Toronto producer Arthur McArthur talks his prolific year with Rick Ross, Nas, and Wiz Khalifa

by Chayne Japal

February 12, 2013

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“Working with legends is always amazing,” says 24-year-old Toronto producer Arthur McArthur, beaming as calmly as he can when talking about his track “Raspberries” from Big Boi’s Vicious Lies and Dangerous Rumors. “When I played him the beat, I just saw him kind of rapping to it, under his breath. That was one of the highlight moments of my career: seeing somebody that I grew up listening to appreciating my music.”

Last year was filled highlights like these for the surging artist: early 2012 saw the release of Rick Ross’ Rich Forever, with a pair of songs produced by McArthur; Tyga’s Careless World featured three McArthur interludes plus “King & Queens” with Nas; and studio time with Wiz Khalifa, Scarface, and Rich Boy among a host of others made it his most prolific year so far.

Diversity is his strong suit—comparing his two cuts from Rich Forever, “Mine Games” is a sweet music box-influenced duet between Ross and Kelly Rowland, while “MMG Untouchable” is a teeth-grinding deep-synth banger—and his experience as a keyboardist gives his organ-and-piano-based fills a refined edge that sets him apart from his peers. Along with 10 years of classical piano, he taught himself guitar and bounced between both instruments in a few bands before turning his growing love for hip-hop into beat making, using Garageband to crank out some “shitty-ass starter beats.”

“Music-making is supposed to be fun and it can be silly sometimes,” he says, and so, as his production got tighter he was compelled to enter beat battles for the fun of it.

That’s where perennial Battle of The Beatmakers contender (and easily one of the top producers in the game) Boi-1da first came across Arthur McArthur. After 1da defeated McArthur on their first battle, a grudge match was scheduled the following year and the result went the other way. Boi-1da invited him to the studio to forge what became, and remained, a fruitful artistic relationship. “The second beat we made together was “Uptown.” It was originally supposed to be for Wayne but when Drake heard it, he snatched it up for So Far Gone.”

McArthur has, through his own output, been working at opening a few more doors for local talent since Drake did much the same with his huge success, including an artist he’s taken under his wing, David Versis. “He’s incredible, I think 2013 is going to be a big year for him,” says McArthur. He also plans to go the Clams Casino/Araabmuzik route and drop an instrumental EP based on some “experimental sounds” he’s been dabbling in.

But even though experimentation brought him this far, he has his boundaries—he draws the line at the suggestion of him ever stepping behind the mic. “I yell Rick Ross lyrics really loudly in my house. That’s the closest I’ll ever get to being a rapper.”

This article originally appeared in the February 2013 Issue of AUX Magazine.

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Tags: Music, Interviews, arthur mcarthur, AUX Magazine, Big Boi, Kelly Rowland, Rick Ross

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