Photo by JC Olivera/Getty Images for Universal Music Group
2 Chainz’s album Rap or Go to the League has several high-profile samples, including a pair on the assertive “I Said Me.” Producers 30 Roc and Dat Boi Squeeze used Richard Rogers' “My Favorite Things” with Julie Andrews, as well as Lonnie Liston Smith’s “A Garden of Peace,” which has a storied rap history dating back decades.
On “I Said Me,” 2 Chainz raps about his past and the difficult Atlanta neighborhood he hails from, while asserting that he doesn’t sugarcoat his criminal history from his daughter. He says:
Yeah, yeah, my daughter asked me what a drug dealer was
I said me, uh
When the lawyer asked me what a fuckin' killer was
I said me, uh
When the bitch asked me what a real nigga was
I said me, haha, yeah
The “My Favorite Things” sample is noteworthy because its melody is interpolated by Ariana Grande on “7 rings.” Elsewhere on the single, Grande uses a rap cadence that many compared to Chainz’s hit “Spend It.” 2 Chainz wound up appearing on the “7 rings” remix, while Grande returned the favor by singing the hook on his song “Rule the World.”
In his appearance on Genius' series For The Record, 2 Chainz explained that he knew Grande’s management and that they arranged a meeting between the rapper and singer to clear up the biting accusations, which led to the pair of collaborations. He said:
They set it up so we could actually meet and talk face-to-face… I think that kind of changed everything because I started getting what was going on, having a clear understanding of what was going on. She was more or less saying that, ‘Well, yeah, I thought people knew I took it from you.’ And I said, ‘Well how would people know that?’ It was just one of those things where I didn’t even know [she] was a fan of mine, and we built a rapport. I obviously did the remix, but she did a song for me first, actually.
2 Chainz is the latest in a lineage of MCs to flip “A Garden of Peace,” the 1983 track by jazz artist Lonnie Liston Smith. It also appears on JAY-Z’s 1996 track “Dead Presidents,” as well as Meek Mill’s “Respect the Game.”
On Instagram, 2 Chainz posted a tribute to JAY, calling him “a big inspiration for the culture.” He also told The Breakfast Club he tried to get JAY to appear on Rap or Go to the League, but it didn’t come together.
Watch the rest of 2 Chainz’s For The Record interview below.
Read the full lyrics to “I Said Me” and the rest of 2 Chainz’s discography on Genius now.
