Rae Sremmurd's "Black Beatles" recently catapulted all the way to the top of the Billboard 200 thanks in part to the Mannequin Challenge, but a lot of it also came down to how damn fantastic that hook is. In a new interview with Rolling Stone, Swae Lee spoke about how the song came to be and how they recorded it three days before their album was due.
Speaking about the creation of the song, Swae explained, "Mike Will had made a bunch of beats—his latest batch—and then I heard that beat." He continued, "I was like, 'Yo, that beat is so crazy.'" As for how Gucci Mane got on the track, he said, "Mike Will was in the studio with Gucci Mane—as soon as Gucci Mane was out [of jail], they was cookin' up 'cause they go way back. So Mike Will said [to Gucci], 'Lemme play this join from Rae Sremmurd.' Gucci said, 'Man, I rock with them young boys.' Boom—he laid his verse down. It's like we had a complete band. 'Black Beatles.' It barely made our album."
When asked about if him and Slim Jxmmi's opinion on the Beatles, he said, "We always liked their tunes; the whole movement, their style. But that's just one reference that came to mind. In a lot of [our] songs, we try to sound like heavy metal. Just loud. We have a lot of music with rock & roll references. And we live our lifestyles like rock stars."
When asked about how he reacted when he saw that Paul McCartney did the Mannequin Challenge, he explained just how excited he was, saying, "So I was on my tour bus, and I woke up and check my Twitter, and everybody was hitting me up with 'Paul McCartney did the Mannequin Challenge!' I'm like 'What song did he play?' That was the first thing I was thinking!"
He explained further, saying, "He played 'Black Beatles' and it just blew our minds! 'Cause when you've reached a real Beatle, it's the ultimate co-sign. It's like dang, respect. We reached a real Beatle and it's crazy. And the fact that he said 'Love those black Beatles,' it's crazy."
He also revealed that this wasn't their first interaction with Paul McCartney, either: "The first time we went to Coachella with Mike Will, before we blew up, we met Paul McCartney, and he gave us some uplifting words of wisdom. We were humbled. It was a rock star moment to have this dude telling us that. He didn't even know us, but he was just talking to us. I guess it was our aura or I don't know what it was. He just took the time to speak with us before we even made the song. It was crazy."
Of course, Swae also detailed what his favorite Mannequin Challenge has been so far, and besides McCartney, he said his favorite came from a dog. Read the full interview here, and watch his favorite Mannequin Challenge video below.
My dog has the best #mannequinchallange pic.twitter.com/qaUvj5JOXN
