Nipsey Hussle‘s 2018 album Victory Lap was the last body of work he released before his untimely death – and producer MyGuyMars and the 1500 or Nothin’ collective were behind it all.
In a new interview with HipHopDX published on Friday (March 31), Mars recalled the intense work that was put into the effort that has been lauded by many as a classic. But according to Mars – almost everybody thought it wouldn’t even see the light of day.
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“I definitely remember the conversations [about Victory Lap] from Nip, but I remember more-so the conversations from everybody else saying it’s not coming out,” MyGuyMars told DX‘s Jeremy Hecht. “It was crazy because he had an era where he was low-key blackballed and then you know, a gangsta from L.A. is not the most accepted internationally. So it was like the odds were really against us so we had to do more than anybody else to break these records, to break him.”
He continued: “It was even songs like the songs that y’all hear now, we had to go in and really treat ourselves like if we were the other producers. We were competing with ourselves. Like take the beat out and do another beat or take the vocal and try something else. So I think with Nipsey having that energy and us challenging each other, that’s what made the songs the greatest songs and the greatest stories and people feel like, ‘Dang, I’m riding on Crenshaw right now,’ or, ‘I could see the songs and it sound like it look!’ Because he was very intentional like you said about how he wanted to convey the things and because we knew that info we were able to convey it sonically.”
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Later in the conversation, MyGuyMars elaborated on the studio sessions that ultimately created the synergy on the album.
“You’ll walk in the studio and it’s just, ‘Why is there a horn section over there? Are we working on gangsta music or what are we working on?’ It’s all kind of computers. We making setups [anywhere and everywhere],” he recalled. “The pressure and everything was on to create the best that you can create while you’re in there. And you’re around the best creatives too so it was like, the pressure is on yourself but then you’re also looking up like, ‘Nah I can’t let nobody outwork me. That’s how you get the best environments.”
“We studied what Dre was doing that with Doggystyle, The Chronic. These are classic projects and we wanted to do a classic project and that was Nip’s whole thing. He was like, ‘In order to do a classic project, I have to have my main producers and establish a sound.’ So like anything that happened, it came through us. Even if it was outside producers – if we had to retouch the beats, if we had to remake the beats. But that’s why I feel like the energy was so fire because you had to come with your A-game or don’t come in the studio.”
Released on February 16, 2018, Victory Lap debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 with 53,000 album-equivalent units. It later went on to be certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and was even nominated for Best Rap Album at the 2019 Grammy Awards. It ultimately lost to Cardi B‘s Invasion Of Privacy, however.
Last year, Diddy revealed he’d actually executive produced the project. Despite not being credited initially, he later was able to fix the error and receive his just due for the work he put in.
“He was like, I want you to mentor me,” he said in an interview with Los Angeles’ Real 92.3. “Nip had no ego. Nip came to me saying, ‘I want you to mentor me, I want to get into real estate. I want you to teach me, all your business secrets!’ I was like, whatever you got questions, pull up!
“People do not know this, somebody tried to jerk me but I fixed it. A lot of people don’t know this, I’m actually one of the executive producers of Nipsey Hussle’s last album. A lot of people don’t know this, we got them to change it in Wikipedia. Somebody at the label tried to leave my name out but he came to me and said, ‘I want you to be a part of helping me finish up this album.’”
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He continued: “So I was a part of not just the records I was on with him on his last album, he was like, ‘Yo, I’m a big fan of Life After Death. I know you got that vibe but I’m bringing that vibe. My stuff has a West Coast sound but also a Bad Boy sound. I really need you to come out and help me out with this.’
“That’s why I have so much footage of us in the studio because the last five days of him finishing the album, he said, ‘Would you come on as one of the executive producers?’ We had started really getting extra close and tight and then everything happened.”
