Interview by Andreas Hale. Shot/edited by Shake.
Another artist yours truly and TheWellVersed chopped it up with at SXSW was the big homie Pooh. And during our discussion he talks about going from hip hop rookie to OG, working with up-and-coming artists (mainly Kendrick Lamar, Ab-Soul and Jay Rock a few years back) and his thoughts of maybe becoming an A&R for a record label once his career winds down.
I met Jay Rock first back in the Myspace days. (TDE President) Dave Free hit me up and wanted me and Phonte to do something back when Jay Rock was on Warner Records,” Pooh reflects. Although he had no idea who Jay Rock was, he did his research and learned that the TDE crew were fans of Little Brother. On a visit to California, Pooh and Big Dho decided to pay a visit to their studio. “That’s when I was first introduced to Ab-Soul and Kendrick Lamar. ScHoolBoy wasn’t part of the group yet. They just let me hear their music.”
He became a fan of what Ab Soul, Kendrick Lamar (then known as K Dot) and Jay Rock were cooking well before the internet had any idea who they were. Knowing that working with them could help them be exposed to more people, he decided that a collaboration was in order.“I ended up sending them a beat that Young RJ didn’t want to use anymore. I wanted Ab-Soul on it. Dave Free sent it back and said ‘I hope you don’t mind but everybody jumped on this’ and Kendrick stole the show.” The relationship was established. Many were introduced to Kendrick Lamar thanks to the Rapper Big Pooh collaboration “Thanksgiving” and were thankful that they listened — even if it was solely based off of the fact that Pooh was on the song. Since then, Big Pooh has continued to work with the TDE tandem.
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