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index 8 . Murda Beatz 16. hit-boy 22. DaniLeigh 36. Pi'erre Bourne 42. phora 52. coi leray

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Preme: How important is speaking things into existence for you?

Murda: I found God through music. I started praying and believing there was a higher power and having faith in myself. That got me close to God. I speak things into existence. When I was sleeping on floors in Los Angeles, I wrote down a list of stuff and read it every day. You also have to be comfortable being uncomfortable. If you’re comfortable all the time, how are you going to get in that work mode to make something happen? If you’re really trying to get it, you got to go out your way and go get it. You can’t be comfortable sitting in your home for a whole year thinking your life is going to change. I stay hungry.

Preme: As someone who has made a living working with Black creatives, what are your thoughts on racial inequality? How have you played your part to eradicate it?

Murda: I’m a White kid that makes money through Black culture. I’ve spoken up. I’ve donated where I need to donate and I still have more to do. I feel like the whole world needs to wake up. I like to see progress. It’s something that is going to take time. We have to take one day at a time.

12 Preme: What are your thoughts on Kanye West speaking out about recording contracts in the industry and the lack of ownership artists have over their music?

Murda: The music industry [can be] pretty shady. I preach to everybody to have a lawyer before you sign anything. You get into the music industry because of your passion for music, but, at the end of the day, it’s a business. If you don’t have your business taken care of, it’s going to take all the fun out of it. The music industry is 20% skill 80% business. The more knowledge you have and the more people you have in your corner, that will go a long way.

Preme: What advice do you have for aspiring artists and producers?

Murda: Ask questions. A lot of people have egos and are too prideful to ask their peers about things. I still ask questions every day. I have no problem calling a producer or artist and asking them questions. When you ask questions you are getting shortcuts. You can never have too much knowledge. The more questions you ask, the more you're going to learn.

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Hit-Boy has had a championship run in 2020, adding to his already impressive resume, handling a majority of the production on 3 major projects— Detroit 2 with Big Sean, Burden of Proof with Benny The Butcher, and King’s Disease with Nas. In a year like no other, Hit-Boy has truly found a rhythm unlike anyone else in the game, and by the looks of it this run has no end in sight. Though he’s already curated some of the most notable and legendary tracks and albums of the millennium, and he continues to strive for greatness, not only working with the newest and most talented artists of today, but lending his talents to superstars and legends alike. Hit-Boy has dominated hip-hop, and the sky is truly the limit for what he can further accomplish in the future:

Q: First, let me congratulate you on the birth of your son. How’s being a new father? A: Man, that’s amazing. It’s just like opened my eyes to like, its like this is bigger than me now, know what I’m sayin? Like I’m really doing this for him to be set up, it’s a whole different motivation. It’s been a blessing man. Q: Do you ever think about what it’s gonna be like when your son discovers your music? A: Man, I haven’t really thought about that, but I already play him music off the phone in the morning and stuff like that. So, I feel he already connected to it like he came to the studio one time, and he was bobbing his head and he was like 4 months then, he gonna be locked in, I can tell. Q: What do you play him when you’re playing music off your phone, what do you have your son listening to? A: Anything…When I was working on Big Sean’s album, you know I would come with a newer mix of a song and I’d wake up, play it for him. Working on Nas’s album, I be up in the morning on the bluetooth playing the whole Nas album back-to-back, it’s just you know, everything I’m working on.

Q: Looking through your production history, that is so clear. Especially with your work with Juice WRLD. You actually produced my favorite Juice WRLD song, “Big”. A: Man, see, that’s whats up. You’re a real one. Cause people don’t be understanding how dope that song is and the crazy part is I pulled up on him and we loaded up the beat to “HeMotions” first, he did that, and then he did “Big”, all within 45 minutes he had did both of those songs. So, it’s just like crazy for that shit to come together like that. Q: “Big” reminded me of mixtape Wayne. I know that’s kind of an outlandish thing to say, but when I heard the bars…people just forget that Juice could really rap and I feel like the beat you gave him really brought it out. It was simple, it was something he could ride and I feel like he just showed his talent really well on that. A: That’s dope man. Juice is super legend, man. Just watching him make songs. Like I would drop off a pack, and he would record to every beat. It’s funny because, there’s people DMing me and tagging me in songs that’s leaking, and it’s like, damn I didn’t even know he recorded to this beat and I’m looking, I’m like….I dropped him off a 20-21 pack of beats and he recorded to damn-near every beat. Like, that’s crazy. Q: I was interested to see how much you two worked together.

