2 Chainz is closing out the year with what he calls his most mature work yet. The Atlanta rapper has confirmed that his new album, Players Only Live Once, arrives December 4 with 18 tracks, a single producer behind every beat, and a closing song about his late father that he admits he can barely bring himself to play.
“It’s 18 songs,” he said, before running through a guest list that includes Westside Gun, The Dream and Big Sean.
He acknowledged the lineup might look crowded on paper but insisted every voice was placed with care. “I got some heavy hitters on there and it’s all like in the right place,” he said.
The album is finished and turned in. 2 Chainz said the project “embodies a lot of growth and evolution,” while still keeping the boisterous moments rap thrives on. He also travelled to the West Coast to have musicians lay live instruments over the production.
The one-producer approach grew out of his last project, Life Is Beautiful, made with Alchemist and Larry June.
Despite having access to what he calls the best producers in the world in Atlanta, he wanted to try something different for himself and his fans, and he believes this format is some of what the game has been missing.
The title is a nod to his youth. In late 1990s Atlanta, he explained, everyone was rocking Polo, and the brand’s acronym was read as Players Only Live Once.
He described this as his 10th album and said it presents him as a family man and businessman, balancing struggles with wins.
He remains visibly excited about the music. After performing the new song Highlight Reel earlier that day, he said, “I legit wanted to just run down the street.”
He has never considered walking away, he added, because “I feel like ideas is one of the highest forms of currency.” Another single, A Week in Paris, inspired by time spent at fashion week, was set to drop that night.
The emotional centre of the album is Pops, the final track. 2 Chainz said he could not sequence anything after it. “I have real friends cry when I play that record,” he said, calling it one of his “most easiest yet hardest records to write in my whole life.”
He was candid about the loss. “I’m very jealous of people who have their fathers,” he said, recalling how it stings to see other artists bring their dads around.
He played his first album for his father while he was on an oxygen machine, and now reflects on everything he missed. “I’m on album 10,” he said. “I know he’s with me spiritually.”
Those experiences shaped his outlook. I am conscious of 60 seconds changing your whole life,” he said, admitting he has made mistakes of his own.
In business, he named his biggest mistake bluntly. “Biggest mistake in business is trusting people, period,” he said. Asked whether that had cost him, he answered, “Yeah, I’ve lost millions.”
He pointed to an investment in Pineapple Express, a California dispensary, saying, “I would like to always bring attention to their scam.”
He said it was “really my duty too to let people know I’ve taken losses too,” balancing that against successes such as Esco, which has been open for 10 years, along with Candyland and his pizza spot. His advice, delivered with a laugh, was to watch the suits.
Looking back at his early 2010s run, he shared the origin of No Lie. I told Drake that I had a song for him, but I didn’t,” he recalled. He then ran straight to his tour bus studio and wrote it on the spot.
He also spoke warmly of Lil Wayne, a friend of 20 years who served as best man at his wedding.
Reflecting on his own story, he noted that he is an only child who went to juvenile at 15 but earned a college degree, a spectrum he said sums up a life built on getting back up.
