Young Thug’s ‘Business is Business’ Came Together in Two Weeks

This week, Young Thug’s newest studio album Business is Business debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200, marking the fifth time Thug has had a project land inside the top 2 of the chart. Released as Thug sits in jail awaiting trial for his RICO case, Business is Business contained marquee guest appearances from Drake, Travis Scott, 21 Savage, Future, and more. But, apparently, the process of putting the track list together only took about two weeks.

While stopping for an interview with TMZ outside of an airport this past weekend, esteemed producer Southside revealed tidbits like these about the album’s creation. First and foremost, though, he made sure to assert that it is the best album ever made by someone while behind bars.

“Come on now, you know it is,” he insisted. “Free Slat, man. For sure, it is.”

Next, Southside confirmed Business is Business was conceptualized and finalized in less than a month’s time.

“Man, short time, a short time… a week… two weeks,” he estimated. “Yeah, we moved quick. We worked real fast. Shout out to Metro (Boomin), Metro the goat.”

For the album, fellow iconic rap instrumentalist Metro Boomin produced a large majority of the songs and was even granted his own Metro’s Version deluxe, which came out a few days after the original album and added two new songs with features from Juice WRLD and Nicki Minaj. Additionally, Southside crafted an instrumental for the LP as well, seen in the credits for the 14th track “Hoodie” featuring Thug’s YSL label-mates BSlime and Lil Gotit.

When asked how Thug was able to record vocals for the album, Southside said that the incarcerated rapper was able to record some over the phone in jail, but also alluded to the idea of some of the songs being made before Thug was arrested in May 2022. Then, Southside proclaimed that even more new music from Thug could be on the way.

“Some things were, but not all of it… We keep our secrets tucked in,” he said. “More shit on the way though.”

As of now, it’s unclear when Thug could earn his freedom, as his trial has not even begun. However, it is a whole different story for his music, as even more hits from Thug could be on the horizon.

Photo by Amy E. Price/Getty Images for SXSW