Lex Luger | |
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![]() Lex Luger in 2021 | |
Background information | |
Birth name | Lexus Arnel Lewis |
Born | Suffolk, Virginia, U.S. | March 6, 1991
Origin | Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. |
Genres | |
Occupation(s) |
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Years active | 2008−present |
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Lexus Arnel Lewis (born March 6, 1991), professionally known as Lex Luger, is an American record producer. His stage name is a homage to the former WCW/WWF professional wrestler Lex Luger. He co-founded the American hip hop production team 808 Mafia with Southside. [1] He is a member of the hip hop production duo Low Pros with A-Trak, and the VABP (Virginia Boyz Productionz), a hip hop group that he founded in high school.
Growing up, Luger played percussion for his church and drummed in church bands. His first introduction to music was playing drums for a number of bands at his local church where he learned about beats, measures, BPMS and bars using a DJ set where he took instrumentals and mixed them with acapellas. [2] He then moved on to making music on the PlayStation game MTV Music Generator 3, where he started working with turntables. When Luger eventually saved enough money for an Akai MPC 2500 and established the VABP (Virginia Boyz Productionz) production crew with his high school friends, Luger began to try his hand at making high quality industry hip hop beats. [3] [4] After purchasing an MPC 2000 from his uncle, his friend and now collaborator Urboyblack brought Luger an unlicensed copy of FL Studio. He has also incorporated music production workstations such as Maschine and Pro Tools. [5]
Initially spending long days experimenting with Fruity Loops and working every day after school and all day every weekend wasn't enough to jumpstart Luger's production career. He dropped out of King's Fork High School after the 10th grade to further hone his music production talents when he realized that he was able to produce song length instrumentals at a fast pace. [6] Putting hours into honing his craft, Luger began to dramatically increase his musical output after he found that he could knock out at least 10 beats a day. [7] He then started hearing about independent music artists gaining exposure through MySpace and started posting music on that website. Around late 2008, he began cold-emailing his beats to various rappers and posting instrumentals on his Myspace page, hoping to gain further exposure in the hip hop industry. In 2009, a then unknown rapper by the name of Waka Flocka Flame began e-mailing him back. The two later built a relationship on MySpace when Luger began sending Waka beats once every few days. [5] [3] [4]
Waka expressed interest in Luger's production style when he requested a particularly vicious beat that he wanted to rap over. Luger sent Waka 40 beats, where three beats eventually ended on Waka's 2009, 'Salute Me or Shoot Me 2' mixtape. [7] Waka later requested some more from Luger to which he responded with hundreds more, and eventually Waka Flocka Flame flew him out to Atlanta to collaborate with him. Spending months sequestered in a basement with no internet access in Atlanta working with Waka Flocka Flame, Luger laid much of the production groundwork for Waka's debut album. Not knowing the future outcome of his career, Luger contemplated taking a second job stacking boxes in a warehouse to support his production career. [4] Waka later gained fame and was eventually signed to Bricksquad when his song O Lets Do It became a hit. [4]
Waka Flocka Flame's "Hard in the Paint" was Luger's first instrumental to hit the radio waves and became a hit by May 2010. [3] [8] Luger was in Atlanta at the time when he first heard the song playing on the radio. While in Atlanta, Luger got a phone call from Chicago rapper and record producer Kanye West, although he did not realize who he was talking to for two hours. After realizing who it was, Luger agreed to fly to New York City to work with him. [8] [9] He eventually created eight backing beats for West's use, including the beat that eventually became the single H•A•M as well as the bonus cut "See Me Now" for West's 2010 album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy . Luger also got a request from Spiff of SpiffTV who contacted him to get the instrumental track of "Hard In The Paint" that eventually led Luger to build a relationship with Rick Ross as Ross wanted to do a remix for the song. This led Luger to build a relationship with Rick Ross to which he later produced B.M.F. (Blowin' Money Fast) and MC Hammer for Ross's 2010 album Teflon Don . [4] After working with Ross, Luger achieved a career boost when he began receiving an increase in numbers of followers on Twitter. [4] By June 2010, Luger had landed production placements from rappers Ace Hood, Soulja Boy, Chingy, Sean Garrett, and Fabolous. [3] [10]
