There was a time when to compete with Lil Wayne was futile. He was scorching every verse he jumped on, and taking every beat to the morgue. He’s not at the same level as he was during his 2005-2009 run, but still very competitive. 2 Chainz knows this and saw it as a challenge when the two did their collaborative album ColleGrove.
“You just can’t be slumping,” he tells Rolling Stone when asked if he got competitive in the studio. “This is not a place to come slump around. You gotta bring your A game. This album has very little melodic type vibes. There’s rapping on here. You want to hear some rapping you need to get ColleGrove, if you want to hear some rap shit?”
2 Chainz also told the music mag that we need all types of rap nowadays. “I love Hip Hop. I love that Hip Hop is such a wide range, so universal. I love the fact that we got melodic, I love the fact that we got the Auto-Tune, I love the fact that we got mumbles.… I mean, when I first got on the phone I was getting out the shower and I was jammin’ Bryson Tiller.”
Later in the interview, he returns to that competition aspect when asked if he was mad that Kendrick Lamar released Untitled Unmastered on the same day as him. “I knew Kendrick was coming out the same day. I had the opportunity to change. That’s what the game needs. I know what this project is to anyone who listens to it. I’m actually a fan of the boy too.”