Mike Will Made It Partners With ESPN’s Custom NBA Music Strategy as First-Ever Lead Producer (EXCLUSIVE)

Steven J. Horowitz
·2 min read
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ESPN’s Custom NBA Music Strategy has partnered with Mike Will Made It to serve as its first-ever lead producer to curate music for the 2023-2024 NBA season.

Along with collaboration, Mike Will and Ear Drummers/Giant Music have released “Different Breed” alongside Swae Lee and Latto. The basketball-themed single, which will be the first of many tracks he will curate for the NBA, was featured in an NBA Tip-off TV spot that aired yesterday during Monday night football and is currently available on streaming.

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The partnership began with Mike Will playing several tracks he already had in the bank for the ESPN team, including “Different Breed,” which led to them asking him to sign on as its lead producer for the season. “This is the perfect partnership because I make the music people want to ball to,” he says.

The Grammy-winning Mike Will is best known for producing hits for artists like Beyoncé and Miley Cyrus, as well as chart-toppers including Kendrick Lamar’s “Humble” and Rae Sremmurd’s “Black Beatles.” This isn’t his first foray into curation, as he sat at the helm of “Creed II” in 2018. The Atlanta native got his start producing mixtape cuts for rappers Gucci Mane and Waka Flocka Flame. In 2006, he launched his Ear Drummers Entertainment, followed by Ear Drummers Records in 2013.

“It didn’t take us long to figure out that Atlanta music, Mike Will, and NBA on ESPN were a strong cultural fit,” said Curtis Friends, ESPN’s vice president of sports marketing. “Mike Will Made It is cooking up his recipe for the NBA on ESPN custom music strategy that will set the tone for fans throughout the season.”

“As an independent record label, nothing excites us more than collaboration and creativity. We couldn’t ask for better creative partners than Mike WiLL and ESPN,” adds Matt LaMotte, Giant Music’s managing director.

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