Been A Long Time

Album: Cold Summer (2016)
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Songfacts®:

  • DJ Mustard supplied the beats for such YG hits as "My Hitta" and "Who Do You Love," but their relationship took a dip after the two fell out on Instagram in 2015. "Been A Long Time" finds the pair reuniting again. Mustard recalled on Genius.

    "This song was YG's idea. We were all working on different records and we just had that record lingering. Maybe this is the first record YG and I did on my beats after our little s--t."
  • For the song's opening and hook YG borrows the first line from Eric B. & Rakim's 1987 hit tune "I Know You Got Soul"; which was later interpolated on Aaliyah's 2000 song "Try Again." Mustard recalled:

    "When I heard this record I was like 'Oh s--t.' I never thought to make this the intro, the intro was 'Ridin' Round."' Then YG was like, 'Yo you should use that for your intro.' And I was like, 'Damn you're right, I should.'"
  • Many of Ty Dolla $ign's early hits were produced by DJ Mustard, and he spits the second verse here. Mustard said:

    "That was the right way to start, with the people I started with. Ty and YG to start my album, it made sense."

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