Cultural Diversity Roster

Leland Wayne, professionally known as Metro Boomin, is an American record producer from St. Louis, Missouri, and now based in Atlanta, Georgia. Metro is best known for producing instrumentals for rappers such as Future, Ludacris, Gucci Mane, Young Thug and Wiz Khalifa, among others.

After a brief stint playing bass guitar in his middle school band, Metro first started making beats in the seventh grade, at age 13, when his mother bought him a laptop and he got a copy of the popular production software FruityLoops. Initially, Metro wanted to rap and started making beats so that he could have music to rap over, but after deciding that he liked making beats more than rapping, he put his full attention into production.

As he continued to develop his production sound, while still in high school, Metro began to utilize social media properties, like Twitter, to network with bigger artists and submit beats. Metro Boomin first started traveling to Atlanta in the 11th grade to pursue a career in music, and, in an interview with XXL, Metro says that Atlanta rapper OJ Da Juiceman was the first popular artist to rap on his beats, a string of collaborations that ultimately led to Metro meeting and working with Gucci Mane during the summer between his junior and senior years of high school.

Upon graduating high school, Metro moved to Atlanta to attend Morehouse College, studying Business Management, but he ultimately chose to take a break from school after a semester, because the schedule demands of a full-time music career became too much to balance. Since, Metro has collaborated with artists including Gucci Mane, Ludacris, Yo Gotti, Wiz Khalifa, Chief Keef, YG, Young Jeezy, Ace Hood, Young Scooter, Young Thug, Rich Homie Quan, Trinidad James, Que, Migos and more. Metro also regularly collaborates with other producers, including Sonny Digital, TM-88, Southside, Zaytoven and DJ Spinz.

Metro has also worked extensively with popular rapper Future. The two first worked together on a song called “Hard,” included on DJ Esco’s Welcome 2 Mollyworld mixtape, and have collaborated on numerous songs since, including two singles from Future’s sophomore album, Honest, the album’s lead single, “Karate Chop,” and title track, “Honest,” co-produced by DJ Spinz. Metro also produced the latest single from Honest, “I Won,” which features Kanye West.

In May 2013, Metro Boomin formally announced his first producer mixtape, 19 & Boomin. Following warm-up singles, featuring artists like Trinidad James, Gucci Mane and others, Metro released the mixtape, hosted by popular mixtape website LiveMixtapes, on October 7, 2013. The mixtape, all original songs, included “Maison Margiela,” featuring Future, and “Some More,” featuring Young Thug, both of which were subsequently released as music videos.

In March 2014, Metro Boomin and Young Thug announced that they would release a collaborative album, performed and released under the moniker Metro Thuggin. The album will be self-titled and will be released spring/summer 2014. Along with the announcement, Metro Thuggin released the collaborative track, “The Blanguage.”

His debut solo album, Not All Heroes Wear Capes, was released in November 2018, debuting at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart.