RafMade - Producer Behind Destroy Lonely & Lil Uzi Vert on Atlanta’s Underground Scene

What’s one of your favorite songs you’ve had the chance to work on, and how did it come together?

For that one, it’s got to be Lil Uzi Vert’s “On Sight.” It’s not an official release on DSPs, unfortunately. It’s a leak on SoundCloud, but it’s one of my favorites because of the time it came from. I was waking up every day getting a lot of Uzi songs, seeing them come through, and working with my boy xgiannii on them. He was working closely with another producer who was getting him all the songs, so we were really locked in together on that for a little bit.

That beat was one of my favorite beats I’ve made with other people. There were a bunch of producers on it, but everybody did everything perfectly. The loop I made for it was called “Neon Guts,” named after another Uzi song, so it was cool to see them use that one.

What advice would you give to the new generation of producers who want to build their name and start working with artists?

I think new producers really have to work on being consistent and focus on working with other new producers in their own little categories in the underground, while also working with bigger producers. It’s really critical to have Telegram, email, Discord, and different platforms where you can send things out without spamming people. You can’t spam a producer on three platforms at once. You’ve got to have a separate roster of people for each platform.

I think that’s really important for new people because that’s where your work is going to spread, whether you’re sending loops, MIDIs, or ZIPs. It’s also about being open to working with new people, trying new ideas, being receptive to others, and letting songs play out naturally. I wouldn’t say it’s about being unprofessional, but it’s more like being able to say, “Okay, cool, we got this song. I’m just going to let it go and see if it comes out.” I feel like that’s really important for new producers, not pressing the issue when it comes to whether a song comes out.

What are your plans for the near future?

Just to evolve more as a human and get my life together. But on the business side, when it comes to production, I really just want to keep it going with the underground stuff and capitalize on the opportunities these artists have given me to work with them.

I also want to do more major records again. I’ve been trying to get back into the trap side. Like I said earlier, I had a Money Man record come out yesterday, so that’s me stepping back into that space. The underground is doing well, but trap music is still doing really well too. I know a lot of people like to say trap is dead, but it’s not. It’s always going to be there, so I want to be able to do everything again.

Follow RafMade on Instagram: @1rafmade