Q: In recent years, we have seen hip-hop circle back to the trend of the one producer album, with you recently on the forefront of this movement: Why do you think this has come back to the mainstream and how has it affected rap? A: I mean, it’s because people see the results you get when you got that more focused project, versus doing too much. You know, with me personally, I just wanted to get back to like you know…it just was a lot of people sending me records that two or three producers already worked on, like “add something to this, finish it for me”. I flushed out a lot of records, and you know sometimes I wouldn’t even get the percentage I feel like I deserve, and I’m like “why the fuck did I do that anyway?” You know what I’m sayin, I feel like I got beats that are harder than this shit anyway in my computer, so just getting back to really like one producer beats, even though I collab with some of the homies, my boy GRy, who did “Laugh Now, Cry Later”, he actually made that beat at my studio on my computer. It’s just crazy to see the people around me get more opportunity and set their foot in this thing; it’s dope to watch. Q: This year you handled a lot of the production on 2 major projects, Detroit 2 and King’s Disease, with a third on the way with Benny the Butcher. How does your process for production change based on the artist and project? A: Honestly man, I just make music and I always pride myself on being versatile. Just having different styles so, honestly, I just be having the beats they need. I just play shit that I feel like belongs, really. It just sounds good, it got a pocket to it, it’s easy to make a song too. I just kind of lay it out so it’s easy to make a song with whatever artist I’m working with. Q: Yeah, the interesting part is like, let’s compare King’s Disease to Detroit 2, your production was just so different, yet it was still so you. I just feel like you work really well with people’s styles. A: With Sean, I knew he needed a new, super modern, updated sound; just the freshest, newest shit. And with Nas he had to keep that sound, but still make it sound new at the same time. I just kind of pay attention to what’s going on, study and do my homework.

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A: Yeah man…he’s a lot younger, so he would always wanna just like…every 17 time we would link he would be like “man we gonna work all night tonight”…I would be like man….I gotta go to the crib like at some point. He just had that energy, he was in GOAT mode at all times like he really had that youthful spirit. But, he was intelligent. He never ran out of words. He freestyle for hours in my studio. He just never ran out of stuff to say. Q: Yeah for sure, I would watch his radio freestyles all the time and you could tell her was really freestyling. He didn’t miss a beat. A: No for sure, he was crazy. It’s just insane…It don’t even seem real…It doesn’t even feel real that he’s gone. Q: Going back to your projects that you’ve made this year, What did you take away from the experience of making each project? A: Really it was just a personal realization. Like,” I’m capable of doing this”. Before Nas dropped, I was like “Man, I don’t know how they bout to really receive this.” Cause I’ve done full projects for people, but never on the stature of like a Nas. Like that’s a legend. Like hip-hop heads, they gonna be ready to chew your head off if you don’t come correct. I just wanted to make sure that it sounded good and for it to come out and be embraced like that, it definitely gave me that confidence to just like “I’m about to do this shit even more and go even harder.” Q: What’s the difference in your process between producing for others and producing for yourself? A: Honestly, it’s all just music at the end of the day. I know what’s for me when it’s like, I get that instant…I got the first 4 bars to this shit. I know how the song is gonna be mapped out from there. With beats, as far as working with other people you have to hope they connect with the stuff you play them and be prepared, really. I just look at this shit like with fashion. If you go to Sachs, 9/10 you gonna be able to find 1 or 2 pieces that fit in your pallet, even if you don’t use them immediately, its like you gonna find something and I look at it the same way. When you come here, it’s damn near no way you not gonna hear anything you can’t make an idea to.

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Q: It feels like this generation of producers in hip-hop are so unique to anything the genre has seen before, in regards not only to their sound, but their output and vision. What differentiating features do you see in the hip-hop producers of today versus when you got started? A: I mean shit, I was studying all classic shit versus, kids they studying things from 2012-2013, that’s they classic, “N*ggas in Paris” is old school to them. So, it’s like, I was studying Hov and Nas and DMX and Snoop Dogg and all these people and these kids, they came up in a different era where 808’s were predominant. So if it don’t have an 808, 9 times out of 10 if it’s an artist under 21-22, they ain’t gonna get it, unless you Cordae or something. Q: In your own personal opinion, what beat are you the most proud of and why? A: It’s crazy cause I like “Big” and “HeMotions” on Juice WRLD’s album—and I feel like “Lithuania” on Detroit 2 is crazy, you know switch ups like…for them it to be seamless like that, usually when you go from acoustic, live sounding drums or something like that, or a different type of pattern, you would completely switch the beat up but, I kept it consistent. I feel like people don’t understand that’s not easy to do. Q: What else do you hope to accomplish in your career? A: Honestly, the sky’s the limit. I just want to keep getting better. Producing more albums, bigger albums, better albums. I feel like I’ve produced some stuff that’s great, but I just want to get even better at it.

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It was only until Pi’erre successfully transitioned to a rapper from a producer that he discovered more about his family’s musical history. Funny how that works. When Pi’erre’s mom was a kid, she tried to form a band with her sisters, brothers and parents a la the Jackson 5.

“It was a phase,” Pi’erre says with nonchalance.

But he can remember it. But he can’t remember his earliest memory of music. Maybe that’s how embedded it is inside of his spirit. He’s stumped upon answering.

“I honestly don’t know as far as a 39 song. I can’t really give you one song.”

Maybe it’s because when he was younger, he wanted to be like Ash Ketchum. “Everywhere I travel to, I grab a [stuffed] Pikachu. It’s just cool. Put it in my bookbag and go,” he says.

“Queens had a big influence on me. It had a lot of artists come from the area and blossom. Not just artists. Other entertainers. It’s not the birthplace of hip hop but it’s one of the places where it had a huge groundbreaking movement with RUN DMC and LL Cool J. I still wear my Yankees hat and my Mets hat,” he says about Queens.

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