HHW catches up with the man responsible for the smash hits “Holler At Me” – Chris Brown, ft. Tyga and “Money, Money, Money” – Red Café, ft. Fabolous & Diddy to talk production and what he has planned for 2011.

HHW: How did you begin doing production?
Jahlil: My mom was a dancer and my pops was a producer, so I was kinda born into music. My pops had a band back in the day, so he was doin’ it for a while before he even had me. My pops had his own little home studio, so I cut my first demo when I was like, three. At around the age of twelve I started taking producing seriously.

How did you get your first break?
I got my break when I met up with my homie Meek Mill. I met him over Myspace; he had put out a mixtape called Flamers, and I hit him up like, “Yo man, the mixtape is dope.” He sent me a message right back like, “Yo, send me some beats.” So I sent him three beats and they all made it onto Flamers Part 2, which is his biggest mixtape to date.

What was your first major placement and how did you get it?
My first major placement was with Gudda Gudda – “Willy Wonka,” featuring Lil Wayne. I originally did the track for Meek Mill, and he did a video that made it to Worldstar Hip Hop. A real big DJ out in L.A. by the name of DJ Ill Will went on Twitter and asked how could he get the “Willy Wonka” instrumental. So I got a homey that runs Datpiff.com named KP, who reached out to Ill Will and said, “Yo, I know the cat that did that.” KP hit me up and I sent him the beat and he gave it to Ill Will. Ill Will sent it to Gudda, and him and Lil Wayne jumped on it – it was a rap after that!

What immediately, if anything, changed for you?
Everything! Cats from Young Money was hittin’ me up, like Jae Millz, Lil Chuckee, Lil Twist, Mack Maine, everybody was comin’ at me because the track was so serious, it had the internet buzzin’ like crazy, and that kinda set me up for a lotta the major placements that I got.

Is getting your tracks to people exceptionally easier at this point?
Actually, it’s way easier now ‘cause I’ve done a lotta tracks for a lotta established artists in the game. They just hit me up on Twitter, I send them some stuff, and we just get to work.

Who else are you working with?
I’m workin’ with DJ Drama on his project. I’m workin’ on Jim Jones’, Diplomats, Diggy Simmons’ and Freeway’s albums. I’m also workin’ closely with the Young Money camp. I’m doin’ a lotta stuff for them. I’m doin’ the bulk of Meek Mill’s mixtape, Flamers Part 4, hosted by DJ Drama and DJ Ill Will. It should be out around the time that people are readin’ this article. I’m also workin’ with Sean Garett, Master P. as well, and he’s expressed interest in managing me.

On Twitter @Jahlilbeats

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 22nd, 2011 at 2:16 pm and is filed under Behind The Beats. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.