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==Career==
==Career==


===–Early life and career beginnings===
===Early life and career beginnings===
Luger started his career by playing drums and learning about beats, measures, and bars. He started experimenting with an [[Music Production Center|MPC 2000]] that he bought from his uncle and finally began using the PC-based [[digital audio workstation]] [[FL Studio|Fruity Loops]], which he uses to this day. However, he has also incorporated music production workstations such as Maschine and [[Pro Tools]].<ref name="nytimes.com"/> In each of his productions, he has become known for using his signature electronic sounding "build-up" in the beginning and throughout his productions, usually before the beat drops. The basis for his stage name came from professional wrestler [[Lex Luger]]. During high school, he also founded his own hip hop production crew with his friends, the VABP (Virginia Boyz Productionz).<ref name="zumic1"/>
Growing up Luger played percussion for his church and drummed in church bands. His first introduction to music was playing drums for a number of bands at his local church where he learned about beats, measures, BPMS and bars. He then moved on to making music on the Playstation game ''MTV Music Generator 3'', where he started working with turntables. When Luger eventually saved enough money for an Akai MPC 2500 and established the VABP (Virginia Boyz Productionz) production crew with his high school friends, Luger began to to try his hand at making high quality industry hip hop beats.<ref name="zumic1"/><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.indiehiphop.net/how-they-came-up-the-lex-luger-story/ | title=How They Came Up: The Lex Luger Story | publisher=Indiehiphop | date=11 October 2011 | accessdate=24 February 2016 | author=Rosie J}}</ref> After purchasing an MPC 2000 from his uncle, a friend brought Luger a pirated copy of [[FL Studio]], a piece of music production software which he uses to this day. He has also incorporated music production workstations such as Maschine and [[Pro Tools]].<ref name="nytimes.com"/> In each of his productions, he has become known for using his signature electronic sounding build up effect in the beginning and throughout his productions. The basis for his stage name came from professional wrestler [[Lex Luger]].


Initially spending hours in his parent's basement experimenting with FL Studio, Luger became extremely well known for his musical prowess to make beats with astronomical speed, creativity and accuracy. In late 2008, he began cold-emailing his instrumentals to various rappers and posting instrumentals on his Myspace page, hoping to gain further exposure in the music industry. In 2009, a then unknown rapper by the name of Waka Flocka Flame began e-mailing him back and the two began making music out of Waka's basement in Atlanta with the bulk of material which would then become the foundation for [[Flockaveli]]. Not knowing the outcome of his career, Luger contemplated a second job stacking boxes in a warehouse to support his production career.<ref name="zumic1"/>
Initially spending long days experimenting with Fruity Loops and working every day after school and all day every weekend wasn’t enough to jumpstart Luger's production career. He dropped out of [[King’s Fork High School]] after the 10th grade to further hone his music production talents when he realized that he was able to produce song length instrumentals at a fast pace.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.vibe.com/2010/11/next-lex-luger/ | title=Lex Luger | publisher=Vibe | date=November 9, 2010 | accessdate=24 February 2016 | author=Clover Hope}}</ref> He then started hearing about independent music artists gaining exposure through MySpace and started posting music on that website. Around late 2008, he began cold-emailing his beats to various rappers and posting instrumentals on his Myspace page, hoping to gain further exposure in the hip hop industry. In 2009, a then unknown rapper by the name of Waka Flocka Flame began e-mailing him back and Luger flew out to Atlanta where the two began making music out of Waka's basement. Luger met Waka Flocka Flame on MySpace by sending him beats every few days and one day Waka responded.<ref name="nytimes.com"/> The with the bulk of material which would then become the foundation for [[Flockaveli]]. Not knowing the outcome of his career, Luger contemplated a second job stacking boxes in a warehouse to support his production career.<ref name="zumic1"/><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.indiehiphop.net/how-they-came-up-the-lex-luger-story/ | title=How They Came Up: The Lex Luger Story | publisher=Indiehiphop | date=11 October 2011 | accessdate=24 February 2016 | author=Rosie J}}</ref>


===Rise to fame===
===Rise to fame===

Revision as of 03:44, 25 February 2016

Lex Luger
Birth nameLexus Arnel Lewis
Born (1991-03-06) March 6, 1991 (age 33)
Suffolk, Virginia, United States
OriginAtlanta, Georgia, United States
GenresHip hop, southern hip hop, trap, R&B
Occupation(s)Record producer, songwriter
Instrument(s)FL Studio, Maschine MK2, Pro Tools,[1] keyboards, synthesizer, drum machine, Roland TR-808, sequencer[2]
Years active2008−present
Labels1017 Brick Squad, Fool's Gold, Warpath Group

Lexus Arnel Lewis (born March 6, 1991) professionally known as Lex Luger, is an American record producer and songwriter from Suffolk, Virginia currently based in Atlanta.[2] He co-founded the American hip hop production team 808 Mafia with Southside.[3] Luger is also a member of the hip hop production duo Low Pros with A-Trak and the VABP (Virginia Boyz Productionz), a production group that he founded back in high school.

