How Cardi B Producer J.WhiteDidIt Went From Being Broke To Making “Money”

Dallas-based producer J. White Did It wasn’t just hoping for a hit single in 2017, he needed one.

“I tried to buy my son some cookies bro, for $2.99. My card got declined,” he recalled in a recent interview with Genius. “I was broke man. Bro-o-oke.”

Needless to say, the producer behind Cardi B’s breakout hit “Bodak Yellow” is no longer quite so worried about his credit card bill. But his relationship with Cardi goes way beyond one hit. After producing an additional two tracks on her debut album, Invasion of Privacy, he’s behind the boards once again on the rapper’s latest single, “Money.” The song hit No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart this week, marking Cardi’s 10th Top 20 hit since last year. For J. White, it’s a validation of the hard work they put in together before she was famous.

“I immediately connected with her because a lot of people didn’t take her serious, and I felt like a lot of people didn’t take me serious,” J. White said about their pre-“Bodak” collaborations. “[Now], she’s one of the biggest things in the industry. She don’t have to reach back to me. She has the pick of the litter when it comes to producers. For us to be rocking, that’s just a true testament to who she is.”

“Money” may be a new song, but the beat dates back to the same sessions that produced Invasion of Privacy. Cardi surprised White by revisiting it after the album’s release to lay down vocals. From there, they had to negotiate over a few elements.

“She wanted a raw sound,” he said. “I wanted it to have a few more elements to it, so towards the end of the track it definitely picks up a bit more, where at the beginning it’s definitely raw.”

At least he got to keep the repeated “money” vocal sample that he fished out of a DPS pack.

If there’s one word to describe how he approaches most of his work with the Bronx rapper, it’s simple. “I don’t really care about the bells and whistles when it comes to the track, because her vocals are part of the beat pretty much,” he said. “Her voice is so strong that you don’t need much. You just need an 808, a sound, a hi-hat, a clap, and couple drops and you’ve got you a Cardi B record.”

It’s this same thinking that fueled much of J. White’s past work with Cardi, which began with an under-the-radar 2016 cut titled “What A Girl Likes” that was arranged by their mutual manager.

“This girl, she gets in that studio, she gets to work, she goes in,” J. White said about their early collaboration. “I’ve seen her do long hours on Love and Hip-Hop, all day, and come immediately into the studio. I’ve seen her pull 24 hours, 48 hours. So that made me work harder.”

The producer began flying back and forth between Dallas and New York City to record with her, using money he pieced together selling beats on the side. He ended up producing multiple tracks on her sophomore mixtape, Gangsta Bitch Music Vol. 2, including the Offset collaboration, “Lick.” Before “Bodak Yellow” popped off, it he pinned his hopes on “Lick” but things didn’t go as planned.

“When ‘Lick’ didn’t get the response that we wanted, that was a punch in the face,” he recalled. “I was like dog, this is the record that’s gonna put money in my pocket, save my life, and it wasn’t it. I was like man, we gotta get another record.”

In came “Bodak Yellow,” which features a beat that White originally created by mistake. “There’s an 808 on the track that hits on the 2 instead of the 1,” he said. “I just didn’t nudge it over far enough when I played it. I said ‘Oh, that sounds different. You know what, I’ma keep it there.‘”

A few short months later, he landed two more placements with the Migos collaboration “Drip” and “I Like It” featuring J Balvin and Bad Bunny. The latter song became his second No. 1 hit this past July. “That was a great feeling,” he said about topping the charts again. “Like wow I really belong here.”

Now, he’s got another hit in the bag and more potential collaborations on the way. “It’s been nonstop since 2017,” he said of their frequent recording schedule. Cardi’s deluxe edition of Invasion of Privacy is expected at the top of next year, and there could be more in the works for the two artists who have seen their stars rise in tandem.

“Me and Cardi always got something brewing,” he said. “She’s busier now, but she’s still Cardi.”