Migos were from Gwinnett County, north of Atlanta, so it took them an hour or so to get to the studio. When they did show up, it was just two of them. The third, Offset, was locked up in DeKalb County on a parole violation.
The first thing I noticed about these boys was that they had on a bunch of fake-ass jewelry. I took two gold necklaces off my neck, gave one to each of them, and told them I wanted them to be on my label. I’d taken out forty-five thousand dollars, fifteen thousand for each of them. Quavo and Takeoff were on board, but I needed to make sure the third guy, Offset, was too. I wanted this group as I’d first seen them, as a trio.
They got Offset on the phone from jail. He didn’t need much convincing. I asked him what he wanted me to do with his share of the money and he told me to hold on to it for him until he got out. And with that Migos were on Brick Squad. Quavo and Takeoff headed home with plans to return the next day and get to work.
Shortly after Migos left, Scooter called me out of the booth while I was recording. There was something I needed to see.
“You see those boys threw their jewelry in the trash can?”
I figured Scooter was trying to be funny, making a joke about those bullshit chains. But I looked in the trash can and sure enough, there they were. Quavo and Takeoff had thrown out their old chains after I’d given them real jewelry. We had a laugh at that one.
Migos would be the last addition to the new team. I came so close to signing Yung Fresh—who later started going by Bankroll Fresh—too, but his parents got involved in the negotiations and the deal fell apart. That one bummed me out ’cause I’d been cool with Fresh since ’07 and thought he was a hell of a talent. We ended up tearing up the contract and Fresh gave the advance back save for a couple of Gs I told him to keep to take care of some probation shit he had going on. I guess there’s always going to be the ones who got away.
The Brick Factory was now up and running with a team of hungry, talented prospects following my lead. The studio took on a life of its own. At any given time, someone would be in there working. At full capacity there might be thirty people in the building. I might be in one room with C4 or Honorable C.N.O.T.E. working on Trap House 3 while Thug was in the next, recording his 1017 Thug mixtape with one of the 808 Mafia producers. Or Metro Boomin might be in a room just cookin’ up some beats by himself. Or Migos might be downstairs doing their own thing. Scooter and Waka were both on the road a lot then, but whenever they were in town they’d be there too. Even the artists who never officially signed with me were always welcome and I did mixtapes with all of them—EAST ATLANTA MEMPHIS with Dolph, Money Pounds Ammunition with Peewee, Trust God Fuck 12 with Rich Homie Quan.
It was a 24/7 operation with an open-door policy for any rapper or producer I fucked with to come be a part of what we had going on. I gave those boys hell whenever they tried to leave. Take a nap on the couch if you tired, I’d tell ’em. If one of the engineers got tired, I’d sit down and record Peewee or Thug myself. If you need a break from recording, let’s roll something up. Or pour something up. Or shoot some dice. Ain’t no need to leave the studio.
The Brick Factory was some hippie commune shit. Outlaws playing by our own set of rules. A tale of true American counterculture.
?
After spending the winter getting the studio set up and my signees off the ground, I started spring with a trip to California for the Spring Breakers premiere. Keyshia was joining me. I’d been asking her to take me back for months and she finally agreed to come on the trip and see if our relationship was worth another shot.
She’d seen I’d gotten my act together and was proud of me. I’d promised her I was done drinking lean, which was a lie, but as long as I stayed on point and didn’t let things spiral out of control she would have no reason not to believe me. To be safe, I’d started mixing my lean with fruit punch or some other colored drink so she wouldn’t see a photo or video out there of me sipping. Keyshia was an angel. She didn’t know the first thing about lean. As long as I wasn’t drinking something purple, she wouldn’t have cause for concern.
The premiere went great. Not only did people seem to like the film but I was getting a lot of love for my part in particular. I was glad Keyshia was there to see that. It brought us back to how things were when we first fell for each other. Me on point and feeling good about myself, not falling apart from the drugs and out of my mind.
Harmony had us seated in the theater next to Marilyn Manson and his girlfriend at the time, Lindsay. Harmony and Marilyn were buddies, and Harmony thought the two of us would hit it off. Harmony swung by our seats to introduce us, but as it turned out Marilyn and I had already met on the red carpet earlier.
Lindsay complimented Keyshia on her lipstick and the two of them struck up a conversation.
“Looks like we both got us some fancy bitches,” was the first thing Marilyn Manson said to me.
The four of us hit it off and ended up hanging the rest of the night. Marilyn and I chopped it up about music and our shared love for the city of Miami. After the movie we hit an after-party, and after the after-party, Marilyn and I hit a studio where we made “Fancy Bitch,” a song inspired by our first interaction. Marilyn Manson turned out to be a cool, down-to-earth dude. I didn’t know a lot about him beyond his wild persona in music. I respected how he could let his guard down and be a regular person when the camera wasn’t rolling. In the rap game there are so many people who feel like they need to keep the tough-guy shit going 24/7 and can’t even hold a conversation.
Things were going good in LA, but back home a storm was brewing. While I was away Waka had showed up at the studio, trying to get the files for a song he and I had made. One of the engineers working there told Waka he didn’t have permission to give up songs off the hard drive. He told Waka to wait until I got back into town to sort it out. Waka couldn’t accept that and he punked him out in front of everyone at the studio and took the files.
I didn’t hear about the incident until I got back, and when I did I called Waka and told him not to come to the Brick Factory anymore. He and I initially exchanged words through text but eventually we both made our feelings public.
Waka Flacka flames officially dropped off brick squad 1017. Big Guwop say give me a offer fa this disloyal lil nigga
—@Gucci1017
Somebody tell Gucci Mane 2 SUCK A DICK.
—@WakaFlockaBSM