Get To Know: Dougie On The Beat

24-year-old producer, Dougie On The Beat is the man behind some of Hip-Hop’s most loved projects like Meek Mill’s 1942 Flows, a certified platinum single, and G Herbo’s No Jail Time. “I’m a 24-hour-person,” says the young creator speaking to New Wave, “I don’t sleep much, I probably sleep about 2-3 hours, and then I’m just up. Always creating something.”

He became a hometown hero back in 2017 after the release of 1942 flows, and it’s fair to say, globally the single was held in the utmost regard, catapulting him to securing collaborations with everyone from Lil Durk, Rick Ross, and more. He explains that being a ‘hometown hero’ is beyond the sound of music, “It's good because you can motivate people, you give them hope. You can see me coming from one situation and doing something different and be better. You can probably help change the outlook and motivation for a lot of people and give them hope and get them into production and stuff like that.”

The hometown that glowed up when witnessing this success was Philadelphia, USA, also home to Meek Mill, Eve, Schoolly D, and the fresh prince himself, Will Smith. Overseas, specifically, the US has always been idolised to some extent. However, Dougie admits that Philly has changed in terms of how they can support upcoming talent in comparison to when he was growing up. “We had state property who were under Rockafella, the music scene was crazy, we saw a lot of people coming out of there. Compared to now, we have talent but there isn’t as much structure anymore. Now, there are a select few that are doing their thing and then sometimes they gotta leave, so there isn’t much… Things that have happened that haven’t allowed the city to perform as well as it could.”

Dougie put this simply due to the lack of resources available now and the absence of generational wealth. “I think over time when things died down for the older ones, they could have passed it on. Like back in the day, if things went right, they would’ve had things set up for the next generation, but it wasn’t like that.” Music has always been a part of his upbringing, one major resource that aided his journey was 444 studio, a place for everyone to connect and create. During this time, he was rapping unaware of the production side. Music Development for the youth, a programme ran by his uncle, was where Dougie was first introduced to producing when he was around 13 years old, “I saw how the process worked for producing and that’s where I gravitated towards.”

His upbringing and the historical context of Philly have shaped the producer he is today and is definitely refreshing. He confesses that the music that influenced his journey was mostly R&B and the classic styles of hip-hop our parents grew up on. His dad playing artists like Scarface and Jay Z, while his mum listened to Anne Marie and Beyoncé, professing that he enjoys music that holds more of a musical substance and it had to “make sense”. Nonetheless, these musical influences still have an impact on his creative flare today, noting that a lot of his generational music is used as samples for his current work.

At such a primitive time in his life, Dougie is spearheading how he wants to live out his career. “I believe that you got to do something beneficial to what you want to do, big or small, you have to do something. I have days where I don’t make any beats, but I have to do something else. You have to connect with people on your level, you can’t always go for the big play, you have to remain humble.” He does this by always taking a chance with people, which he believes was part of his success, giving thanks to Meek who did just that. The pair met through social media, but understandably he finds it hard to keep the momentum alive after a highly successful project. “I didn’t keep it going like I was supposed to because I never really had a solid team. I hit the peak so early, I didn’t have any other goals past that [1942 Flows] and when you are in that environment you don’t really see anything else for yourself or see past what you see.”

“My goal was to get Meek on a beat, that year I told myself if I’m not getting him on a beat this year, I’m moving to something else, and I ended up getting him on three. After that it was like damn what is next, I had no clue what to do but then I kind of figured it out.”

These days, he has managed to make it work with an extensive repute supporting him. He has his eye on the UK, already working with Giggs, and is ready to keep the momentum alive with his upcoming work. He exclusively tells New Wave “I got a project with Meek coming and I’m working with Yo Gotti on his project.” Make sure to keep up with Dougie On The Beat for more exciting releases.

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