Metro Boomin

Early life

Leland Tyler Wayne was born on September 16, 1993, in St. Louis, Missouri, where he attended Parkway North High School. He has four siblings. After a brief stint playing bass guitar in his middle school band, he turned to making beats in the seventh grade at age 13, when his mother bought him a laptop and he got a copy of the music production software FruityLoops. In high school, Metro churned out five beats a day. Initially, Metro wanted to rap, and started making beats so that he could have music to rap over, but after deciding that he liked making beats more than rapping, he turned his full attention into hip hop production. As he continued to hone his production skills, while still in high school, he began to utilize online social media platforms such as Twitter to network with more established rap artists as well as beat submissions for potential music placements.

2009–13: Career beginnings

During high school at Parkway North in Creve Coeur, Metro's mother would often drive him for over eight hours from St. Louis to Atlanta to collaborate with artists he met online. One of the first artists with whom he worked was Bricksquad Monopoly rapper Tay Don which then led him to collaborate with Bricksquad label artists such as OJ Da Juiceman, Gucci Mane, and eventually his frequent collaborator Future, an artist that he continues to associate with to this day.

Metro Boomin first started traveling to Atlanta in the 11th grade to pursue a career in music. In an interview with XXL, Metro says that Atlanta rapper OJ Da Juiceman was the first popular artist to rap on his beats, a string of collaborations that ultimately led to Metro meeting and working with Gucci Mane during the summer between his junior and senior years of high school. Upon graduating high school, Metro moved to Atlanta to attend Morehouse College, studying Business Management. Ultimately however, he chose to take a hiatus from school after a semester, because the schedule demands of a full-time music career became too much to balance. Since, Metro has collaborated with artists including Gucci Mane, Nicki Minaj, Ludacris, Future, Juicy J, Yo Gotti, 21 Savage, Wiz Khalifa, Chief Keef, The Weeknd, YG, Young Jeezy, Meek Mill, Travi$ Scott, Ace Hood, S.A.M., Young Scooter, Young Thug, Rich Homie Quan, Trinidad James, Drake, Lana Del Rey, Lil Uzi Vert, Migos, DJ Khaled and Lil Wayne. Metro also regularly collaborates with other modern hip hop producers, including Sonny Digital, TM88, Southside, Zaytoven, Young Chop, and DJ Spinz.

Metro Boomin has also worked extensively with popular rapper Future. The two first worked together on a song called "Hard", included on DJ Esco's Welcome 2 Mollyworld mixtape, and have collaborated on numerous songs since, including two singles from Future’s sophomore album, Honest, the album's lead single, "Karate Chop", and title track, "Honest," co-produced by DJ Spinz.

2013–present: Rise to fame

In May 2013, Metro formally announced his debut mixtape, 19 & Boomin. Following warm-up singles, featuring artists like Trinidad James, Gucci Mane, and others, Metro released the mixtape, hosted by popular mixtape website LiveMixtapes, on October 7, 2013. The mixtape, all original songs, included "Maison Margiela", featuring Future, and "Some More", featuring Young Thug, both of which were subsequently released as music videos.

In March 2014, Metro and Young Thug announced that they would release a collaborative album, performed and released under the moniker "Metro Thuggin". The album will be self-titled and will be released sometime in 2015. Along with the announcement, Metro Thuggin released the collaborative track, "The Blanguage". Metro produced the sixth single from Honest, "I Won", which features Kanye West. The song became a single a month after the album was released.

In October 2014, Metro executive produced Future's "Monster" mixtape. This spawned the first appearance of hit single "Commas."

Metro served as executive producer for Drake (OVO music record label co-founder) and Future's collaborative mixtape What a Time to Be Alive released on September 20, 2015. In addition, he produced or co-produced seven of the 11 tracks on the mixtape.

Metro also served alongside DJ Esco as executive producer for Future's 2016 mixtape, Purple Reign. In 2016, he won Producer of the Year at the BET Hip Hop Awards. He is mainly known for three producer tags: "Metro Boomin' want some more, nigga", said by Young Thug from the aforementioned song "Some More"; "Aye, Lil Metro on that beat", originally said by Kodak Black from the song Tunnel Vision; "If Young Metro don't trust you I'm gon shoot you" – originally said by Future in his song with Uncle Murda, "Right Now" but popularized by the song "Jumpman" from the again aforementioned mixtape What a Time to Be Alive.