One does not simply break out of Atlanta as a hip-hop star.
While it may not seem that way, with decades of dominance dating back from Goodie Mob and Outkast to Killer Mike and Future, because hip-hop has become Atlanta’s number one cash crop, it’s tougher than ever.
That’s why Hoodrich Pablo Juan cannot be overlooked.
A little over a week ago, just three months removed from dropping his Designer Drugz 3 album, Hoodrich Pablo Juan came back swinging with his newest offering Rich Hood.
The album adds to his already building momentum and solidifies him as the next to blow out of Atlanta.
The 28-year-old rapper has long been apart of the Atlanta hip-hop scene but really broke in 2015 with his debut mixtape, Designer Drugz.
The tape, assisted by heavy hitters like Migos, Peewee Longway, and Jose Guapo, instantly put him on the forefront of the Atlanta music scene and he has not looked back since.
Moving to Atlanta at the tender age of 3 must have been destiny for HoodRich, who seamlessly ingratiated himself to the city’s workaholic mentality a la Gucci, Future, and others, dropping tape after tape with hardly any time in between.
But it wasn’t until after seven solo mixtapes and eight collab projects later that the “We Dont Luv Em” rapper was finally singed to Gucci’s 1017 Eskimos early last year and has not stop grinding since.
Citing Boosie, Gucci Mane, C-Murder, and Pimp C as influences, it’s clear Juan has a low priority for lyrical wordplay. At the same time however, it’s just as clear that he has a nose for the groove that artists spend careers trying to get a pulse of.
Pablo Juan raps almost in a low-whisper, gliding over one stomping 808 to another as if subwoofers were guiding him. His uncanny ability to select the right cadence, hook and beat, mixed with his braggadocious bravado brings together a sound that has gotten the city’s attention.
Take “The 9 + Z6NE” off his Rich Hood tape for example. Somehow he managed to piece together a song that can easily be a studio album single, club banger, and street anthem all at once; this also goes for “18K” off the same album.
You give Hoodrich the right instrumental and he brings the persona and point of view that will carry the entire song.
With his work ethic, I’m positive were going to hear from Hoodrich Pablo Juan again before the year’s out. It’ll be interesting to see how he pushes his sound and how far he goes.
Lil Baby has had a pretty unorthodox and sudden path to stardom. The recently turned 22-year-old never wanted to be a rapper, but grew up in the same neighborhood as Young Thug and Quality Control co-head Pierre “Pee” Thomas.
Joe Coscarelli wrote for The New York Times that Pee and Coach K saw a specific profile and skill-set that seemed perfect for the mic, despite never hearing the kid spit a bar:
“[Coach K and Pee] have known Lil Baby since he was a charismatic teenager who was respected around town for his gambling prowess, and they had long encouraged him to pursue a career in music.”
Lil Baby was uninterested at first, but after various legal issues saw him going in and out of prison, in February of this year Baby decided to get in the booth.
His first project, Perfect Timing, came out in April with features from some members of Atlanta hip-hop royalty, like Young Scooter and Young Thug, as well as up and comers Lil Yachty and Duke.
While the project and Lil Baby’s bars were still pretty raw, the energy on Perfect Timing was palpable.
It was clear on Perfect Timing that Lil Baby has plenty to say, the emotion and potential of this artist was plain to see.
In July, Baby dropped his second project, Harder Than Hard, including the infectious “My Dawg”, the song that solidified Lil Baby as an artist to watch out for.
“My Dawg”, with its bouncy beat and Lil Baby’s lightly autotuned sing-rapping, immediately became a street anthem, vaulting Lil Baby into one of the hottest names in the ATL hip-hop scene.
The improvement from Perfect Timing to Harder Than Hard was wild. Lil Baby was leveling up before our eyes in the span of a couple months.
This was clearly the product of a determined work ethic, something Lil Baby learned from hanging in the studio with artists like Young Thug and Migos.
