Quotes from Metro Boomin

Future's a workaholic. That's definitely the most hard-working artist I know.

I plan on making my mark on the legacy of hip-hop, period, but also in Atlanta production because there's a lot of history there.

Coming up, a lot of people I looked up to had a signature sound, but I came up, and I was always in search of one, trying to find it, trying to create one. I was never really able to have a creative signature sound, you know?

When I started making beats in the 7th grade - even through middle school and high school - I admired a lot of Shawty Redd, stuff like that, that real dark, trap sound.

You hear what Thug says in his songs - the musical level of it is so crazy that it doesn't register with some people, so they call it trash. But anybody who loves music can appreciate what he's doing.

School is the same as producing: If you want to make it far, there are a million, trillion people trying to do the same thing. If you're not in over-grind mode, it's probably not going to work the way that you want it to.

Really, I just sit down, mess around, and play with sounds.

On Christmas, when I was 13, my mom got me my first laptop. I downloaded it, FruityLoops, cause I had heard about it, and started messing around.

There's always something in Atlanta that's so far from people's comfort zone.

Two people making a beat is really like one person making a beat. But you have another person's brain. So what might sound good to you, they could flip it a different way. It's really a collaborative effort, really.

I naturally, when I make beats, aim for a darker tone just because I've always preferred those types of feelings.

I try to take elements from all kinds of music. Even if I'm listening to anything off the wall, like Britney Spears, there might be a certain way someone did something, that I can feel, in some hip-hop flavor.

I'm real big on making sure everything is right and taking my time.

I grew up in St Louis, just with my mom.

If I stay negative in negative energy, that's what's gonna come back.

I'm glad 'Honest' came out right after 'Karate Chop,' because I don't want to be seen as a one-hit wonder.

I'm heavily influenced by a lot of people like Dre, Pharrell, and Kanye. They're all big-time tastemakers and trendsetters, just for culture, period. So I strive to do that as well.

I just think about how much worse something could be, and I'm like, 'Alright, cool, whatever.' I'm nonchalant.

Any piece of music or album or anything - I don't care what genre - in the States, a piece of it came through Atlanta somehow.

Makonnen is a good dude. It's just good energy when he's around.