How Drake and 21 Savage Found the ‘Perfect Beat’ for ‘Rich Flex’

variety.com:

Mike Wass Michael “Finatik” Mule and Isaac “Zac” De Boni, better known as the production duo FnZ, were scouring YouTube for fresh sounds when a clip from the obscure ’70s horror movie “Invasion of the Bee Girls” caught their attention.

They turned a portion of the soundtrack into a spooky sample, which would eventually accompany the viral hook — “21, can you do something for me?” — on Drake and 21 Savage’s “Rich Flex,” which is No.

22 on Variety‘s 2023 Hitmakers Top 25. Not that it seemed exceptional at the time: The Australian sample specialists chopped it up and added some keys — and then forgot about it. “It was one out of 10 ideas we made that day,” Mule says.

Months later, the duo reached out to hip-hop heavyweight Vinylz about working together. He asked for ideas, and they sent a folder including 15 samples — two of which would go on to be used for “Rich Flex”: their flip of “Invasion of the Bee Girls” and a snippet of Sugar’s 1973 soul single “I Want You, Girl,” which they transformed with co-producer BoogzDaBeast. “They were completely separate ideas intended for different beats and different artists,” Mule says.