Baby told MTV last month he learned his work ethic and skills from these artists:
“Naturally just me being in the studio I guess. Like I just picked [it] up. I been in the studio with Migos for weeks and weeks and Thug and weeks and weeks, not me rapping just hanging. But it’s time where it just be me and them, so instead of us kicking it and talking, I’m ready to just sit down while they working.”
After releasing a collaborative tape with childhood friend Marlo titled 2 the Hard Way, Baby dropped another solo project, Too Hard, a complete album, signaling Lil Baby as a legitimate force in the rap game.
On “All Of A Sudden” with Moneybagg Yo, Lil Baby relishes in his meteoric glo up and newfound riches. It’s as fun and hard of a track as you’ll hear.
“Best Of Me”, a more down-tempo, contemplative track, recalls some of the ills of Lil Baby’s previous occupation before picking up the mic. He remembers a specific violent altercation that almost turned deadly.
“The n**** shouldn’t did what he did
I’m just glad a n**** still here for all the stupid shit that we did
Gotta be here for my kid
Gotta watch my son get big
Everything I say is no lie, I’m just glad the kid didn’t die”
On “Best Of Me”, Lil Baby appears to have put his past behind him, or at least has a certain desire to, but it hasn’t been easy to extricate himself from the streets.
He told Coscarelli of NYT that it’s not as easy as it seems to move away from all he’s ever known:
“It sounds like, ‘O.K., duh, go do that.’ But it’s hard to transition. I’ve been rapping for six months, but I’ve been in the streets heavy for like 12 years straight.” He pulled out his phone and scrolled through the missed calls — old friends luring him back.”
But the influence of the Quality Control executives, specifically Pee, who is intimately familiar with what Lil Baby is coming from, has helped guide the young artist. Lil Baby referred to Pee as a “police-dad, but in a good way.”
And through Pee and Coach K’s guidance, Lil baby is starting to understand what he needs to do to capitalize on his clear talent:
“I’m starting to build this patience. God’s got something else for me. I need to be with Pee, because ain’t no telling what’s going on in the hood right now, what I could be going into. I look at Pee as a savior.”
On “To The Top”, the intro track off Too Hard, Lil Baby verbalizes his sudden rise perfectly:
“Last year I was sittin’ in the cage
This year I’m goin’ all the way”
If Lil Baby can keep his focus, there’s no stopping QC’s most recent artist to blow.
On 2017, the Atlanta hip-hop label Quality Control released their first label-wide project, Quality Control: Control the Streets Volume 1, a sprawling, 30-track record mixing and matching the boutique label’s roster of artists.
It’s a massive, impressive, if not slightly overwhelming, project with guest appearances from Nicki Minaj, Cardi B, and Kodak Black. More interestingly, Control the Streets is the tangible culmination of the work of Quality Control (Q.C.) and label head Kevin “Coach K” Lee, who has created an indie hip-hop empire.
Coach K’s mother and grandmother worked pressing records at the RCA Records factory in Indianapolis and he’s always been surrounded by music. Early Motown records informed his taste, but it was Sugarhill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight” that changed his idea of music. Coach K says on his website:
“I was hooked on rap immediately. Me and one of my best friends, his parents had bought him two turntables, so we just started spending our money buying records.Then my cousin, he DJ’d so I got engulfed in buying records.”
In search of a career in music management, Coach K moved to Atlanta from Indianapolis in the mid-90s, just as Outkast was blowing up and putting Atlanta hip-hop on the map. By the turn of the century, artists like T.I. and Young Jeezy were changing the perception of Atlanta hip-hop and shaping the sound of what has become the most ubiquitous genre of music in America.
What separates Quality Control from its competitors is that it’s an Atlanta company by and for its community. Most of the musicians on the official roster are from Atlanta and when Kelefa Sanneh of The New Yorker recently caught up with Coach K, he was handing out free Thanksgiving turkeys with Migos members Quavo and Takeoff.
