A year ago, Ducko Mcfli had never gotten his name on a beat with an artist outside of Nashville. He and longtime production partner SykSense had been putting in work for years, even catching the eye of Boi-1da, who signed the pair to a short-term production deal a few years ago. Finally, last March, they sent him one that stuck. He passed it along to his right-hand man, aka the biggest rapper in the world, and next thing you know, Syk and Ducko saw their names next to Drake's "Draft Day."
That was his foot in the door, and since, Ducko has made his entry known, producing records for OG Maco, Migos, Audio Push, A$AP Ferg, YG, Problem, Snootie Wild, and more. Things picked up quick. He's now full-time in Atlanta, fully signed to another industry kingpin, Mike Will Made-It. Ducko is part of an exciting young production roster that's helping Ear Drummers become the one of hottest new labels in the country.
We chatted with Ducko about his recent career moves, learning from Mike Will and Boi-1da, his personal brand, and why his most important work is with his own artists we've never heard of.
COVER
The Drake Record
As mentioned, Ducko's first record was a big one. "Draft Day" had Drake shouting-out Johnny Manziel and looking back on his own rookie days, but the most memorable part of the loosie turned summer smash was surely the beat--the "Doo Wop" sample flip that keeps all of Lauryn Hill's charisma using second-long vocal snippets.
"A lotta people don't realize that was my first placement. Period. I didn't have any records before that... With the combination of that and moving to Atlanta, it allowed people to give me a chance. Even with that being the only card I could pull, that's a really good card to pull."
Needless to say, a Drake record can do big things for your career. Though Ducko and SykSense (together: The Fam) have been producing together for over 10 years. Before "Draft Day," they were sharing an apartment in Nashville while making daily commutes to Atlanta. "My car was not enjoying it."
With their sudden wave of success, The Fam officially made the move to Atlanta, still together in the same apartment. The Fam will always be there, says Ducko, though recently, they each continue to come across major solo opportunities. Syk has maintained a connection to the Boi1-da camp, landing two records on If You're Reading This Its Too Late. Ducko has gravitated toward a different leader in the production world, Atlanta legend Mike Will Made-It.
Signing With Mike Will
One of Ducko's biggest early collabs came with Curtis Williams, one of the founding members of the group Two-9, getting a few beats on his 2014 Danco James mixtape. Two-9 got picked up by Mike-Will, becoming the second act to follow the wild success of Rae Sremmurd. Soon after, Ducko hopped on board a quickly expanding production team that now includes guys like Marz, Pluss, JBo, and P Nazty. All the talent here is obvious on Mike Will's Ransom, released last year--that continues to sound fresher and fresher well into 2015.
Alongside Mike, Ducko produced a druggy Rich Homie-led slow jam, "Hasta Luego," which shows bilingual Quan at his finest. The Fam also produced a monster "got damn freestyle" cypher with Rae Sremm's Slim Jimmy, Jace of Two-9, and Andrea--going off this one verse, she keeps up, if not outdoes the boys.
Though he's still new to the Ear Drummer's family, Ducko could not find himself in a better situation. "Even the little amount of time I've been on Ear Drummers, man. Like I tell Marz and P Nazty and Pluss every day, man, every time I talk to them. They've taught me so much in just a little amount of time. My beats have gotten so much better since being around these guys."
Early into his career, Ducko's gone from Boi-1da to Mike Will, two industry giants. Mike is a busy man, but he's dead serious on turning his young Ear Drummers squad into an empire. Ducko's early experience just watching Mike in the studio has proved to have a huge impact. "He always takes the time to make sure everything is cool with everybody... One of the main reasons why I signed, man, is 'cuz he's real big on this family vibe. He's one of those people that's been instilling in me the fact that if you can't have dinner with him, don't do business with him."
"They opened arms immediately. As soon as the paperwork was done, and the introductions were made, you would've thought I grew up with these dudes."
