Mike WiLL Made-It is releasing his first album in 7 years, ‘R3SET.’ He shares what his fans can expect from his new work, what it was like to work with Rihanna & Beyonce, why Miley Cyrus constantly “inspires” him, his journey as a producer and more!
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00:00I can't explain it. Like if a song ain't right, it's not right. Yeah, so I'll bump heads with the engineer
00:04I you know, so I don't care until we get it all the way, right?
00:07Yeah, you know I'm saying like so when the engineers telling me we can't turn the 808 up anymore, bro
00:12Listen, you've never been to Atlanta. You've never been to Magic City
00:16Hey, yo, it's Mike Will Made It and you're watching Billboard News
00:22Everyone it's your girl Catrice J and we are here with Mike Will Made It. Congratulations on your new album Reset
00:29It's your first album in seven years. How do you feel?
00:32It's been a journey for real like it's Ransom 3 so like each Ransom is like
00:37Over like different phases and like Ransom stands for like releasing all new songs orchestrated by Mike Will. When I came out with the first one
00:45I was like me coming off that 2012, 2013, 2014 run
00:50But it was a buzz tool for me at the time because I was like man I could put together
00:55Kendrick, Wayne, and Future on the song and make By The World
01:03I can put together Miley Cyrus, Wiz Khalifa, and Juicy J
01:10I can put Future and Sway Lee on the track and make Drinks On Us
01:16Like that's how I was coming about the first Ransom and I wanted to do it as many times as possible
01:22The second Ransom, I wanted to do like a little
01:26refined version of that Gucci Mane, Kendrick, Ray Sherman, Perfect Pint
01:35YG, 21, and the Migos, Gucci on mine
01:43We got some cool collaborations on that and that was also a long project and around that time right there
01:48I had lost my hard drives. My hard drives I got stolen. I heard about that
01:52Yeah, I really eased back from the music and then I started buying real estate
01:57So I bought my studio that I work in right now in Atlanta
02:01Like when I first got that it would just be like a couple TVs on the wall
02:04We'll just be in there gambling on 2k. I wasn't even really tripping on the music like that
02:09Why weren't you tripping? Was it because like I made a bunch of hits
02:12I'm about to just live my life a little bit
02:14I didn't really know what that sign was like to lose your hard drives and get back up at one
02:20You know saying yeah, that was just like man. I was like a wake-up call
02:24So I was trying to figure out what that meant for me like cuz it's like I won a Grammy
02:28I don't put multiple people on so it's like maybe I need to start doing other stuff
02:33Like I need to start investing in other fields and like it just numbers was really like working out
02:39So it's like man what works for me is music and so I was like man, you know
02:44I need to go back to investing in myself, you know saying as a creative
02:48I'm always trying to do something like out the box and just different and just you know
02:53I'm saying sonically new because I remember like growing up watching like Juicy J
02:57Kanye
02:59Timbaland like different producers. I respect dr. Dre and wondering like, okay
03:04What new sound are they gonna bring with these next artists that they work with like me knowing?
03:09What I brought to the game and producing over 300 songs is like man. I know it's a young
03:16Producer or like, you know, I'm saying like just anybody out there
03:19That's a fan of music like just see my name and they're like man. Okay, how you gonna come next?
03:23I want to get into higher
03:28That's actually kind of like a sound I feel like I haven't heard from you and even from like Yachty and little Wayne in a sense
03:34So like what was it like putting Yachty and little Wayne together and working with them? It was it was another organic play
03:40It was like I was working with um, my guy Ralph. He owns like a
03:46Clothing line and he's like a dope creative in Atlanta and he's friends with Yachty
03:50So he was like man, yo know what you think about Yachty coming through today?
03:57And then Yachty laid down his part it was dope like we already loved it
04:01Haha, Yachty already had it. So we felt like the song was like complete but I just felt like man
04:06We put one more verse on here
04:08No, I'm saying the person does the right thing. It's like man now we have a real complete song
04:13I hate Yachty and I was like, hey, man, what you think about added a feature on there?
04:16But I had already sent it to little Wayne, but he was just like bro. I think it's good how it is
04:20I'm like man, I'm gonna just wait until little Wayne's in this verse. I'm playing for Yachty. I know he gonna snap
04:26I'm playing for Yachty, you know, hope hopefully he loves it. You know, I'm saying hopefully we good
04:31You know I'm saying and then little Wayne ended up sending his verse back
04:35It was crazy and then I was like man, I called Yachty to the studio
04:39I was like bro, I gotta let you hear something and he was like damn bro. He was like man he snapped
04:43He was like man send that to me
04:48You worked with Rihanna, Beyonce, J. Cole, Kanye, Eminem. How do you team up with these artists?
