OZ
Oz in 2019
Oz in 2019
Background information
Birth nameOzan Yildirim[1]
Also known as
  • Oz on the Beat
  • Ozmusiqe
Born (1992-01-11) 11 January 1992
Wattwil, Switzerland
Genres
Occupation(s)
  • Record producer
  • songwriter
Instrument(s)
Years active2008–present

Ozan Yildirim (Turkish: Ozan Yıldırım[2]; born 11 January 1992), professionally known as OZ, is a Swiss record producer and songwriter of Turkish descent.[3][4] He has produced for many hip hop artists, including Drake, Future and Travis Scott, including on the number-one hits "Sicko Mode" (2018), "Highest in the Room" (2019) and "Life Is Good" (2020).[5][6] He has received nominations for the Grammy Award for Best Rap Song for "Sicko Mode" and "Gold Roses".[7]

Early life

Yildirim grew up in Wattwil, Switzerland, as a son to Turkish parents.[8][9] He developed an early passion for music, trying himself as a remixer and DJ under the stage name DJ Ladykiller.[10] At 13 years old, he won an international DJ competition, beating out 63 competitors of all ages and winning a prize money of 300 Euros.[10]

His family moved to the small and rural village of Gibswil in the Canton of Zürich, when Yildirim was 15 years old.[11] According to him, there, he was the only foreigner in school and experienced a great deal of xenophobia, leading him to isolate himself and focus on his music.[10]

After school, he completed an apprenticeship in retail and began working as a salesman for washing machines in the Swiss electronics store chain Fust.[9]

Career

He started producing beats in 2005,[11] and later uploaded them the internet. His career as a hip hop producer began in 2012, after being contacted by Austrian rapper Nazar and subsequently signing a deal with his label Wolfpack Entertainment.[10] A collaboration began and OZ produced large parts of Nazar's albums Narkose (2012) and Fakker Lifestyle (2013).[12]

Starting in 2014, OZ began receiving placements on tracks by US rappers. He would contact rappers via social media and e-mail and send them selections of his beats.[13] According to OZ, he contacted American record producer The Beat Bully on Twitter and paid him 250 Swiss francs for rapper Meek Mill's e-mail address.[10] In a similar manner, he managed to find out rapper Travis Scott's email address online.[13] Both times, a placement was the result: in the case of Meek Mill, OZ ended up producing the songs "Been That" (featuring Rick Ross) and "Cold Hearted" (featuring Puff Daddy) on the rapper's 2015 album Dreams Worth More Than Money and in the case of Travis Scott, he produced the song "Backyard" on his 2014 mixtape Days Before Rodeo.

At the same time, OZ became more known within German hip hop, producing top-tier artists such as Bushido or Ufo361 and befriending rapper Shindy.[14] He has produced multiple songs on all of Shindy's albums since then and in 2020 recorded the track "Morning Sun" with Shindy, where OZ can also be heard singing.[14]

In 2018, OZ produced his first number-one single by supplying the second part of the beat to the song "Sicko Mode" by Travis Scott.[15]

In 2020, he produced both "Popstar" and "Greece" by DJ Khaled featuring Drake. Although uncredited, he also supplied the original lyrics and vocal melody to the latter song.[16][14]

He also solely produced Drake's number-one hit "Toosie Slide".

His recording studio is located in Wald, Zürich.[17]

Production discography

Charted songs

Title Year Peak chart positions Album
US US
R&B/HH
AUS CAN IRE NZ UK
"How Many Times"
(DJ Khaled featuring Chris Brown, Lil Wayne, and Big Sean)
2015 68 23 I Changed a Lot
"Random"
(G-Eazy)
94 31 When It's Dark Out
"U With Me?"
(Drake)
2016 44 20 47 72 Views
"Offended"
(Meek Mill featuring 21 Savage and Young Thug)
70 29 100 DC4
"Saved"
(Khalid)
2017 92 American Teen
"Dubai Shit"
(Huncho Jack featuring Offset)
83 35 63 Huncho Jack, Jack Huncho
"Contra"
(Logic)
2018 60 28 71 84 Bobby Tarantino II
"Champion"
(Nav featuring Travis Scott)
86 43 47 Reckless
"Sicko Mode"
(Travis Scott featuring Drake)
1 1 6 3 11 7 9 Astroworld
"Love Scars 3"
(Trippie Redd)
73 37 A Love Letter to You 3
"1400 / 999 Freestyle"
(Trippie Redd featuring Juice Wrld)
55 24 76
"Freaky"
(Tory Lanez)
2019 41 94 Love Me Now? Reloaded
"24/7"
(Meek Mill featuring Ella Mai)
54 25 66 Championships
"Omertà"
(Drake)
35 14 69 8 44 33 The Best in the World Pack
"Gold Roses"
(Rick Ross featuring Drake)
39 16 91 33 76 42 Port of Miami 2
"Peta"
(Roddy Ricch featuring Meek Mill)
72 31 72 Please Excuse Me for Being Antisocial
"Highest in the Room"
(Travis Scott)
1 1 3 1 3 2 2 JackBoys
"Life Is Good"
(Future featuring Drake)
2020 2 2 11 3 5 13 3 High Off Life
"Toosie Slide"
(Drake)
1 1 3 2 1 1 1 Dark Lane Demo Tapes
"Time Flies"
(Drake)
30 17 22
"Losses"
(Drake)
51 26 49
"Greece"
(DJ Khaled feat. Drake)
8 6 35 3 21 8 Khaled Khaled
"Popstar"
(DJ Khaled feat. Drake)
3 3 10 1 14 17 11
"Girls Want Girls"
(Drake featuring Lil Baby)
2021 2 2 2 8 3 11 2 Certified Lover Boy
"Love All"
(Drake featuring Jay-Z)
10 9 12 20 [upper-alpha 1]

