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RealRed speaks to XXL for the fall 2021 issue of the magazine in an interview that centers on his engineer and producer career working with Moneybagg Yo and more.

Moneybagg Yo s Wockesha, took his talent and ran. Producing since 2016, an offer to record a Kevo Muney session in December of 2019 opened the door for the 22-year-old Tennessee native to become an engineer. Now, hes Moneybagg Yos go-to engineer. And with the ability to mix, master or record, RealRed is honing his craft. XXL: When did you gain confidence in your abilities as an engineer? RealRed: When I started engineering for NLE Choppa. Once he started taking me on the road, I started feeling Im built for this. He end up letting me mix and master two of his projects , along with another engineer named Aaron Mattes. Choppa, at the time, he was kinda young, so hell test your patience. I know if I could work with Choppa, I could work with anybody. How did you end up working so heavily with Moneybagg Yo? My brother YC was already locked in with him. So, it was a couple songs that I was doing that Bagg was in tune with. We in a studio in Memphis, and I was there with Choppa. Bagg walked up to me, asking me for a lighter. He was like, You Red? I need somethin from you. I went and played him some beats and from that point on, he was just telling me to come to Atlanta. The second or third time, he , I need a second engineer. So, I end up telling him Ill do it. He gave me a test run, turned into an eight-hour session of me recording him. We been locked in ever since. I started around June last year. What was it like working on his album A Gangstas Pain? Working with Bagg was kinda stressful. I was so used to artists recording every day. Bagg might go a week or two without recording, just to get his thoughts together. Thats how we end up with Time Today and Wockesha. He take his time with his music and try to perfect it, he dont just record 30, 40 songs. Did you know Wockesha was going to be so huge? Bagg had told me, YC and my guy Javar he had a sample. We get to choppin up the sample, me and YC, while Bagg gettin a haircut. Midway through the beat, he started writing the song. Off the album, that was the first song that we had done. I was tellin everybody, This gon be the biggest song. From a female to drinkin lean, its so many ways to go with this song. What are you working on now? Im excited about Moneybagg deluxe. I got a couple on Big30 album thats dropping soon. They finna get ready to drop another deluxe on Shiesty. I love working with guys from my city and stuff like that. From Kevo, Moneybagg, Shiesty, Big30, Big Boogie, Im excited for all those projects. Check out more fromXXLmagazine's Fall 2021 issue, on stands now, including our cover story with Read more