Migos talk ‘Culture II’, working with Pharrell, Nicki and Cardi collab
Nue Agency, a company that brings artists, brands, and technology together, reestablished their CRWN series in an expansive interview with Migos on the release date of their third studio album Culture II.
I exchanged a couple of emails with Jesse Kirshbaum, CEO of Nue Agency and co-creator/executive producer of the CRWN series, about bringing their program back.
“CRWN is about getting the hottest, most relevant artists at their hottest, most relevant times. Occasionally we like to go left of center with some nostalgia to keep the people on their toes and pay homage to some legends, but for the most part we stay in our lane with CRWN and keep it the #1 interview show in the culture.”
Jesse explained to me why the Migos were the ideal artists for this inaugural (re-inaugural?) event:
“Migos were the perfect fit to bring back CRWN with! They’re on top of the game right now and the #1 group in hip-hop, so it was only right we kicked off the year by CRWN-ing the Kings. Stay tuned to see what else we have cooking for 2018!”
As for the event itself, Elliott Wilson spoke to the Migos about Culture II, expanding their sound, their relationship with their Quality Control label, and Offset’s recent engagement.
I’ve seen a bunch of Migos interviews before, but for whatever reason, the CRWN event was the most effective and engaged interview of the North Atlanta trio that I’ve seen.
I was lucky enough to be one of the roughly 100 people in the SubCulture venue on Bleecker a couple of Fridays ago, here are some of the best gems from the interview.
It was time to give the fans what they needed on Culture II
Culture II was released almost a year to the date after Culture and in the meantime Migos had individually jumped on features and made collaboration albums outside the group. Elliott Wilson asked Quavo, Takeoff, and Offset about a “click” that told them they need to get back in the booth as a group.
Offset was quick to say there wasn’t a specific moment, everyone knew it was time to get back to work together:
“It wasn’t no click, it’s just been a year since we gave our fans we love what they want, we needed to give them a new product. We been doing a lot of features, we did our own little projects real quick, but it’s time to get back to the basics where it started and where it begun because every time it comes to this, ain’t nothing bigger than this.”
Having Nicki Minaj and Cardi B together on “Motorsport”
As for putting Nicki and Cardi on the same track, Migos said they were the perfect group to make it happen. Quavo said of “Motorsport”:
“Just the girl power is so strong on that record. We just had to make it happen. You know my boy [Off]Set having the flavor and having the queen so we had to do what we had to do.”
Wilson pressed Migos about supposed drama that would come from having Nicki and Cardi on “Motorsport”. Offset was quick to nip that in the bud:
“Wasn’t no drama around the record, I feel like it was a ‘Had-To-Do’ record, everyone knew they had a job to be done and we got the job done.”
Quavo went on to claim that Migos aren’t scared of teaming up with huge stars:
“Only ones to do it. Everybody else was probably scared to make that happen, we up for the challenges, up for making the big moments and up for getting all the All-Stars in one room.”
Pharrell kept the “Stir Fry” beat for 10 years
When Wilson asked Migos about Pharrell’s “Stir Fry” beat, Quavo said that Pharrell had been holding the beat since 2008…
“Pharrell said, let me tell you what he said. He said ‘I been saving this beat for y’all ever since 2008.’ So some for some reason, he probably had a dream that Migos gon’ pull up 2k17 in they crazy suits and all they ice… he was waiting on it.”
Wild.
Quality Control giving the foundation
Speaking about their label Quality Control, Migos explained how teaming up with Coach K and Pee took their career to the next level. Quavo explained:
“[Migos were] on the North Side and then a little buzz got up then they came in and when they came in, they made it global. We could have been local but the shit was global. And solid foundation, and they kept it 100 with us the whole time.”
Takeoff (who is notably the quietest member of the group) further explained their dynamic with QC:
“They real family, they showed us things, taught us a whole bunch of things that we didn’t know, and showed us the way.”
Quavo continued:
“Show you really the the inside of the game, know what I mean, let you know what’s real and fake. It’s important to get information from people and big dogs.”
That near brawl with Joe Budden
Wilson asked Migos if Budden’s previous treatment of Lil Yachty was the reason for their rather, uh, unenthusiastic interview at the BET Awards.
Offset confirmed that to be the case:
“That’s the main source to everything, that’s our little brother. Ain’t no pickin’ on goin’ on. We’re just not tolerating no aims at QC. We worked too hard for that, for you to try to tear it down.”
Don’t come for the QC family!
To check out the whole CRWN interview, jump over to Tidal.