As Luger's sound drifted upstream from the mixtape circuit to the mainstream hip hop, it caught the eye of numerous rappers that requested his jackhammer drum and spooky trap synth production style. [4] He then produced tracks for a number of popular rappers including Rick Ross's Teflon Don , Waka Flocka Flame's Flockaveli , Slim Thug's Tha Thug Show and Kanye West and Jay-Z's Watch the Throne . [11] He then went on to work with a number of other popular rap artists including Wiz Khalifa, Big Sean, Wale, Fabolous, Juicy J, Soulja Boy, Snoop Dogg and 2 Chainz as well as producing songs for a number of street famous rappers such as Fat Trel, Lil Scrappy and OJ Da Juiceman. [11] Following his success with Waka Flocka Flame and Rick Ross, Luger then began building a relationship with Juicy J in late 2010 citing him as a musical influence as well as a music industry adviser. Juicy J eventually took Luger under his wing and the two eventually collaborated on two mixtapes with Juicy J leveraging Luger a career boost as well as to generate buzz to further get Luger's name in the hip hop industry. [12] Luger went on to produce more than 200 songs throughout 2010 and 2011 fueling hit songs by a number of popular rappers as well as number of songs featured on an array of street and underground hip hop mixtapes. [3] [11]
Luger was initially affiliated with fellow Brick Squad producer Southside. The two of them formed the production team 808 Mafia in 2010, to which he later left the group the following year. [13] During the same year at the 2011 BET Hip Hop Awards, Luger won the award for Producer of the Year. [14]
In February 2014, Luger joined forces with Canadian DJ/producer A-Trak under the moniker Low Pros, with the intention of releasing a collaborative project. [15] Their first release was "Jack Tripper", a drug-addled trap song featuring Brick Squad affiliates PeeWee Longway and Young Thug, who had just risen to popularity at the time due to the success of his 2013 singles "Stoner" and "Danny Glover". [16]
In late 2014, Luger started touring as a live act. He signed with agent Wilcox Weaver at Oklahoma City and Los Angeles based Warpath Group in September 2014 for international tour bookings. In January 2015, he signed to EXYT Agency for European and Asian tour bookings. Luger has played all over the world with the set consisted of Luger and his DJ, Kino Beats.[ citation needed ] He has had solid success with this endeavor, selling thousands of tickets across the globe as he sold out an entire European tour in May 2015. [17]
On June 27, 2015, Luger headlined Virginia' fifth annual EpicFest Hip Hop Festival in Richmond, Virginia. [18] [19]
On March 22, 2016, Luger released his first full length instrumental album. The project features his DJ and collaborator KinoBeats as well as his V.A.B.P. collaborators back from his early production days HighDefRazajah, UrBoyBlack and Trama. [20]
Luger opened up about his seven year long battle with drug addiction in an interview with DJ Smallz Eyes in September 2018. Stating that he was taking the prescription medication Xanax on a daily basis and was also addicted to ecstasy and marijuana, he was hospitalized four times with one incident being nearly fatal. He claimed that he could not distinguish the world from reality for four days. Luger finally decided to get clean with help from rehab. He has been sober from all substances except alcohol since 2017. [21] [22]
Luger uses the digital audio workstation FL Studio, along with custom installed VST plugins, to compose his beats. He has also incorporated music production workstations such as Maschine and Pro Tools. [5] In each of his productions, he has become known for using his signature electronic sounding build up effect in the beginning and throughout his productions. The basis for his stage name came from professional wrestler Lex Luger as well as the Luger pistol. He cites producers Dr. Dre, Shawty Redd, D. Rich, Drumma Boy, Jazze Pha, hip hop production duo The Heatmakerz, rapper Juicy J and his former group Three Six Mafia, and Harlem rap group The Diplomats as his musical influences. [2] [23] He self describes the creative process of making his beats coming from his inner "pain" bringing out stress and pouring his heart out when he composes his beats. [2] [23] [24]