Luger's austere and utilitarian trap sound has been well known for his heavy use of hard hitting 808's, crisp snare drums, frantic synthesizers, sinister and rhythmic Danny Elfman-like bombastic ominous orchestration of synthesized brass, stringed, woodwind, and keyboard instruments commonly incorporated throughout his productions.[4]

Career

Early life and career beginnings

Growing up Luger played percussion for his church and drummed in church bands. His first introduction to music was playing drums for a number of bands at his local church where he learned about beats, measures, BPMS and bars. He then moved on to making music on the Playstation game MTV Music Generator 3, where he started working with turntables. When Luger eventually saved enough money for an Akai MPC 2500 and established the VABP (Virginia Boyz Productionz) production crew with his high school friends, Luger began to to try his hand at making high quality industry hip hop beats.[2][5] After purchasing an MPC 2000 from his uncle, a friend brought Luger a pirated copy of FL Studio, a piece of music production software which he uses to this day. He has also incorporated music production workstations such as Maschine and Pro Tools.[1] In each of his productions, he has become known for using his signature electronic sounding build up effect in the beginning and throughout his productions. The basis for his stage name came from professional wrestler Lex Luger.

Initially spending long days experimenting with Fruity Loops and working every day after school and all day every weekend wasn’t enough to jumpstart Luger's production career. He dropped out of King’s Fork High School after the 10th grade to further hone his music production talents when he realized that he was able to produce song length instrumentals at a fast pace.[6] He then started hearing about independent music artists gaining exposure through MySpace and started posting music on that website. Around late 2008, he began cold-emailing his beats to various rappers and posting instrumentals on his Myspace page, hoping to gain further exposure in the hip hop industry. In 2009, a then unknown rapper by the name of Waka Flocka Flame began e-mailing him back and Luger flew out to Atlanta where the two began making music out of Waka's basement. Luger met Waka Flocka Flame on MySpace by sending him beats every few days and one day Waka responded.[1] The with the bulk of material which would then become the foundation for Flockaveli. Not knowing the outcome of his career, Luger contemplated a second job stacking boxes in a warehouse to support his production career.[2][7]

Rise to fame

Waka Flocka Flame's "Hard in the Paint" was Luger's first instrumental to hit the radio waves and became a hit by May 2010.[2][8] Luger was in Atlanta at the time when he first heard the song playing on the radio. Also, while in Atlanta, Luger got a phone call from Kanye West, although he didn't realize who he was talking to for almost 30 minutes. After realizing who it was, Luger agreed to fly to New York City to work with him.[8] He eventually created eight backing beats for West's use, including the beat of the single H•A•M. By June 2010, he had landed production placements from rappers Ace Hood, Rick Ross, Soulja Boy, Chingy, Sean Garrett, and Fabolous.[2][9]

By mid 2010, Luger also produced tracks on Rick Ross's Teflon Don, Waka Flocka Flame's Flockaveli,[10] Slim Thug's Tha Thug Show and Kanye West and Jay-Z's Watch the Throne. Luger records for Mizay Entertainment.[11] Luger was initially affiliated with fellow Brick Squad producer Southside. The two of them and rapper Waka Flocka Flame formed the production team 808 Mafia in 2010, to which he later left the group the following year.[12] During the same year, Luger also worked with artists such as Wiz Khalifa, Big Sean, Wale, Fabolous, Juicy J, Soulja Boy, Snoop Dogg and 2 Chainz and went on to produce more than 200 songs between 2010 and 2011.[2]

At the 2011 BET Hip Hop Awards, Luger won the award for Producer of the Year.[13]

In early February 2014, Luger joined forces with Canadian DJ/producer A-Trak under the moniker Low Pros, with the intention of releasing a collaborative project.[14] Their first release was "Jack Tripper", a drug-addled trap song featuring Brick Squad affiliates PeeWee Longway and Young Thug, who had just risen to popularity at the time due to the success of his 2013 singles "Stoner" and "Danny Glover".[15]

In late 2014, Luger started touring as a live act. He signed with agent Wilcox Weaver at Oklahoma City and Los Angeles based Warpath Group in September 2014 for worldwide tour bookings. In January 2015, he signed to EXYT Agency for European and Asian tour bookings. Luger has played all over North America and Europe with Australia and Asian dates upcoming in the fall. The set consists of Luger and his DJ, Kino Beats, going back to back and tailing with Luger "hyping" the crowd and partying with his fans. He has had solid success with this endeavor, selling thousands of tickets across the globe. In May 2015, he sold out an entire European tour.[16]

