Fresh off the release of his new album Punk and a pair of Travis Barker-backed Saturday Night Live performances, Young Thug dropped by the Breakfast Club headquarters for an hour-long discussion that opened with a reflection on his previous issues with Charlamagne.
Asked what kept him “away from the Breakfast Club all these years,” Thug initially said he didn’t know before pointing to his and Charlamagne’s “misunderstanding.” From there, Thugger noted his previous comments against CTG—which were spurred by Birdman’s infamous appearance on the show in 2016—were “all talk” at the time.
“That was all talk,” Thug said. “I never understood, like, how could it go so, how could it seem so far. We all just talking shit. … I was kinda young back then. I ain’t understand blogging back then. You know, I was so young and fresh in the game to the point that I didn’t understand this shit and how important it is.”
About three minutes into the interview, Thug—who’s 30—said he’s “pretty old now” and has since grown out of “arguing on the internet,” among other things.
“None of that shit never really meant nothing,” he said. “Back then it did, though, because I was new to the industry. I was so mad at you because I was like, I was fresh out of the ghetto. I was fresh off of poverty.”
Later, around the 7:55 mark, he was asked by Charlamagne to reveal what 2021 Young Thug would tell 2011 Young Thug. “You were right,” Thug responded. “I was always good at that. Like, influencing [and] dressing. Just, like, being the big homie. I was always good at that. I was, like, the big dog in my hood before rap. I was the youngest big dog at like 16. I was 16 years old, running the whole hood. I dealt with that my whole entire career. Life, basically, before my career.”
Deeper into the interview, Thug was hit with an inquiry about Donda, namely why he wanted to be on the latest Kanye West album “so bad.” Thug pushed back against this interpretation, then connected his Donda push to the larger issue of the plethora of unreleased music he and Kanye have together.
“It ain’t that I wanted to be on it so bad,” he said around 28 minutes in. “It’s just like, bro, we got 100 songs. Put them motherfucking songs out. … You’re a billionaire. You’re at the point where it’s like, you don’t need none of this shit. We do though.”
Thug added that if he were at the billionaire level of Kanye or Jay-Z, he would have “more features than anybody in the world” as part of an effort to help new artists. “That’s what I respect about Drake,” he said, adding that the Certified Lover Boy artist takes this approach in a “genuine” way.”
Toward the end of the interview, around 57 minutes in, Thug was asked about the current status of his working relationship with Lil Wayne. This prompted him to reveal they’ve been in the studio a few times together as of late. “We got a few songs together, supposed to be working on this album shit,” Thug said. “I told him, like, you know, you’re my idol. We just gotta do an album.”
Asked about any prior issues, in addition to fan assessments that he was trolling Weezy at various points in his career, Thug pushed back. “Trolling a n***a is corny,” he said. “Trolling is corny. I don’t think I ever was trolling him. I really wanted to be like him but it seemed like I was trolling him.”
According to Thug, he and Wayne have since had a brief conversation—put together by Birdman—to clear the air and nowadays everything is good between them.
Catch the full interview—which also includes insight on the power of mystique, “Way 2 Sexy,” Punk, and more—up top. And for the recent Complex interview with Thug, click here.
