Zaytoven Praises Gucci Mane for Giving Him the Confidence to Pursue Producing

Zaytoven, Sonny Digital and Metro Boomin sat down with Andrew Nosnitsky and Red Bull Music Academy for a fascinating hour-plus interview about their influences, the importance of Gucci Mane, what "trap music" really means to them and a whole lot more. If you're at all interested in how these guys work, carve out a good chunk of time to watch the whole thing above. It's a must-watch for any rap nerd.

Throughout the discussion, the OG Zaytiggy talks about how important Gucci Mane was, not only as an artist but as a supporter of the young producer at a time when he was really flying by the seat of his pants.

Around the 1:11:50 mark, Zay breaks down just how supportive Guwop can be. "Gucci is a guy that promoted me to the fullest. It don't matter where we go. We can go to the studio with Jay Z, he gon' talk about me like I'm the best producer in the world, and I didn't even have no songs at the time. I didn't have no big records," remembers Zay.

"He'd be like, 'You gotta get beats from Zay! Zay the best!' Timbaland could give him the beats and he'd be like, 'Nah Timbaland, we don't want your beats. We want to use Zay beats.' It'd make me uncomfortable cuz I'd be like, "Well hold on Gucci, you ain't gotta say it like that,'" he continues to laughter from the crowd.

"I give a lot of credit to Gucci because he gave me the confidence to feel like okay, well I am the best producer, to him I am, and he's one of the hottest guys out. So it helped give me the confidence to be who I am," he concludes.

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