

FUTURE'S YOUNG HITMAKER BRIGHTENS UP



The producer is one of the most crucial yet anonymous figures in all of music. Every now and again we aim to illuminate these under-heralded artists with Beat Construction, an extension of our column in the magazine. For today we spoke to Metro Boomin, the 19-year-old Atlanta producer whose high-profile production gig on "Honest," the striking first single from Future's upcoming album of the same name, is a deserved next step after years of "shoot-em-up, bang bang" mixtape tracks. Here, he talks about Future's bat cave, sobriety in the studio and Atlanta's "friend circle" of rising producers.

How'd you get into making beats? I grew up in St Louis. Just with my mom. I always loved music. In seventh grade I was in the band for a second playing bass guitar. I wanted to rap, but I needed beats. I couldn’t buy any so I just made my own. I ended up liking that more than rapping so I just dropped the rap shit. On Christmas when I was 13, my mom got me my first laptop. I downloaded it FruityLoops, cause I had heard about it, and started messing around. Shit just blew from there. I still use FruityLoops today.

Were you a big computer kid? Were you a big Soulja Boy fan? I was, I’m not gonna lie. And I was definitely an inside kid. I was sitting there just making beats every day.

Why'd you move to Atlanta? I’d been going to Atlanta since 11th grade, just to work on music. I knew once I graduated I was gonna move. It was really like Hollywood as far as music is concerned, like how actors move to LA.

Was life in Atlanta as glamorous as you thought it would be? I couldn’t catch a break. I went to Morehouse for a semester. That shit was really a lot. Studio then class right after, I was driving myself crazy. Morehouse has a strict attendance policy—you can only miss two classes before you fail one. With music, I need to be where people want me to be when they want me to be there. Shit like this doesn’t come to everybody. I still value education, but I know I can always go back to school. So it got to the point where I had to make a decision. Then me and Future did called “Hard.” He liked the beat and the song so much that he just wanted me around all the time. That gained me a lot of interest.

“Hard” exemplifies a menacing sound that you became known for. Are you a dark dude? No! A lot of producers say my beats are scary. They make me sound like, He must be evil, this nigga’s crazy. When I play a bunch of a beats in a row people are like, “Man were you going through something?” It’s funny cause I think I’m like one of the most charismatic people you would ever know. I’m really just goofy and shit. It’s really the opposite of me, but it’s just what I like and what I’ve done for so long. My stuff is melodic and hits hard. I’m working to become more well-rounded. But that stuff is just what I do most naturally. Even playing keys I just automatically start there because that’s what I came up listening to. All of that old Gucci and Jeezy, that’s what all their beats sounded like and that’s what I listened to throughout my life. I definitely think that had an influence and an effect.