Coach K told Sanneh about his idea of Atlanta as a hub of Black business:
“There’s no feeling like when I’m coming back to Atlanta, I’m in that airport and I see all those black people with jobs. When I travel to Phoenix or to Chicago, or even Indianapolis or Cleveland, Orlando—when you walk into those airports, it’s a few of us. But when you come to Atlanta it’s like, Whoa!”
The first artist Coach K successfully linked up with in Atlanta was the hard-hustling Pastor Troy, whose discography is a never-ending collection of mixtapes and studio albums. Then, Coach met Young Jeezy, who was on the rise, buoyed by his connections to B.M.F., a combination drug cartel and music studio that helped promote Jeezy throughout the city.
After a fallout with B.M.F., Jeezy released two mixtapes, Tha Streetz Iz Watchin and Trap or Die in 2004 and 2005 alongside DJ Drama and soon became one of the hottest rappers in the game.
Coach K has an obvious ear and eye for talent. He also managed Gucci Mane (despite his violent beef with Young Jeezy) and Q.C.’s current roster boasts Migos and Lil Yachty, whose names have permeated popular culture far beyond Atlanta hip-hop.
Migos are a hip-hop superteam and while Yachty’s debut album Teenage Emotions may have been somewhat of a flop on the charts, he’s been tipped by brands like Nautica and Sprite in ad campaigns.
Sanneh wrote for The New Yorker that while Yachty is frustrated with his numbers and thinks he has something to prove right now, Coach K isn’t as worried:
“Lee says that Yachty shouldn’t worry about old-fashioned hits, because his big and loyal online audience doesn’t worry about them, either.”
Coach K, who is 46, clearly has an understanding of the current landscape of music, specifically hip-hop, and its relationship with the internet and what that means for fandom.
His salt and pepper beard may give him an authority, as he told The New Yorker,
“With this gray beard, I’m a O.G. When I say something, they listen—like, ‘Oh, the O.G. must have been through it.'”
But Coach K is also completely fluent in contemporary music,
“When I visit my friends, I sit with their kids, and we talk about music. And my friends be like, ‘How the hell do you understand that shit?’ I’m like, ‘This is what I love, and this is what I do.'”
Coach K, who got his name from Jeezy for the label head’s proclivity to give instructions in the studio, is advised by his right hand man Pierre “Pee” Thomas, who he met through Gucci Mane. Thomas is 10 years younger than Coach K and took a slightly different route to become a record executive.
The combination of Coach K and Pee is the ideal duo to run a boutique hip-hop label. Tamika Howard, general manager of Quality Control, told The New York Times, “Pee is the street one, Coach is the suave one. Yin and yang, but it’s the perfect match.”
Pee acts as a sort of guiding force to the young artists Q.C. works with.
Sometimes these artists are in various stages of extricating themselves from their “previous careers” or involved in legal proceedings that could hamper their rise. Lil Baby, a recent Q.C. signee who has dotted rap blogs since he started rapping in February, told The New York Times that Pee is a “police-dad, but in a good way.”
To that end, Pee Thomas told the Times that he understands where these artists are coming from:
“I know what it’s like trying to get out the hood, trying not to make the same mistakes and put yourself in the position to go back to prison. It’s hard getting money out here, especially for young black men with no education, coming from low-income areas.”
Pee went on to explain that it’s Quality Control’s connection to the local neighborhoods, the streets, that has allowed their tiny label (Q.C. has less than 10 employees) to thrive in such a cutthroat and hegemonic industry:
“Other labels have these A & Rs and C.E.O.s and chairmen, sitting in an office looking on the internet at numbers on SoundCloud and Spotify — they’re just into the analytics. That’s part of it. But if I’m being honest — and it might sound ignorant — I don’t own a computer. I’m really out here in it.”
Despite their differences from, and independence of, other labels, Quality Control is aided by distribution and promotion deals with Capitol Records and Motown, a record label that Coach K sees as an “antecedent” to his business. Motown is clearly an influence on Quality Control’s business and artistic strategies, and the label’s recent success makes the comparison even more apt.
