For Tory Lanez, it wasn’t enough just to sample his favourite 2000s-era R&B hits on his episodic Chixtape series—he outdid himself and got the original artists in the flesh. And what a line-up. Ashanti reprises her treasured “Foolish” vocal for “A Fool’s Tale”. Chris Brown updates “Take You Down” for “The Take”. Throwback legends like Jagged Edge, Slim from 112 and Pretty Ricky bring back the good ol’ days when loose fits were cool. “I remember being star-struck when I saw these artists in middle school,” Lanez tells Apple Music. “And I had the same feeling during every session when I worked with all of them.” Lanez recruited all these stars to power the boy-meets-girl, girl-curves-boy narrative of Chixtape 5. He goes through each song track by track with Apple Music. Jalissa’s Back! (SKIT) “It's the story of me, a girl named Jalissa, her friend Keisha and Keisha's sister. It's a big drama that goes on. It's very important that I have cinematic relief from so much music, because sometimes music can be overwhelming. I felt like the skits are always important to me.” The Trade feat. Jagged Edge & Jermaine Dupri “It's the intro of the album, and who’s more classic and of this time than Jagged Edge, right? And Jermaine Dupri signed them. If I can get Jermaine Dupri just to say, ‘Y'all know what this is,’ I don't care about anything else, that's all I needed. It just set the temperature, the mood of the next 16 songs.” Jerry Sprunger feat. T-Pain “This was the first record that was made for Chixtape 5, so it was the one that inspired the rest of them. It was also the record that helped me get all the rest of the features. I would go to people and tell them, ‘You know, T-Pain did “Jerry Sprunger”, you have to hop on this album.’” Beauty in the Benz feat. Snoop Dogg “Snoop’s ‘Beautiful’ and ‘Let's Get Blown’ played a big role in my childhood. I'm a superfan of Pharrell's production. This was my opportunity to produce a beat that I felt like he would be proud of. Now, the whole concept was to get everybody on their original records. Some of these people I didn't know if they were going to come back. Snoop Dogg is such an iconic person; is he really going to hop on ‘Beautiful’ sampled by Tory? He did and he loved it. It's reactions like that from people that are so iconic to me that kept me driven and motivated to keep on going.” Blowin’ Mine’s “‘Let's Get Blown’ is my favourite song from this era. I fell asleep to ‘Let's Get Blown’ on repeat and it was installed in my head. I have always loved the production on it. When I mixed this one, I wanted to give people the same airy feel that I got from listening to ‘Let's Get Blown’, because something is so dreamy about the song that it always stuck with me.” Leah’s Introduction (SKIT) “It's taking you back to a time when we were all teenagers and we're in the car, and she's like, ‘I rock with you, I really do. But I feel like you still fuck with Jalissa and Keisha.’ You have to listen to the previous projects to understand what's going on here. I'm like, 'No, I don't.' I convince her and it ends up in a night of passion. And that's the first time you see this character, Leah, the love interest of Chixtape 5.” The Take feat. Chris Brown “I didn't even think the song was going to make it. You’ve got to remember how people feel about ‘Take You Down’ and how much of a lovemaking classic it is. I wanted to make sure that I did something that was a little bit different, come with a different flow. I feel like the production on the second half is probably my favourite thing about the song.” Broken Promises “Right where the tape ends is literally the beginning of ‘Broken Promises’. I'm big on transitions. At the ending of the song, I was like, ‘I still got to take this to another level.’ It stems from a sample that comes out of ‘The Take’.” The Fargo Splash feat. Ludacris “I could have sampled other Ludacris records, but I just felt like ‘Splash Waterfalls’ played a big part for me. I just remember that video being so hilarious—there was one part of the video he's with the girl and they're supposed to be skinny-dipping in the pool and then you got to see them fight. It was just so funny to me. Just the way Ludacris always acted things out. I felt like I always wanted to make music with him. Even when you're listening to the new song, you should still be able to feel how you felt about the old song.” Luv Ya Gyal // Love Sounds feat. The-Dream “First off, the reason I sing softly is because of The-Dream. I didn't really know how to sing, and he was the first person that I ever wanted to sound like. ‘Mr. Yeah’, ‘Fancy’ and all these songs played a big part in the way I sound. This was originally a solo song. I sampled ‘I Luv Your Girl’ and ‘Falsetto’ by The-Dream. When I heard both of the beats, I was like, ‘Can I get Dream on this?’ It felt so far-fetched. This guy writes for Beyoncé, has tons of Grammys. When you hear Dream’s verse, you hear all these old innuendos of how he used to sound. So when he says, ‘I hate to see that look in your eye,’ and you start hearing all the sounds, it wasn't him. It was actually me just being a fanboy and trying to emulate what he would have done.” Yessirr feat. Pretty Ricky “Pretty Ricky were larger than life. They were so big when ‘Your Body’ came out. It was a dope song for me to sample because I lived in Florida when I was young. I just remember feeling so good, outside was warm, everybody's driving around in these donks out there with the big colourful wheels. Girls will hop in your donk before they hop in your Lamborghini—that's a known fact in Florida.” Best of You // Busted (SKIT) feat. Mýa “I love Mýa. I'm gonna go on record and say that the first time I saw Mýa, I said the dumbest shit I ever said. It was just true emotion. I saw her at the BET Awards. She was walking the red carpet and she caught me by surprise. I was like, ‘Oh shit, Mýa,’ and she was like, ‘Hey, what's up?’ I was like, ‘I love you.’ She's like, ‘For sure.’ When she did hop on ‘Best of You’, it felt special and it was dope, and for her and Ashanti to be the only two women on the project, it was very important that they played strong roles on their records.” The Cry feat. Mario “The first thing that comes out on ‘The Cry’ is ‘You curved the fuck out of me.’ I'm really blunt with the way I say shit. Basically it's just about a girl curving me and just like how she still wants me because now she needs me. The ending is my favourite part—the way the drums break down and just the way Mario ad-libs and does the ending of it. Very beautiful.” Still Waiting feat. Trey Songz “This part of the project you're in heartbreak mode. ‘Still Waiting’ is a flip of Trey Songz’s ‘Can't Help but Wait’. There was a point in time when he was the only feature I was waiting on. I couldn't get my verse from Trey for the longest time, but Trey is such a real n*gga that he'll always hold me down.” A Fool’s Tale (Running Back) feat. Ashanti “The song is crazy. I sampled ‘Foolish’ and when I asked Ashanti to do it, I was really nervous. It was probably like the fourth or fifth time we had worked together. She's like, ‘What do you want to do with it?’ I flipped the beat right in front of her in literally ten minutes. They’re watching me—her mom, her sister, a lot of people inside the room. I added the first couple of sounds and then it started sounding good. So it was nerve-racking, but it got done and it was a fruitful process.” Thoughts feat. Lloyd and Lil Wayne “Wayne and Lloyd’s verses came in at the last moment. The moment they came in, my life and Chixtape was made. That was the ribbon on it. That's all I needed.” If You Gotta… feat. Fabolous “The song is very important to me. I think it's very important to this time and this culture. I feel like if you ever go back on any of the throwbacks of 2000s, the greatest hits, you're always going to see ‘Can't Let You Go’ with Fab. You're going to see ‘Into You’ by Fab and Tamia. I felt like this was a big song to get him featured and he hopped on it. All I asked him for was to make sure that when he came in, he said ‘F-A-B-O-L-O-U-S’ the same way he used to do it, and he did that for me. I love the vibe of it.” Room 112 feat. Slim “‘Room 112’ is the last song. It was an honour to have Slim on the project. I definitely wanted to attach this song to the skit at the end. I just felt like the way that ‘Room 112’ ended, it felt like a great way for the finale, what's going to happen next. He was feeling this girl and she played him, and we've never seen Tory get played on Chixtapes ever.” Last Love Letter (SKIT) “Leah is on the phone with a friend. All of a sudden, she gets a knock at the door. It's the mailman. It's a note with a CD. The note says, ‘You let me down and I won't forget that. But without you doing things like that, I can't give you things like this.’ She starts reading out the CD and she says, ‘Chixtape Si...’ It cuts, insinuating that there will be a Chixtape 6. It’s not coming no time soon. Leave me the fuck alone after this one for a couple years.”