When Jeezyreleased the tracklist for his upcoming studio album Pressure, fans immediately took note of the big-name features, including everyone from 2 Chainz and Puff Daddy to Kodak Black and Rick Ross. It's a pretty star-studded project, overall; however, there is one collaboration that has generated an incredible amount of buzz: “American Dream” with J. Cole and Kendrick Lamar.
Hopes are understandably high. The two hip-hop heavyweights have appeared on several tracks with one another, including Cole’s “Forbidden Fruit,” Trae Tha Truth’s “I’m on 2.0,” and DJ Khaled’s “They Ready.” They’re also rumored to have a collaborative project in the vault, but it'll probably never see the light of day.
Since the tracklist’s unveiling, there has been a lot of speculation surrounding the “American Dream” record. What will it sound like and what kind of message will it convey? Judging by the track’s name and the rappers’ politically charged lyrics, fans are expecting the cut to tackle the prominent social issues. But it’s anyone’s guess at this point.
What we do know, however, is that the beat was crafted by SoundSmith, a Toronto-based team of producers who spoke about the highly anticipated record in a recent interview with HipHop-N-More.
Team member Mac explained how it all came together.
“Well really I had a relationship with DJ Folk who is Jeezy’s right hand man. I built a relationship with Folk over time and have been sending records to him for past almost half a decade now. That was one of the records I had sent him and he really liked so kept it in pocket,” he said. “When it was the right time, he made Jeezy hear it and he ended up loving it. They wanted to get some features on it and those happened to be Kendrick and Cole.”
SoundSmith member Y-Not then revealed the beat sampled a song by Bilal, a Philadelphia singer-songwriter who has become one of Kendrick’s most frequent collaborators.
“I don’t know if I can speak on the exact sample, but I can tell you that the artist behind the sample is Bilal,” Y-Not said.
Though they didn’t want to reveal too much, Mac reassured fans the track will be one for the books.
“Yeah, I haven’t heard the final version of the song in its entirety but I’ve heard the majority of it and I can tell you it’s something that fans are going to really like,” he said. “Just wait for it.”
You can read the full interview at HipHop-N-More. Jeezy's Pressure is set to release Dec. 15.
