During a recent episode of Math Hoffa’s “My Expert Opinion,” Don Cannon revealed that Jeezy and JAY-Z’s classic collaboration “Go Crazy” was originally a T.I. throwaway.
“When we first started with Tip, when I made the beat [for] ‘Go Crazy,’ [it] was his beat,” he said. “I don’t know if everybody knew that. He freestyled on [DJ Drama‘s] tape, and ain’t really do nothin’ with it. And that led to Jeezy hittin’ me up later like, ‘What’s up wit’ that beat? Cash me out for it.'”
After some prodding, Cannon reiterated the story with additional detail. “Tip freestyled on the beat, it was at the end of Drama‘s mixtape. When we did [the] Trap or Die release party in Atlanta, [I] think it was at 112 or Riviera at the time, I played that freestyle eight, nine times in the club. And Drama could probably co-sign this,” he continued. “Jeezy was over there, he walked up like, ‘Yo! What’s that? I need that!’ I knew the beat was special.”
Even more surprising was that, before the aforementioned parties did, another burgeoning talent had dibs on a different iteration of said instrumental. “We had an artist named Willie The Kid, he had the beat first. I was trying to figure out how to get my East Coast bounce to match down south, you know, what they were trying to do. So the original ‘Go Crazy’ beat had breakbeat drums on it. So it wasn’t really [for the club],” Cannon added.
Eventually, the final version of the song would end up on Jeezy‘s double platinum LP, Let’s Get It: Thug Motivation 101, an album that would quickly position the CTE head honcho as one of the biggest hip hop artists of his generation. The single also peaked at No. 22 on Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. Check out Don Cannon’s breakdown of the iconic track below.