Luger is known for his strong adherence to Atlanta's trap sound making use of the Roland TR-808 kick drum, ominous synth lines, and threatening ad-libs. [25] His austere, jackhammer, and utilitarian orchestral trap sound has been well known for his heavy use of hard hitting 808 kick drums; crisp snare drums; frantic synthesizers; spooky, sinister, and rhythmic Richard Wagner- and Danny Elfman-like bombastic ominous orchestration of synthesized brass, stringed, woodwind, and keyboard instruments commonly incorporated throughout his productions. [26] [27] [28] Luger is known for his musical confluence of combining bombastic orchestral instruments, spooky synths with urban street hip hop sounds. Since his entrance into the hip hop industry, he produces with a more diverse approach further incorporating pop, R&B, as well as electronic dance as a creative deviation from his traditional trap sound into his production repertoire. [29] [30]
Studio album
| Collaboration albums
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Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Certifications | Album | |||||||||
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US | US R&B | US Rap | AUS | CAN | IRE | UK | |||||||
"Hard in da Paint" (Waka Flocka Flame) | 2010 | 111 | 28 | 20 | — | — | — | — |
| Flockaveli | |||
"B.M.F. (Blowin' Money Fast)" (Rick Ross featuring Styles P) | 60 | 6 | 4 | — | — | — | — |
| Teflon Don | ||||
"H•A•M" (Kanye West and Jay-Z) | 2011 | 23 | 24 | 14 | 78 | 47 | 40 | 30 |
| Watch the Throne | |||
"Hustle Hard" (Ace Hood) | 60 | 9 | 10 | — | — | — | — | Blood, Sweat & Tears | |||||
"Grove St. Party" (Waka Flocka Flame featuring Kebo Gotti) | 74 | 12 | 10 | — | — | — | — | Flockaveli | |||||
"Platinum" (Snoop Dogg featuring R. Kelly) | — | 60 | — | — | — | — | — | Doggumentary | |||||
"In da Box" [31] (Sean Garrett featuring Rick Ross) | — | 62 | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album single | |||||
"Go n Get It" (Ace Hood) | — | 60 | — | — | — | — | — | Blood, Sweat & Tears | |||||
"That Way" (Wale featuring Jeremih and Rick Ross) | 49 | 4 | 5 | — | — | — | — |
| Self Made Vol. 1 | ||||
"Round of Applause" (Waka Flocka Flame featuring Drake) | 86 | 16 | 17 | — | — | — | — | Triple F Life: Friends, Fans & Family | |||||
"9 Piece" (Rick Ross featuring T.I. and Lil Wayne) | 61 | 32 | 18 | — | — | — | — |
| Ashes to Ashes | ||||
"Bake Sale" (Wiz Khalifa featuring Travi$ Scott) | 2016 | 56 | 18 | 9 | — | 71 | — | — |
| Khalifa | |||
"Let it Bang" (A$AP Ferg featuring Schoolboy Q) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Always Strive And Prosper | |||||
"Champions" (Kanye West featuring Travis Scott, Quavo, Yo Gotti, 2 Chainz, Big Sean, Gucci Mane and Desiigner) | 71 | — | — | — | — | — |
| Cruel Winter | |||||
"No English" (Juicy J featuring Travis Scott) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | RBB3 | |||||
"Richer Than Everybody" (Gucci Mane featuring Youngboy Never Broke Again and DaBaby) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Woptober 2 | ||||
"MLK BLVD" (Jeezy featuring Meek Mill) | 2019 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | TM104: The Legend of the Snowman | ||||
"EDD Baby" (Teejayx6 and Lex Luger featuring 24hrs) | 2021 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Generation Scam | ||||
"—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. |
Year | Awards | Category | Recipient | Result |
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2011 | BET Hip Hop Awards | Producer of the Year | Lex Luger | Won |
Hip hop production is the creation of hip hop music in a recording studio. While the term encompasses all aspects of hip hop music creation, including recording the rapping of an MC, a turntablist or DJ providing a beat, playing samples and "scratching" using record players and the creation of a rhythmic backing track, using a drum machine or sequencer, it is most commonly used to refer to recording the instrumental, non-lyrical and non-vocal aspects of hip hop.