04:55Rihanna I did Pour It Up
04:59My homegirl Karen Kwok, she was working at Def Jam and she really put that together
05:03She always believed in me as a producer. Shout out to Chris Brown. Chris Brown had came through the writing camp just
05:09Checking out the different songs. He had heard Pour It Up and was like man
05:13Yo, I got it. Yo, this one gotta get the read like she gotta hear this one
05:17And then she had called the next day like what's the song Chris Chris talking about like, you know what I'm saying Pour It Up
05:22She loved it. She lay it down. And so that was our first collaboration
05:26Then when it comes to like Beyonce, I was working with my guy Big John. He lined me up with Hov first
05:33And we had did Beach Is Better
05:39Couple years later Big John was like yo send me a pack for Beyonce and I was like alright bet
05:44He was like man, but man she want to have some fun stuff
05:47She wants some stuff that you will produce don't even think about songs for her
05:50I knew Formation beat was it like I was like man
05:53We need to do a female anthem to this joint
05:54You know I'm saying shout out my brother plus super producer who I worked with on that. Sway started just freestyling in the car
06:00Okay, ladies now let's get in formation, you know, I'm saying
06:03I'm like what you just say and then he said it again
06:06I'll record it on the voice note and later on we went to the studio
06:10He laid it down and then Jimmy came in
06:13Did did a reference vocal and then Beyonce heard that and then she just took the formation part
06:19She took a line from Jimmy and then she wrote her own verses and then we it was just like a dope collaboration
06:25It was her idea to add the marching band on there like, you know saying the horns it was like a dope collaboration
06:31I really like working with Beyonce like, you know, I'm saying like besides her being like
06:36Queen B, like she's super down-to-earth super cool super chill and J. Cole. It was like he had hit me
06:43We did the song there I go with with him and Gucci
06:47Last freestyle that he put out where he's riding a bike through the city. We did a bunch of records
06:51You know I'm saying cause another one. I like collabing with but go. Yeah
06:57As long as it's a real artist that's that's willing to that's also trying to think out of the box and do something different and
07:06and you know I'm saying I
07:08Feel like I'm a real artist. I'm a real artist. I'm a real artist
07:13And you know I'm saying I
07:15Feel like it's always the perfect marriage. I feel like you and Miley Cyrus are like
07:20Michael and Pippin like I feel like y'all just make such good music together, right and
07:26Bangers that album had its 10-year anniversary last year, right? It's crazy for like yesterday, but it's a classic though
07:33It is a classic. It's a little classic album
07:35Yeah, and I unlocked the whole it unlocked Miley as an artist now after that she felt her swag
07:41She felt herself as an artist and she can go anywhere after that. You know I'm saying it's crazy man
07:46Well one of the producers that I always looked up to also Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis
07:51Jimmy Jam he always be telling me like man bangers is still one of my favorite albums
07:57He was like man still listen to this
07:59I just listened to it last week to hear somebody like that tell me that there's my like you tell me
08:04How you appreciate it? You know I'm saying that's really all that matters
08:07You know I'm saying cuz that's what we're doing it for like I wanted the creatives
08:11I wanted like the the the people that just hear them be like man
08:15We never knew we needed this for Miley Cyrus, but this is exactly what we wanted
08:23And you have continued to work with Miley past fingers, what is it like collabing with her? I love working with Miley man
08:29She's smart. She's so creative. She's so smart, and she's so like you know saying she's so risky
08:35And she also likes to think out of the box, and you know I'm saying she's so talented her voice is so strong
08:40I might use this beat machine or I might use Fruity Loops
08:44I might but then I know I got Miley's voice also to add on top of this and it's like this is like a
08:49Lethal weapon and crazy instrument we inspire each other a lot like you know so she always
08:55Salutes me and tells me how much you know I'm saying I inspired in this way inspired it that way
09:01But she also inspired me in a lot of ways because you know she she shined a light on
09:07Different things that I might not even known about and it definitely is like a dynamic duo that it just won't ever get old
09:13It don't matter like when we get back in the studio
09:16It's like every song we ever did was like hard as fuck and like a classic and that's what we're aiming for for
09:22What are the producers on your label that I'm pretty sure you're excited about everyone
09:25But can you name off the producers that you're most excited about that's on your drummers every one of them
09:30PNAS to the 30 Rock to True to Mel to Mars to J-Bo to Miles
09:37I didn't miss out on some names like but every single one of them like they're the guys
09:41You know I'm saying and to be an eardrummer like you made it through a certain
09:45You made it through a certain kind of boot camp like with the newer guys. I'll go in the room, bro