A post shared by Quality Control Music (@qualitycontrolmusic) on
Things don’t appear to be slowing down for Coach K and Q.C. anytime soon. After Control the Streets, a new Yachty project is slated for late December.
Migos are dropping a new album in January. In the meantime, Quality Control is laying down the blueprint on how an independent hip-hop label can thrive in 2017.
Sharon Reed, CBS 46 anchor in Atlanta, was discussing the racial dynamics that clearly affected the Atlanta mayoral election between Councilwoman Keisha Lance Bottoms and Councilwoman Mary Norwood.
With Keisha Bottoms, who is Black, winning the election, there was plenty to go over, until Reed had to take a break in the broadcast to point something out.
News anchor Sharon Reed responds on air to a viewer who calls her the N-word. This Atlanta Mayoral race has people fiesty tonight. pic.twitter.com/Vgri3oXnGN
Reed received a vitriolic email from one viewer named Kathy Rae and read it live on-air,
“You need to be fired for the race baiting comment you made tonight. It’s okay for blacks to discuss certain subjects but not whites…Really, you are what I call a n*ggr not a Black person. you are a racist n*ggr. you are what’s wrong with the world.”
With the utmost professionalism, Reed debunked the original claim that she and her team, whose races range from white and Black, were somehow race-baiting. Reed said,
“Number one, you mischaracterized what I said. I didn’t say white people couldn’t talk about race, on the contrary, we think race is an authentic discussion to have… It’s what we’re having tonight.”
Then, rather than going off on Rae for her comment, Reed ended the discussion with a classy blow.
“When arguing with somebody, you have to be careful not to mischaracterize their viewpoint… So I won’t mischaracterize your view either, Kathy Rae. I get it.”
Sharon continued going in saying,
“On December 5th, 2017, you think it’s okay to call this journalist a nigger. I don’t. I could clapback and say a few things to you, but instead I’ll let your words speak for themselves.”
Damn girl!
Of course, the Atlanta election was 100% centered around race, with Norwood, who was looking to become Atlanta’s first white mayor in 40 years, calling for a recount just minutes after Bottoms had announced and celebrated her win.
“A simple look at the electoral map makes it clear: The northern, whiter parts of Atlanta voted Norwood; the southern, blacker parts of Atlanta voted for Lance Bottoms. It’s also worth noting that Bottoms was the default Democrat in the nonpartisan race and Norwood was a closet Republican.”
Not about race, huh?
Good on Reed for keeping her cool and not giving Rae the bait she was looking for.
The self-described King of the South has reiterated his previous claims that he invented trap music in an exclusive with HipHopDX.
In April, TIP told Angie Martinez that he invented the popular Atlanta-based genre of hip-hop that has taken over the look and sound of contemporary rap. T.I. said at the time that many people don’t give him the credit he deserves,
“A lot of people really don’t know that I created trap music. There was no such thing as trap music prior to [T.I.], it didn’t exist.”
T.I. was referencing his 2003 album Trap Muzik, which T.I. claims to have popularized the term. With hits like “Let’s Get Away”, “24’s”, and “Rubber Band Man”, Trap Muzik vaulted T.I. to the top of the rap game, where he’s sat comfortably for years.
Now, in a new interview with HipHopDX, T.I. minced no words while speaking about his influence on hip-hop and creating trap music. TIP wanted to make sure that everyone knows exactly where he stands,
“I don’t want it to be hearsay like I’m speculating or proclaiming this personally. I want you to tell me when did you first hear the words ‘trap music’ put together before Trap Muzik dropped?”
T.I. got out the history book, citing “actual references” about trap music and his impact on the genre,
“Okay, so that factually can show, and we can go back historically and check actual references that before that album dropped, the term didn’t exist. So, you don’t have to say ‘Well, you say you created it.’ So tell me, who created ‘trap music’ first before me? It’s okay to say it.”
This led to a pretty hilarious exchange between T.I. and his interviewer where T.I. implored the interviewer to say he invented trap music,
DX: You were the first that I heard use the term “trap music.”
T.I.: Nah, that ain’t what I said. Just answer the question.
