Culled from
HipHopworld
The Globe reports the story of this Brampton, Canada high schooler that contributed to new Jay-Z album, Magna Carta Holy Grail.
As a 9-year-old, Ebony Oshunrinde used to watch YouTube videos in her
Mississauga bedroom of her favourite hip hop artists – Timbaland and
Jay-Z – working in their studios.
This week, one of those heroes – Jay-Z – became a collaborator, after a
beat produced by the now-16-year-old Ebony was included in the rapper’s
new record. “I listened to it last night in the studio, and I honestly
felt like crying,” Ebony said in an interview. “It was a big moment in
my life.”
And though the track, titled “Crown,” is earning Ebony attention from
music industry heavy-hitters, Jay-Z and his high-flying rapper lifestyle
is still worlds away from the teenager’s life in Brampton, CANADA,
where she now lives and has just finished grade 11.
Raised by her travel-agent mother, Ebony taught herself as a 9-year-old
how to produce music by watching instructional videos off of YouTube. It
took her a few years before she started to feel comfortable producing
her own music – or, as she described it “until I was about 11.”
A few years after that, she began competing in local music competitions,
where the competitors closest to her in age would sometimes still be
15- to 20-years her senior. Still, she made a big impression, winning
local competitions, and signing with a local management company.
From then on, she began working with local and U.S. producers, sending
audio files back and forth from her Brampton bedroom in between classes
and homework. But a couple of weeks ago, she received a surprising
message. It came from Travis Scott, a U.S. producer she had worked with
in the past, and whom she’d sent a beat she especially liked the week
before. “I’m gonna change your life,” the message read. “A few days
after that, he called and said that I was on the album.”
Unbeknownst to her, Mr. Scott had been working with Jay-Z when he
received the beat, and the rapper liked what he’d heard. “Crown” earned
the teen a production credit on Jay-Z’s highly-anticipated album ‘Magna
Carta Holy Grail’, released Thursday. “I didn’t believe it at all,
because it’s pretty crazy news,” Ebony said. All of this happened during
her twin siblings’ birthday party, so she said she “was just, like,
hugging everybody at my house.”
She described the beat she created as ‘dark,’ and her overall style as
“hard – knocking drums, and cutting samples using different filters and
stuff.”
Ian Stanger, a representative at her management company Black Box, said
that from what he’s heard, Jay-Z had no idea of Ebony’s age when he
selected her beat for the track. “What she’s doing is world-class,” he
said. “Not world-class for a 16-year-old, but just straight-up
world-class.”
She’s yet to meet Jay-Z, but said that she’d heard that the rapper is
interested in meeting her soon. In the future, she said, she’d like to
continue producing music, and eventually one day start her own label.
She’s started learning how to play the piano to make her beats “sound
more full,” and said she’d like to study studio engineering or audio
engineering one day.
But first, she’ll have to finish high school – something her mom is
strict about. ”If I don’t pass a class, she takes my whole studio away,”
Ebony said.