Mike Will Made It

I wanted 'Formation' to be a woman empowerment song, but Beyonce made it into a culture empowerment song.

It started off with me being all the way influenced by Atlanta and southern music but I knew my sound had to grow - I started learning melodies.

A lot of times, older people don't get the new generation.

Me and Future, we did 'Dirty Sprite,' 'Ain't No Way Around It,' 'Turn on the Lights.' Every time we record, we're setting bars.

When people question me about whether something is hip-hop, I ask them, 'Does it sound hard? Does it hit home? Is it raw and real?' If it is, I did my job. And you can call it whatever you want.

Tupac Back' was the first single I had, but prior to that I already had 20-something songs in the street.

Yeah, I co-directed '23.' Yeah, the whole concept of the video... Even with that video, I feel like it's not a video that you can get sick of. You can always go back and watch that and it's fresh.

I used to listen to songs on the radio and play that junk back on that little keyboard.

In 2011, a lot of people didn't even know I did 'Tupac Back.'

I feel like when I came in the game, I was more focused on like, 'yo how many times can I get on the radio?'

I'm just trying to follow the footsteps of God. I don't question him. Just keep moving. He never fails. He always amazes me. It's like, damn, the sky isn't the limit.

I really like coming across all types of different music, and hearing new things.