Pac Div Reemerge Strong With Mania! Mixtape

LOS ANGELES — It's been a while since Pac Div made much noise on the hip-hop scene, but damn if they didn't cause a frenzy when they dropped their newest mixtape, Mania! on Monday. The tape was trending on Twitter for much of the day, proving that their fanbase hadn't disappeared but was anxious for the Los Angeles trio — Like, Mibbs and BeYoung — to reemerge. MTV News caught up with Pac Div recently in L.A., and BeYoung said the group has grown up over the past few years.

"Man, n---as is turning into little Quincy Joneses around this mother----er, like n---as is starting to get keen on the business, you know. We came in just rapping, like spitting bars — n---as didn't have no intentions for nothing. We was fresh, wet behind the ears, we didn't know nothing, we just came in rapping. But now, we, as you could see, we're learning the ropes to actually being successful businessmen and building this stuff from the ground up. It's a real situation."

Their previous mixtape, Don't Mention It, was released last April — a bit out of nowhere — and it fell under many people's radar. They admitted to having no real desire to put out any visuals to support the project, and they wanted to take a step back and watch the game.

"We always like to compare ourselves ... the best example is kind of how Gucci, when they drop their spring line ... you ain't going to see 2 million commercials," BeYoung explained.

"You might see certain ads here and there, whereas another brand might print up 2 million shirts in one month and they'll be all over the f---ing place. So we're trying to keep the quality with it, where people still recognize ... they can still align themselves with what we do."

While their business acumen may have changed — for instance, they put out a teaser trailer to the video "Take Me High," which samples Major Harris' classic "Love Won't Let Me Wait" — they promised the DJ Don Cannon-hosted Mania! would still have the same Pac Div sound. Most of their production is done by their in-house team of producers, including Swift D and Like, and they worked with fellow L.A. artists such as Casey Veggies and Ty$ on the mixtape.

"Yeah, we're still on the same level as far as the subject matter and stuff like that," BeYoung said. "We're still paying bills ... n---as ain't got gold sinks or nothing like that yet."