Songwriter

Boi-1da

Matthew Jehu Samuels

Kingston, Jamaica → Toronto, Ontario·b. 1986-06-29

Boi-1da — Matthew Samuels — is a Jamaican-born, Toronto-raised producer whose name appears on the publishing splits of more Drake records than almost any non-Drake writer in the catalog. The writing credits flow from the way modern rap copyright treats a beat: the composition the producer authors is the composition the rapper writes over, so the producer's name is on the song. Boi-1da's drum patterns and sample selections power "Best I Ever Had," "Forever," "Headlines," "Started From the Bottom," "0 to 100 / The Catch Up," "Energy," "Know Yourself," "Nonstop," "Money in the Grave," "Laugh Now Cry Later," "Wants and Needs," and many more. He came up in the Toronto mixtape scene in the late 2000s and connected with Drake through the same regional network that produced 40. Outside Drake he has co-written and produced for Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, Rihanna, Nicki Minaj, J. Cole, and Cardi B, picking up multiple Grammy nominations including Producer of the Year. Within the OVO production circle he frequently co-writes alongside Vinylz, Allen Ritter, T-Minus, and 40. He also runs his own production camps that have surfaced contributors to the Drake catalog. As a writer in the producer-as-composer sense, Boi-1da remains one of the few names credited across nearly every Drake project from So Far Gone through the present ICEMAN era.