Production credits

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2023

  • Jack Harlow - "Lovin on Me" (Single)

References

  1. "Love All" did not enter the UK Singles Chart, as chart rules only allow three songs per artist to chart within the top one hundred at a time, but peaked at number 7 on the UK Streaming Chart.[18]
  1. "Schweizer Beats im US-Hip-Hop". 20 Minuten (in German). 28 May 2015. Retrieved 16 May 2021.
  2. "Zirvede bir Türk prodüktör: Ozan Yıldırım". Hürriyet (in Turkish). 16 January 2020. Retrieved 10 January 2024.
  3. "OZ".
  4. "Oz (39)". Discogs.
  5. "Swiss producer OZ in Grammy race - KXAN36 - Austin Daily News". 10 December 2018.
  6. "OZ co-produced "Sicko Mode" on Travis Scott's #1 album 'Astroworld'".
  7. "Here are all the nominations for the 2020 Grammy Awards". The Fader. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
  8. "Wattwiler mischt Musikszene auf und stürmt weltweit Charts" (in German). fm1today.ch. Retrieved 10 August 2020.
  9. 1 2 Künzler, Remo (25 June 2020). "Drake, Travis Scott, DJ Khaled: Der Ostschweizer Musikproduzent «OZ» kooperiert mit globalen Stars und erobert die US-Charts" (in German). St. Galler Tagblatt. Retrieved 30 August 2023.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 Wey, Moritz. "«Vom Papierkorb zu Platin»: Die grosse Coverstory von OZ aus 2018" (in German). Lyrics Magazin. Retrieved 30 August 2023.
  11. 1 2 Schräder, Adrian (4 December 2022). "Ozan Yildirim produziert Hits für Superstars wie Drake: «Ich habe mich immer nach einem Hit gesehnt»" (in German). Blick. Retrieved 30 August 2023.
  12. Nazar nimmt Produzenten O.Z unter Vertrag (in German) on 16bars.de, accessed on 13 November 2016
  13. 1 2 Schräder, Adrian (21 November 2022). "Der Schweizer Star-Produzent OZ: «Ich bin der Falsche, um Drake zu sagen, was er rappen soll»" (in German). Neue Zürcher Zeitung. Retrieved 30 August 2023.
  14. 1 2 3 Modler, Joshua (31 August 2020). "Beats für Drake, Travis Scott und Shindy: Was du über OZ wissen musst" (in German). DASDING. Retrieved 30 August 2023.
  15. Saponara, Michael (2018). "Y'all Know I Don't Follow Suit: How Travis Scott's 'SICKO MODE' Became the Unlikeliest No. 1 Hit of 2018". Billboard. Retrieved 4 June 2021.
  16. "Drake schnappt sich OZ' Solo-Song: Der Weg von der Insta-Skizze bis zu "Greece"". lyricsmagazin.ch (in German). 17 July 2020. Retrieved 20 July 2020.
  17. Mosberger, Luca (2 June 2022). "So reich ist OZ" (in German). Lyrics Magazin. Retrieved 30 August 2023.
  18. "Official Audio Streaming Chart". Official Charts Company. Archived from the original on 3 October 2021. Retrieved 11 August 2022.
  19. "Listen to Drake's 2 New Songs, "Omertà" and "Money in the Grave" f/ Rick Ross". Complex Networks.
  20. 1 2 Skelton, Eric; McKinney, Jessica (3 April 2020). "5 Big Takeaways From Drake's New Song "Toosie Slide"". Complex. Retrieved 4 April 2020.
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