For whatever reason, Clams Casino always brought out the best in Lil B. Was it simply a shared love of Imogen Heap? Or something deeper, perhaps equal feelings of being adrift as they worked alone in cities not known for breeding music, Lil B in Berkeley and Clams Casino originally in Nutley, NJ?
On July 15, six years since their collaborations began, Clams Casino is releasing his debut album, 32 Levels, via Columbia Records. “I’m definitely not opposed to major labels,” Lil B told The FADER last year, and here he’s come through for his old friend, recording a featured verse on “Witness” (which was co-produced by another longtime associate, Keyboard Kid) and directing the song’s secret-agent video.
Today, Lil B explains the joys of bigger budgets, his excitement over Clams’s album, and, because why not, welcomes Gucci Mane home.
LIL B: Sometimes you just got to show people you're getting money. They like seeing it. I have big visions for videos and stuff like that, so the only way I could put that big vision on Clams — you know Clams's music, which is already extremely big — was to direct the video for “Witness.” Having this record for a while, sitting on it, thinking about it, coming back to it — it stuck with me. And he has a team behind him that can make big things happen.
Because this video was a team effort. It’s the only way to make music videos, the luxurious way to execute your ideas: working with editors, multiple camera operators, definitely a higher level of production. Shout out to Anthem Films for supporting the production, setting stuff up for me, and really assisting me on my vision. It's hard work trying to convey your ideas — I had to make sure that everything was right on that front, the feeling, the outfits, the acting, everything. Respect to Clams, he picked his own outfit out and it was really great.
Clams Casino is about to have a huge historical album, man, it's going to be real deep for music. All producers, for all of us worldwide, this is a big day: Clams's major label debut album. It's beautiful. Just to be able to support him for a major label release is extremely historical. We have a really natural relationship, so nothing is forced. We're always aligned; there's never a problem. I'm here to assist him and support him, so it's been a great, great time.
So we got this new video that I directed right now, but I definitely got some new music coming so look out. I'm an artist and just continuing to make art. And big shout out to Gucci Mane. His release is huge for music, he's been extremely relevant, releasing more music than anybody even while he was incarcerated. He's more relevant than he's ever been right now. It's perfect, everything is perfect.
