Smokepurpp‘s debut studio album, Deadstar 2 (2019), dropped in Dec. of last year featuring appearances from the likes of Ty Dolla Sign, Denzel Curry, Lil Skies, Lil Pump, Moneybagg Yo, and Trippie Redd. During the process of creating the album, leaks caused Purpp and his production team to scrap the album multiple times, costing him and record labels millions just to record. 

One of his leaked records entitled “No Problem” featuring Kanye West was removed from all platforms in request of the Jesus is King curator after he denounced cursing and secular music due to his religious reawakening. In an interview with Complex, Smokepurpp, Mike Dean, and Apex Martin revealed how the creative process behind Purpp’s debut album went about. Purpp stated how the three linked stating:

“I had an A&R named Chad, who knew Apex. Eventually, they brought me to Mike’s house. That one day at Mike’s house, we fucking made that one song and it was crazy hard. Then we started working on Deadstar. Apex was like, ‘Yo, let’s all get on this.’ And that’s what we did.”

The “What I Please” rapper also spoke on his approach to Deadstar 2 saying:

“I was trying to elevate from where I am and throw people off with shit they haven’t heard from me. Back in like 2016 or ’17, I met Apex, who brought me to Mike Dean’s crib. I got on one beat that Apex and Mike Dean made and it was crazy. It was a fire song, and it got leaked. After that, I saw Mike more often, but I didn’t really see him a lot until I started working on Deadstar 2.”

Later in the interview, the Chicago-bred emcee dropped a bombshell revealing that he had made approximately 800 songs for the album due to leaks and creative direction, stating: 

“I had to remake songs. But the thing is, we were so locked in that it was like, ‘It doesn’t matter, put on another beat. Let’s make another one.’ We were in the matrix, just working,” Purpp continued, My manager just told me (we made) 800 (songs). Apex can vouch for me, I don’t do anything but go to the studio. My label be getting mad at me. I wasted $2 million recording Deadstar 2.”

Smokepurpp is currently in the process of making an album entirely produced by Ronny J. Hopefully, the 22-year-old musician won’t stretch beyond his means in order to get his next musical offering off the ground. 

Smokepurpp revealed last month that he was one of the masterminds behind Kanye West and Lil Pump’s controversial 2018 track, “I Love It,” but that wasn’t the only musical collaboration that sprouted between him and Ye. In the same No Jumper interview, Purpp told Adam22 that he and Ye had worked on another song together, called “No Problem,” but that it would unfortunately not be included on his then-upcoming album, Deadstar 2, and likely would never be released at all. However, last week, a snippet of the song leaked, and it became clear why Kanye would not have been pleased if Purpp had decided to put the song on his album.

Though it has since been taken off Soundcloud, the song included plenty of curse words. Though this wouldn’t normally be an issue for most artists, Kanye has since denounced the use of such language in any of his music, preaching for cleaner and more censored lyrics. “He didn’t personally tell me that, I just kind of knew,” Smokepurpp said about Kanye’s new outlook on music. “He kind of just changed his ways or whatever. Mike Dean mixed the whole album, he executive produced the whole album. So he pretty much just told me he’s not really cursing and shit. He really doesn’t even perform his old songs anymore, he does ‘Jesus Walks.’ If he does do his old songs, he changes the lyrics.” Purpp was warned that it would be a challenge to get Kanye’s permission to include the song with his verse, so he made the decision to just exclude the track altogether. “Mike Dean told me at first…it was going to be harder to get it cleared because he doesn’t curse no more,” he revealed. “I was just like f*ck it, just put it away. He’ll change again.” Fair enough.