You Need To Know: Dr. Luke's Young Rapper Protege Becky G
When you're 15 and you've already got Simon Cowell and Ke$ha and Katy Perry producer Dr. Luke on your side, you're doing something right. L.A. native/rapper Becky G can't even drive yet, but "Wish U Were Here," her collaboration with Cody Simpson, already has more than 1 million views on YouTube. And after seeing one of her videos, Will.i.am had a dream about working with her (more on that in a bit). The girl leaves an impression.
Becky, who got her start at 9 years old in commercials (she calls it her "mid-life crisis") is currently under the tutelage of producer and songwriter Dr. Luke. And Luke is making sure to tell all of his famous friends how good this girl is. "Dr. Luke showed [Will.i.am] one of my videos, and Will said, 'She's dope!' And then he said he had a dream about me!" Becky tells Fuse. "The next day, Luke called me and said, 'Will wants to have a session with you.' And I was like, 'No way. Will.i.am wants to get in the studio with me? This is awesome.'"
The result of that studio session: "Problem (The Monster Remix)," written under tight, self-imposed constraints. "Will said, 'Let's try a little exercise. We have to come up with something within an hour. It can be good or bad, but we just have to come up with something within an hour,'" Becky revealed about the song. "We go in, and in that hour, it was like magic." Movie execs agreed, placing "Problem (The Monster Remix)" in the new film Hotel Transylvania.
As for that Simon Cowell thing, the X Factor judge praised Becky G after he found his way to her Jay-Z and Kanye West "Otis" cover (which is, in our opinion, really bad-ass). The almighty Simon tweeted after meeting Becky, "Just met a future star" and shared a link to the video. The highest praise? The highest praise.
Check out "Otis" and "Problem (The Monster Remix)" featuring Will.i.am below, and keep your eye out for the rapping wunderkind in the future.
20m
20m
3m
2m
4m
1m
1m
13m
9m
2m
5m
41m
1m
23m
45m
20m
20m
46s
1m
1m
1m
1m
21m
1m
1m
20m
20m
1m
2m
57s
1m
1m
1m
45s
56s
1m
12m
2m
13m
3m
2m
3m
7m
1m
3m
4m
2m
4m
34s
2m
2m
2m
2m
2m
20m
54s
57s
3m
1m
20m
21m
56m
5m
2m
2m
36s
2m
2m
23m
6m
23m
2m
20m
20m
1m
5m
4m
34s
9m
12m
20m
4m
1h 42m
46s
6m
4m
1m
21m
2m
21m
1h 21m
3m
2m
21m
1h 21m
1m
3m
3m