- Atlanta has been, as far as the music scene
and the culture scene, Atlanta been like on top
for like two decades, you know what I'm saying?
And we just keep passing the baton to each other.
We keep sharing money and followers and everything.
You know what I'm saying?
And it just works out for the city.
- 2 Chainz!
- [2 Chainz] Yeah!
(R&B music)
- Coming off his 6th studio album,
you got no other than my player partner, 2 Chainz.
(flames whoosh)
(liquid pours)
You smoke cigars?
I you smoke, you feel me?
- I'm gonna need a few lessons in it,
I ain't gonna lie.
You had to really put me down with it.
- OG now, you OG.
- Don't inhale, they tell me
don't inhale. - No sir.
You better not.
'Cause you gone go to hell.
You feel me?
Mhm, there you go.
There you go.
- See, I saw you twirling it
look like a real player. - Yeah, yeah.
2 Chainz, since you're the guest bro.
Going to make the toast.
What are we toasting to?
- We're gonna toast to prosperity.
- Yes, sir.
- Yeah, more wins. - More wins.
- Love and happiness.
- [Cam] Hello. - All right, amen.
- And goodbye.
Six studio albums.
- Yeah. - [Cam] Right?
- Yeah.
- College Park, Colle Park for folks who really from-
- [2 Chainz] Yeah, from the South side
that's how we pronounce it.
- South Side, you feel it, pronounced with an f
but it's spelled with th.
- Yeah.
- You dig what I'm saying?
What motivates you, bro?
- My family.
Knowing I got other mouths to feed.
I love that.
Knowing I got to take care of other people.
I love that.
I got a mama that's still alive.
70 years young.
You know what I'm saying?
She enjoys going to my restaurants
and my clubs and hanging out my uncles,
you know what I'm saying?
My aunts, cousins, you know what I'm saying?
My wife and kids, I just like taking care of people.
And in order to take care of people
and to maintain the lifestyle, I gotta work for it.
- Yes, sir.
How has Atlanta affected you in your and your maturation?
Not only through the rap game, not only for your career,
but just the influence that you've had,
the wave that you've done created,
you know what I'm saying?
Over the years?
- I mean, Atlanta has been,
as far as the music scene and the culture scene,
Atlanta has been like on top for like two decades,
you know what I'm saying?
And we just keep passing the baton to each other.
We keep sharing money and followers and everything.
You know what I'm saying?
And it just works out for the city.
And so for me, me being from here
I use a lot of my experiences to tell stories
and to really cash out on.
It's really crazy.
So a lot of my darkest nights
they more like investments you know what I'm saying?
And they end up paying off down the end.
- That's right.
(R&B music)
I think something that was hella dope.
Not a lot of people can say they worked with LeBron
but you guys collabed together for your album.
- Basically what the thing with LeBron was
I was putting out, I put out an album called
"Rap or Go to the League."
It was a statement that I put out
that actually was contrary to what I was saying.
I was basically saying, you don't have to rap
or go to the league to be successful
as a African-American or black person.
You know what I'm saying?
- Right.
- And it was saying like,
it was basically saying kind of like,
what he was saying was more than an athlete
when he was trying to tell him to shut up and dribble
so we had like the same initiative and it, like,
it had a strong alignment and he loves music.
Like he's a basketball player to be on his level, man.
He really shares a lot of like intimate moments when he just
like kicking it in his Maybach or whatever car.
And he playin' everybody music.
- Everybody!
- You know what I'm saying?
And he like tagging them.
You know what I'm saying?
Knowing you helping the, he helping these folks.
He noticed. He know what he doing.
People don't do that, bro.
And so I really just celebrate him.
You know what I'm saying?
And adding value to both of us, it's just like
something he can put on his resume that he's done.
You know what I'm saying?
And I can always show my kids that I had my boy
in the studio just kind of like kicking it.
But you know, the main thing with him was just like
he heard a lot of the songs before they came out
and even now he's heard unreleased music.
It was just like me getting a strong opinion.
Like from him and a few others,
which I do with all my projects,
but I know how much he enjoys music.
- Yeah.
So for the record, folks don't understand
you've been in the game.
- Yeah, I've been in the game.
- You've had the success that you've had
for a long period of time.
What's the secret?
- Passion.
Passion, and the ability and the know how
to get the job done, but really just passionate.
Like I'm gonna go to the studio
as soon as I leave here.
I stayed in the studio till six o'clock this morning.
Know how people be like, "What days you work next week?"
I work every night.
- You know what I'm saying?
You dropped an album in the pandemic.
- Hard as hell.
- And super swell, young enough to be a, come on, man.
- [2 Chainz] Yeah, that one.
That's like-
- What was that whole process like?
You know, the music industry,
or not even that, just the creative of creating stuff.
People still being scared of this invisible monster
in Covid, you know what I'm saying?
What was that music that you created today?
Or was it just from the archives?
- Yeah, I worked through Covid.
I actually, it actually forced you to be more creative
'cause you had to use the things that you have
to get your point across.
So you can,
you couldn't like cast no models and stuff like that.
You couldn't go like borrow cars and all that stuff.
You got to use, you know, the items that you had.
