Words by Daniel Isenberg (@StanIpcus)
Warning—Lex Luger is locked and loaded. The Virginia-bred producer—best known for early ‘10s bangers like Waka Flocka Flame’s “Hard in the Paint,” Rick Ross and Styles P’s “B.M.F.,” and Jay Z and Kanye West’s “H.A.M.”—is still hard at work in 2016 pumping out next level joints. And his latest placement, A$AP Ferg’s collabo with ScHoolboy Q “Let It Bang,” is further proof that Lex Luger is an upper echelon beat king poised to push the limits more than ever this year.
For our latest In The Lab, we connected with Lex Luger to discuss what he uses to craft his tracks, what the vibe is like when he’s creating, and what he’s learned over the years about working with artists. Plus, he runs through the making of his most notable songs (including the story behind his Electric Ladyland studio session with Kanye, Jay, and Beyonce), discusses how spending time with guys like Juicy J and A-Trak affected his outlook on beatmaking, and breaks down his new instrumental project, Lex Luger Experience: The Tour, Vol. 1. Roll up peoples, this is a good one.
Software/Equipment
Lex Luger: “I work mostly out the crib, then take the idea to a bigger studio so I can hear it louder and get the full effect of it. But it usually starts in the bedroom.
“I pretty much use FruityLoops. I tried Maschine Studio, I tried the MPC Renaissance, and I love it—but FruityLoops is wifey. I always go back to wifey. When I want to get in touch with myself and what I used to make—and get back to the streets—I create that FruityLoops sound.
“I think it’s like my work ethic with it. I’m able to work fast with it, and pump out beat after beat after beat. And the way you can switch up sounds, slow it down—you can do the same thing in Pro Tools, but it’s so much easier in FruityLoops.
“I use outboard keyboards sometimes, like a Virus or some type of Roland. They got all type of synthesisers now. Nova, or I’ll pull out some old school shyt. But it still all gets transported to FruityLoops.”
Sounds
“I dig in the crates a little bit. I go on blog sites to find rare samples, and just look for samples and chop up drums and voices and create sounds from there. It’s sound designing.
“I met Hannon [Lane], who’s Timbaland’s soundman. And he showed me the Neko keyboard, which I also use sometimes. And you can go in there and create a sound from nothing, like a tap of a pencil. So we’ve been into that—just creating sounds and going from there.
“We go to record shops, too. We got crates in the studio, and we’ll throw them on the turntable and see what it does, sample it in. And just to get that vinyl feel, too. You know, it got that little scratchy noise. That’s all authentic, and we like that.”
Daily Routine
“I have two little girls, so I try to do as much as I can for them. It’s a lot sometimes. I have to stop being a producer, and go to soccer practice and stuff like that. Which is all good—it’s all about balance.
“But really, when it’s time to work, I sit around with my homies and talk about issues, where we’ve been, where we wanna end up at. I still hang around the same people I grew up with, so all that inspires us. Then I might just go in from there and make a beat while they’re talking. And then that becomes a record for them, or for whoever else.
“They just like to be around music. We’ve been doing this since high school, so it’s not a big thing. It’s natural, it’s organic. I’m not pressured to go make a beat, or work on this album. It just comes out.”
Delivering Beats to Artists
“We barely email beats anymore. With all the stealing, everything has become much more exclusive. So now it’s more ‘pull up to the studio,’ or, ‘I’ll fly you here.’ Get in the studio, and put it on a flash drive or hard drive. Because people steal so much now, man. It’s hard. It’s changing so fast, but I just maneuver with it.
“DJ A-Trak taught me about this. I’d send him beats, and he’d be like, ‘This is cool, but I could take this whole idea, or anyone could take this whole idea, and then just do whatever with it. So let me fly you out here, and we’ll create from scratch. Then nobody else will have any idea of what’s going on.’ It’s like when Kanye was working on Watch The Throne, he was like in fukkin’ Paris or something. He didn’t want nobody to know where he was at, no studios or nothing.
“Don’t get me wrong. I have certain artists where I can email a session, or send shyt through the iPhone or whatever. But other than that, we just fly out and link up face-to-face. Taking it back to the Berry Gordy, Michael Jackson days. We’re all in the studio together, now let’s create. It’s better. You get to feel each other, no rainbow. [Laughs.]”
