Chances are, even if you’re not an avid hip-hop listener, you’ve heard the distinctive tagline: “Run dat back, Turbo.” Whether at the start of a chart-topping song, on the car radio, or in your Spotify or Apple Music rotation, the phrase has likely crossed your ears.
Grammy-nominated producer Turbo has worked with some of the industry’s biggest names, such as Gunna, Travis Scott, Lil Baby, and more. At just 31 years old, he’s already achieved milestones many never reach in their entire careers, from certified diamond hits to multi-platinum albums. His name resonates far beyond Atlanta and across the globe.
Yet despite the accolades, the College Park, GA native hasn’t forgotten where it all started. Speaking with The Atlanta Voice was a full-circle moment for him.
“Crazy story about The Atlanta Voice: a really close family friend who actually raised me used to work for The Atlanta Voice, and I used to come to their office all the time,” reflected Turbo at the very beginning of the interview.
Fresh off executive producing Gunna’s The Last Wun, released this month, Turbo spoke with The Atlanta Voice about the album, the inspiration that drives him, the humbling setbacks he faced in his career, and his perspective on Atlanta’s hip-hop scene today.
Atlanta Voice (AV): Turbo, you’ve accomplished a lot in your career so far, but was there ever a time when you had doubts starting out?
Turbo: Yeah, I mean, it got to a point where I was trying to get on with so many different artists around the city and just failing. You know what I mean? I was still putting my all into everything, but I just got used to the failure. I’ve always been confident in what I did and put everything into it.
But it got to a place where I didn’t have anything else because I went all in on music. I didn’t go to college. I graduated from high school, and all my friends went to college. I was kind of looked at as the failure.
I remember that feeling, and now just to look at where I am today, I’m thankful I kept going.
AV: How did you get into producing?
Turbo: My older cousin is the one who gave me FL Studio, the same program I use today. At that time, a lot of the teenage groups were going around like the rich kids and all of the futuristic stuff. So I just kind of fell into producing.
AV: You always pay respect to your formative days spent at LoudHouse Studios, back when it was on Moreland. What was that like for you working there in 2016-2017?
Turbo: Just think of the scariest building you can imagine. Leaks in the ceiling, some lights don’t work, and you’ve got to walk through a 10,000-square-foot building just to get to a unit in the back. All that just to make beats or record people, trying to make some type of money, out on Moreland, the east side, where I wasn’t from and didn’t know anybody.
I met the owner, who’s still one of my great friends today, and he needed help running his sessions. It was just an opportunity for me to go and work.
That kind of became my safe place. At that time, I was homeless, going from couch to couch. So it was like, okay, I can at least come here and spend a couple of hours before I go find another couch to crash on.
AV: Who was the first big-name artist you worked with?
Turbo: The first big-name artist I got introduced to was Tip (T.I.) and Dro (Young Dro).
AV: How did you and Gunna meet?
Turbo: Just being in different studios. We always had mutual friends because we were from the same side, but we never officially met.
In Atlanta, the studios are almost like the club. You always see people in there. I used to always see Gunna and his best friend Nechie.
That was the first time we brushed shoulders. I saw what he could do, he saw what I could do, and we just gravitated to each other.
AV: Was this before his first Drip Season album?
Turbo: Yeah, way before that. Like 2014. We got in the studio around 2016. I produced something on every Drip Season, from the first one to the green one (Drip Season 3). But Drip Season 3 is when we really locked in, and I started working with him every day.
AV: Let’s dive into this new project you worked on, The Last Wun. You and Gunna know each other’s process fairly well. What was the creative process like for this album?
Turbo: We’re both creatives. We both put our all into the art. More than anything, we communicate. Through this process, we learned to communicate with each other way better.
From that, it spills into the music. Like with Satisfaction, we had a long, deep conversation in Saudi Arabia right before he recorded it. That conversation inspired him to do the song.
That’s kind of our process. I’ll be making music, he’ll be chilling and vibing, and he’ll say something that makes me want to get up and create something off what he just said.
AV: Speaking of Satisfaction, that was one of my favorites on the album. I really liked the feature from Asake and the touch it added to the song. Was he originally planned to be on the song, or did y’all reach out to him later?
Turbo: Yeah, Asake has turned into our Nigerian brother, you know what I mean? We hang out a lot outside of music, too. He actually heard that song one day in the studio and wanted to jump on it. And of course, it’s Gunna and Asake — why not? So we just did it like that.
AV: One of the things I found interesting when listening to the album is that every track sounds different. What inspires how you make beats for Gunna?
Turbo: I mean, I just wake up and feel different every day. That’s the best way I can describe it. Music has gotten really analytical for a lot of people, but for us, the process is just straight inspiration. If I’m feeling good, I make a beat that feels good. If I’m feeling mellow, I make a mellow beat.
Right now, just talking about my aunt and The Atlanta Voice and thinking about back in the day makes me want to go make five beats that remind me of my childhood or just being in Summerhill when I was a kid.
AV: So this album has twenty-five tracks, and One of Wun had twenty tracks. Some might say both projects had a bit too much for a rap album. What made y’all put so many songs on here? You could’ve saved some for another project.
Turbo: We just wanted to feed the fans. At first, we thought, “You can’t put 25 songs on one project.” But then it was like, why not? Whatever felt good deserved to come out. The fans deserved to hear it.
AV: Was there any song on the album that you didn’t think would get as much traction as they did?
Turbo: Nah, I always knew this was some of the best work we’ve made. I was super confident in what we had. Even some of the songs that didn’t make the album, I’m still super confident about those. Whatever comes next, we’ve just been in that vibe lately.
AV: I’m curious. Where did the tagline “Run dat back, Turbo” come from? It wasn’t in your earlier work in 2017 with Hustle Gang.
Turbo: That came in late 2018 or 2019. Everybody always called me Turbo, that was my name. I was recording a friend, and he just said, “Run dat back, Turbo.”
I put it to the side for a few months, then used it on a random beat that Gunna jumped on, and it went crazy. It was really just God, I guess.
AV: You know this month alone, we’ve seen a lot of projects from Atlanta-based rap artists. What are some things you have to say about Atlanta’s rap scene right now?
Turbo: I just want to bring back that unity. I feel like it’s been lacking, and nobody really knows why. But if you know Atlanta rap, it’s always been about unity. I’d say let’s get back to that feeling.
AV: Do you think we’re headed in the right direction?
Turbo: I feel like we’ll eventually get there, yeah.
AV: Are there any projects that we can expect from you in the near future?
Turbo: Yeah, I got a lot of stuff coming out this year with different artists. I don’t want to mess up their rollouts, but there’s plenty coming. And of course, the Turbo album.