DX: Okay, you created ‘trap music.’
T.I.: Now don’t that feel so much better? You don’t have to step around it and tip-toe
SAY IT!
Although the current sound and aesthetic that we associate with trap music isn’t all that similar to what we heard on Trap Muzik, this specific subgenre of hip-hop has evolved in the decade and a half since T.I.’s second album, something T.I. spoke to HipHopDX about.
“[Trap music] has grown from the contributions of others who have taken it far beyond where I left it or where I could have taken it. It has expanded so much, so wide, and so broad that at this point you just have to sit back and watch and just be proud. As long as it’s people who come from that walk of life who could look to the charts and feel like there are hit records out there right now that represent them and their lifestyle, and talk about how they live every day, I feel like trap music is very much alive.”
As T.I. points out, trap music is all about authenticity.
I’m definitely not going to disagree with T.I. on this one. While I was 12 when Trap Muzik came out, it was indeed the first time I heard the term ‘trap’ and I haven’t really seen anyone in the know dispute T.I.’s claim that he is the originator of trap music.
So we’ll agree with TIP that he’s the originator of trap. While we’re at it, we’re gonna throw on Trap Muzik.
When Waka Flocka dropped Flockaveli in October 2010, the hip-hop world collectively bugged out to the riot-inspiring music in the form of “Hard In Da Paint,” “Bricksquad,” and “Grove St. Party.”
“It’s a brutalist concoction, one of the most bracing and unforgiving hip-hop releases in recent memory. Almost single-handedly, and without context, it rediscovers hip-hop’s pugnacity in an era of extreme melodic sophistication, an idiosyncratic anomaly.”
Flockaveli was retro in its pugnacity, but also helped usher in a new breed of ‘hardcore’ hip-hop. Flocka’s brand of scream-rap was engrossing, but as Caramanica pointed out, there was a “melodic sophistication” to the record.
And a 19-year-old kid from Virginia was the source of much of this melody. That kid went by the name of Lex Luger and he provided the ominous strings and crashing snares on Flockaveli‘s hardest-hitting songs.
Lex Luger brought his aggressive, massive, but simple, production to the rap world in 2010 and helped revitalize the southern rap sound after years of crunk music domination.
Instead of the bubbly, bouncing beats of Dem Franchize Boyz and D4L, Lex brought ominous strings and paired them up with rolling hi-hats and snares, helping create the Atlanta trap sound so popular today.
The Flocka/Luger partnership was pretty unstoppable on Flockaveli, sometimes artists bring out the best in each other and a producer/rapper team can accentuate the skills of the other. Such was the case on Flockaveli as Waka flowed perfectly on top of Luger’s face-melting beats.
Luger produced Waka’s “Hard In Da Paint” and “Grove St. Party,” along with 11 of the 17 songs off Flockaveli. In the same year he also produced Rick Ross’ “B.M.F.” and “MC Hammer,” two of the hardest tracks in Rozay’s catalog to this day. To top off his introductory year, Luger helped Kanye and Jay-Z on their epic “H.A.M.” number off Watch the Throne.
He would follow up his epic 2010 by keeping the damn thing going, producing the majority of three Juicy J mixtapes, Rubber Band Business 1 and 2, as well as Blue Dream & Lean alongside the former Three 6 Mafia kingpin.
Luger also helped introduce the world to the up-and-coming Ace Hood with “Go n Get It” and “Hustle Hard,” produce the club hit “Round of Applause” for Waka and Drake, “9 Piece” for Rick Ross and Lil Wayne, and Wale’s “That Way.”
The producer’s work in 2010/2011 saw him named Producer of the Year at the 2011 BET Hip Hop Awards, cementing his place in the hip-hop lexicon as one of the genre’s premier beatmakers.
Over the next couple years, Luger would continue to shape the genre’s sound. He worked alongside Gucci Mane, Young Dolph, French Montana, Chief Keef, Fredo Santana, Rick Ross, and cooked up “M.I.A.” on Travis Scott’s debut project Owl Pharoah.