So for me, it made my videos more dope.
It made my ideas more dope.
It made my, my album was to me when people listen to it
because of songs like "Quarantine Thick," "Grey Area,"
"Lambo Wrists,"
"Feel A Way," these like, these things
they sound like 2020, if that makes sense.
Like the only way you make a song called "Quarantine Thick"
is if you have to go through quarantine and you gain weight.
So, I mean, so these songs right here
like they kind of have a time mark to it.
Like 5 or 10 years when we look back,
you can hear these songs and kind of not
have to Google what year they came out
because of the stuff that I talk about
because I was doing it through the pandemic.
You know what I mean?
And I mean, it's people that's going through a lot
right now.
You know what I'm saying?
And I understand that.
And I respect that.
And even from where I am,
I'm doing what I can to help give back,
spread information, share information, you know,
people like us, we get approached with like all these
different investments, all of a sudden, like,
"Invest here, invest there,"
you know what I'm saying?
We probably partners on something and don't even know it.
You know what I'm saying?
So it's my job to try to have that trickle down
till, you know, some of the guys in the streets
who are just as educated, but don't have that no opportunity
and got the money too.
- [Cam] Yeah. - You know what I'm saying?
- Bro, one of the most creative things
that I probably ever seen you do, right?
And this is a person that I admire you from being
from the same area that I'm from,
being able to make it out.
You know what I'm saying?
Multimillionaire, a person that's multifaceted
and making money, not just in your profession
that everybody knows you from, but big into real estate.
Big into creating opportunities for many different people.
The thing that really caught my attention about you, bro
you went on tour in a damn wheelchair.
And sold that mother (beep) out.
- Yeah, I made about 11 million that tour.
Couldn't even stand up.
I got a plate in his leg.
So I was like, I had to keep it.
I had to keep it elevated like this.
'Cause it had to stay, you know, like-
- That was the "Pretty Girls Love Trap Music," tour?
- Yeah.
And the guy that made the wheelchair actually
passed away before the tour was over.
That album just clicked on all cylinders.
Like five records went platinum or above.
And it was just, I recorded that album differently
than I recorded any other project ever in the way I did it.
And it just, it worked.
It was weird how that worked.
- Like when you're in that mode of creating an album.
Take me to that place.
- I'm always working.
So I work every night, you know what I'm saying?
And what happens is I record, I record, I record.
And then I come up with a concept.
An album title and a concept.
And I try to fit everything under this umbrella
because you said earlier about how people put out singles.
I put out bodies of work and stuff.
- Yes sir.
- With my project, like I'm talking about,
I'm like I'm in Google going down like rabbit holes
and stuff like that.
I'm just like chasing information.
Whether it's old skits, people have,
I'm looking for the least views on certain videos.
I'm just like really digging for information.
Then I try to match the music up
with this concept or this message I'm trying to put across.
And I'm knowing that it's gonna catch and relate
whether it's not when I drop it years on down the road.
So that's my process.
The songs I do tonight might make an album next year
or this year, or they might not ever come out period.
You know what I'm saying?
But I'm going to record.
And the only way to know
if it's gonna be a good song is to record it.
- Let me ask you this.
From a person that's oblivious
to the structure of creating music
would you ever come out with another mix tape?
- I am, I'm about to.
So this is what happened.
I had songs left over from "So Help Me God."
And instead of doing a deluxe, which is like,
which is basically saying,
"Here go my leftover songs."
- [Cam] Right. - I'm just gonna do a mix tape
because I have another title.
And then I added like, it's gonna be short.
It's gonna be like maybe eight or nine songs
but it's going to be a mix tape.
- That's a great body of work.
- Yeah, yeah.
It still ain't no Frisbee.
It's just like-
- [Cam] No Frisbee.
- It ain't no Frisbee.
It's still like, it's little,
it's still going to playlists.
It's like, I got a couple of features on there.
There's gonna be like, oh yeah, whatever
whatever it was going to do.
But it's almost like a appetizer
or a commercial break before I dropped ColleGrove
but with myself and Wayne working on that right now.
So in the meantime, I'm just feeding the algorithm
of this whole system by putting out music that's still hot
and creative and keeping me, you know, me popping up
and stuff and then I'm gonna drop the whole thing
on them people real soon though, real real soon.
- So a lot of people know you as 2 Chainz
Take me through that transition when you was Tit.
Well really, you was Tity Boy, right?
Then you went to 2 Chainz.
And now you Toni.
- That's right.
- [Cam] You dig?
- Yeah, yeah, I'm Toni now.
- So take me through those different transitions.
Why, and where you at with that?
- Well I guess my why would be
in business every three years they do a re-evaluation
in a real company, in a fortune 500 company.
No one, very few people besides the CEO
stay in the same position, you know, for decades.
And so the reason for my initial name change
was very organic.
I was saying Tity 2 Chainz on my mixtape
but some, apparently I was wearing them.
But you know, I could look at people
when I told them my name was Tity Boy,
I could look at their facial expression.
You know what I'm saying?
I studied psychology in school.
So I can look at your body language.
You know what I'm saying?
In some cases, and I could tell that they
wasn't like even willing to give me an opportunity.