Staying Independent
Aside from The Fam, and outside of Ear Drummers, Ducko's doing work on his own. A lot of work. He just put out an EP, Dreams, with Jace of Two-9 that happened to come out of an especially vibrant studio session. Ducko held onto to the tracks for a bit, and put it out after some convincing from friends. And it's a seriously original rapper/producer combination.
"I always love working with Jace. That first song on there--'You and I' ('Good Morning,' or '早安')--that encompasses to me a lot of what Jace is about, like he's somebody who's not afraid to be personal on records." When Dreams was first put out, all the titles were written in Chinese; now, after some fan deciphering, you can see the English ones here. "It's just little things that make it different. Anybody that knows Jace knows that we both are really big fans of anime and cartoons--people who aren't familiar with Jace, he's in a group called Retro Sushi. A lot of their themes are of Asian descent."
"It shows you people are really getting into it, 'cuz they wanna know what it means, they wanna know what the titles mean."
"One thing that I've always prided myself on is I'm not really trying to compete with anybody." Whatever Ducko's career ambitions, he's about to make a serious statement. "The HeyMcFli! brand is building on its own. I'm working on my album right now, we've got: Maco, Wara, Jay305, Problem, Snootie Wild... Most of these songs I did before I signed to Ear Drummers. It's not really a thing about competing with anybody else, because a lot of other producers don't do the stuff that I do."
We've already heard the Problem and Snootie Wild record, "I'm Serious," which also features Lil Reese--all three among the hottest up-and-coming street rappers. DJ Cannon, another of Duck's mentors, passed the beat to Problem and Reese, and Ducko later got Snootie to rap over it in a studio session (he has more records with Snootie on the way). "I'm Serious" is instantly recognizable because of the sample--a laugh? More like a mutant dog barking, though it loses all humor as soon as the bass drops.
When asked about the sound: "Man, I can't let you know. It's something that me and Syk have been doing for like forever. Like if you go back and listen to "Draft Day"... We always strive to have that one sound in there that's just like 'what?!' He says that impulse comes from his EDM background as a DJ in Nashville: "I love that world for the fact that there's these sounds that don't feel like they should fit on a record."
Bringing It Back Home
Ducko's most important work, and his primary focus, is with his own artists, who you've probably never heard of. One artist he's putting on is Cam Sheely, a young Two-9 affiliate with a wild delivery, who we were introduced to with "All the Money." Though its slow and lurching, it's one of the more menacing beats we've heard come out of Atlanta lately. Ducko shares the beat with OVO teenage prodigy, WondaGurl, possibly another promising result of his Boi-1da connection. And Ducko's not stuck in Atlanta.
"Getting to Atlanta and getting to this position, it was always really important for me to go back. The only reason why I left Nashville was because I couldn't do what I needed to do from there. Now that I've got some resources, I'm going back one at a time and kind of grabbing people that I feel have talent who don't have the opportunity in Nashville."
First up: Mike Floss, an artist Ducko's been working with for a long time, whose first single, "Dopeboy Dreaming," has arrived today (April 28). It's clear Ducko has started Mike's young career in the right direction.
Ducko's ability to steadily work toward career goals (his own as well as his friends) in different movements and different cities is perhaps his most impressive trait. He finds himself living in close quarters with many talented, hungry producers. He's also gotten to see the example of the best.
"A lot of people know what they wanna have, but they don't know what they wanna be. I know exactly what I wanna be. I'm blessed to be able to sit and watch Mike--what he's done with Rae Sremmurd, what he does with Two-9. Sit and watch Jeff and Chaka [founders of Disturbing Tha Peace] and what they've done with DTP and Luda. What Cannon does with Def Jam... and understand what to work for and what to look at."
Ducko isn't afraid of opportunity, but he's always ready for what's ahead: "Figure out where you wanna go. The goal isn't to be rich. The goal is to make this kind of music and this kind of producer or this kind of person. And I've been doing pretty good so far."