Life is really good right now for producer DJ Mustard. The 24-year-old from Compton, Calif., who most people got to know as YG’s DJ, is stepping quickly into the limelight on his own with a string of hit singles he’s produced for the likes of 2 Chainz, YG and Kid Ink, among others. And now Mustard’s debut artist album, 10 Summers, earned the title recently of most-downloaded album on Google Play.
“Man, I was f—ing amazed to have the most downloaded album on Google Play. It definitely was a good experience. I can’t release the downloads, but it’s something crazy,” he told Billboard backstage at the Made in America Festival in Los Angeles, where he was the only artist to play both days. “A lot of people downloaded the album, and it’s just really them monitoring how many people came and hit your album.”
While a lot of artists would be stressing about what the number of downloads means to the album’s sales, Mustard is just happy people are listening to his music. “That’s how you know who your fans are and how many fans you have, when it shows you how many people look at your album for free,” he said.
Having built a base already, he is looking to expand that this fall in a huge way by hitting the road with EDM superstar Skrillex. Mustard is excited by the chance to not only play for new fans, but hang with Skrillex. “Me and Skrillex are gonna be doing a whole lot of shows together and some shit like that. I’m ready for that, should be fun,” he said. “Skrillex is dope. He plays everything. It’s amazing what he does.”
While the two have partied together, Mustard said this tour is about work for him. “I’m still in work mode, I’m still going to the studio every night, I’m doing my shows, having fun, rocking crowds, just trying to be the biggest producer in the game,” he said.
One thing Mustard knows about sharing a stage with Skrillex is that the visuals will have to be top-notch. He is working on his stage production as well. “I’ve got my video guy and my light guy, and we’re not like a huge production thing. We run visuals and lights together and shit like that. I haven’t started with pyro and shit like that,” he said, laughing.
The obvious question is: Will there be any collaborations between him and Skrillex? “Hell yeah, there is always a chance,” he said.
Along those lines, he is in talks to collaborate with Skrillex’s Jack U partner Diplo. “Me and Diplo actually gonna go in the studio and work on some shit too,” he said. “I’m doing some beats for Major Lazer. I met Diplo awhile ago. I did some stuff for Jody Highroller [aka Riff Raff], my boy, and he’s signed to Diplo. Me and Diplo kicked it from there.”
Though the two producing powerhouses have yet to figure out what they will be doing together ,Mustard wants it to be a big project. “I told him, ‘Let’s do an album,'” he said. “So we’ll see what happens.”
So he’s opening for Skrillex and collaborating with Diplo — could he be the third member of Jack U? “Hell yeah, put me on there, it’s great,” he said excitedly.
