London on da Track
Atlanta SuperProducers (Part 1)
Yezzir — we back at it!
In the first piece of this series, I’m gonna talk about one of my favorite producers right now — London on da Track.
As many Atlanta icons are — London wasn’t actually born in the city. Before moving to Atlanta, he lived with his grandparents in Memphis. As typical of Black families in the south, his whole house went to church which is where he learned to play the piano and organ. Being from Memphis, it’s not surprise that London credits Memphis-native Drumma Boy as an early influence. For a hint at what London would become…just listen to Jeezy’s “Put On” produced by Drumma Boy.
London moved to Atlanta at the age of 10. At age 16 he started to rap in the group Dem Guyz (terrible time for spellcheck). Instead of buying beats, London started to make them for the group — starting his career in production. When London turned 18 he went down to Orlando to study production at Full Sail University. Not sold on the lifestyle associated with the program, London returned to Atlanta where he eventually scored his first local radio hit with “Pieon” by the Rich Kidz.
If you don’t remember the Rich Kidz from “Pieon”, you HAVE TO remember them from “My Partna Dem” which went on to feature Ludacris, Lil Scrappy, and Young Dro. If you were like me, you were probably wearing baggy ass cargo shorts, a polo, and a pair of Sperry’s sweating in a hole in the wall with “All the Way Turnt Up” blaring— WATTBA.
I digress. Back to London.
Around this time London linked up with one of the biggest voices of this generation — Young Thug. London and Thug met through a collaboration with Skool Boy and the late, great Shawty Lo (RIP) called “Curtains”. London claims they clicked off the rip due to Thug’s ability to make a song in 5–10 minutes (without writing anything down) on London’s beats…and that’s why London says he understands 100% of Thug’s lyrics…I personally understand about 80% of them, but feel 300%. Young Thug is a melodic genius, and I can’t wait to write an article on him.
Fast-forward to 2014, London’s breakout year. “Lifestyle” with Rich Gang (Young Thug, Rich Homie Quan, & Birdman), “About the Money” with TI & Young Thug, and “Hookah” with Tyga & Young Thug all charted. Apparently London and Thug sent “Hookah” to Tyga to get his verse, but Tyga dropped it as his own song. I actually remember thinking…do they smoke Hookah like that in LA? They have weed…Regardless it worked out for London and Thug. “Lifestyle” became an even bigger hit — instantly an anthem in the South. It reached 16th on the Billboard Top 100 in a year where Pop was still the dominant genre in the US. [Fun fact; Pharell’s “Happy” topped the 2014 year-end charts. A sign of bright things to come for producers.]
Since 2014 London has produced at least one street anthem per year.
2015: “Got me a check, I got a check…sheesh” — Young Thug’s “Check”
2016: “Hustlas don’t stop they keep going…” — Young Thug’s “Digits”
2017: “I can’t even roll in peace. Why? Everybody notice me” — Kodak Black’s “Roll In Peace” featuring the late XXXTENTACION (RIP).
2018: “Iced out. No Stylist.” — French Montana’s “No Stylist”
2019 brought a whole new side of London to the forefront with the executive production of Summer Walker’s critically-acclaimed album Over It — my favorite front-to-back R&B project since SZA’s CTRL in 2017. We’ll chalk the Grammy’s overlooking Walker’s Over It (and Ari Lennox’s Shea Butter Baby) to the systemic biases that restrict Black artists to the Hip Hop / Rap and R&B categories, but that’s a topic for another day. Back to London.
Over It was London’s first major R&B project, producing 13 of the 18 tracks. It’s worth noting that Roark Bailey — an Atlanta-native that studied engineering at Georgia Tech while I was there — also received producer credits on many of the same songs. It’s also worth noting that Summer and London are together. Hearing the product of their chemistry, it makes sense. They make dope art together. London makes classics with his people. First Young Thug. Now Summer Walker. I’m excited to see who he works with next…maybe Gunna, Lil Baby, or Lil Keed on the raw side. Or maybe Ella Mai, PARTYNEXTDOOR, or Rihanna on the smoother side.
Over the last 6 years, London has shown amazing range from street anthems like “Lifestyle” to twerk theme-songs like “My Type” and late-night favorites like “Tonight”. He’s produced for the Chainsmokers and has said that he’d like to work with Taylor Swift. Personally, I think Ariana Grande would be a more exciting Pop collab, but London clearly has an eye for business. As typical of SuperProducers, we’re starting to see London show up as a credited artists on his latest tracks like “Throw Fits” with G-Eazy, Yung Miami of the City Girls, and Juvenile. I’d recommend you not watch that one at work, unless you’re quarantined like me. (Shoutout Yung Miami for making a return after childbirth — “Hood b*tch, Act Up need a Grammy; My son come first, that’s family”.)
Hold on. Let me just say this…
If you hear Young Thug say “We got London on da Track” (or Kodak saying “I’m in London, I got my beat from London”)…it’s about to slap. Check out this playlist for some of my favorite tracks produced by London (including the frequently overlooked “I Wanna Benz” with YG, 50 Cent, and the late LEGEND Nipsey Hussle (RIP))
Come back next time to hear about another great adopted by the city…St. Louis’s own Metro Boomin. Subscribe for updates here.
