I was 16 years old at the time.
Actually dropped out of school just to focus on nothing but music.
I always wanted to work with Future.
That was my favorite artist so when I sent him some beats, I was sending him trap beats.
He called me and was like, “You know what?
Don’t send me no trap beats.”
He said, “Send me something as if you wasn’t even sending me something.
If you was sending another artist something.”
We got off the phone call, I went straight back to
the computer, and started on “March Madness.”
For me to not have been making beats that long and for Future to hit me up wanting to
work was...I felt like it was a sign from God.
‘Cause I always wanted this.
I was looking for a sign from God ‘cause I’m like you know what?
I made a mistake and dropped out of school.
So after Future hit me up asking for more beats, then I just knew that this profession
was for me.
When I hear “March Madness” I feel like it’s outer space really.
I feel like I made this beat on the moon.
Even though I made this beat in the projects, once you got those headphones on, it don’t
matter what’s your surrounding.
The music just takes you to another place.
The first thing I did when making this beat was opening the VST called Purity.
Purity has a lot of sounds like, ambient sounds.
After I found the sound, I then put Gross Beat on it.
The Gross Beat just adds the “umph” to it
‘cause you know 808 Mafia, we extra.
A lot of Atlanta artists, they’re known for having bells in their songs.
It’s all about the vibes with me so the feeling I wanted you to get from this sound
was an out of body experience.
This sound, it plays in the background.
No Gross Beats, no nothing.
I just let it do it’s own thing.
I left it happy.
That’s what it is, a happy sound.
I didn’t slow it down.
I just wanted to give it a...it’s a mixed emotion beat, basically.
Bipolar.
Okay so the next sound is the 808, which is everybody’s favorite.
I distorted it.
It puts more boom and more, like a punch.
I knew this song was gonna be played in the club.
Every beat I do, after do the 808s I have to do the hi-hats ‘cause they compliment
the 808s.
Like partner-in-crime, 808s and hi-hats.
People go crazy over my hi-hats.
After that, it just kinda gets easy.
Like I said I don’t like to add a lot to the beat ‘cause then it just takes away
from the originalness of it.
Like it goes from, “Okay that’s hard” to “Okay now you kinda doing too much.”
Like, take that out.
So just a simple chant.
One of the most classic sounds ever.
One day I was listening to a beat, and I was like you know what?
Southside’s my big brother so I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t mind if I used a old tag
that he used to use so…
I feel like this, the rise, it sits you up in your seat.
Like okay what’s about to happen.
I feel like that rise was just the cherry on top of the cake.
Future is a melody himself so I just knew that this beat was right for him.
It was like a collab really.
Like he helped me make this beat just by the person he is.
Like he’s challenging.
LeBron James is my favorite NBA player so it’s just like, what the hell is going on?
Like I already have a song with my favorite artist, Future.
And then, my favorite basketball player which is LeBron James, this was his favorite song.
Just to know that was one of Kanye’s favorite songs, J. Cole, like these big artists that
I would kill to work with, it’s exciting.
It’s a different feeling.
It just puts me in this place.
It actually inspires me to open my laptop up and just go make some more just like it.
I feel like the beat is still relevant ‘til this day.
It just puts you in this place.
Maybe, like I said it’s a drug so maybe people are still on this drug.
People are addicted to it.