It’s been a minute since we heard from one of ‘Ye’s G.O.O.D Music soldiers, Cyhi The Prynce. With all the hype and talk lately regarding the collective’s joint album, Cruel Summer, it would be easy to forget that these guys still have their own records to work on. For Cyhi, that comes in the form of the Ivy League Club, a 21-track mixtape that dropped Tuesday night, which includes some bangers (the groovy, Illusive Orchestra-produced Tool, the ATLlien anthem, A-Town) and enough features and production to consider this as an actual album, with the likes of Big Sean, Schoolboy Q, Yelawolf, Chris Brown, and production from the likes of Mike Will, super-producer and rapper, Hit-Boy, Lex Luger, and Drumma Boy to name a few. Going with the more clean, classy and prestigious vibe –hence, Ivy League– Cyhi’s latest ‘tape gives us a glimpse to what type of craziness the monster crew aka G.O.O.D Music is about to put out. Mr. Got-Bread-Like-Quizinos (remember the infamous G.O.O.D cypher?) caught up with KarenCivil.com and chatted about all-things G.O.O.D, the actual release date of his long-awaited album, and what a ratchet 808’s beat really is.

Interview by Michael Nguyen

It must have been a hectic past 24 hours for you.

Yeah, man. It’s going really well.

Ivy League Club just dropped. How has the initial reaction been for the fans, blogs, producers, fellow artists, everyone?

It’s really overwhelming right now. I kind of knew that it would have a certain effect, but it’s going really well. I’m very proud of my work and we keep it moving forward.

We know that Ivy League schools have that prestigious, luxurious, high-class, upper-level reputation. Is that the type of vibe you were aiming for with this mixtape?

Yeah. My vibe was, you know, I don’t make much club-driven music. I’m more hip-hop. What I wanted to do was add a little intelligence over the ratchet 808 beats. [Laughs] That was my goal. I wanted to sound very prestigious but at the same time, very hood.

What’s a ratchet 808’s beat?

You know, you have beats like Primo and Alchemist –things that are more traditional hip-hop. Then you have the Mike Will, and Lex Lugers who add the gritty, dark stuff. What I wanted to do was to take the lyricism that I would use over a Primo or Just Blaze track and put it over on top of a Mike Will beat.

So it was more of you wanting a mix of grimy and clean shit as well.

Right. I wanted lyrics to be clean but the music to be grimy.

You talked about club music earlier. You think there’s too much club music in hip-hop right now?

I mean, when I was growing up, I listened to stuff that wasn’t traditionally club music. Now, it’s like when you’re in the car, you feel like you’re in the club. [Laughs] When you’re in the car, you feel like you want to pop a bottle in the car.

One of the songs that stood out to me was “Tool.” That was sort of a unique and different sound for any rap record. Was that more of you experimenting with different sounds or what?

It’s funny because “Tool” because every time I turned on that song, that was the way I would sing it. Then I wanted to give it an educated opinion on why guys from the streets carry guns. I didn’t want it to be arrogant like, “Yeah, we shoot everybody.” I didn’t want to sound like that. I wanted to sound like what’s the reason for doing what we do or indulging in activities that we indulge in. I felt that was a good explanation for it.

I noticed there were a bunch of features on there. Did you ever worry about having too many names on your own mixtape?  

Well, originally I wanted to incorporate people because when I walk in the club, I would see somebody like Trouble or Big Sean. I wanted to make it feel like it was a club on the actually mixtape, too. I wanted to invite people to make it feel cohesive and break up the monotony of the sound.

Honestly, with the names you have on there –features and production-wise– you must’ve spent a lot on this mixtape.

[Laughs] Yeah, yeah. Absolutely.

Do you look at Ivy League Club as a mixtape? Just because of the quality of the songs, the features and production might make it more in the realms of an actual album. Like you went all out for this.

Yeah. I wanted people to understand that what you hear from my mixtape is only half of me or a quarter of me. I want them to understand how my album is going to take place. If you see me doing this on my mixtape, how I take time and come up with creative ideas, my album is going to be 10 times more. It’s still going to have the same attributes and the same foundation that my mixtape has. It’s going to be astronomical.

Speaking of albums, everybody’s dying to know when your official album will drop. Let us know what’s happening with that.

Which album? The G.O.O.D Music album or my album.

Your album.

Well, I’m looking into the first quarter. The rest of the year is going to be spent building on my brand, touring, doing features, things like that. I want to get my name to that spot where it’s like a household name. I’m actually working on it right now. I’m in the beginning stages so that’s my plan.

So there’s no timeline as of yet?

No, no timeline as of yet but it’s for the first quarter.

Moving on to the other album, Cruel Summer, it is slated to come out soon. What type of craziness should people expect from Kanye and company? 

Oh man. That right there –what you see me doing, with what I have and the tricks you see me doing – imagine Kanye and me, Big Sean, Common, Pusha T, 2 Chainz, Teyanna [Taylor]. It’s a collaboration of great artists. It’s not no compilation. It’s really going to be an album.

What do you think of this day and age where you have all these rap groups going at it for the top spot. Like G.O.O.D Music, MMG, Young Money, etc. How does that impact hip-hop as well as your mentality when you hit the studio?

Well, that’s the fun part of it. A lot of them might take it too seriously. We’re all like superheroes. It’s like, we’re Captain Planet, the Power Rangers, and they’re like Marvel Comics, you got Batman and Spiderman. Everybody is like their own character coming out. Everybody is like their own artist.

Is that competition good for hip-hop?

As long as they keep it professional, it’s cool. I mean, everything is camp-driven. When ‘Ye started out, there weren’t a lot of new camps bringing together artists. Now you have Ross and his team, Kanye’s team, Kendrick Lamar and his Section 80, and Young Money. You have a bunch of different crews. It’s cool but we already know what we do.

You’re obviously going to have a biased opinion, but do you think when Cruel Summer drops, G.O.O.D Music is going to be at the top of the game?

I always thought we were at the top of the chain. You have to understand what type of artists we are. Fortunately, we learn from our boss. He likes to keep us prestigious. He likes to keep the shock value up. You don’t see Kanye doing radio, interviews, you don’t see him showing up at your local club. A lot of people feel like the more that they see are the ones that are winning. Y’all see who won the awards.

What type of conversations do you and Kanye have? What type of atmosphere does he create when you’re together?

It’s always creative. We will rarely talk about our personal lives and stuff like that. We sometimes do, but afterwards we’ll take that and turn it into something creative.

Like putting your life story or experiences and translating that behind the mic in the studio.

Yeah. Like ‘Ye is creative all the time. He’s creative when he wakes up, goes to the restaurant, drives the car. He always thinks about how to make things better.

Do you think G.O.O.D music’s versatility separates you guys from all the other rap groups?

Absolutely it does.

How so?

Well, my style is more southern hip-hop. 2 Chainz is more rap-southern. Pusha T gives you a real dope voice and intelligence. Then you have Big Sean who’s our young, fun, playa cat. Cudi is like our rager, rock guy. When we wear black, he wears white. He’ll get in trouble for it and he knows it [Laughs]. Then you have Common with the conscious rap and gives you real-life values. I think we’re a well-rounded team.

Follow Cyhi The Prynce on Twitter
Download Ivy League Club
Interview by Michael Nguyen