On Thursday (Aug. 17), NBA YoungBoy shared a short vlog that shows him hanging with family, recording new music, and more. Past collaborator Birdman also appeared in the clip to provide his perspective on the current state of the hip hop and who can fix it.
“We need you, bruh. This s**t watered down, man. The f**k, man?” said the Cash Money Records head honcho via FaceTime, to which the Baton Rouge talent agreed. “Man, this s**t too watered down, bruh… We gotta save hip hop, bruh. Nephew, gotta save this s**t, bruh. Real talk.”
It isn’t as if YoungBoy hasn’t been a regular contributor. In 2023, the Motown-signed talent delivered the albums I Rest My Case, Don’t Try This At Home, and Richest Opp before the year’s halfway mark even arrived. He was also a major contributor for the July compilation Never Broke Again Presents: Green Flag Activity, Vol. 2. His feature game continues to remain high via appearances on recent drops like Shy Glizzy’s “Fools Fall N Love,” Yeat’s “Shmunk,” Bailey Zimmerman and Dermot Kennedy’s “Won’t Back Down,” Joyner Lucas’ “Cut U Off,” Lil Tjay’s “Project Walls,” and iLoveMakonnen’s “Parasites.”
In an interview with Billboard, Birdman opened up about his admiration for YoungBoy’s prolific work ethic. “Watching how fast he do music and the value of the music, I saw a lot of similarities between him and [Lil Wayne],” he stated. “I seen stardom in him, but I knew it was a process… I once was somebody like him and had to gamble my life. I wanted to show him that he could really survive off his talent. You could go to jail, or you could die, or you could try to be somebody.”
Check out YoungBoy and Birdman’s exchange in the aforementioned vlog below.