It took a trip to Atlanta in 2014 for Brodinski to find out nobody really cared he had worked with Kanye West.

Brodinski, born Louis Rogé in Reims, France, was already a name in dance music: a successful electro artist, world-touring DJ, co-founder of the dance label Bromance. But he wanted to make rap music too. Especially for young Southern rappers, whom he followed closely on mixtape sites like Dat Piff and Spinrilla. Usually this would mean making beats for local talent first and working your way up to the superstars. But a lucky break let Brodinski start at the top: His first major foray into rap was with Kanye West in Paris. The sessions, which had come about after a Belgian friend of Kanye had played him Brodinski’s music, netted him two production credits on West's Yeezus in 2013. Emboldened, he bought a ticket to Atlanta. "I start calling some people around," he told me over FaceTime. "'Do you know anybody in Atlanta? Do you know anybody who could help me on my quest?'"

He booked studio time at DJ Drama’s Means Street, a hangout of sorts for the Atlanta rap community. But no artists showed up to work with Brodinski that first day — everybody flaked. "To be honest I was a bit.. maybe I took the wrong decision," he said. Wandering around the lavish 7500-foot studio complex, which even has a barbershop on site, Brodinski noticed everybody else seemed to know each other. More than a hot credit, what Brodinski needed was a trustworthy introduction."How am I going to explain how I want to do things?" he wondered. "I have this crazy French accent. I always talk with that accent everywhere I go.”