“I was a listener, but I wanted to do more than just listen. I wanted to create and spread my message.”
As fans have become well accustomed to stories of acclaimed producers picking up the craft in their teen years, Redda, a 20-year-old beat phenom from North Miami Beach, is still just getting started.
A year after picking up FL Studio and developing his skills ten-fold, Redda dropped out of high school at age 16 to pursue a career as a producer, which he’s had an intrinsic knack for from the start.
“What you hear now on my beats, that’s what I was always aiming for,” he said. “Dark synths, I didn’t invent that. But I did take those synths and make something completely different out of them. That sh*t just came natural, just doing it every day and making whatever I wanted.”
Redda to Our Generation Music
As he sought to establish more connections early on, he would find himself taking trips to New York to meet up with fellow producers he met on Twitter such as Lunchbox, the Harlem native who helped craft most of Sheck Wes‘ 2018 Mudboy album including songs like “Live Sheck Wes,” “Jiggy on the Shits,” “Gmail” and “WESPN.”
Lunchbox helped link Sheck with Redda, as he was able to land placements on Mudboy as well producing hits like “Chippi Chippi” and “Wanted.” All before his eighteenth birthday, Redda was well on his way to stardom.
“We just got a signature sound together,” he said. “It’s always going to be like that, there will never be another Sheck and Redda. It’s only me and him.”
2021, however, is what truly catapulted Redda to another level, mostly thanks to two particular trendsetters. Firstly, his friendship with Virgil Abloh was the finest example of mutualism, as the late Louis Vuitton and Off-White boss included Redda’s beats as background music in his fashion show in Paris last summer. Additionally, Redda was able to walk as a model the week after Virgil’s death in his posthumous show for his Louis Vuitton Spring/Summer 2022 collection.
“It was so surreal. Forever I’m honored to do anything with Virgil. Anything me and Virgil did was just gold. That man was such a visionary, he was an artist. I can’t stress it enough, we lost a real legend.”
Redda to OGM
The second influential figure that Redda collaborated with last year was blossoming British star Lancey Foux, as he produced multiple tracks for his March 2021 album FIRST DEGREE such as “DONT! – TRUST ME,” “AINT THIS !” and “WHAT U WANT.”
Exposure like this landed him a gig with Beats by Dre, as he produced the music for their Beats Studio Buds campaign in August which featured Lancey Foux and Ken Car$on in the commercial.
Projects like these inspired Redda to use his talents for more than just landing producer placements. Now, he is attacking a rapping career head on, which he explains was always something he considered, even before he fell in love with producing.
“It’s just like playing in a playground for me, making beats,” he said. “It got to a point where it got a little boring to me. That’s why I started rapping. Why not do it all? I’m about t take over the whole game with this rap sh*t.”
One of his first attempts at rapping came with his 2019 DARKOKANE project with Cris Dinero, known for making beats for XXXTENTACION, Robb Bank$, Lil Skies and other SoundCloud legends. The reception for DARKOKANE was so astounding that he committed to rapping, releasing his first solo tape DS3 in October 2021 — inspired by Future‘s DS2 and using the same approach for the title that Young Thug used with Barter 6 and Lil Wayne.
Moving forward, Redda hopes to be able to work with Young Thug and Chief Keef as a producer, and Lil Uzi Vert as a rapper. He recently met up with Future in the studio to share beats with him, and has worked with WondaGurl, who famously produced Travis Scott hits like “Antidote,” “90210,” “Can’t Say” and music for Drake, JAY-Z and Rihanna, as he hopes to land a placement on Utopia.
With all of these endeavors on his plate, Redda took the time to meet up with OGM host Hakeem Rowe, as they chopped it up in front of the beautiful Hollywood Hills. The duo discussed Redda’s inspirations, his use of ChaseTheMoney’s 808s, his upcoming tape Outerspacer, why he doesn’t like making type beats and much more in our latest Our Generation Music exclusive interview.
Watch Redda’s OGM exclusive below!
