Canadian Grammy-winning producer Boi-1da has worked with the biggest names in the industry and created some era-defining songs. Eminem’s fans know his “Forever”, “Not Afraid” and “Lucky You”, but Boi-1da has also produced the biggest numbers for Rihanna, Kanye West, Kendrick Lamar, Busta Rhymes, Beyoncé, and, of course, his constant collaborator, Drake.
He is a perfect person to invite on the ProducerGrind podcast where he spoke about his creative process, unique approach to sound selection, and maintaining personal style while staying relevant in the everchanging music landscape.
Reminiscing about some biggest moments of his career, Boi-1da mentioned “Forever”, the song that could impress by the list of performers only:
That song… That was a crazy moment. That moment was just nuts because we had that song from before. I think [Drake] made that song a little bit after or before “So Far Gone”, so we were sitting on it for a minute. And then he hit me and said, “Yo, I’m gonna do a song for LeBron and put Wayne and maybe Ye on it”. And I was like, alright, cool. And then he hit me, like, “Yo, Wayne jumped on it”. And I was like, yo, that’s fire. Drake, Wayne on “Forever”. This song is about to be crazy. Then he’s like “Okay, Ye jumped on it now”. And after I was like, okay, it’s about to go nuts. And then right before it came out they’re like, “Yo, Eminem’s about to jump on this record too”. And I was like, nah, you guys are kidding. I think Eminem was retired at that time, he hadn’t made music for some odd years, like a couple of years. I think he was actually retired. So I think that was one of the records he came back on. And man, when that dropped that was a surreal moment for me. Because it was all my favourite rappers on one beat. And this was my beat. That’s a real moment.
However, “Forever” was the first, but not the last track he made for Marshall. And a personal connection here came in handy:
At that time I had a manager that was very close to Eminem. DJ Mormile, shout out to him, great manager. He was super tight with Eminem because he’s the nephew of Jimmy Iovine, who owns Interscope Records and signed Eminem, and Dr. Dre, and 50 Cent, and everybody. So, I think Eminem had heard the track for “Forever” and he really liked it and he asked DJ for… DJ told me to make a pack of, like, 10 beats and he’s like, “I’m gonna send it straight to Eminem. I sent the pack and then he hits me like, “Yo, Eminem likes two beats in the pack”. It went on for a little bit and then he’s like, “Yo, Em made a crazy record to one of the beats. One of the songs might be the first single of Eminem’s comeback album”. And I was like, no-no-no, you’re lying. You’re lying. Then it all came together. It was like two days or something before it came out. They called me and played the record over the phone. It was just incredible. It was a real moment. Eminem comes out of retirement, a comeback moment. Special song. One of my favourite rappers ever. That was a game-changing, life-changing moment for me.
It is impressive in itself, that the producer, who worked with the biggest stars across the board, puts so much importance on his collaborations with Eminem. So much passion and thought went into these songs that they remain one of the most memorable in Marshall’s catalogue. “Not Afraid” alone will stay in history books.
Watch the interview below:
