Mike Will Made-It is behind music’s top hits. His vision remains in Atlanta.
Nearly two days after he completed his latest album “R3SET,” Mike Will Made-It completely gutted the studio in which he recorded it. He wanted darker upholstery and for the space to feel like “a real studio.”
As his album title implies, he simply wanted a fresh start. The Marietta-bred producer, whose muddy trap sound was a mainstay in the 2010s, doesn’t surrender focus upon reaching a resolution, even regarding the smallest details.
He developed that mentality at a young age. Born Michael Len Williams II to a mom who sang backup for gospel giant Dottie Peoples and a dad who DJ’d in the 1970s, the artist began making beats in his parents’ basement before getting his big break as a teenager producing for Gucci Mane. The partnership helped launch his roughly two-decade career — producing hits for Beyoncé, Kendrick Lamar, Kanye West, Rihanna and Miley Cyrus (shaping the singer’s controversial rap era).
Now, after a nine-year hiatus (sans releasing a joint album with Chief Keef and producing the “Creed II” soundtrack), the 37-year-old is back with a new solo album, “R3SET.” Released on March 20, the 15-track project is the third iteration of his “RANSOM” (an acronym for “Releasing all new songs orchestrated by Mike”) album series, which began in 2014.
The album honors the melting pot of sounds in Atlanta and the South, across generations. “D33P3R” pairs pop-punk phenom Teezo Touchdown of Beaumont, Texas, with Ludacris. Atlanta upstarts Karrahbooo and Anycia join J Money on “My Way.” Cee-Lo Green, T.I., Killer Mike, 21 Savage, Monaleo, SahBabii, Young Thug and J. Cole are also featured on the album.
The guest list is lush. The music sounds fresh, even on songs with veteran acts (“MON3Y TALK$,” for example, is a westside Atlanta reunion with T.I., Killer Mike and Young Dro, whose indelible verse is among this year’s best).
“We drop so much music out of the city, so it’s always a challenge, and always like putting a puzzle together,” the Grammy winner said about curating “R3SET.”
But before releasing the album, Mike Will Made-It experienced what he describes as “a downward spiral.” He lost his hard drives of beats, forcing his pivot to real estate.
In 2017, he bought a warehouse off Joseph E. Lowery Boulevard. The roughly 80,000-square-foot property, called the Wxllxm (pronounced “William”), eventually became his studio compound. Short-term goals for the space include building a creative hub for producers and artists in Atlanta.
His long-term goals? Starting a record label that honors his knack for innovation. Mike Will Made-It produced tracks on BTS’ recent No. 1 album “Arirang.” He’s also working on an album with Indian singer Sid Sriram, along with a Monaleo project.
“It’s all about expansion … it’s no different than me buying a beat machine for myself when I was 16, 17, or buying a keyboard for myself, or always buying equipment and adding to my studio,” Mike Will Made-It, who also heads his Ear Drummers producer collective, said.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution talked to Mike Will Made-It about “R3SET” and his renewed clarity.
This Q&A has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Q: The album celebrates past and present generations of Atlanta music. Who was your target audience?
A: I just feel that my target audience is for the real people. I don’t even care about how much I moved the first week or the second week or third week. It’s like being able to put some dope s--- out there that people feel like, “Man, this is refreshing or this is what I was looking for or this reminds me of something nostalgic or this is fun.”
Q: What was your life like during your hiatus from music?
A: It was right here (at the Wxllxm). It was just that TV on the wall and nothing else. No instruments on the wall, no plaques, no paintings, no cars, no couches, nothing. We had a couple chairs and this TV right here. I used to just play NBA 2K all day. I had a basketball hoop hanging on that wall, and my boys would be in here (playing) like it was damn near, like, LA Fitness. I lost my hard drive. I just got a building. I couldn’t just lose my hard drive and go book a studio. My label deal (with Interscope) had just (been) fulfilled too, so it was like all my budget is gonna come from me.
I really wanted to know what to do next. I won a Grammy (for producing Kendrick Lamar’s 2017 song “Humble”), and I just bought a building. What do I need to put in here? I needed to figure that out. I was just being patient with trying to do that.
Q: What do you envision for this space now?
A: I want it to be like a campus. So I want to be able to ultimately give back to the young creatives of Atlanta, or even in the South period. I want to have all type of programs for the youth. I want to have a curriculum for young creatives trying to build their own businesses.
Q: Is the album’s title personal to you?
A: It means so many different things. Hitting the reset on my sound, collaborations. Like this is something fresh. Somebody might not have ended last year thinking like, “Man, I’m gonna be bumping that new Mike Will.” They might not even think about Mike Will at all.
Q: Given you hadn’t released any solo music in a while, was it difficult nailing features for the album?
A: (With) this one, didn’t have to deal with that. And if I did, I don’t take it personal. I just look at it like, people have s--- going on. They’re trying to align their brands with whatever they have going on at the time.
Q: I appreciate the album’s opener “ATL,” featuring 21 Savage. It sounds like two different songs.
A: In my mind, I saw (those verses) as daytime vs. nighttime or Clark Kent vs. Superman. Yeah, that other second part of it was a song called “Big Check.” It always stood out to me. We never finished (it), and it never had a home. I knew Savage didn’t want to just come out (with) that old flow on my album. We had this new music, but it’s like, man, we could put this old flow at the end, too. It’s classic Savage.
Q: That seems to be an example of you “orchestrating” the music.
A: Yeah, because it’s like it might not be me just making the beat. There’s no set role that I have on all the songs. My set role is to put the whole thing together. Me and (fellow producer) Sonny Digital made this beat (for what’s now “My Way,” a track on “R3SET”). J Money just pulled up. He thought the beat was too slow. But I’m like this beat (is) hard. Karrahbooo and Anycia were here one day, and I got them to record verses on it. J heard it and thought that was genius.
That’s what I mean by “orchestrated.” If I would have just went straight with what the artist said and cut it, then I wouldn’t have used it. But I’m going to see it all the way through, because I see something here.
Q: Atlanta is a different place since the last time you dropped a solo album. Many rappers have died and new sounds are emerging in the scene. What are you seeing now?
A: I’ve seen this happen so many times, growing up in metro Atlanta. The city just always evolves. It’s unfortunate, (regarding) the ones that we lost for sure because those were like real gems to the culture, like real gems for the city. These are guys who I came up with. Bankroll Fresh, Trouble, Lil Keed, Takeoff.
I feel like it’s a changing of the guard. There are a lot of big artists from the city that might have moved on from the city, and I feel like when that kind of stuff happens, that’s when you get new sounds. That’s how futuristic rap came (about). (Around that time), it was trap music, but T.I. went to jail, Gucci went to jail, Jeezy wasn’t dropping so now all of a sudden, you got Travis Porter, Roscoe Dash, J Money, Yung L.A. coming with a whole new sound. And that’s how the city is now. It’s wide open.
Heat Check is a monthly music column where AJC culture reporter DeAsia Paige explores the temperature of Georgia’s buzzing, expansive music scene — via the people and places within it. The column includes music news, trends and any Georgia-related music that DeAsia is listening to. If you’re a Georgia artist and have music you want to be considered for this column — or if you just want to talk music — feel free to send an email to deasia.paige@ajc.com. If you’d like to receive Heat Check via email, sign up here. Below is a Mike Will Made-It playlist
About the Author
DeAsia is a music and culture reporter for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. She focuses on the intersection of arts, culture and diverse communities, as well as how emerging social trends are being expressed through the lens of the Atlanta aesthetic. DeAsia's work can be seen in Pitchfork, Essence, Teen Vogue, Elle and more.
