Lil Twist Talks ‘Twerk’: ‘When It Started Off It Was Justin’s Record’
Young Money rapper Lil Twist is talking “Twerk,” that’s the record featuring his buddy Justin Bieber and Miley Cyrus not the decades-old booty-shaking mating ritual.
The 20-year-old sat down with MTV News on Friday and cleared up some misconceptions about the zeitgeist ode that leaked at a spectacularly, synchronous moment last week.
Coming just three days after Cyrus’ arguably historic pas de deux with Robin Thicke on smash hit “Blurred Lines” at MTV’s 2013 Video Music Awards on August 25, inevitably the leak grabbed the headlines and underscored that twerking’s time had come.
Answering speculation that he engineered the “Twerk” leak to ride VMAs momentum, Twist says he has no idea how the song got out. The Dallas, Texas rep also clarified its origins.
“When it started off, it was Justin’s record,” Twist told MTV News.
He adds: “Justin and Miley, they went into the studio … Me and Justin had a conversation and he felt like I should have the record. Felt like we should do it right then, and once it leaked like I was just as surprised as everybody else.
“The s**t was pretty wild so it took off so I’m just enjoying it right now, I guess.”
According to the rapper, he and Bieber were dining at a branch of the Japanese restaurant Nobu when the Canadian told him he thought the song would be a better fit with Twist.
Justin’s #musicjournals — a hashtag term the 19-year-old debuted back in April to describe music he has/is writing during his Believe world tour, that Braun later told MTV numbered north of 240 ideas — are apparently labeled by the city the prolific teen star writes them in.
“He was doing ‘Twerk’ for ‘Journals’ with him and Miley,” Twist explains, “And then once me and him had a conversation over dinner it was like, ‘Yo bro, I think this should be your single and we should go with it’.”
The record, which has yet not been heard in its final, proper form, is produced by Maejor “Loll” Ali and Chef Tone.
While offering little in the way of great lyrics, it opens with Miley on the hook — “[Hey Girl] I came up in this party time to twerk, I came up in this party and I’m turnt”— fans of all three collaborators appear to love it, authorization be damned.
Despite widespread condemnation of the Cyrus-Thicke performance, notably from Kelly Clarkson who tweeted the immortal words “pitchystrippers” once she clapped eyes on the duo’s turn, Miley has since said she doesn’t regret a thing.
Speaking in an clip from an upcoming Cyrus documentary loaned to MTV, the songstress’ take on the furor was unbowed. “Me and Robin, the whole time said, ‘You know we’re about to make history right now’,” the 20-year-old declared.
“Twerk” is expected to feature on Lil Twist’s upcoming album Bad Decisions, with Ali on production chores and executive production by rapper/enterpreneur Lil Wayne and some guy called Shawty Mane — aka Bieber.
[Image via Facebook]