Production discography

Main article: Lex Luger discography

Singles produced

List of singles produced, with selected chart positions and certifications, showing year released and album name
Titel Year Peak chart positions Certifications Album
US US R&B US Rap AUS CAN IRE UK
"Hard in da Paint"
(Waka Flocka Flame) 		2010 100 28 20 — — — — Flockaveli
"B.M.F. (Blowin' Money Fast)"
(Rick Ross featuring Styles P) 		60 6 4 — — — — Teflon Don
"H•A•M"
(Kanye West and Jay-Z) 		2011 23 24 14 78 47 40 30 Watch the Throne
"Hustle Hard"
(Ace Hood) 		60 9 10 — — — — Blood, Sweat & Tears
"Grove St. Party"
(Waka Flocka Flame featuring Kebo Gotti) 		74 12 10 — — — — Flockaveli
"Platinum"
(Snoop Dogg featuring R. Kelly) 		— 60 — — — — — Doggumentary
"In da Box"[17]
(Sean Garrett featuring Rick Ross) 		— 62 — — — — — Non-album single
"Go n Get It"
(Ace Hood) 		— 60 — — — — — Blood, Sweat & Tears
"That Way"
(Wale featuring Jeremih and Rick Ross) 		49 4 5 — — — — Self Made Vol. 1
"Round of Applause"
(Waka Flocka Flame featuring Drake) 		86 16 17 — — — — Triple F Life: Friends, Fans & Family
"9 Piece"
(Rick Ross featuring T.I. and Lil Wayne) 		61 32 18 — — — — Ashes to Ashes
"Bake Sale"
(Wiz Khalifa featuring Travi$ Scott) 		2016 56 — — — — — — Khalifa
"—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory.

Awards and nominations

Year Awards Kategorie Recipient Result
2011 BET Awards Producer of the Year Lex Luger Won

References

  1. ^ a b c Pappademas, Alex (November 4, 2011). "Lex Luger Can Write a Hit Rap Song in the Time It Takes to Read This". The New York Times.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Patrick Lyons (February 12, 2014). "Behind The Boards Producer Profile: Lex Luger". Retrieved 13 April 2014.
  3. ^ Lex Luger Lewis: Dances to his own beat, By Andrew Barker for Variety, Posted: Fri., Oct. 22, 2010, 4:00am PT
  4. ^ Alex Pappademas (November 4, 2011). "Lex Luger Can Write a Hit Rap Song in the Time It Takes to Read This". NY Times. Retrieved 27 March 2014.
  5. ^ Rosie J (11 October 2011). "How They Came Up: The Lex Luger Story". Indiehiphop. Retrieved 24 February 2016.
  6. ^ Clover Hope (November 9, 2010). "Lex Luger". Vibe. Retrieved 24 February 2016.
  7. ^ Rosie J (11 October 2011). "How They Came Up: The Lex Luger Story". Indiehiphop. Retrieved 24 February 2016.
  8. ^ a b Pappademas, Alex (November 4, 2011). "Lex Luger Can Write a Hit Rap Song in the Time It Takes to Read This". The New York Times. Retrieved 2 May 2013.
  9. ^ "{News} Producer Lex Luger Talks Success, Work with Kanye, Rick Ross and Waka". iStandardproducers. 22 September 2010. Retrieved 13 April 2014.
  10. ^ "CRITIC’S NOTEBOOK: Bam! Pow! A Loud Young Rapper Rekindles Rap’s Old Fighting Spirit," by Jon Caramanica. Published October 8, 2010, The New York Times
  11. ^ Markman, Rob (2011). Give the Drummer Sum (December/January 2011 ed.). XXL (magazine): Dennis S. Page. p. 48. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  12. ^ Instagram
  13. ^ http://consequenceofsound.net/2014/02/a-trak-and-lex-luger-team-up-as-low-pros-stream-new-song-jack-tripper/
  14. ^ "A-Trak & Lex Luger (Low Pros) - Jack Tripper Feat. Young Thug & PeeWee Longway | Stream & Listen [New Song]". Hotnewhiphop.com. 2014-02-05. Retrieved 2014-04-14.
  15. ^ "Young Thug Talks About Working With Kanye West and If He'll Sign To Future | Complex". Complexmag.ca. 2014-01-28. Retrieved 2014-04-14.
  16. ^ "Lex Luger – Warpath Group". warpathgroup.com.
  17. ^ "iTunes - Music - In da Box (feat. Rick Ross) - Single by Sean Garrett". Itunes.apple.com. 2011-04-27. Retrieved 2014-04-14.

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