Hip-Hop Hitmaker Mike Will Made It on Miley, Beyoncé and his 'raw and real' music
(Billboard) - "I do it all, man. I produce, I do my own wardrobe and my own ironing, too!” Mike Will Made It, the hottest producer in hip-hop, is on set at Studio Space in Atlanta, carefully pressing a $1,000 red-and-blackstriped Vetements jersey as he prepares to film a cameo for Gucci Mane’s “At Least a M” video. With the Mike Will-produced track blasting over the speakers and the pungent odour of high-grade marijuana choking the air, the soundstage -resembles some sort of Felliniesque hiphop fever dream: Against a graffitied backdrop, Will mugs for the camera, juggling a half-dozen cellphones; a chalkboard off to one side reads “I will not use Spotify in class,” Bart Simpson-style; fellow Atlanta music icons Usher and Young Thug mill about, filming a video of their own on a neighboring soundstage. No one seems to bat an eye as a live zebra wends its way through the set. With his 6-foot-2 frame, gold-rimmed Cartier glasses, black beanie cap and that striped, now-wrinkle-free shirt, Will is hard to miss.
“You look like Where’s Waldo in that thing,” cracks someone in his entourage, which includes Atlanta rapper Jace and -various managers.
“That’s exactly the look I was going for,” replies Will, grinning.
Like Waldo, Will seems to be everywhere if you look hard enough. In five years, the 27-year-old producer has gone from creating Future’s hit single “Turn On the Lights” in his mother’s Marietta, Ga., basement, to handdelivering “Formation” to Beyoncé, a song that ended up eclipsing even the Denver Broncos’ performance at Super Bowl 50 in February. He helped turn Miley Cyrus from Disney Princess to transgressive diva. And most recently, he was the main creative force behind ‘Everybody Looking,’ producing nine of 12 tracks on the long-awaited Mane album that dropped July 22.
The dueling attractions of pop and hip-hop have preoccupied Will since he was known as Michael Len Williams II, growing up in a middle-class home filled with both 2Pac and Whitney Houston. By 14, he was making beats, which he sold for $100 a pop while he worked bagging groceries at a local Kroger. By the time he had sold already a US best-selling book with the most pre-orders since 2007.
Tonight, midnight book release parties are planned in US and UK stores, evoking the excitement from a decade ago when fans could not wait to devour the latest novel.
In New York City, the Strand Book Store is expecting upwards of 400 people tonight, spokeswoman Whitney Hu said. Fans are encouraged to show up in full costume for a contest and the event will include Harry Potter trivia, face-painting and photo booths.
Most people who have confirmed their attendance on Facebook are between 20 and 30 years old, Hu said.
US bookseller Barnes & Noble, which is also hosting parties, said the Potter books still top their best-selling lists. Chief merchandising officer Mary Amicucci said that the love for Potter is "truly multigenerational."
The Cursed Child play, opening today and sold out thought May 2017, has won glowing reviews. It is set 19 years after the final Harry Potter book and is presented in two parts over five hours.
Dominic Cavendish of Britain's Daily Telegraph gave it five stars, while Matt Trueman for Hollywood trade paper Variety described it as a "theatrical blockbuster."
"Twenty years ago, Harry Potter turned a generation onto reading. The Cursed Child could do the same for theater," wrote Trueman.
The Wall Street Journal's Kate Maltby was less impressed, calling the plot "a mess" and full of holes. But she added; "For those who grew up on - and with - Harry Potter, it will revive a powerful addiction to Ms. Rowling's brand of poignant truth." one to Mane, the reigning king of Atlanta trap, the then17-year-old’s fee had risen to four figures. Soon he was working with Kanye West, Rihanna and Jay Z, and by 2013 he had been given his own record label courtesy of former Interscope Records CEO Jimmy Iovine. “When I find someone who’s really good,” says Iovine of Will, “I
try to sign them right away. They’re few and far between.”
But this year, with Mane getting out of prison after three years behind bars, Will went back to the guy who gave him his break, using a prison texting system to send the rapper indepth descriptions of the beats he created for the comeback. Mane supplied the words.
