It’s back to business for KAYTRANADA. The business of making exciting, genre-busting beats.

Next up in the producer's already star-studded catalogue? More work with his ‘Glowed Up’ main man, Anderson.Paak.

“We have 10, 13 other songs just sitting on the hard drives and stuff. A bunch of different versions…I’m probably going to see him in L.A., work on more stuff” he tells triple j Drive's Gen and Lewis.

“[He’s] one of my fave collaborators, it’s something that just clicks – he understands and I understand what he’s doing, it’s totally meant to be. An amazing artist and very happy for his success right now.”

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Back in the country for FOMO Festival, it’s been a busy time for the Haitian-born, Montreal-raised producer. In a few short years, his status has levelled up from go-to guy for in-the-know musos to one of the world’s most celebrated producers – a transition sealed when his debut album 99.9% took out Canada’s top music award, the Polaris Prize, then tidied up at the Juno Awards last year.

“I was like, ‘I could’ve been way more serious, could’ve done better’ – I was just having fun,” Kaytra tells triple j Drive, explaining how the success and attention has impacted his career.

“In some ways, it hasn’t… I had an evolution of how I want to make beats. I guess I see things differently now that the album is out and people see my projects. Now, it’s like, time to be more serious. Serious in a way that it’s not the time to do that for fun … it’s that type of thinking that is activated in your brain.”

The days of pumping out untitled beats on Soundcloud aren’t necessarily behind him but having worked with Chance the Rapper, Nick Murphy, Gorillaz, and GoldLink (all in the last year alone), he better understands the levity of the high profile names he’s regularly fielding calls from.

"A lot of people reached out - from André 3000 to Kendrick [Lamar] – everybody. I work with a lot of people lately. I really wanted this album to be out so that a lot of artists could respect and see I’m not playing around. A producer that doesn’t have an album out, what can you bring to the table?”

As well as that unreleased Anderson.Paak gear, Kaytra’s also keeping it in the family, teeing up more music with his brother, Lou Phelps, after producing his 001: Experiments mixtape. However, the pair have been mixing it up for over 10 years, as Lou explained when he made a surprise appearance during his sibling’s interview.

“We started taking it seriously for two years, then we made a group called The Celestics [we recommend their mixtape, Supreme Laziness]. Then when Kay’s success started booming, I stayed in school and did my thing but now I’m pursuing music and focusing on that."

Lou adds: “I’m working on an album right now actually, dropping a single really soon, so I’ll send it to you guys when it’s done.” And yes, their parents are especially proud; “They love it – talking about us to their friends, spread a little jealousy in their face.”

If that wasn’t enough vitamin Kay for you, he’s still got more material in the works, including some music that goes back to his Haitian roots.

“It’s not technically Haitian music but all the elements from the Caribbeans… You’re probably going to hear it on the next project I’m working on currently.”

Is that maybe the EP that Pharrell invited him to work together on? We’ll have to wait and see… “You’re going to have to wait for a while. It’s going to come out at the right time, y’all going to love it. It’s going to be dope.”