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The Untold Story Of D.R.A.M. And Lil Yachty’s ‘Broccoli’

‘It was like a forbidden thing we never talked about’

Broccoli, the vegetable, is usually very polarizing: You either love it or hate it. "Broccoli," the song by D.R.A.M. featuring Lil Yachty, however, is pretty universally beloved. Almost one full year after its initial release, the song has gone platinum four times, racked up over 300 million streams on Spotify, and earned both D.R.A.M. and Yachty their first Grammy Award nominations. But the making of the iconic bop was something its stars barely discussed — even with each other — until MTV News caught up with the pair ahead of their performance at the 2017 Woodies.

"It was like fairy dust," D.R.A.M. explained. "It just happened — poof!"

"The crazy thing is I did the verse in six minutes and then I left, and then D.R.A.M. pieced the whole thing together," Yachty said of the recording process. "He just sent it to me the next day as a rough, and it was done."

It sounds a little far-fetched for a song as earwormy or as critically and commercially successful as "Broccoli" to have appeared out of thin air, but the more Big Baby and Yachty retell the experience, the clearer it becomes that the pair barely discussed the song — both during its creation and after it became a veritable hit.

At one point in the interview, Yachty asks D.R.A.M. how he came up with the hook. "It was whatever popped into the top of my mind at the time," D.R.A.M. answered, adding that what ended up on the recording was the first take.

"I never even knew that," Yachty added. "We never talked about it. It was like a forbidden thing we never talked about."

With little back-and-forth but huge success from the collaboration, it's clear the pair has chemistry, and they know it, too. When pressed on whether they would team up again in the future, they agreed that it's "inevitable." The timing of a "Broccoli"-style reunion is what's more unknown.

"I mean, we never know," Yachty elaborated. "If I ever feel the need to put him on something. If he ever feels the need to put me. Anytime he calls me, I pick up. Every time I call him, he never declines the call. It's not no fake BS. Whatever it is, whenever we need something, if we're in the same area, it's easy, it's nothing."

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