Since that early 2010’s period, Lex Luger formed the Low Pros alongside A-Trak, a pretty awesome combination of talent, mixing Luger’s massive trap sound and A-Trak’s bouncy electronica to amazing results.
To date, they’ve only released one project, EP1, but we’re very down for another Low Pros record.
Last year, Lex Luger helped create the epic “Champions” record with Kanye West, Gucci Mane, Quavo, Travis $cott, Big Sean, Yo Gotti, 2 Chainz, and Desiigner.
While the Lex Luger trademark is the huge three-chord strings with rolling drums, he’s more than capable of switching it up and doing more soulful sample-based production.
This was clear on Schoolboy’s “Grooveline Pt. 1” from Habits & Contradictions back in 2012. You wouldn’t be blamed for doing a double take hearing the low key, smooth, Marlena Shaw-sampling production and seeing it was provided by Lex Luger.
While “Grooveline Pt. 1” was back in the day, Luger is conscious of trying to to switch up his style. He told Tuc Mag last year about his evolving sound,
“Early in my career my sound was Atlanta, but since I’ve done ‘H.A.M,’ ‘See Me Now,’ and ‘Champions,’ you wouldn’t expect that from me. My beat might barely have an 88, snare, or the hi-hat. I’m trying to reinvent myself every year, every month because the game changes so fast. There are rappers dropping from nowhere, and they have these different sounds. The game is just really different now. I focus on my music and what I got going on in life.”
Now, Luger and Curren$y are dropping a collab album The Motivational Speech EP, expected to come out this weekend. The first track “Pressure” dropped last night, with accompanying visuals.
While the beat still has that accelerating synth trademark of Lex Luger at the beginning, the low key and muted snares with an acoustic piano on top definitely signals a very new sound from Lex Luger.
After shaping the aesthetic of New Atlanta and becoming the biggest producer in the game, Luger has switched up his style once again.
Still only 26, there’s plenty more to come from Lex Luger. You already know we’ll be watching all his moves.
Donald Glover (aka Childish Gambino) is the clearest example of “jack of all trades master of none” being complete bullshit.
He’s an actor, director, singer, rapper, producer, and writer — and after last night he’s now a two-time Emmy winner.
Donald’s critically acclaimed FX show Atlanta was nominated for 6 Emmys last night winning Outstanding Director and Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series.
Beating out shows Silicon Valley and Veep,Donald Glover made history, becoming the first Black person to win in the Best Director category.
During his acceptance speech Glover thanked his wife, his baby, and his unborn baby amongst all his other family. Jokingly he also thanked the other Donald — Trump — for “making black people number 1 on the oppressed list” teasing that “he’s the reason I’m probably up here.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSlfYi5mOqU
Jokes on Trump aside, Glover’s history-making victory is incredibly important.
Being the first Black person to win that award along with Lena Waithe being the first Black woman to win for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series on Master ofNone,these creatives are paving the way for real stories from real people of color.
Atlanta is a perfect example of a comedy with Black people vs. the usual comedy about Black people. Glover’s show is a surreal take on Atlanta’s hip-hop scene on the surface but really, it’s about a regular guy trying to get by.
In his backstage interviews the Emmy winning actor said “I’m glad I was able to make history but that’s not what I was trying to do.”
His focus to make a good TV show is indirectly allowing more stories to be told from different perspectives without a stereotypical cliche.
The decision to just make the best art possible is apparent in all of Glover’s work.
From his music to his acting Donald proves that he’s not in this for anything else but quality work. Atlanta is gearing up for its second season and Donald Glover is about to start shooting for his Lando Calrissian role in the next StarWars.
According to new court documents obtained by The FADER, the trap god was granted a motion for early termination cutting his three-year probation two years short.
The motion was signed back on August 23rd and will be official September 19th, clearing Radric Davis’ name of all charges.
At this point, good fortune for Gucci is as common as fades with nappy tops — he’s been on an unprecedented tear since his release in May of 2016.
