We know 21 Savage for working with producers like Metro Boomin, but this time around it's New Zealand beatmaker Montell2099 on the buttons, and the resulting track is flames. Montell2099 provides a haunted house of a beat and 21 goes off with some of his most quotable lines since Savage Mode. There are dolphin and ostrich references, an Ice-T comparison, and the line, "I make savage music, this is not hip-hop."
Montell2099 may be better known in electronic circles for his remixes and original productions, but on this evidence he should be on a lot more rapper's radars. "I’ve been on Red Bull Sound Select for a year or so now and have played a bunch of shows with them," he explains. "An opportunity came up to create a track with 21 and since I’ve been a big listener of 21's music I was keen to make it happen. I got news not too long after that he was keen to make it happen as well. I went out to LA and met him at a lowkey studio, I showed him a couple of ideas and he liked one in particular. We vibed to it for a bit then he did his thing in the booth. It came together real quick and organically which was dope."
Listen to the track, out now via Red Bull Sound Select, and learn a little more about Montell's Maori heritage, his producing background, and how New Zealand shapes his sound below.
How does New Zealand and your Maori heritage influence your music?
New Zealand is such a dope place to make music in, it’s just a vibe. The environment and the atmosphere play a big part in the creation. I think people hear that with a lot of emerging NZ producers and just NZ artists in general, we sort of have our own steez. With my native Maori heritage I think subconsciously it helped a lot. Just being surrounded by it helped set the foundation for me musically and kept me grounded. Some of the first songs I learnt were Maori songs.
How did you get into producing?
It happened by accident, my pops introduced me to FL Studio when I was annoying him one day. He sat me down in front of the computer and opened up FL. Years of YouTube tutorials and time has been the big thing. Everything has been self taught, I didn’t really have anyone else around then to bounce ideas off or help me learn how to produce because I was living in a tiny rural town at the time. There’s always something new to learn when it comes to producing.
