Iamsu! On The Invasion, Working With 2 Chainz And Wiz Khalifa And Performing At Rock The Bells

Iamsu! is coming fresh out of the Bay Area, with a series of mixtapes under his belt with his most recent, Kilt 2, having just been re-released as a deluxe edition on LiveMixtapes. Kilt 2—as with much of Iamsu!'s material—was largely produced by the various members of The Invasion, the rapper's Bay Area production crew that boasts, in addition to himself, producers P-Lo, Jay Ant, Kuya Beats and Sage The Gemini. Like other up-and-comers—Joey Bada$$ and Pro Era come to mind—Iamsu! likes to keep much of his production in-house, relying on his closest friends and collaborators to craft and direct his sound. While Pharrell he personally credits Pharrell, Kanye and Snoop as his chief musical inspirations—he told XXL that Pharrell's beat for Jay Z's "Allure" is a particular favorite—each member of The Invasion brings a different sonic element to the table. Iamsu! swung through the XXL offices to discuss The Invasion, getting hit up on Twitter by 2 Chainz, and his reaction to being added to this year's Rock The Bells lineup.—Imani McIntyre

On Production Team The Invasion

"I met P-Lo and his brother in high school. We went to the same high school, and Jay went to high school in the next city. He was in a group that was popular in The Bay that was hella crackin. So we all looked up to him. He’s two years older than me. So we all looked up to him and I was like, ”Damn, they hella clean,” so I always wanted to make beats for his group. So that’s how it first started, I was making beats for his group, and then, make a long story short, we got older and things started changing and progressing and I started getting myself more out there and then we just decided to click up...make music together.

"My cousin was their manager; they had really started to take off. Like, they were doing shows in hella different cities and going out like that. And I always told my cousin like, “Please, listen to my beats,” woopty woop, and he’ll come by the house every day to come check on me and my mom and stuff and he would hear my beats, and he was starting to get really impressed, so I went to go make music with them and it just…it took off from there.

"[Everybody brings] different styles of production. For example Kuya Beats, he more-so samples records. We all do a little bit of everything, but his expertise, what he’s really good at, he’ll like—he has a big collection of vinyl, you know what I mean? So he samples records. And for me, for example, I could play the piano and stuff like that. So, I play instruments on top of samples and play stuff for people. ["On Citas" and "The Science"], that was Terrance Martin on the sax, but I played the piano. P-Lo has a lot of high-energy production, like, a lot of club bangers. He did the Yo Gotti  record, “Act Right,” and he did the Wiz Khalifa track “About Me." So he’s a lot of energy. Jay Ant makes kinda more somber, more—kinda like melancholy, just more chill kinda cloud music. That’s the best way to describe it, “cloud music.”

"We just [have] a lot of laughs, a lot of fun [in the studio]. That’s pretty much what we would do if it was working or not. That’s how we have fun—just go to somebody's house and make a beat, start rapping and making music. So...just us having just fun, laughing at random shit, and doing whatever.

"The best part about it is having my hand in every aspect. You know what I mean? I don’t want to leave nothing up for chance. Unless somebody else do it I don’t know how it's gonna come out, so I like being really hands-on. I don’t like rapping on too many other beats. Not that I wouldn’t in the future, but I like producing my own stuff. [But] if I don’t finish the beat in like 10 minutes, 10, 15 minutes then I’m—it’s a waste of time. Scrap it. If it's not moving me like that then when it’s done—there’s no point to even make a song to it or whatever. That’s just me."

On Rock The Bells And Learning In The Game

"[Rock The Bells] hasn’t really settled all the way in, but I’m juiced! Yeah! Ah, man. It’s just like...it's hella humbling. I just appreciate them for reaching out. It’s crazy. I don’t really get nervous no more before shows. I be excited. My first show [I was nervous]. It was at this little veteran’s owned, small place, and I had to get on top of this little speaker to perform. I couldn’t sleep the night before, I couldn’t eat, I was just turning! I was just praying to God, 'If I could go to sleep just for a second until it happens,' and I was just shittin' bricks. I was so nervous. So nervous. But after I did it, and after I seen people liked my music and they liked my energy, then after that I was like, 'People are coming to see me.' Like, it's my show so, we gonna go out there and have fun. My mom always told me, 'Just pray, try to relax, and drink some water, and just...it’ll be okay.'

"Everybody just says keep working, and never get too confident because this is fleeting, you know what I mean? And as soon as you see somebody come up, that’s as soon they can go away. So you gotta work to build that repertoire and that level of respect so that you can have some staying power. So that’s what I wanna do. That’s what I plan to do.

"I wanna be the best out of everybody...at everything. I wanna be the best, that’s what I strive to be. I’m just a competitive person. I feel like when the climate gets more competitive then that makes for better music. So...I just [want to] take more risks lyrically. Just digging deeper as far as feelings and songs and just trying to evoke those emotions, you know what I mean, just making people—and just showcasing that and just showcasing what I can do. Just good music. Different tours, different records, producing."

On Working With 2 Chainz And Pushing Boundaries

"The craziest person [who has reached out] was probably 2 Chainz so far. 2 Chainz and Wiz. I made some music with Wiz. Wiz is the homie now, but when I first met him I was hella quiet. Hella scared, like what? This just not happening right now. And that was the same thing with 2 Chainz. He just hit me up on Twitter. He DM’d me, I was like, “Hell nah!” He was just talking 'bout how he respected my movement. I’m like, 'This could not be really happening.' Yeah! His Twitter was verified then I got his number, I been talking to him ever since. I was talking to him today actually.

"I’m on hella new songs. I did a song for Terrance Martin that’s hella clean, yesterday for his album. I did a song with Audio Push. I sent that back, and I’m supposed to do a song with 2 Chainz. I think we recording tomorrow. I just did, like, eight features yesterday. I be recording fast so don’t get it confused. I was in the studio for like three, four hours. I was just recording, mixing, and I just knocked out like seven or eight verses. But I definitely get to sleep, trust me, the “No Sleep Team”—I don’t play for that team.

"I was thinkin' 'bout doin' a singing CD. Where I’m just—not even necessarily singing, but just like all melody kinda songs. Taking some risks as a artist. I’m not gonna say I sing, but I try. Tryna do something different. It would be an EP for sure."