For The Record Kenny Beats Rico Nasty Mulatto Launch Future Genius On Genius Home Studio

It’s no secret that Gen-Z represents the future of music, so Genius has partnered with HP for the Future Genius campaign, which aims to give young, up-and-coming artists the tools and mentorship needed to further their careers. We selected three established artists—Kenny Beats, Rico Nasty, and Mulatto—to mentor emerging acts A-LEX, Doeman, and Vintage Lee as they create songs over beats produced by DviousMindZ for our first-ever Future Genius EP. The Future Genius campaign also marks the re-launch of Genius Home Studio, which now allows users to add vocals over the beats they make on the site, among other new features, powered by HP. From November 30 to December 17, you can make and submit songs through Genius Home Studio for a chance to be featured on the site and on Genius’ socials.

For the latest episode of For The Record, Kenny Beats, Rico Nasty, and Mulatto sat down with Genius’ VP of Content Strategy Rob Markman to discuss the Future Genius campaign, how tech has impacted the music industry, and the role of mentorship in their own careers.

For each of the Future Genius mentors, technology has been a game-changer. Kenny, who has produced for artists like Vince Staples, Ski Mask the Slump God, and Denzel Curry, says that technology has been especially crucial in the world of music production. Previously, producers would need to invest in expensive hardware or pay for studio time to create. These days, all you need is a laptop.

“Everything you’ve ever heard from me, whether it’s a record from Gucci, DaBaby, Rico, whoever you can think of, or a song I did for a singer—Dominic Fike, Omar Apollo. Anything you’ve heard from me, I’ve made on a laptop with speakers and an AUX,” Kenny says. “If I have my computer, I have enough processing power to do all the vocals I need to do, and do all the plugins and everything I need to work with. I’m good.”

Technology has also broken barriers by helping to link up creatives who’ve never met before. In fact, it’s the reason Kenny Beats and Rico Nasty were able to form their collaborative relationship; the two actually met through social media.

“He slid to the studio and we made this horrible-ass song,” Rico recalls. “I wasn’t being myself because I was really nervous around him. Because once again, I met him on Twitter … And then I told him what I really wanted to do and he did it for me, and ever since then our chemistry was just really built off of, ‘What do you want? I can do it.’”

Mulatto agreed that social media has been instrumental in her career as well. ‘Latto jumpstarted her career when she won the first season of Jermaine Dupri’s competition reality series, The Rap Game. But she says it was her growing online following that helped her land a spot on the show.

“The way they found me was through my social media following, like YouTube videos. I had a lot of followers, I think it was on Facebook—whatever was popping at the time,” she says. “So everything I do music-wise—music videos, photo shoots—everything is powered through social media.”

Stay tuned next week for another new episode of For The Record and check out Genius Home Studio, powered by HP to learn more about how to enter your song for a chance to be featured on the site.