When you talk about hit-making West Coast rappers, it’s impossible not to mention YG. The 35-year-old Compton, California, native (real name Keenon Dequan Ray Jackson) has consistently been behind some of hip-hop’s biggest songs for over a decade. From anthems like “Big Bank,” “My N***a” and “Who Do You Love?” featuring Drake, to the protest song “FDT” alongside his late friend Nipsey Hussle, rap’s Young Gangsta has demonstrated remarkable range and longevity—and he’s far from finished.
As he gears up to announce his next album, YG tells The Red Bulletin he’s entering “a new era,” one marked by serious growth and music that features more intentional lyrics—a shift partly driven by the example he wants to set for his two young daughters. “I can’t play certain songs of mine in front of them anymore,” he explains. “They’re older now and they’re asking me why I say certain things on a record.”
Here, YG opens up about childhood trauma, his relationship with longtime friend and collaborator Mustard and how he prepared for the latest episode of Red Bull Spiral.
WILL LAVIN—You’ve delivered some memorable freestyles over the years, and your Red Bull Spiral episode is another one to add to the list. How do you prepare for something like this?
Back when I did those other freestyles I was young. I really wasn’t thinking too much; I was just doing shit. Now it’s different. I’m at that age where I’m conscious, I’m aware. Whatever I’m doing, it’s gotta have purpose and meaning. So for Red Bull Spiral, I thought about what people would want to hear me talk about that I haven’t before, or some shit I’ve just wanted to get off my chest.
The West Coast has been having a real moment as of late, thanks in part to the huge success of Kendrick Lamar. But someone else who’s been thriving is your friend Mustard. What’s it been like watching him blow up?
It’s been fire! Actually, right before everything happened, me and Mustard had been talking for months, damn near a year, like, “Bro, we gotta get this shit back popping—the culture, the sound.” Then that shit just happened out of nowhere, and it was like, “Bro, what the hell?” So watching that as the bro, the homie, it felt good. For him to be a part of that historic moment is crazy.
He recently revealed that he offered you the beat for Kendrick Lamar’s “hey now.” Why did you turn it down—and do you regret it?
No, I don’t regret it. I’ve had plenty of Mustard beats offered to me first over the years. I had [Tyga’s] “Rack City.” I had [2 Chainz’s] “I’m Different.” I had a gang of Mustard beats that he made for me, but at the time I couldn’t do nothing dope to them and so I passed on them, then he sent ’em off to whoever and they became hits. When those moments happen, you gotta think, Mustard’s sound as a producer and my sound as an artist, we created that shit; so when I was passing up on those beats, I told Mustard to send them to other artists because it was a new sound. If we got more artists using the sound it was gonna spread. Fast-forward to the top of 2020, right before COVID; that’s when Mustard played me the [“hey now”] beat. I didn’t know what to do with it and so I passed on it, and then look what happened.
Your new single “2004” hears you talk about being sexually assaulted by an older woman when you were a teen. What inspired you to talk about that at this point in your life?
I’m at that age where I’ve done all the young shit, having reckless fun, not giving a fuck. Now, I’m really looking at shit differently. As I’m going into my new album, it’s a new era for me. It’s time to give the world a new version [of me] and some shit I ain’t never ever spoke about. That’s how I’ve been creating music lately.
It’s a new era for me. It’s time to give the world a new version of me.
It’s a brave thing to talk about. What made you decide to address such a heavy topic?
I was sitting in the studio talking to some homies and one of them was like, “Bro, you got to talk about something you’ve never talked about. What’s one of your deeper secrets?” There was a beat playing, and I was like, “You want to know something I’ve never told anybody? When I was young, I got raped by awoman twice my age.” The reaction I got was them telling me it had happened to them, too, and so I wrote the full song, recorded it, and I started playing it for people. And 90 percent of the dudes I played it for were like, “Bro, this same shit happened to me.”
Were you surprised at the response?
