HELLUVA PRODUCER TAG

Who voiced the Helluva tag — and where did it come from?

The voice on “Helluva made this beat, baby!” is his son, Lil' Zay — a family stamp on the sound of a city. Like Jahlil Beats' niece and Mike WiLL's sister, it's part of the quiet tradition of producers keeping the tag in the family.

Helluva (Martin McCurtis, Southwest Detroit) had been supplying Doughboyz Cashout and Icewear Vezzo for years before Tee Grizzley's “First Day Out” (2016) took the tag national — Metro Times calls him the musical architect of Detroit trap.

His self-described “basement sound” — simple, hard, piano-forward — became the blueprint the whole Michigan wave built on, with the tag as its opening bell from Tee Grizzley's early catalog to Megan Thee Stallion's Suga.

What songs use the Helluva tag?

• First Day Out — Tee Grizzley (2016)
• From the D to the A — Tee Grizzley & Lil Yachty (2017)
• Suga (EP tracks) — Megan Thee Stallion (2020)

Related tags

Want a tag like this?

• How to make a producer tag — phrase, voice, FX →
• Where Helluva puts the tag — placement rules →
• How Detroit trap tags are processed →