Metro Boomin | |
Number of songs: 3 | Total weeks on charts: 55
Appearing in a total number of: 3 charts | Total period running: 486 days
Appearing in a total number of: 3 charts | Total period running: 486 days
Biography
Leland Tyler Wayne (born September 16, 1993), professionally known as Metro Boomin (also known as Young Metro or simply Metro), is an American record producer, record executive, songwriter, and DJ. Raised in St. Louis, Wayne began a production career while in high school and became best known for his successful recordings with Atlanta rap artists such as Future, 21 Savage, Gucci Mane, and Migos in the mid-2010s. In 2017, Forbes called him "easily one of the most in-demand hitmakers in the world," while Stereogum described him as "one of the most original, vivid, important voices in rap right now."
Early production success for Wayne came with tracks such as ILoveMakonnen's 2014 hit "Tuesday" and Future and Drake's 2015 single "Jumpman". Since then he has amassed over a dozen Top 20 hits, including "Bad and Boujee" by Migos, "Mask Off" by Future, "Bank Account" by 21 Savage, "Congratulations" by Post Malone, and "Tunnel Vision" by Kodak Black. He has also released full-length collaborations, including Savage Mode (2016) with 21 Savage, Double or Nothing (2017) with Big Sean, and DropTopWop (2017) with Gucci Mane. His debut solo album Not All Heroes Wear Capes was released in November 2018.
Leland Tyler Wayne was born on September 16, 1993, in St. Louis, Missouri, where he attended Parkway North High School. He has four siblings. After a brief stint playing bass guitar in his middle school band, he turned to making beats in the seventh grade at age 13. This happened when his mother bought him a laptop and he got a copy of the music production software FruityLoops. In high school, Metro churned out five beats a day. Initially, Metro wanted to rap, and started making beats so that he could have music to rap over. However, he eventually turned his full attention toward hip hop production. As he continued to hone his production skills, while still in high school, he began to utilize online social media platforms, such as Twitter, to network with more established rap artists as well as beat submissions for potential music placements.
During high school at Parkway North in Creve Coeur, Metro's mother would often drive him for over eight hours from St. Louis to Atlanta to collaborate with artists he met online. One of the first artists with whom he worked was Bricksquad Monopoly rapper Tay Don which then led him to collaborate with Bricksquad label artists such as OJ Da Juiceman, Gucci Mane, and eventually his frequent collaborator Future, an artist that he continues to collaborate with to this day.
Metro Boomin first started traveling to Atlanta in the 11th grade to pursue a career in music. In an interview with XXL, Metro says that Atlanta rapper OJ Da Juiceman was the first popular artist to rap on his beats, a string of collaborations that ultimately led to Metro meeting and working with Gucci Mane during the summer between his junior and senior years of high school. Upon graduating high school, Metro Boomin moved to Atlanta to attend Morehouse College, studying Business Management. Ultimately however, he chose to take a hiatus from school after a semester, because the schedule demands of a full-time music career became too much to balance. Since, Metro has collaborated with artists including Gucci Mane, Nicki Minaj, Ludacris, Future, Juicy J, Yo Gotti, 21 Savage, Wiz Khalifa, Chief Keef, The Weeknd, YG, Young Jeezy, Meek Mill, Travis Scott, Ace Hood, S.A.M., Young Scooter, Young Thug, Rich Homie Quan, Trinidad James, Drake, Lana Del Rey, Lil Uzi Vert, Migos, DJ Khaled, ScHoolboy Q and Lil Wayne. Metro also regularly collaborates with other modern hip hop producers, including Sonny Digital, TM88, Southside, Zaytoven, Young Chop, and DJ Spinz.
Metro Boomin has also worked extensively with popular rapper Future. The two first worked together on a song called "Hard", included on DJ Esco's Welcome 2 Mollyworld mixtape, and have collaborated on numerous songs since, including two singles from Future's sophomore album, Honest, the album's lead single, "Karate Chop", and title track, "Honest," co-produced by DJ Spinz.
In May 2013, Metro formally announced his debut mixtape, 19 & Boomin. Following warm-up singles, featuring artists like Trinidad James, Gucci Mane, and others, Metro released the mixtape, hosted by popular mixtape website LiveMixtapes, on October 7, 2013. The mixtape, all original songs, included "Maison Margiela", featuring Future, and "Some More", featuring Young Thug, both of which were subsequently released as music videos.
In March 2014, Metro and Young Thug announced that they would release a collaborative album, performed and released under the moniker "Metro Thuggin". The album will be self-titled and will be released sometime in 2015. Along with the announcement, Metro Thuggin released the collaborative track, "The Blanguage". Metro produced the sixth single from Honest, "I Won", which features Kanye West. The song became a single a month after the album was released.
In October 2014, Metro executive produced Future's Monster mixtape. This spawned the first appearance of hit single "Fuck Up Some Commas."
Metro served as executive producer for Drake (OVO music record label co-founder) and Future's collaborative mixtape What a Time to Be Alive released on September 20, 2015. In addition, he produced or co-produced seven of the 11 tracks on the mixtape.
Metro also served alongside DJ Esco as executive producer for Future's 2016 mixtape, Purple Reign. In 2016, he won Producer of the Year at the BET Hip Hop Awards.
In 2016, Metro Boomin was credited with produced charting hits such as "Jumpman" by Future and Drake, "Bad and Boujee" by Migos, "Low Life" by Future and The Weeknd, and the 21 Savage collaboration "X." That year, he also contributed to Kanye West's The Life of Pablo, and he and 21 Savage released the EP Savage Mode. In 2017, he produced charting singles such as "Tunnel Vision" by Kodak Black, "Bounce Back" by Big Sean, "Mask Off" by Future, and "Bank Account" by 21 Savage.