Not really. When you’re young and growing up, we brag about having an older female we deal with. But when you get older, you realize that if a male was doing this with a younger female, it’ll be considered what ever it’s considered. It’s the same shit and that’s what really had me. I was like,“Damn, this is crazy.” So that’s where that record stemmed from. It really represents where I’m at and where I’m gonna go with my artistry and music in this next era of YG. There’s other records on the album where I talk about other crazy shit, too.
You’ve overcome many obstacles throughout the years. In fact, it was 10 years ago that you were shot outside a Los Angeles recording studio. How does something like that affect you?
Where we come from and how we grow up, when we go through those things and hear and see other people go through them, it’s considered normal. But now, at this age, I’m sitting back and thinking how this ain’t normal. I’m living different now, I’m not really in that world anymore. But when you’re going through it and you’re from that world, getting over it is nothing. It’s regular. All the homies have been shot. I got homies in jail. I got homies that’s dead in the grave. That’s normal where we from, which is fucked up. But when you living like that, and you from that world, and you don’t get the chance to make it out, you don’t ever get the chance to ever think that’s not normal. The trauma, we’ve accepted it. It’s just regular.”
Prior to his death, you and Nipsey Hussle were really good friends. How did you first meet?
We met at 1500 or Nothin studio. He was fresh out of jail, and I was over there recording with Rance [aka Larrance Dopson], who was the one that wanted to get us together. But he knew it was gonna be difficult because I’m from where I’m from and Nip’s from where he’s from, and I was cool with the dudes who Nipsey’s hood was worst enemies with. Everybody knew this. Rance had an idea to invite Nip to the studio when I was there, but not telling Nipsey or me. So Nip slid up and I’m over there recording and Rance is like, “Hey, bro, y’all both the next out the city. Y’all gotta meet.” That’s how me and Nip first met.
Given your gang affiliations—you a blood, him a crip—how were you able to set your differences aside and grow such a strong bond?
We ran into each other a couple time safter meeting that first time and just started building a relationship. Then when I was working on my mixtape, Just Re’d Up, Mustard made the “Bitches Ain’t Shit” song and I knew I wanted to get multiple people on itand make it a thing. So I hit Nip, I hit Tyga—and this is when Tyga was really heavy with the Young Money shit, so I knew he was gonna bring us a whole other look—and said, “We gotta do this record.” Then we did the video and the rest is history. Me and Nip were tight, like real tight.
“My daughters definitely helped me become who I am today.” —YG
© Jeremy Deputat
You’re a proud girl dad with two daughters. How has having kids changed your life?
The crazy thing about my first daughter, Harmony, when I got shot multiple times, she was like two, three weeks old. The place I got shot at, my daughter was there but she had just left. Randomly, me and her mom started arguing and so they left. Then two hours later, boom, there wasa shootout at that spot. That shit right there had me trippin’ because my daughter was supposed to be there. I was like, “Nah, bro. I gotta change.” I started changing how I was movingand shit. My movement, people, being in certain spaces, and knowing where I was at, that started to change. I was still being me, but that part had to change.
So you’d say having kids inspired you to move differently?
Definitely. [Harmony] really calmed medown. She was definitely the reason why I came home a lot of the time. Now, my kids are older and they’re watching. It’s tough. It’s different because you’re trying to raise your daughters to be very respectable women; so you can’t be trying to teach them and tell them to be like this but you’re out here doing something else. So, yeah, my daughters definitely helped me become who I am today, and what I’m on today. I love my kids. They’re a blessing, for sure. To this day, my kids keep me on track and grounded.
Given the success you’ve had, what would you say your proudest moment has been?
“I think the run I had when I firstentered the game. From the release of My Krazy Life, it was a five-year runof nonstop hits. I often look back atthat time like, damn, I did that. But at the time, when I was living in it, I thought it was normal and regular, and like it would never change because we were making hits. But that’s not life. Shit happens and shitch anges. So now I’ve got to be really appreciative of that shit. What’s here today could be gone tomorrow, for sure. With this next run, when it happens I’m gonna be in the moment appreciating it. It’s gonna be a lot different.
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