For starters, Gucci came out of prison looking completely different.
He was fit, his teeth were pearly white, and, for the first time, he articulated audibly.
T.I, Boosie, Meek Mill, Lil Wayne, and many other all went to jail but none came out with the accomplishments of Guwop. Hov retired. Some even say Kingdom Come was a low point for him. But did he really go away?
Mase, Pretty Ricky, Shine, G-Unit, M.C Hammer, Omarion, and others have tried to make a comeback, but no one has been able to do what Gucci has in the amount of time after being away from the public eye.
Trap hadn’t even been accepted by the mainstream market before Guwop went to prison. Now Gucci is standing aside Fifth Harmony and Selena Gomez.
It’s almost as if the era he entered out of prison was perfectly conducive to who he was as an artist. After all, the sound out of Atlanta dominating the charts are byproducts of his sound.
I’d challenge anyone to picture Gucci before he was in jail — his status in hip-hop, addictions, the criminal record — compare it to where he is now, and tell me whose comeback was greater.
To look at Gucci’s success, however, one must take a closer look deeper as what has truly changed about him. He couldn’t be a clone because he stays sober, doesn’t indulge in any drugs, and exudes positivity with everything says and does. He is a completely different person.
Between his flaunting pictures of him and his fiancé, his motivational tweets, and his new appreciation of the small things, it’s inspirational to see.
The true gem with Gucci and his newfound success after what seemed like an ended career, however, is the correlation between his disposition and his assent.
The more positive Gucci is and the happier he feels and if he continues to lead a healthy life, the more good fortune comes his way.
The way people talk about Gucci today amazes me. Just a couple of years ago I would get laughed at for listening to “that fat guy that mumbles with an ice cream on his face, “now he’s “the legendary trap god.”
He’s somewhat of a folklore cult hero in many aspects that, somehow, everyone grew to love.
As hip-hop surfaced as the face of music, I guess his imprint became undeniable and impossible to ignore. He really did bring a uniqueness that inspired many artists to be themselves and break any industry mold.
As Gucci becomes a free man I genuinely hope he continues to be a positive influence with the platform he has and hope to hear more from him in the future.
Earlier this week, Metro Boomin posted an Instagram announcing a new project.
The caption read, “tomorrow night #haterswillsayitsphotoshop” and Twitter immediately went into meltdown mode suspecting Metro was about to drop a full-length project or beat tape.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BVqN-zjDa-m/
When it turned out that Metro was teasing a new single, “No Complaints,” with verses from Drake and Offset, some people were a little disappointed.
The fact that rap Twitter went into quasi-meltdown mode because of a social media post shows just how massive of a figure Metro Boomin has become in the hip-hop world.
It’s been a ridiculously quick rise to the top for Young Metro, who went from having his mom drive him from his hometown of St. Louis to Atlanta while Metro was still in high school so he could collaborate with artists on the Atlanta scene, to becoming the most exciting young producer in hip-hop.
But how did a teenager from St. Louis go on to shape the sound and aesthetic of contemporary Atlanta trap music?
Metro Boomin, born Leland Tyler Wayne, wasn’t held back by things like basic geographic barriers. He saw where the culture was thriving most, where he could work within a tight-knit community of artists and flourish.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BVlPTEODgA3/
The St. Louis kid started making beats when he was in middle school when his mom copped him a laptop and he downloaded the primitive but seminal production program Fruity Loops.
After spending some time in the school band, Metro focused solely on hip-hop. Initially he was just making beats to rap over, but soon realized his talents were exclusively in the production realm.
During his junior year in high school, Metro and his mom began driving back and forth between St. Louis and Atlanta so the 11th grader could get his beats straight to the source.
Metro made his first splash in the game in 2010 and 2011, making the beat for Big Sean’s “Home Town” off Finally Famous Vol. 3: Big and multiple tracks on OJ da Juiceman’s mixtape Culinary Art School 2.
By going back and forth between Atlanta and St. Louis, Metro was able to work with artists face-to-face and collaborate with a litany of popular ATL artists.