“Gucci’s a different guy now: focused, sobered up. You’re getting his point of view all the way,” says Will. “We wanted this album to be like a mixtape. It’s hard as f—, it’s intense, it’s top-tier trap.”
When they first started working together in 2006, Will and Mane knocked out 20 tracks in three days, one of which inspired Mane to exclaim, “Mike Will made it, Gucci Mane slayed it!” Just like that, the producer had a new name. “I’ve known him since I was 17 years old,” says Will. “If a verse is just OK or his flow could be better, I’m going to be real. If it’s a banger, I’m going to let him know that, too.”
Speaking of bangers, most pop fans first heard the producer’s name at the top of Cyrus’ 2013 hit “We Can’t Stop,” off her critical breakthrough, ‘Bangerz’. As her life became grist for the Hollywood gossip mill, it wasn’t long before the ingénue and producer were romantically linked. Today, it’s clear Will’s appreciation is solely platonic. After the video shoot, as he settles behind the wheel of his $150,000 cream-coloured Mercedes-Benz S63, Will and his buddy Skeet start discussing the difference between pop and hip-hop.
“People told me that Miley’s ‘23’ wasn’t hip-hop. Let me tell you, she went in and owned that track. She smoked more weed in one week than most rappers I know. That song was not some far-fetched thing she had to reach for. She was ill as hell. When people question me about whether something is hiphop, I ask them, ‘Does it sound hard? Does it hit home? Is it raw and real?’ If it is, I did my job. And you can call it whatever you want,” Will says.
Jace, who released his ‘Jace Tape’ mixtape earlier this year, offers insights into Will’s process: “Mike has a very laissez-faire vibe in the studio. He never comes at you like, ‘I’m a big hitmaker and it’s got to sound like this.’ Unlike a lot of people in hip-hop, Mike doesn’t have that wall around himself -- he can connect with you. That’s why everybody in the world wants to work with him right now.”
Will’s role in Beyoncé’s “Formation” also has contributed to his demand. The producer recalls a 2014 career-altering car trip he took with Swae Lee, one half of the duo Rae Sremmurd, which is signed to Will’s Ear Drummer label. On the drive from Los Angeles to Coachella, Will played Lee a beat that his staff producer and former classmateA Pluss had created, and Lee started freestyling. The word “formation” came out of his mouth. Two years later, Beyoncé stopped the Super Bowl with her performance of the anthem. (Billboard) Beyoncé’s Formation World Tour has so far grossed $123 million, through the end of the trek’s first leg, based on box office counts submitted during the past week by concert promoter Live Nation.
The tour’s opening run through the US and Canada, which concluded on June 14, brought in 972,719 attendees from 23 sold out performances.
The latest reports from the promoter -- with sales from the final four venues of the first leg in North America -- totals $26 million, earning the diva the No 1 slot on the latest Hot Tours roundup.
The biggest box office take during the opening leg was logged at one of the final stops, a two-show stand at Citi Field in New York City, the home venue of Major League Baseball's New York Mets. The singer performed to sellout crowds in the ballpark on June 7 and 8 with 73,486 fans in attendance. The only other venue with a two-night stint was Soldier Field that hosted concerts on May 27 and 28. The Chicago stadium drew the largest crowd of the two venues with 89,270 sold seats during the run.
The remainder of the 19 stadiums during the Formation World Tour's opening jaunt hosted the trek for just one performance. Of those venues, the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, had the highest gross and attendance counts. At a single concert on May 14, the famed Los Angeles-area stadium took in $7.1 million from a crowd of 55,736.
Beyoncé is now nearing the end of the second leg of her world tour, a fiveweek European run through 16 cities in 12 countries that closes on August 3. The first show was held on June 28 in the English city of Sunderland’s 49,000-seat Stadium of Light. Barcelona’s Olympic stadium will be the site of next week’s final performance on the continent.
The Formation World Tour will return to North America later this year with a sweep through nine US cities. The first performance will be held in the metropolitan New York/New Jersey area on September 7 with a show booked at MetLife Stadium. Beyoncé last appeared at the venue two years ago during the On The Run Tour, her co-headlining stadium trek with husband Jay Z. That two-night engagement was attended by 89,165 fans. The Formation World Tour’s final concert is planned for October 2 at Nashville’s Nissan Stadium.