Jahlil Beats

Jahlil Beats was born in Chester, Pennsylvania. At the age of 12, he started learning audio engineering concepts, and building a passion for music under the guidance of his father (who was in a band) and cousin.[2] By age fifteen he taught his brother, Anthony Tucker The Beat Bully how to produce music and they began making beats together. In high school they would give their beats out to friends to rap over.[1] Jahlil would then go on to college before losing his financial aid and having to drop out.[3]

After dropping out of college in 2008, Jahlil Beats returned to his city where he would meet upcoming rapper Meek Mill. Shortly after meeting, they collaborated with each other frequently. It is at that point, that Jahlil says was when he started taking music seriously.[3] He first became notable after producing several tracks with Haydock Beats for Tyga and Chris Brown's collaboration mixtape Fan of a Fan, including "Holla at Me". He then would get what he considers his first big beat placement, which would be "Tonight" off Fabolous' EP There Is No Competition 2: The Grieving Music EP.[4]

In 2011, Jahlil Beats produced Meek Mill's breakout hit "Ima Boss".[5] His production for that song, would later be named the tenth-best instrumental between 2008 and 2013 by Complex.[6] Later that year following a six-label bidding war, on October 16 he signed a publishing deal with Jay-Z's Roc Nation, who also manages Meek Mill.[7] In the following months he collaborated on songs artists such as Jay-Z, 50 Cent, Rihanna, J. Cole, Busta Rhymes, Meek Mill, Nelly, Big Sean, T.I., Jim Jones, Bow Wow, Willow Smith, and French Montana for their respective forthcoming albums.[4][5][8][9][10] He would also start to closely work under No ID after signing to Roc Nation. He was even one of the first people to confirm working on Jay-Z's twelfth studio album.[11] On July 20, 2012, he released a six-track free EP titled Legend Music.[12]

On November 6, 2012, he released an instrumental mixtape titled Legends Era.[13] On December 25, 2012, he released an instrumental mixtape titled Crack Music 6.[14] He followed that with Legends Era II on April 16, 2013.[15] The second installment of Legends Era featured vocal guest appearances by Busta Rhymes, French Montana, Young Jeezy, Kid Ink, Juelz Santana, Lil Wayne, Game, Big Sean, Problem, Styles P, Vado, Ace Hood, and Meek Mill among others.[16][17] On August 1 he was scheduled to release his second instrumental mixtape of the year Genius, however its release would be pushed back until September 10, 2013.[18][19] It was met with positive reviews by music critics.[20] On December 25, 2013, Jahlil Beats released the previously announced Legends Era III. The mixtape contained guest appearances by Lil Wayne, Wiz Khalifa, ASAP Rocky, Future, Tyga, Juicy J, The Game, French Montana, Kid Ink, Kirko Bangz, Meek Mill, The LOX, Ab-Soul, Joey Badass, Action Bronson, Problem, Logic, Gunplay, Dizzy Wright, Vado, Ace Hood, Yo Gotti, Smoke DZA, Trae tha Truth, Project Pat, Trina, Rockie Fresh, and Jae Millz among others.[21] On October 31, 2014, he released a mixtape titled Crack Music 7.

Although he used samples early in his career, Beats has stated that he is moving away from using samples in his music: "I ain't trying to share my publishing. If you sample they might take 80%, leave you with 20. They getting paid off a record they did 20 years ago. So I like to do a lot of my stuff from scratch because I want all my publishing. I'm stingy with mine."[22] In most of his songs, there can be siren heard throughout the beat. His songs also contain a production tag of his then three-year-old niece saying "Jahlil Beats Holla At Me".[1]

His younger brother is record producer The Beat Bully, who produced the Rick Ross, Drake, and French Montana song "Stay Schemin'"; Ross' "So Sophisticated"; and Meek Mill's "House Party".[5][8] He has three children, Aaliyah, Amari & Ava Tucker whom he shares with his wife Jacqueline Tucker.

Extended plays

• Legend Music (2012)
• The Blessing (2015)

Mixtapes

• Crack Music 1 (2008)
• On My Grind (2009)
• Crack Music 2 (2009)
• Crack Music 3 (2010)
• Still On My Grind (2011)[23]
• Crack Music 4 (2011)[24]
• Crack Music 5 (2011)[25]
• Legend Season (2012)[26]
• Legend Era (2012)
• Crack Music 6 (2012)
• Legend Era II (2013)
• Genius (2013)
• Legend Era III (2013)
• 808 God (2014)
• Crack Music 7 (2014)
• God's Plan (2015) (with CRMC)
• New Levels, New Devils (2016)[27] (with CRMC)
• Fr33 Spirits (2017)