Karim Kharbouch, better known by his stage name French Montana, is a Moroccan-born American rapper. Born and raised in Morocco, he immigrated to the United States with his family at the age of 13. He embarked on a musical career in 2002, releasing a slew of underground material until signing a joint-venture record deal with Puff Daddy's Bad Boy Records and Rick Ross's Maybach Music Group in 2012.
Juaquin James Malphurs, known professionally as Waka Flocka Flame, is an American rapper from Atlanta, Georgia. He first became known for his 2009 single "O Let's Do It," which entered the Billboard Hot 100 and led him to sign with Gucci Mane's 1017 Records, an imprint of Warner Records that same year. His 2010 follow-up single, "No Hands" reached number 13 on the chart and received diamond certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Both songs, along with "Hard in da Paint" and "Grove St. Party", preceded the release of his debut studio album Flockaveli (2010), which peaked at number six on the Billboard 200. His second studio album, Triple F Life: Friends, Fans & Family (2012) peaked at number ten on the chart and was supported by the singles "Round of Applause", "I Don't Really Care" and "Get Low".
"O Let's Do It" is the first single from American rapper Waka Flocka Flame's debut studio album, Flockaveli. The song features Lil' Capp, who is not credited on the single version.
"Hard in da Paint" is the second single from American rapper Waka Flocka Flame's debut studio album Flockaveli.
Flockaveli is the debut studio album by American rapper Waka Flocka Flame. It was released through 1017 Brick Squad, Asylum, and Warner Bros. Records on October 5, 2010. The title of the album is a portmanteau of Waka Flocka Flame's name and that of the Italian political theorist Machiavelli, and was inspired by fellow American rapper Tupac Shakur, whose final stage name and pseudonym before his death was Makaveli. The album was recorded at Next Level Studios in Houston, NightBird Recording Studios in West Hollywood, and S-Line Ent. in Atlanta.
The following list is a discography of production by Lex Luger, an American record producer. It includes a list of songs produced, co-produced and remixed by Luger specified by year, artist, album and title.
"Grove St. Party" is the fourth single by American rapper Waka Flocka Flame, which was released February 15, 2011 under the record label 1017 Brick Squad Records. It features rapper Kebo Gotti and is the fourth single from his debut album Flockaveli, which was released on October 5, 2010. The song was produced by Lex Luger.
Ferrari Boyz is a collaborative studio album by American rappers Gucci Mane and Waka Flocka Flame. Originally scheduled for a June 21, 2011, release, it was delayed and later released on August 9. It features Rocko, 2 Chainz, 1017 Brick Squad labelmates Wooh da Kid, and Frenchie, and also Brick Squad Monopoly members Slim Dunkin, Ice Burgundy, and YG Hootie. The album was mostly produced by label producer Southside, with additional production by 808 Mafia, Drumma Boy, Fatboi, Shawty Redd, and Schife. According to Waka Flocka, the album was completed in two weeks.
Triple F Life: Friends, Fans & Family is the second studio album by American rapper Waka Flocka Flame. It was released on June 12, 2012, by 1017 Brick Squad, Brick Squad Monopoly, Asylum Records and Warner Bros. Records. The album features guest appearances from Drake, Nicki Minaj, B.o.B, Trey Songz, Ludacris, Travis Porter and Meek Mill, while the production was handled by Waka Flocka's longtime collaborator Lex Luger, Troy Taylor, J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League and Southside, among others.
"Round of Applause" is a song by American rapper Waka Flocka Flame featuring Canadian rapper Drake. Written alongside producer Lex Luger, the song was released on October 14, 2011 as the lead single from Waka's second studio album Triple F Life: Fans, Friends & Family.
