You might not know his name, his face, or his music, but if you've ever heard "Gucci Gucci," you've probably sung along with his words. At least, that's what he claims. Speak! is 25-year-old rapper Anthony Negrete, who started ghostwriting for others after a frustrating struggle to get his own music heard. After learning that Kreayshawn had directed Lil B's "Like A Martian," Speak went out to L.A. to shoot a video with her. They indulged in a four-day acid trip and never shot the video, but the two formed a bond and decided to work together.
In the Complex cover story on Kreayshawn, she asserts that Speak! played no role in the writing process, explaining, “Speak! is my brother and definitely helped me make the transition from freestyles to bars, but as far as him writing anything for me, that’s not true.”
But if you ask him, Speak! co-wrote Kreay's smash hit, along with her follow-up cut "Rich Whores," and he's currently working on tracks for No Doubt and Plies. In a recent meeting with LA Weekly, he shares what it's like to be the unknown guy behind the scenes of one of music's biggest viral hits.
On Working With Kreayshawn For The First Time:
"I told her to drop 16 on a song, and she was like, 'Uh, what do you mean?' So we sat down and hammered it out, and I taught her how to conceptualize and structure lines and put a filter on all the craziness."
On The Creative Process:
"We get high, play beats and freestyle. It's all super natural. And supernatural"
On Releasing His Own Music:
"When I put out my album, will the world care? Probably fucking not. That's humbling. It's depressing to have the world sing along to your every fucking word, and not care about you."
Speak's upcoming album, Inside Out Boy, is scheduled for a November 15 release. It is mixed entirely by Odd Future's Syd tha Kyd.
