Closing off Coachella weekend 2’s Friday night with a set that started 5 minutes late, ironically with the track On Time, Metro Boomin brought the heat to the cool-night in the desert, surprising fans with guests from The Weeknd to Future, Don Toliver, 21 Savage and even John Legend. While the guests were not announced ahead of time, this comes as no surprise considering the American producer has worked with just about anyone in hip hop.
Born Leland Tyler Wayne, also known as Young Metro or simply Metro, started by making beats to rap over, though quickly realised hip hop production was what he enjoyed more. By connecting with artists online, Metro would travel from St Louis, his hometown, to Atlanta to meet with those artists, and as his connections grew, he eventually got introduced to the likes of Gucci Mane and Future, with who he would have a long-time collaborative relationship.
In 2013, Metro announced that he would be releasing his debut mixtape titled “19 & Boomin”, which came out just a year later and introduced his now iconic producer tag and the track Chanel Vintage featuring Future and Young Thug.
After his first mixtape, Metro caught the attention of every rapper in the game, and 2014 became the producer’s name. Sticking to his Atlanta circle, Metro teamed up with Young Thug once again for an album that would never be released but has had a few of its songs leaked on the internet called “Metro Thuggin”. Although that didn’t work out, Metro was still out there making moves, working with Nicki Minaj on “The Pinkprint” album, notably producing the song Want Some More. By the end of the year, Metro also became the executive producer to Future’s “Monster” mixtape.
Working with Future led to even more opportunities for the young producer, linking up with Kanye West to produce I Won. Eventually, he became the main producer for Future and Drake’s collaborative project “What A Time To Be Alive”, for which he produced 11 tracks, putting him at the forefront of the rap scene.
By 2016, Metro Boomin became one of the most sought after producers ever, also snatching up the Producer of the Year award at the BET Hip Hop awards. That year was accompanied by some of the biggest anthems he produced, including Drake’s Jumpman, Migos’ Bad And Boujee, Low Life by Future, and Bank Account by 21 Savage just to name a few, as well as working on Kanye West’s “The Life of Pablo”. Even if you miraculously hadn’t heard of Metro Boomin, you were constantly hearing his music.
The following year gave us the collaborative mixtape with Nav “Perfect Timing” and the surprise drop of Ric Flair Drip from the album made with Offset and 21 Savage, aptly titled “Without Warning”. 2017 also marked the year where Metro Boomin started his own record label Boominati World, to uplift an array of artists with a certain quality the producer wanted to see more of in the industry.
By 2018, Metro had already achieved so much, being responsible for the past couple of years’ top-charting songs and announced his retirement from rap. Though that didn’t last long, as he dropped his first studio album “Not All Heroes Wear Capes”,a project that featured the likes of Travis Scott, J Balvin, Kodak Black, and 21 Savage on the hit single 10 Freaky Girls.
From “Savage Mode II” made with 21 to this year’s “Heroes & Villains” album, Young Metro has continued riding on his success trails, with a reported starting booking fee of $75,000 – and that’s the friends and family discount. The fact is, Metro has produced so many tracks we have all at once listened to, it is impossible to name them all. Chances are though, if you’ve listened to rap in the last decade, Metro Boomin was probably involved.
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