Gucci is a guy that promoted me to the fullest. It don't matter where we go.
'So Icy' is always going to be one of my favorites because this is a song that blew my mind. I was just making beats for the fun of it. I went to the club and heard the song being played, so I asked the DJ to stop playing the song, and the whole club started rapping word for word.
I like to introduce people to each other, especially in the hip-hop community.
I can do R&B, pop, gospel... whatever genre of music that's out.
When my dad retired, he moved to Georgia, but I stayed in California. I was in San Francisco: that's where I first went from being a musician to making beats and producing. I was 18, 19. It started going pretty good for me out there in California, so I stayed in SF while my parents moved to Georgia.
Atlanta can do crunk music, it can do snap music, it can do swag music. Atlanta has it all.
I think that the sound that the world knows as trap music is the sound that Gucci and I created.
A lot of people want to blow up as a producer, but what helps you blow up as a producer is an artist that matches well with your music. When that artist gets popular and blowing up, and people start knowing them, that's when they start knowing you.
When I was in high school, the girls used to tell me I looked like Usher, so to be doing a song with Usher was mind-blowing.
My formula is not thinking about what I'm doing; it's about still having fun and making music. I don't go into the studio with a thought pattern or certain goals in mind - sometimes I'll start with drums, other times I'll start with the piano - but it's all done spontaneously, so nothing is premeditated, and nothing takes a long time.
The music business, a lot of times, has a big finesse mentality to it.
When Zaytoven and Future are working together, then Future's not working on no other tracks, and Zaytoven's not making no beats for nobody but Future.
You listen to something like 'Beast Mode,' and it's almost like looking at a pretty painting.
I approached my career like a rapper. I would go to every open mic, every studio session, bringing my beats. I would almost do exactly what a rapper would do to get on.
I started with the organ and drums, and I later got into drum machines as a teenager.
I listen to a lot of music... but there still hasn't been a project yet that touches me like 'Beast Mode' has.
When I think about 'Beast Mode,' that's what I think about. I don't think about just a hard project; they just created some art together.
When I approached my own movies, I went in it real innocent. I didn't pay attention to nobody else's score. I was just going to do it with how I feel it should sound. To me, that's how you create new things.
It's been a blessing that I can provide for my family just by doing music. I never thought this would ever be my occupation.
When your dad is a preacher and your mom is a choir director and you're in church all the time, as a youngster, you've got to find something to do. That's where my musical background comes from.