In January 2018, Metro Boomin was featured in a Gap campaign with SZA alongside a self-produced remix of Hold Me Now. The remix was released to digital platforms on the same day as the campaign. In an interview with XXL explaining the campaign with Gap and the remix, he details: "to remix the song, it was really about the [original] track leading the direction, I kept the rhythm of the song more uptempo, more of their style, with that old-school feel. But I put the 808s on it just to have that bounce. It was about mixing both worlds but not really losing the essence of the original. "
In April 2018, Metro Boomin appeared to announce his retirement from music on his Instagram page, changing his bio to "Retired record producer/DJ." However, he has since garnered production credits on Nicki Minaj’s album Queen, as well as Minaj’s labelmate Lil Wayne on Tha Carter V, which both debuted in the top 5 of the Billboard 200.
On October 26, 2018, multiple billboards appeared in Atlanta and New York depicting Metro Boomin as a "missing person". It was later revealed to be a teaser for the new full-length project Not All Heroes Wear Capes, which was released on November 2 and featured appearances from Travis Scott, Swae Lee, 21 Savage, Wizkid, Young Thug, Gucci Mane, Gunna, and more. Not All Heroes Wear Capes debuted number 1 of the Billboard 200 and number 16 on the UK Top 40 Albums.
On November 27, 2019, he co-produced The Weeknd's fourth Billboard Hot 100 number-one single "Heartless", with Illangelo and Dre Moon. The song was released as the lead single from the singer's fourth studio album, After Hours (2020). Metro also helped produce three other tracks on the album, "Escape from LA", "Faith" and "Until I Bleed Out".
On September 29, 2020, Metro and 21 Savage announced their fourth collaborative project, Savage Mode II, a sequel to their EP, Savage Mode (2016). It features guest appearances from Drake, Young Thug, and Young Nudy. On October 13, 2020, the dual lead singles became "Runnin" and "Mr. Right Now", the latter of which features Drake. The album was released on October 2, 2020, and debuted atop on the Billboard 200 chart, earning both artists their second number-one albums, which were also back-to-back for both artists.
On November 22, 2022, Metro announced the title of his upcoming second studio album: Heroes & Villains, which released on December 2. On November 30, he released an accompanying short film preview for the album. The film was directed by Gibson Hazard and featured appearances by Metro, Gunna, LaKeith Stanfield, Morgan Freeman, and Young Thug.
The album was released on December 2, 2022 with guest appearances from John Legend, Future, Chris Brown, Don Toliver, Travis Scott, Young Nudy, The Weeknd, 21 Savage, Young Thug, Mustafa, A$AP Rocky, Takeoff, and Gunna.
On December 13, 2022, Metro was confirmed to be working on the music for the upcoming Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse movie by screenwriters Phil Lord and Christopher Miller.
Specializing in the trap sub-genre of hip hop, Metro Boomin utilizes a distinctive mix of heavy bass, rattling synthetic percussion and dark, gothic melodies. Metro Boomin hardly strays from hip hop, although he has produced 4 tracks from The Weeknd's R&B album After Hours; in addition, he has also remixed pop songs such as "Hold Me Now" (produced as a Gap marketing collaboration).
In hip hop music, producers may choose to mark their work with a producer tag, a catchy shout-out usually placed at the beginning of a song which allows listeners to recognize and appreciate certain producers.
One of Boomin's tags, "Metro Boomin want some more, nigga", originates from vocals of the Boomin-produced song "Some More" by Young Thug, and received widespread attention in early 2016.
Metro's most prominent and iconic tag "If Young Metro don't trust you I'm gon' shoot you" is performed by Future. The origin of the tag comes from the song "Right Now" by Uncle Murda, also produced by Boomin. The tag appeared first in Drake's 2015 song, "Jumpman" from the collaborative mixtape What a Time to Be Alive, and gained widespread attention after its use in the Migos hit "Bad and Boujee".
Metro is known for his tag "Young Metro, young Metro, young Metro" spoken by his longtime collaborator Future. Boomin' often references "3x" or "Young Metro 3x" as a nod to this signature tag.\
Another one of Boomin's tags is just "Metro!", originally spoken by Young Thug on his song "Hercules". The tag can be most prominently heard at the beginning of the Metro produced song "Mr. Right Now" by 21 Savage and Drake, off the 2020 cut Savage Mode II.
Boomin's latest tag "Metro in this bitch goin' brazy" can be heard in the track 'More M's' from 21 Savage's and Drake's album Her Loss. The tag originated from the track "No Opp Left Behind" from 21 Savage's album Savage Mode II.
Wayne's mother, Leslie Joanne Wayne, was killed in a murder-suicide by his stepfather on June 5, 2022.
Boominati Worldwide is a label owned by Metro Boomin. It was launched in June 2017 in partnership with Republic Records and Universal Music Group. Metro stated: "Launching Boominati Worldwide is the next step in my career as a producer, an artist and a businessman. I created the label to represent a collective of highly gifted individuals who have the shared gift of being able to influence the world through culture and art".
Discography:
Without Warning (with Offset and 21 Sav age) - 2017
Double or Nothing (with Big Sean) - 2017
Not All Heroes Wear Capes - 2018
Heroes & Villains - 2022
Sources: Wikipedia, Top40-Charts.com Editorial team
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