"I feel like it's going to be a song that's going to be played for the next 15 or 20 years," TM88 says of Lil Uzi Vert's "XO Tour Llif3," which he produced on a Beats Pill.
Sitting down with Genius for their Deconstructed series, the producer explains how he worked with JW Lucas to take an old three year old beat he had laying around and turn it into a hit.
Focusing on the percussion, he says, "That's what a lot of producers don't understand, they keep their percussion under the drums and the sounds, when your percussion needs to be on top of everything. Just go back in history. From Arabians to Africans, when they did their music, all you heard was the percussion. That's what moved the music."
Speaking about Uzi's irresistable hook, TM88 confirmed that Uzi was speaking about money, explaining, "Everybody else says it makes them feel like their friends are dead, but I know the concept. At first, I was like, this nigga crazy." Then, he added, "But then, they were like, nah, bro, I think he's talking about dead presidents."
Admitting that he believes Uzi turned a normal beat into something special, TM88 finished by saying, "I just figured it was a regular beat. Uzi made it epic."
Watch the video above and continue for our conversation with DJ Drama and Don Cannon about mumble rap and the rise of Lil Uzi Vert.
