For the better part of a year, YG was planning to call his sophomore LP Still Krazy, an apt follow-up to 2014’s My Krazy Life. But just weeks before its release this week, he changed the name to Still Brazy and shared the accompanying title track–a candid look at what’s transpired in the Compton rapper’s life since My Krazy Life. “I just woke up one morning and I painted my Maybach red–I wrapped it, matter of fact, red,” he says of what sparked the name change, “and I thought, ‘I might as well change my album to Still Brazy ‘cause I gotta be real with myself.’”
In this instance, that meant using the B to signify his allegiance to Bloods. Throughout his lyrics, YG consistently replaces C’s with B’s, and he would’ve called his debut My Brazy Life had his team not stepped in to convince him otherwise. “They told me, ‘You don’t want to lose no fans. You want everybody to buy your album.’” Which everybody did: My Krazy Life went Gold. The K—to avoid inadvertent Crips affiliation with the C—was, thus, a compromise. Now, however, YG kept it how he wanted. “This album I was like, ‘Man, fuck what y’all are talking about.’”
My Krazy Life, as the title suggests, was remarkable not only for YG’s symbiosis with DJ Mustard, who handled the majority of the album’s production, but for how YG presented his daily routine. The narrative moves smoothly from raucous parties to solitary moments in the studio where he uses alcohol to cope with pain. On back-to-back tracks (“Do It to Ya,” “Me & My Bitch”), he goes from committing adultery to feeling hurt, frustrated, and embarrassed about being cheated on. Still Brazy, however, widens its scope of frankness to the political realm, YG says. It’s led by the Nipsey Hussle collab “Fuck Donald Trump,” a song whose title provides more than enough detail. He says too many people in his position have a platform to speak out and don’t use it. He hopes to change that.
The album is also an opportunity to highlight where he’s from. Beyond Drake (who is on “Why You Always Hatin’?” with Bay Area standout Kamaiyah) and Lil Wayne, the majority of the features are from relative unknowns with whom YG is close, like Slim 400, Marley Blu, and more. Once again, he acknowledges the platform he’s earned, and thinks it’s his responsibility to promote young rappers who deserve a chance on the bigger stage. Still, it’s about more than the city. Compton may have raised YG, but Still Brazy is “about what I’ve been going through in the past year and a half—trust issues, paranoia. I got popped and I don’t know who shot me,” he continues, “I don’t trust nobody. I fell out with a group of the homies including Mustard. I'm dealing with success.”
Pitchfork hopped on the phone with YG to talk about the new album (which is streaming now), getting political, what Bompton means to him, and more.
Pitchfork: On “Twist My Fingaz,” you rap, “I put Bompton on the map.” What does that mean to you?
YG: It’s real regular out here where I’m from. That’s the lingo, that’s regular, that’s what we represent. But it ain’t just been nobody from that side of town [Bloods] that really pushed and really put it on the map like I did. It’s big, it’s different. A lot of motherfuckers respect me for it. A lot of motherfuckers probably feel some way about it. The motherfuckers probably been scared to do it, that’s why it ain’t been done and I did that so you have to give credit and respect when it’s due.
You also rap on that song, “I’m the only one who made it out the West without Dre.” What’s it mean to blow up without needing that major co-sign?
Oh, man, it’s big, bro. Like, I’m from Bompton, but I represent the whole West Coast—Los Angeles County, everything. That line is serious and it’s big, because back in the day if you wasn’t coming out of the Dre and Snoop camp, the Suge camp–Dre had something to do with all them camps–if you wasn’t coming out of them camps, you wasn’t coming out, you feel me? You wouldn’t get known without a Dre co-sign—that’s the real cut-assed reality. So for me to make it without it, that’s big and everybody know that. It’s a couple more motherfuckers that made it out the coast without Dre, but I was speaking for myself.
What do you think of the new attention Compton is attracting with you and Kendrick Lamar rapping about the city?
There’s a lot of good things going on in Compton, you feel me? The mayor [Aja Brown] is doing a lot for the city. You got the councilman Isaac Galvan doing a lot. We inspired a lot of people to go around and do stuff, and really try to turn a negative into a positive. It’s a lot more motherfuckers coming together to really try and make something happen, and me and Kendrick really have something to do with that. It ain’t been nothing in a long time. There was probably no hope. I have conversations with the mayor and the things she tells me be like, “Ain’t nobody ever gave back to the city how we giving back and doing things we do.” I got a not-for-profit organization 4Hundred Waze, and we do a lot of events every month with the mayor for the city—giving back to the kids, trying to stop certain things from happening, trying to help motherfuckers really follow their dreams, really figure out what they trying to do and where they trying to go, and how to get there. We doing a lot of community work ’cause there’s a lot inspiration out there right now through what we doing.
How does your relationship with the city play out on the new album?
The new record is based off the last two years of my life. It ain’t really too Bompton heavy. I ain’t really too much gang-banging or none of what people say I do that I don't really do. I just tell my life story, but it’s not really about that. It’s about what I’ve been going through in the past year and a half—trust issues, paranoia. I got popped and I don’t know who shot me. I don’t trust nobody. I fell out with a group of the homies including Mustard. I'm dealing with success. That's what the album is really about.
And the Trump thing, I’m really on some political things. “Fuck Donald Trump,” we finally got it cleared. Then I got more records on the album talking about real life right now, what we dealing with, what our people dealing with like police shit, and then racial–not racial, it’s just talking about me as an African American, and then I got somebody else on the record about what their race go through.
Why did you decide to get more political?
I see a lot of motherfuckers ain’t speaking up in the rap game, or just powerful motherfuckers with the platform to speak up and make a difference about what’s going on out here. They really not doing that, so I’m sitting back peeping what’s going on, I really be feeling some type of way about a lot of things, so it was just like, “Fuck it, I’m about to start saying something about it.” I already got blackballed and police already got something against me so it’s like, “Fuck it, I might as well keep taking it—fuck it, probable cause.”
You’ve also used your platform to promote lesser-known rappers.
Man, that's what it’s about. Coming up in the game, coming up in the streets. I feel like I’m in a position to better motherfuckers’ lives around me, so if the homies is rapping and really taking it seriously and really spitting hot shit, I got to clap for him once again, to really change motherfuckers’ lives. I’ma pull as many motherfuckers along with me as I could. It’s a blessing to be able to do that.