Since signing the rapper 03 Greedo in 2017, Alamo Records founder Todd Moscowitz has grown accustomed to playing catch-up. This is how Greedo works, he explains. You get a phone call one day: Hey, I made four albums over the last few weeks. Oh really? Yeah, I went in with so and so, and we did 30 records. Then I went in with this producer, and we did 10 more records.'
Last July, 03 Greedo was sentenced to 20 years in prison on charges of drug trafficking and unlawful possession of firearms. But his relentless pace in the studio before his incarceration ensures that he can continue to release music while he is behind bars. Still Summer in the Projects, an entire album recorded with the hit-maker Mustard, is due out on March 29th. The first single, Wasted, a nimble, needle-nosed collaboration with YG, will be available on streaming services at midnight.
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Greedo and Mustard have been familiar with each others work for a decade, as they both worked to raise their profile in the Los Angeles rap scene. I knew Mustard since like 2009, and we always crossed paths, but we never worked, the rapper explained in an email. He blew up as I was in jail [on a previous occasion], but when I got out and I got my shit buzzing, he hit me up. I came to the studio to do one song and then we ended up doing 20 songs in 3 days.
In typical Greedo fashion, Moscowitz found out about the album after it was already mostly done. One day hes like, oh, I got an album with Mustard, and Mustards gonna hit you about it,' the label head remembers.
Moscowitz still marvels at Greedos speed in the studio. Hes one of the most prolific artists Ive ever worked with, and Ive worked with some prolific ones, he says. He does an enormous volume of records. And some are better than others, but hes amazingly consistent. Some people Ive worked with who are high-output, theyll have a ton of throwaways and theyll use that to hone it down to a really good album. Hell do something really good, end to end, with 12 or 15 cuts, in 3 days.
After Greedo went to prison, Mustard continued to tinker with their songs until they were finished. Mustard is a perfectionist, he was working on it for a while, doing whatever magic Mustard does, Moscowitz explains. Then he said, Here it is.'
Its easy to imagine Still Summer in the Projects will be well received in Los Angeles. Two of the biggest people in the game coming together from the same area, Greedo says. [Mustard]s from the West side and Im from the East side. Its important to the people.
Working with Mustard, who has produced national hits for Tyga, YG and Jeremih, among others, may also help introduce Greedo to a wider audience. Mustard beats, perfect for cars and evergreen in clubs, have served in the past as breakout vehicles for artists like Ty Dolla $ign and Tinashe. And while Greedo has a fervent following, none of his songs on Spotify have more than five million streams to date. Some people arent aware of him outside of the region, but theyre becoming aware of him, Moscowitz says. His popularity is growing every month, were seeing it in his socials and his streaming.
Alamo plans to fan the flames: Still Summer in the Projects will likely be the first of several new Greedo albums to be released this year. We have a Hit-Boy album coming up next, Moscowitz says. Well probably have a follow-up album three months after, and then another three months after that. Hell probably end up putting out three or four albums and tapes this year, maybe an EP or two as well.
I think Greedos going to be one of the extremely rare artists who comes out of being incarcerated bigger than when he went in, because he did so much work and has so much material we can put out while hes away, Moscowitz adds. If youre unfortunately in that situation, quite often your popularity decreases. I think hes going to be the exception to the rule.