Michael Len Williams II, known professionally as Mike Will Made It or simply Mike Will, is an American record producer. He is best known for producing trap beats for several Southern hip hop and pop artists on commercially successful singles. His credits include "Black Beatles" and "Powerglide" by Rae Sremmurd, "Mercy" by Kanye West, "No Lie" by 2 Chainz, "Bandz a Make Her Dance" by Juicy J, "Pour It Up" by Rihanna, "Love Me" by Lil Wayne, "Body Party" by Ciara, "We Can't Stop" by Miley Cyrus, "Formation" by Beyoncé, and "Humble" by Kendrick Lamar. He embarked on a career as a non-performing lead artist in 2013 with his debut single "23", which peaked at number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100. His 2017 follow-up single, "Rake It Up" peaked at number eight on the chart. He has released six mixtapes and one solo studio album, Ransom 2 (2017).
808 Mafia is an American record production and songwriting team founded by record producers TM88, Lex Luger, and Southside, who is currently at the helm of the group. The organization also includes producers Fuse 100, Tarentino, Purps, Swede, Nonstop Da Hitman, MP808, among others. The group's name originates from the Roland TR-808, a drum machine commonly used in hip-hop music.
Trap is a subgenre of hip hop music that originated in the Southern United States, with lyrical references to trap starting in 1991 but the modern sound of trap appearing in 1999. The genre gets its name from the Atlanta slang term "trap house", a house used exclusively to sell drugs. Trap music is known for its simple, rhythmic, minimalistic productions that uses synthesized drums, and is characterized by complex hi-hat patterns, snare drums, bass drums, some tuned with a long decay to emit a bass frequency, and lyrical content that often focuses on drug use and urban violence.
Joshua Howard Luellen, known professionally as Southside, is an American record producer, rapper and songwriter. Based in Atlanta, he is recognized in the music industry for his aggressive, trap-infused production work for prominent hip hop artists. His production work for hometown rapper Waka Flocka Flame led Luellen to sign with his label Brick Squad Monopoly, an imprint of Gucci Mane's 1017 Records as in-house talent in 2010. Luellen and labelmate, fellow producer Lex Luger established the production team 808 Mafia that same year, which has been credited on commercially successful releases throughout the remaining decade.
Sonny Corey Uwaezuoke, better known by his stage name Sonny Digital, is an American record producer, rapper, and DJ. He first saw recognition for his production work on YC's 2011 single "Racks", which peaked within the top 50 of the Billboard Hot 100. Throughout the following decade, he was credited on a string of commercially successful hip hop and trap singles including ILoveMakonnen's "Tuesday", Future's "Same Damn Time", 50 Cent's "I'm the Man", 2 Chainz's "Birthday Song", and Travis Scott's "Stargazing". Uwaezuoke has also produced for XXL Magazine's Freshman Hip Hop Cyphers in 2017 and 2018, and pursued a lukewarmly-received career as a recording artist.
Bryan Lamar Simmons, known professionally as TM88, is an American record producer. He is part of the Atlanta-based record production team 808 Mafia, as one of its lead members alongside Southside. Simmons produced the 2017 hit single "XO Tour Llif3" by Lil Uzi Vert, which peaked at number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 and received diamond certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). His other notable production credits include songs for Young Thug, Future, Gucci Mane, Migos, Wiz Khalifa, and Juicy J; he formed the group TGOD Mafia with the latter two in 2016, with whom he released a collaborative studio album in June of that year.
"Real Friends" is a song by American rapper Kanye West, featuring vocals from fellow singer Ty Dolla Sign. It was released as a promotional single from West's seventh studio album, The Life of Pablo, on January 8, 2016, The song includes West rapping about his trust issues around friends and family, with Whodini's song "Friends" being directly recalled.
Khalifa is a compilation album by American rapper Wiz Khalifa. It was released on February 5, 2016, by Atlantic Records and Rostrum Records, serving as his fourth release with Atlantic. The project features guest appearances from Courtney Noelle, Travis Scott, J.R. Donato, Chevy Woods, Juicy J, Ty Dolla Sign, Rico Love and Wiz's son Sebastian. The production on the project was provided by Wiz's frequent collaborators such as I.D. Labs and Sledgren, alongside the additional production by Lex Luger, DJ Spinz, Jim Jonsin, Juicy J, among others.
The 2010 show was hosted by Mike Epps. DJ Khaled was the host DJ and DJ Premier DJed the cyphers.