If you listen to hip hop, it’s more than likely that Murda Beatz has produced one of your favorite songs. In addition to being one of the most in-demand producers in the music industry, his resume includes credits on 8 GRAMMY-nominated projects, a spot on Forbes 30 under 30, and songs with the biggest artists in the world like Migos, Drake, Nicki Minaj, Lil Wayne, Ariana Grande and many many more. 

What fans might not know about Murda Beatz is that he grew up in the small town of Niagra, Canada, and came to the states to achieve his version of the American Dream; being a successful producer and beatmaker to the hottest names in the music industry.

“I grew up in a small town of 30,000 people,” Murda Beatz began on this week’s episode of The Rockstar Experience, a music podcast hosted by publisher Brian Calle and myself, hip hop journalist Ryan Leutz.

“What led you from being a kid in Canada to moving to Atlanta and working with artists like Migos?” I asked.

“Around the time when I was learning how to make beats, in my first few months, Chief Keef popped off. I was talking to him on Facebook, sending him stuff and then I went out to Chicago and linked with some of the GBE guys. When I came back [to Canada] I was like, I feel like a big thing that’s gonna get me goin’ is I need to get my sound into Atlanta.”

This is when Murda Beatz decided to take his talents to Atlanta, the birthplace of trap music as we know it, to work with the Migos before they were a household name.

“So literally I spoke that into existence. I went on Live Mixtapes and saw these guys the Migos. I hadn’t heard nothin’ about them and I hadn’t seen anything on them but I started listening to their music. I thought it just sounded so different, like the way they were rapping, like everything sounded different from everything else. It was refreshing. I saw the vision so I got in contact with some of the people around them on Twitter and they loved my beats,” Murda said.

“So I started goin’ out to Atlanta and staying with them in the studio until they got their own cribs and stuff. And then we started staying in the mansion and that’s how everything started.” 

Since defining the sound of Atlanta trap music, Murda is starting to shift his focus from the trap scene he helped pioneer, especially within the past year.

“This year I feel like I’ve turned a new chapter and I’ve evolved in a way where I started working with Ariana Grande. At the beginning of quarantine, we got linked through text and started workin’ on a lot of stuff together. Started working via FaceTime and then we linked in the studio.”

“That Doja cat song is f*****g sick,” Brian added in reference to “Motive,” a song on Ariana Grande’s latest Positions project, produced by Murda Beatz and featuring Doja Cat.

“Yeah, so that was one of the songs we made. We also did some more stuff that’s going to be on her deluxe album dropping soon,” Murda told us. “I feel like this is another era for me too and the evolution of getting into the pop space and having fun making pop music with the biggest pop stars as well. It’s another side of Murda Beatz. I don’t want anyone to ever look at Murda and think, ‘oh he can only make Migos beats.’ Like, literally if you go to Ariana Grande’s album and listen to that beat, you would never think I made it. I wanna differentiate myself from all the other producers and show that I can really do anything.” 

In addition to his latest pop music wave, Murda Beatz is gearing up to drop Memory Lane. Memory Lane is Murda Beatz’ collaboration album with Shordie Shordie, a rapper who you might know from his platinum record, “Bitchuary.”

“I been a fan of Shordie Shordie’s music for the past couple of years and decided to get in the studio with him 6 months ago roughly around there. Then the first night we banged out like 7 songs and I was like, man, let’s make an EP or project. So that’s what we’ve been doin’.”

Murda seems genuinely excited for his Shordie Shordie project and in particular, the latest single and music video from the album, “LOVE” ft. Trippie Redd. 

Photo courtesy of Bryan Chong

“We just dropped LOVE with Trippie Redd, like last Friday, with a video and that’s doing very well. So yeah man, just having fun with it releasing music. Actually, the LOVE song is one of my favorite records I’ve made in a long time so I’m happy that that song is finally out for the fans to enjoy, ya know?”

Murda Beatz and Shordie Shordie’s “LOVE” ft. Trippie Redd is on all streaming platforms and Murda and Shordie’s album Memory Lane, is due out February 25. 

Listen to the podcast here: Spotify, Apple Podcasts and iHeartRadio

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