Bobby Brackins Breaks Down His Five Best Songs

Although on the music scene for a while now, first gracing radio waves with his hit "143," Bobby Brackins owned the summer of 2014 with hits like Chris Brown's "Loyal." A songwriter, rapper, and singer, Brackins is a man of immense musical talent and is even the force behind Tinashe's breakout single "2 On." More recently he released his own single "Hot Box" featuring Mila J and G-Eazy, which has already garnered a positive response.

But all his work behind the scenes doesn't mean he's got a full-length LP in the works. "Right now I’m just doing singles," Brackins says while on the phone with XXL. "I’m about to have a single with Zendaya and Jeremih coming out. We’re just getting the singles buzzing and getting things heated up. Once I feel comfortable, I’ll put out a project for sure."

XXL recently chopped it up with Bobby Brackins about all of his recent success, including some of the biggest songs of the summer with "Loyal," "2 On" and "Hot Box." Check out the stories behind Bobby Brackins' five best songs. —Miranda Johnson

“Loyal”
Chris Brown featuring Lil Wayne and Tyga
Bobby Brackins: “Loyal,” me and Ty [Dolla $ign] did that one. It was supposed to be my song and then my friend Nic Nac, he came on and he made the beat. Bo, Chris Brown’s manager, used to be over Nic’s house a lot just to see what he was working on, and he played him “Loyal.” He was like, "What is that?" and [Nic Nac] was like, that’s supposed to be Bobby’s song. And [Bo] was like, "No, I need that to be Chris’ single." Then Nic called me. At first we were like, "No, we want to keep it." Then it was like, we don’t care. Everybody was like, "If Chris is going to make it his single then you might as well give it to him." So we did. We stopped being hard-headed. It was a gift because Chris ran with it and took it to the top. It went No. 1. So it was a good thing that I gave it to him and that Chris ran with it but originally it was supposed to be my song. Me and Ty were working on it to be my single.

I’m thankful Chris took it because if Chris has it, it just impacts right away. If it was my song, it still could have made the noise, but 'cause Chris had it, it damn near started effecting [things] the next day. It happened overnight. I’m not worried because we make good music often. He made it so big, so I feel like it was blessing that he got it in his hands.

“2 On”
Tinashe featuring ScHoolboy Q
Bobby Brackins: I’ve known Tinashe for a while because we were both on the same label at one point. I knew she was super talented and she could sing her ass off, but I hadn’t heard anything come out her mouth. So I just called her to come to the studio one day and we got in the studio with my friend Redwine. We just made the song. She came in, we sat her in the studio and we just vibed out. We kind of got “2 On” while we were making it. That gave it inspiration. But it was really just me wondering what she was up to and just calling her to the studio. And that ended up being her big single and giving her a release.

"Hot Box"
Bobby Brackins featuring Mila J and G-Eazy
Bobby Brackins: It was my same friend who made the “2 On” beat, Redwine. He made the “Hot Box” beat too. I was going on tour with Ty Dolla $ign and Mila J was one of the people on tour with us. I thought it would be cool if we did a song together, if we wanted to perform it on the road since we were going to be gone for so long. She came over literally the day before we left for tour and we made that song. Then one day I was in the studio with Too $hort and G-Eazy. I thought it would be really cool to throw G-Eazy on the song, too, because he’s from my city and he’s having a lot of success. He’s killin’ it right now, so I thought, "Why not make it a monster collaboration?" So when I got back from tour, I put G-Eazy on the song and the song came out on my Soundcloud. People were loving it. Everybody seems to love it.

I just wanted to have the right leverage because I want to make sure it gets big. I feel like when we did “Loyal” and “2 On,” everybody started paying attention again. I got some of the biggest managers in the industry trying to meet me and all these labels are trying to meet me. I feel now it's time to take advantage of everybody paying attention.

“Came To Do”
Chris Brown featuring Akon
Bobby Brackins: Basically, “Came To Do” came about when I was in the studio with Nic Nac and we were just working on the records, whether they were going to be for myself or for other people. We just wanted to make a good song. So my friend Kay Young came over and I wrote the song and he laid the demo. I just laid all the melodies and Kay Young came and laid the hook. He can hit all those Chris Brown type of notes. So we just had the song around.

Then Nic went to the studio and played the beat and the hook I wrote for Chris one day in the studio and Chris loved it. Chris sang the hook and wrote his own verse. He was in the studio with Akon and he wrote his own verse. That’s how the song came together. I wrote the hook, then Chris wrote his part and Akon wrote his part. It all started from the beat that Nic Nac and I started working on.

"143"
Bobby Brackins featuring Ray J
Bobby Brackins: Basically I wrote that song and my manager was cool with Ray J’s manager. They played it for him and he was down to do it. He was down to sing the hook and put the bridge on it. Basically I just met up with him one day in L.A., he did the bridge and the hook. Then shortly after that we shot the video. We all knew it was going to be a big song but I didn’t know it was going to be my first real life Billboard hit. None of us were really expecting that. “143” came out and it did really good, they played it all over the radio. It got me my deal.

Filed Under: Akon, Bobby Brackins, Chris Brown, Feature, featured, G-Eazy, Lil Wayne, Mila J, ray j, ScHoolboy Q, Tinashe, tyga

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