09:50Cut that out. What what's that gonna move? You know I'm saying
09:53what's that gonna move and it's like we all challenge each other and it's like still sharp and still and
09:58And everybody has their own
10:00Fingerprint their own DNA and nobody has a problem with collabing and we all understand collabing and we all understand like okay
10:08We're gonna you know saying pass the ball on different times
10:10And you know I'm saying like and it's like we are it's like we have our own
10:14Industry is like one hand washes the other and I was always my vision since I was 16
10:19Anybody from my age and down I try to sign
10:21Yeah, I'm saying as a producer because if I feel like the special is like man a oh now we could do this together
10:28And I and I want to almost protect you you know I'm saying cuz I know I don't have no problem with going in
10:33There as a businessman saying yo we need this that and the third like you know I'm saying sometimes
10:38With creatives it feels awkward for them to do that when I was on my pioneer journey
10:43I was always thinking about them about this new wave about this new sound about these 808s
10:48That's about to be coming through about everything that's about to be coming salute to the guys that you know I'm saying that saw it
10:56Blindly like you know I'm saying from the from the from the beginning
11:00P nasty Mars J. Bo plus
11:03schoolie like
11:05Man, they signed to me
11:06I am I was still in my mom basement and like those guys signed to me and when shit started getting lit
11:12I'd never want to sign a deal all these all these labels were coming at me trying to sign me
11:16I would never sign anything until I got a joint venture
11:19But these labels are looking at me crazy because they're like who is this 21 year old coming here talking about he want a joint venture
11:25And he's saying he got a whole bunch of producers you trying to put too many people on we hear Mike will made it
11:30Yeah, we're trying to sign Mike will made it, and it's like man
11:33Y'all don't understand y'all here Mike will made it in eardrums y'all don't understand what I'm trying to do so I'm already broke
11:38So this this money that y'all about to give me right here
11:41Six figures or whatever I'm gonna break it down throughout my whole crew and guess what we're gonna end up broke
11:46Again, you know I'm saying so I need a I need a budget where I can cut this guy his own check cut this guy
11:51His own check cut this guy's own check. I got my own check, and then we have a budget where we can cut anybody
11:57That we believe in moving forward. They don't sign us for free. We cut them a real check
12:01You know I'm saying everybody didn't have to be eardrummers
12:04But as long as everybody is afloat and everybody's doing good. I was like the main that was like my main mission
12:10I feel like you've had such an incredible career. It's still growing. It's resetting. It's resetting for sure
12:16What some advice you would give your younger self man some advice I'll probably give my younger self be patient young man
12:22You know I'm saying be patient and and until you materialize something or until you bring it to life
12:28They they're not supposed to get it like when I had this certain feeling inside. It's weird
12:33I can't explain it like if a song ain't right. It's not right
12:36Yeah, so I'll bump heads with the engineer. I know so I don't care until we get it all the way, right
12:41Yeah, you know I'm saying like so when the engineers telling me we can't turn the 808 up anymore, bro
12:46Listen, you've never been to Atlanta. You've never been to Magic City. You've never been to Blue Flame
12:52You know saying you don't understand what I mean by this you never rode in the old school
12:57But you know I'm saying with 12 or 15s in the back
13:00I have to take this shit back home
13:02And I have to make my people proud like you know saying and so we have to push this up a little bit
13:07You know I'm saying if it's wrong let it come out and let it be wrong the record label
13:11They might tell me like man this song is too long Mike
13:13It's not gonna work on radio another and it's like man
13:16I don't care about that, but you know I said like if I play this right now for all these young guys right here
13:21They're gonna jump around and they're gonna be like man
13:23When is this dropping that stuff ended up paying off though it might it might make people feel like damn man
13:30Mike Mike difficult to work with a lot man
13:32I might really I hate that I ever put that kind of tasting in certain people's mouth by pushing so much
13:39But it helped make a lot of history
13:42Black Beatles went number one black Beatles went number one
13:51Me and Sway Lee argued to the last second about that joint
13:55You know I'm saying over one bar for that song to pass that man if we switch this one bar
13:59Like this song could arguably be the best song in hip-hop this year
14:02But with this bar like I don't know about this bar like you know I'm saying might mess it up
14:07So next thing you know that's all ended up coming out, and it was the best song in hip-hop that year
14:12You know I'm saying so I really learned a lot
14:14You know I'm saying over these years being able to reflect and like you know I'm saying see everything and for what it is and
14:21Reset on the way
14:24Yes, thank you so much Mike well. Yes. Thank you