If producing three of Meek Mill‘s biggest hits back to back in the same year doesn’t sound like a crazy story then I don’t know what is. Philadelphia has hell of talent and that isn’t exclusive to rappers lile Lil Uzi Vert or PnB Rock. Producers are getting their shine too, at least now, with beatmaker Dougie. Ironically, he was an artist as well before making the transition into production at 15-years-old. We got a chance to chat with the producer about his latest hit records, working with Calboy, and his forthcoming plans.
“Meek was moving around, politicking with certain people. We bumping into each other at a lot of different places,” he talks about initially meeting the hip-hop mogul. “I was flooding him with beats. My first placement was “1942 Flows” so overtime we were just talking a lot.” The record served as a staple from Meek’s 2017 release Wins & Loses, which was a critically year for him that year.
Fast forward, Dougie inked a deal with Meek Mill’s Dreamchasers label. “Last year, he reached out and said I’m ready to sign you to DC. So after that, I signed it and we just been moving since.” The rest is history. Dreamchasers is a joint venture with JAY-Z‘s Roc Nation and currently houses talents like YBS Skola and Roddy Ricch.
Meekend Music II was another critically-acclaimed project that year, releasing strategically on July 4th of that year. The four-track effort contains several records to vibe to, but the one that stands out is “Save Me.” Originally, it was the opening track of that project but eventually made its way onto the deluxe edition of Wins & Losses. “I feel like when I was making that, there was a lot going on in my life. My beats express my story and what I’m going through. I was losing a lot of my homies and I wanted to get out of that spot,” he explains. “A lot of that music was reflecting on what was going in real life.
“I grew up listening to Nas, Hov, T.I., and Durk when I was younger. Those are some of my favorite artists.” Speaking of Lil Durk, Dougie produced “Baguette Bandz” off of the Chicago rapper’s collective album Only the Family Involved, Vol. 2. Not only that, but it’s also another placement with flawless project, similar to his works with Rick Ross (“Florida Boy”) or G Herbo (“Song Cry”).
“In a couple of years, I see myself as one of the biggest in the game,” Dougie states. Undeniably, producers have been getting their shine more than ever if anything. From collaborative projects to compilation albums, beatmakers are constantly pushing into the limelight. “I’m making that transaction into a full producer, putting records together like Mustard or Diddy. That’s definitely where I want to be.”
Back in June, Dougie linked up with the “Envy Me” rapper CalBoy where they produced some new heat. “Working with Calboy, that was a vibe. We linked and we clicked off the rip. We turned up in the studio and we knocked out three songs in a few hours.” CalBoy previous released his debut album, Wildboy, in the middle of the year. Hopefully, there’s a collaboration between the two on CalBoy’s forthcoming album.
“If I could work with any artist, dead or alive, it would be Drake, Hov, and if Biggie was here I would work with him. I would love to do a song with Thug,” he laughs. “My goal for the rest of this year is to keep going up. I wanna hear my shit on everything popping coming out. Dougie, that’s going to be the name coming into 2020.”
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