Maybach Music Group and the handful of artists that comprise the crew have established their standing in the game partially thanks to the constant output of music that they deliver to fans.

Now, a few months removed from his last mixtape, Savage Journey to the American Dream, and just weeks removed from his multiple appearances on the crew's compilation, Self Made, Vol. 2, Stalley says he is prepping his debut album.

"We're workin' on an album right now," Stalley told MTV News at the 2012 BET Awards in Los Angeles earlier this month. "I'm in the studio. I just got in there about a week ago, so it's a whole big process. Right now, I'm thinking maybe top of the year would be the album."

Though he's put out multiple mixtapes—most notably Lincoln Way Nights, prior to Savage Journey—the Ohio native says that he's still taking cues from his more experiences counterparts like Rick Ross and Wale.

"I definitely just take their energy, and I definitely watch their energy and watch how they do things," he said of fellow MMG rhymers. "I'm very observant of how they set up their albums and set up their singles and things like that, being that it's all new to me. That's great company to keep and great people to watch."

Stalley appeared four times on the recent release Self Made 2. Last month, he talked to XXLMag.com about being a part of the process. “Its hard work,” he said about putting a major label album together. “That’s the eye opener for me. I always seen it, but I didn’t know how much. You have press—going from the radio to MTV, back to the radio, to a signing. It shows you have to put in that groundwork, but that’s the fun. That’s fun work. It’s actually talking about a project you put together and put your heart into you get to explain the process of it all.”—Adam Fleischer

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