DJ Mustard Talks Making YG's "My Nigga" and His Claim on 8% of the Hot 100 [YouTube Video]

Hard Knock TV recently met up with DJ Mustard to go over the making of YG's smash single, "My Nigga." Over the course of the 11-minute-long interview, the producer also explained why he prefers producing entire albums to singles, how he produced 8% of the songs currently on the Hot 100 chart and why he hates hearing that he "ripped off" the sound of Bay Area hip hop. Watch above.

Initially tackling the creative process behind the "My Nigga" beat, Mustard described collaborating with Mike Lee on various pieces of the song's instrumental. It all began with a three note bassline, with Mustard and Lee adding, in order, bells, hi hats, kick drum, a deeper 808 bass drum, a clap track and finally, a snap track. Mustard's become known for his very minimal or "bare bones"-style compositions, and seeing him break down his most successful beat track-by-track further illuminates the simplicity and precision with which he works. Oh yeah, and he makes the majority of his beats in 30 minutes or less.

Host Nick Huff Barili later asked Mustard about YG's recently-released My Krazy Life, an album that Mustard produced almost entirely by himself. Mustard admitted that he prefers doing album-length collaborations with MCs to just producing singles here and there, saying:

"I'm kinda done with the singles thing... You're basically giving the artist your sound just to go do whatever else they want to do, whereas when you're doing the whole album you and the artist are in tune together, you both actually like what's going on. I've heard stuff I did on a single, and then the album was horrible. I just think it's better to do a whole album."

Mustard got noticeably upset when Barili asked about people comparing his music to hip hop from the San Francisco Bay Area, which is commonly known as hyphy. Adopting a sarcastic tone, Mustard said he never sits down and says, "you know what guys, I'm finna make some shit that sounds like a Bay track." He said he loves Too $hort and E-40 (probably the two biggest Bay Area hip hop stars), but categorizing his sound by region is not something he's interested in doing: "That's not what matters to me. What matters to me is I got a $30,000 watch on my wrist, I got some $5000 earrings in my ears, and I got 8% of the Hot 100." With Mustard's trademark ratchet sound seeming more and more like the official soundtrack to 2014, it's hard to argue with him.

Check out more of DJ Mustard's music and videos right here on Zumic.

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