Meet WondaGurl. When she isn’t producing beats for rap mogul Jay-Z, the 16-year old Grade 11 student at Chinguacousy Secondary School is catching up on some school work.
Ebony Oshunrinde, a budding producer whose work is set to feature in Jay-Z’s Magna Carta Holy Grail, has said being a producer on the critically acclaimed album is a “really good feeling.”
She is the youngest to have a production credit on the album, with her beat featured on the track “Crown”.
The young beat maker has said she hopes to inspire her mates.
“Anybody can be successful. It doesn’t matter where you’re from,” she said in an interview.
The irony is, Ebony started creating beats after she watched a video showing Jay-Z and mega producer Timbaland together in a studio together.
“It inspired me and I wanted to do the exact same thing that he did,” she said.
She started at age 9, first downloading music software, teaching herself the ropes by watching YouTube videos and branded herself WondaGurl, a take on the name of one of her favorite producers, Boi-1da (pronounced Boy Wonda).
Boy-1da has worked with the likes of Kanye West and also features in Jay-Z’s upcoming album.
Oshunrinde has been making a name for herself in the beat-producing world. She won Toronto’s battle of the beat makers competition at age 15 and signed on with Black Box label and started working in a studio.
“It’s amazing to see somebody with that much talent working as hard as she can to make the most of it at such a young age,” said Ian Stanger, a representative with Black Box.
“It’s her work that people should be paying attention to, not the fact that’s she 16.”
The beat that was used in the Jay-Z song was Oshunrinde’s sample on a reggae song, with her own twist.
“It has a lot of bass and a lot of bounce,” she explained.
She sent the beat to a producer friend in Houston, Travis Scott, who she met last year. As providence would have it, Scott was in the studio with Jay-Z when he got the beat.
A few days later, Oshunrinde got a text message from Scott that read “I’m about to change your life.”
When he told her she was set to be a producer on Jay-Z’s album, she thought it was a joke.
“Usually that doesn’t really happen to 16-year-olds,” the teen said.
Her family celebrated the good news. While she is yet to meet America’s rap royalty in the flesh, she downloaded “Crown” when the track was released on Thursday ahead of the album release next week.
The beat has really changed her life.
“A lot more people want to work with me now. It’s pretty cool.”