Metro even moved to Atlanta for college, enrolling at Morehouse for a degree in business management, but he dropped out after a semester when the music shit was really taking off.
2013 was a breakout year for Leland Wayne, appearing on five different Gucci Mane mixtapes alone.
While that’s an obvious testament to East Atlanta Santa’s infamous work ethic (five mixtapes!), it also basically ensured Metro Boomin’s place as a figure in the Atlanta trap scene.
Once you get that Gucci Mane cosign, not to mention produce on five different mixtapes, you’ve gotten the official ATL seal of approval.
Metro’s career took off from there, producing his first major single, Future’s “Karate Chop.”
The original “Karate Chop” appeared on Future’s Freebandz label compilation mixtape F.B.G.: The Movie, while the remix added Lil Wayne and popped up on Future’s full-length album Honest.
Besides “Karate Chop,” Metro produced “I Won,” featuring Kanye West, “Honest,” and “How Can I Not” off Honest.
“Karate Chop” and Honest were the start of a career-altering partnership between young Metro and Future.
In 2014, Metro blew up. He produced for Migos, Waka Flocka, YG, Fredo Santana, Travis Scott, Rick Ross, Future, Nicki Minaj, iLoveMakkonen, Young Thug, and, of course, Gucci Mane, often producing multiple tracks off these artists’ projects.
Working with artists who were on the come up, like Migos and Travis Scott, meant Metro’s own career progression mirrored theirs. These dudes basically came up together, influencing each other’s sound and style.
That sound has become Metro’s signature. Often pairing menacing and dark synths with deep, banging bass, and snares and hi-hats that slap you right in the face.
When Genius asked Metro back in February what some of his influences were, he had an interesting response. Metro told Genius,
“Green Day, just because, when I started making beats back then, they had that shit out, American Idiot. Just the sonics of that shit—that whole dark, moody vibe. I naturally, when I make beats, aim for a darker tone just because I’ve always preferred those types of feelings. More than any artist, I feel like horror-movie music influenced my music more than all that shit.”
The horror movie part makes sense. I mean listen to the “I Don’t Sell Molly No More” beat, that’s some Friday 13th shit.
Partnering up with up-and-coming artists allowed Metro to make exclusive collaboration projects. In doing this, the producer can shape the creative direction and have his name attached to an entire project.
After years of hip-hop producers lingering anonymously in the shadows, youngins like Metro Boomin are changing the way they make money and make a name for themselves.
Metro’s exclusive collaboration with 21 Savage last summer was a haunting introduction to last year’s XXL Freshman member.
The summer before in 2015, Metro exclusively produced Future’s instant classic DS2 as well as the Future and Drake collaboration album What a Time to Be Alive.
While Metro had a little help from Drake’s right hand man Noah “40” Shebib on WATTBA, this stretch of work as an exclusive producer, even an equal artist, on some of the biggest releases of the last two years, made Metro Boomin a legitimate figurehead in hip-hop.
On What a Time, Future also gave Metro Boomin’ his now-infamous producer tag “If Young Metro don’t trust you I’ma shoot you,” a phrase that rings out across the hip-hop world, and beyond, today.
Most recently, Metro has produced all of Gucci Mane’s album DropTopWop, three songs off Big Sean’s I Decided, including the smash “Bounce Back,” Migos’ “Bad and Boujee,” which reached number 1 on the Billboard charts, and Metro’s own release on Friday “No Complaints.”
Next up is apparently “Perfect Timing,” an alleged collab album with Toronto artist NAV.
Metro Boomin has created an interesting new lane for hip-hop producers to come up. Instead of just finding random placements on big artists’ albums (which Metro still does), the St. Louis native provides the entire template for an artist.
That Metro collab, along with his now-famous producer tag, has become one of the most highly-coveted cosigns in hip-hop and a top-quality guarantee.
From driving 9 hours with his mom every weekend to Atlanta, to producing an entire collaboration album with Drake and Future, Metro Boomin has conquered the production world.
