Michael Uzowuru // ^ⓘ (born November 10, 1991) is an American record producer. He has produced and written for SZA, Frank Ocean, Beyoncé, Donald Glover, Vince Staples, Earl Sweatshirt, and Rosalía, among others.

Life and career

Michael Uzowuru was born on November 10, 1991, in Los Angeles and raised in both Cypress, California and Rancho Cucamonga, California. He went to Etiwanda High School in Rancho Cucamonga. Michael is of Igbo descent through his mother, who immigrated to the United States from Nigeria.^[1]

2010–2015: Career beginnings

Uzowuru began his music career by making independent beat tapes and working with a number of collaborators. His early projects include works with Vince Staples and Odd Future's Domo Genesis, Matt Martians from the Jet Age of Tomorrow, and Hodgy Beats.

In 2012, Uzowuru released a mixtape with the title Winter in Prague with longtime friend and collaborator Vince Staples.^[2] In 2013, Uzowuru produced the opening track "Pre" for Earl Sweatshirt's debut album Doris. Later that year, he produced "Tweakin" and "Yap Yap" for Chicago rapper Vic Mensa's second mixtape Innanetape.

In addition to producing for other artists, Uzowuru released a number of instrumental and solo projects in 2014, notably Paisley Palm Trees, which was premiered by The Fader magazine^[3] and Pink Orchids, released in August 2014.

2016–present

Uzowuru was named in the production credits for Frank Ocean's 2016 visual album Endless and Ocean's long-awaited second studio album Blonde. Uzowuru was credited as both a writer and a producer on the track "Nights".^[4][5] He also executive produced rapper Kevin Abstract's second album American Boyfriend, which debuted in the Fall of 2016.^[6][7]

In 2017, he appeared as co-producer on Frank Ocean's single "Chanel" released on Ocean's Beats1 radio show. Scott Vener and Pharrell Williams premiered a remix done by Uzowuru and collaborator Jeff Kleinman of Little Dragon's "High" featuring Denzel Curry and Twelve'len^[8]

In 2018, Uzowuru's work appeared on Anderson .Paak's "Til It's Over", which was used in Apple's "Welcome Home" commercial directed by Spike Jonze.

In the spring of 2019, Uzowuru composed the score for the short film Guava Island, starred and produced by Donald Glover and released by Amazon Studios. The following summer, Uzowuru was credited for writing and production on Beyoncé's compilation album The Lion King: The Gift, having worked on the tracks "Mood 4 Eva" and "Brown Skin Girl".^[9][10] He also wrote and produced for artists FKA Twigs and GoldLink.^[11] Later in the year, Uzowuru appeared on the production and writing credits of the Frank Ocean single "In My Room".^[12]

Uzowuru collaborated with Spanish singer Rosalía through 2020 and 2021 and co-produced her album Motomami, which ended up winning the Digital Album of the Year Award in the Latin Grammy Awards of 2022.^[13]

In 2022 Uzowuru executive-produced Vince Staples album Ramona Park Broke My Heart. The album received widespread critical acclaim^[14][15][16] and appeared on several best album year-end lists.^{[17][18][19][20]}

In 2023, Uzowuru composed the score and co-produced the soundtrack for the Amazon TV series Swarm created by Donald Glover and Janine Nabers,^[21] which was also released as an EP.^[22]

Influence

In a 2015 MSNBC interview, Michael mentioned a number of musicians across a wide range of genre as his inspiration, including Elliott Smith, Nirvana, Kanye West, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Afrobeat, Fela Kuti and Björk.^[1]

Discography

Music for TV and film

Writing and production credits

Mixtapes and EPs

Singles