a great look for 2 Chainz. So, instead of signing 2 Chainz, how ’bout ‘Ye gets to work on making that Pusha solo album happen?
Reason #5: It should be almost time for 2 Chainz to get his own label.
2 Chainz is obviously not on Kanye’s level yet. But, we say “yet” because he’s slowly building up his discography and putting himself in a good position to one day have his own label. That day probably isn’t too far off, either. If all goes well with his debut album and he’s able to continue building momentum, 2 Chainz will likely get his own label at sometime in the near future. Unless, of course, he’s stuck in a deal with G.O.O.D. and waiting around for his sophomore album to drop. So, in the short term term, G.O.O.D. might sound like a good idea. But, in the long term, it’s probably best for 2 Chainz to keep “griming” on his own. You “good” with that, man? We sure hope so.