It’s no secret that most budding hip-hop artists from the city of Compton all have the same dream of one day connecting with Dr. Dre and watching their records ascend up the charts.
However for Keenon Jackson, better known as YG, his aspirations are different.
The 22-year-old Compton-native, who recently signed to Young Jeezy’s Corporate Thug Entertainment (CTE) imprint, has handed over the executive producer reigns for his debut album to the Snowman as well.
Their relationship may mirror that of Dre and Game or Dre and Kendrick but Jeezy is no Grammy-winning producer and YG is comfortable with that. Instead, the renowned thug motivator shares his experiences with the Young Gangster (YG), whom he calls his little brother.
“Jeezy told me he just wanted to see me win,” YG tells VIBE at Def Jam headquarters. “He told me he ain’t never had no artist that had what it takes and always wanted to see a nigga win but he never had an artist [like that].
Jeezy’s mentorship eventually led to a slew of features for YG, culminating in a CTE compilation mixtape entitled Boss Yo Life Up Gang.
As YG continued to strengthen his craft and work towards his pristine project, Jeezy approached him with a candid recommendation.
“He was just like ‘What’s the album title?,” YG recalls. “And I told him I’m 4rm Bompton and he was just like ‘I fuck with it but you bigger than that, you don’t gotta do that, niggas already know what’s up.’ He gave me a lot of advice.”
YG recently revealed his new album title as My Krazy Life on Rap Fix Live. The “K” he says, has no significance and dispelled any gang affiliations. YG says the project will consist of a narrative that tells the story of who he is and the hardships he faced growing up in Compton.
Sound familiar?
“Game told it his way, Kendrick told it his way, I’ma tell it my way,” he insists. “That’s what it is, and we all from the same city but we’re not the same people. We didn’t go through everything the exact same ways. Our rapping style is different, so how I’m coming at shit that’s finna’ be different. You feel me? At the end of the day it’s all the same, talking about money, bitches and homies. It’s all the same shit it’s just different ways.”
My Krazy Life is currently scheduled to be released on November 19th.