And these stories came out
after people found out that I was the same person.
You know what I'm saying?
And thought, you know, 2 Chainz was hard
and didn't even know Tity Boy was the same person.
- Right.
- When 2 Chainz came,
it was like fun to say, people enjoyed it.
You know what I'm saying?
And that all came with me recording every night
and putting out music and it just came super organically.
Didn't nobody name me that.
I don't even remember naming myself that
but I do remember doing a mix tape and telling Bigga Rankin
and he was saying, Tit, Tity, you know what I'm saying?
Tity Boy, I was like,
"Hey, make sure you say 2 Chainz and what makes you,"
you know I remember telling him like,
"Folks call me this too."
You know what I'm saying?
Cause like on the net, that's where it started it.
Once it started spreading-
- Old National for the lingo. - Yeah.
So when people in our neighborhoods
started calling you this name
it's like, this the name, same thing with Toni,
you know what I'm saying?
I've been getting called Toni for years.
It's an analogy to do with like
being in that game and all of that stuff.
They still call me Toni, you know what I'm saying?
Till this day.
You know what I'm saying?
It just, I started revealing that side
to the fans and they enjoyed it too.
- Yeah. Toni!
You feel me?
So that brings us to our nightcap question,
you know before we get outta here,
the thing that I ask every single guest
is the same question in a nightcap.
And I'm gonna ask you the same question.
It's kind of a three parter
but what's now and what's next for 2 Chainz?
Right.
And the last part is
is there something that you would like to do
that you haven't done yet?
- So what's now for 2 Chainz
is I'm trying to make wise and lucrative investments.
- [Cam] Yes, sir.
- So down the road they'll pay off and you know
I'm sure you just saw the picture
of Hol with his gold bottles and all that.
- Right, right.
- Yeah, I aspire those type of things
because I take those kind of risks to.
- What's next?
- I want to take acting lessons.
- You wanna act?
- Yeah, I want to take acting lessons.
That just reminded me I need to call the lady back.
I want to take acting lessons
'cause I just don't want to get into space
and not just be like seasoned because like
if I actually try to come into the studio and rap
I'll be pissed off the thing
or make a beat of thing over there.
- I just seen Idris Elba.
- [2 Chainz] I ain't see it though.
- He's he's dropping an album
- A lot of artists.
I mean, shoot Eddie Murphy dropped an album,
you know what I'm saying?
People drop albums.
- What's something that you would like to do
that you haven't done yet?
- Oh man.
I told somebody that I hadn't never snowboarded before,
I thought about that.
My friend Trevor Andrew sent me some snowboard stuff.
First of all, I kind of don't like being cold
but I kinda want to try it.
If that makes sense.
- But you rich, bro, you can do that-
- [2 Chainz] Just put snow in the yard, right?
- Now that's ridiculous.
- That's super rich.
- That's ridiculous now, you feel me?
- You did it before?
- [Cam] I have, I skied before.
- You skied?
- Snowboarding is more difficult.
You know what I'm saying?
'cause it takes-
- Which one for us tall athletes?
I thought that would be- - [Cam] Skiing.
- You think skiing 'cause we...
- [Cam] 'Cause you got two feet in there.
You can just sway side to side.
- Once you get the rhythm it's like that, for real?
What about when that thing going super fast though?
- You just open,
I believe you open your legs just to slow it down.
- Okay.
- Or it's one way or another.
But man, look, the fact is I would be remiss
if I ain't let you know
you know what I'm saying personally, how I felt about you.
You know what I'm saying?
I appreciate you for paving the way for dudes
like me coming out the city, you know what I'm saying?
And putting a microscope to the city
is more or less coming out of College Park.
A lot of people don't come out
from where we done came.
The Nat, you know what I'm saying?
Discount mall, Charlotte, Gabby road,
you see me Flat Shoals road.
You dig?
And you did it.
You're still doing it, man (beep).
I be drawing inspiration from the drip.
It's immaculate.
You know what I'm saying?
- Oh, nah, you be doing it.
Oh my god. What do you-
Boy...
- But people don't understand
that's just where we came from.
It's a lot of ways.
It's a lot of, it's a lot of-
- We care.
We really care how we look and what we put.
- [Cam] We got to put it together, you know?
- And they'd be like, you know,
such and such finna come out.
Like I don't care.
I was like, we finna go here.
People get like, "You gonna wear that?"
Yeah, that ain't, man...
- I'm gonna rock that (beep).
- [2 Chainz] Put it on.
I'm putting it on there.
- You can put it together, man.
Back way back when man, when you was
getting superlative at high school, bro,
you wanted to see who was the best,
who was best dressed.
You know what I'm saying, man?
But listen, bro, thank you man.
For blessing us at Sip 'N Smoke, man.
Cheers to that.
You dig what I'm saying? - Cheers brother.
- Boom.
And like I always say-
- Sip 'N Smoke, man.
Sip 'N Smoke, man.
Ain't nothing wrong with that.
- Like I always say to end the show, man,
one finger, one pinky, one thumb, one love man.
Appreciate you, my brother.
And we outta here.
(R&B music)
Yes sir!
(crew applauds)