As the masses chuckled at the cancellation of his polarizing reality show, Shawty Lo was already stirring another pot, prepping for the release of his 14th mixtape, I’m Da Man 4, which dropped on Tuesday (February 26). The Atlanta rapper rarely rests on the laurels of his past hits for too long. There’s too much left to be done.
On Wednesday night (February 27), Lo held a listening session at Hot Beats Studios in Midtown Atlanta where he played IDM 4 three times in its entirety. “My favorite track on I’m Da Man is probably one through 17,” he tells Hip-Hop Wired, “It’s hard to choose man…” In recording the tape, the “New Money” creator revealed that he was ready with more than 100 songs. “I got so many songs that the next mixtape may be dropping within the next two months,” he boasts with a grin, “I wanted to drop one every month but they said it was too fast.”
Although he doesn’t necessarily need to, Lo can rely on the rapport between most A-Town artists to help create southern-fried smashes, keeping his D4L imprint in the loop years after the snap music sub-culture waned in popularity. “People just fall in [to the studio],” he shares, “Whether I’m at my studio, Gucci [Mane]’s studio, at Patchwerk or here at Hot Beats, the city’s so big with artists, it’s really just about the timing.”
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Photo: G-Unit/D4L
Lo’s concern wasn’t getting the bigger names on this project, but figuring out a way to include his family in the process as well. Within the next few months, The D4L founder says that the entire group has solo endeavors on the way as well as a group project. “It was important to get D4L [the group] on this project because basically people tried to separate us back in the day,” he says, “But D4L means Down 4 Life so if we gon’ be apart we wouldn’t be down for life. We’re back together now and we all got projects.”
“I don’t wanna put out an album when I ain’t hot or the album ain’t gon’ sell.”
The D4L founder claims that though he knew the direction he planned on following in the tape’s production, it was the encouragement from unlikely sources that cemented its final tracklisting. “With the ‘Yeah U’ record, my assistant was in the studio and I was just going through all this music that my engineer was playing,” he recalls, “The ‘Yeah U’ record came on but it was just a hook about two months ago. She stopped me like, ‘You need to put that on your tape coming out! That’s a hit, the girls gon’ love it.’”
A few days later while at Gucci Mane’s studio, Lo says that one of Atlanta’s most promising up and comers Rich Homie Quan was in attendance to jump on the track. Later, he emailed the file to Plies and the Florida rapper didn’t hesitate to add his signature to the song as well. Shawty Lo’s affinity for moderating the best collaborative efforts is one of his strongest points and quite possibly the biggest reason 50 Cent felt the need to court the D4L imprint two years ago.
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Since signing to the Queens MC in 2011, Shawty Lo has maintained that the connection is based on the very real notion that two business-minded people can come from two different worlds, ultimately meeting in the middle to break bread. According to Lo, he’s had complete creative control thus far while in this dual partnership with 50 Cent’s G-Unit imprint. “I sent it up to 50 and everyone at the label as soon as I did it,” he says, “I like to get everyone’s opinion. 50 loves it.” When asked about whether or not the Street King has applied any pressure for him to release an album, Lo is refreshingly honest about the reason he’s in no hurry. “There’s no pressure. I don’t want to put out an album,” he says simply, “Me and 50 have a 50/50 partnership…”
“I’m the CEO of my label,” he adds, “But before I put out an album, I’d like to be… Um, I want to be hot. I don’t wanna put out an album when I ain’t hot or the album ain’t gon’ sell.” Wiser words have never been spoken.
With a clear goal in mind, Shawty Lo is already working towards having a pretty hot summer. The visuals for “Petition” and “New Money” have already made their mark on the Internet and the upcoming release of the “Duffle Bag” video should keep the momentum going. He may even go on tour and Lo says anything could happen. “Whatever the streets demand, I’m doing,” he vows, “I ain’t gon’ stop. I got plans for the whole GHF/D4L movement. G-Unit.”
