Name Key Wane Instruments Kickdrum, piano Role Record producer | Years active 2006-present Labels Finally Famous | |
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Occupation(s) Record producer, songwriter Nominations BET Hip Hop Award for Best Track of the Year Similar People Profiles | ||
Birth name Dwane Marshall Weir II | ||
Key Wane: Reason Producer Interview (Beyonce, Drake, Big Sean, Ariana Grande)
Dwane Marshall Weir II (born July 12, 1990) is an American hip hop record producer and songwriter, professionally known as Key Wane. Wane has produced for artists such as Big Sean, Jazmine Sullivan, Beyoncé, Drake, Jhene Aiko, Wale, Lil Wayne, Young Jeezy, Juicy J, Ariana Grande, Logic, Ty Dolla Sign and Meek Mill among others. Key Wane signed a co-publishing deal with Warner/Chappell and Big Sean back in 2011. He is best known for producing Drake's "All Me", Beyoncé's "Partition", Jazmine Sullivan's "Let It Burn", Meek Mill's "Amen", Big Sean's "Guap", "Beware", "IDFWU" and an extensive amount of his albums including Hall of Fame, Dark Sky Paradise, and Twenty 88.
Contents
- Key Wane Reason Producer Interview Beyonce Drake Big Sean Ariana Grande
- Illroots process key wane
- Early life
- Musical career
- Production Style
- References
Illroots process key wane
Early life
At the age of 11 Key Wane began playing the piano in the church every first Sunday, initially teaching himself melodies before his mom heard him and got involved in his learning. He would tell XXL, “She ordered me this Yamaha keyboard out of a JCPenney catalog. It got mailed to the house, and I just started making beats on it. Then I started taking piano lessons, and the stuff I learned from my piano lessons, I would combine that with beats, and it really was just something that I loved to do, man. I really didn’t go out a lot cause I was always coming up with stuff." In December 2012, Key Wane graduated from Tennessee State University with a degree in Musical Arts and Sciences.
Musical career
In 2002, Key Wane started making beats in his mom's basement. Key Wane met rapper Big Sean in the 8th grade through his older brother who would always tell Wane to play beats for Sean. Big Sean was friends with Wane's older brother and cousin at their high school, Cass Technical High School in Detroit. Around the same time Wane started taking record production seriously, and begun sending him beats periodically. During mid-2010 before his junior year of college, Key Wane first became known after producing "Memories" by Big Sean, from his third mixtape Finally Famous Vol. 3: BIG. In 2011, Key Wane produced and co-wrote Tyga's "Drink the Night Away" featuring The Game and Mario, "Don't Wake Me Up" and "Hypnotized", all of which featured on his mixtape Black Thoughts Vol. 2. In November 2011, Warner/Chappell and Big Sean signed Wane to a co-publishing deal as a song-writer and record producer.
In early 2010, Key Wane produced the controversial track "Amen" for Meek Mill after running into him while in New York. Meek Mill picked it up and would release it as the lead single from his debut album Dreams and Nightmares. Many Christian hip hop artists and religious leaders commented negatively on the song. However the song would end up peaking at number 57 on the Billboard Hot 100. After his significant contributions over the years, XXL named Key Wane one of hip-hops most must-watch producers. Key Wane was also included in XXL's Freshman Producer Class of 2013.
In December 2012, Wane confirmed working with Drake, Jhene Aiko, Big Sean and Beyoncé on their upcoming albums. On August 1, 2013 Drake released a song titled "All Me" produced and co-written by Key Wane, featuring 2 Chainz and Big Sean, from his upcoming third studio album Nothing Was the Same. He had originally produced the instrumental for himself, but after the record had sat for a couple months Key Wane sent the instrumental to Drake, who immediately picked up the beat. Along with No ID, Key Wane produced the majority of Big Sean's second studio album Hall of Fame (2013), including the highest charting singles of the album, "Guap" and "Beware" featuring Jhene Aiko and Lil Wayne. He contributed production to six songs in total. Key Wane co-produced Big Sean's "IDFWU" as well. In December 2014, Key Wane was nominated for his first Grammy for his production contribution on the Grammy nominated "Beyonce" for Album of the Year. In December 2015, Key Wane was nominated the following year at the Grammy's for his production on Jazmine Sullivan's "Let It Burn" for Best R&B Song of the Year.
Production Style
Key Wane's production has been described as "soulful instrumental music." His production is based around a melodic piano driven sound and soulful samples.