If you have seen those viral videos going around of Kendrick Lamar screaming “MUSTARD!,” or heard his recent hits “Not Like Us” or “tv off,” then you’ve heard the work of Mustard. Since “Not Like Us” went viral, DJ and record producer Mustard has been returning to prominence. He’s performed at Kendrick Lamar’s “The Pop Out” concert; Tyler The Creator’s “Camp Flog Gnaw” concert; and the 59th Annual Super Bowl. You’ve probably heard his music or screamed his name, but what else do you possibly know about this famous record producer?
To start, let’s look at Mustard’s style. Mustard claims that he was inspired as a child by producers like Dr. Dre and Swizz Beats, but he refuses to narrow himself to a certain style. Other newspapers have seen some common elements in his songs—most notably, the aforementioned laid-back style, “minimalist bass synths and the use of crisp hand-claps and snap-snares”. Additionally, Medium.com has described his music as “cool, casual, [and] laid-back,” while Crack Magazine has called it “the melting of G-funk and crunk.”
But how did Mustard actually get his start creating beats? Born as Dijon Isaiah McFarlane, Mustard started producing his own music while DJing for his friend and future frequent collaborator YG. Over time, he started producing YG’s songs, including the song “I’m Good,” where YG recited a line that would later become Mustard’s iconic producer tag, “Mustard on the beat, h*e!” He started learning more about producing from YG and his friend Ty Dolla Sign, and eventually got a big break when a scrapped beat originally made for YG was sent to rapper Tyga. This beat became the instrumental for Tyga’s 2011 hit “Rack City.” The song sold over five million copies (or, as it’s known in the music business, went five times Platinum), officially jumpstarting Mustard’s career.
After he blew up, Mustard started to grow to new heights. In 2012, he produced a song by 2 Chainz called “I’m Different,” which went 3 times Platinum, and in 2014 he produced “Don’t Tell ‘Em” by Jeremih ft. YG, which went 5 times Platinum. He released Ketchup, his own mixtape, in 2013, and 10 Summers, his debut album, in 2014.
After his 2014 hits, he had a couple notable singles. Most notably, he produced “Needed Me” by Rihanna, which went 9 times Platinum and became Rihanna’s longest lasting song on the Billboard Hot 100, as well as a couple songs by Mariah Carey. But he didn’t have as many hits as big as “Don’t Tell ‘Em” until 2018, when he started the year by producing a string of platinum releases: “Freaky Friday” by Lil Dicky and Chris Brown, “Boo’d Up” by Ella Mae, and “Big Bank” by YG ft 2 Chainz, Nicki Minaj, and Big Sean. The next year, Mustard produced his third album, Perfect Ten; it had multiple hits, such as “Pure Water” by Migos, “Perfect Ten” by Nipsey Hussle, and most famously, “Ballin” by Roddy Ricch.
Mustard continued to produce successful songs after his 2018 hits (such as “Mood Ring” by Britney Spears), but none of them came close to reaching the insane popularity of his 2024 projects. He started the year with a bang by producing Kendrick Lamar’s famous diss track, “Not Like Us,” which notably features Kendrick shouting out Mustard’s producer tag as the first line of the song. “Not Like Us” reached Number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and won Record of the Year at the Grammys, as well as Song of the Year, Best Rap Song, Best Rap Performance, and Best Music Video. Almost two months later, Mustard released his fourth album, Faith of a Mustard Seed, which contained the hit song “Parking Lot” featuring Travis Scott. Later that year, Kendrick shadow-dropped his new album GNX, which included the songs “hey now” and “tv off,” both produced by Mustard. It was the latter that went viral, as a clip of Kendrick screaming Mustard’s name during the second verse started flying all over the internet, and many people joined in to scream “MUSTAAAARD!” on social media.
Mustard also made multiple appearances at festivals and concerts in 2024. Mustard performed a setlist of songs at Kendrick Lamar’s “Ken and Friends: The Pop Out” concert, bringing out collaborators YG and Ty Dolla Sign to shout them out for inspiring his style and welcoming Roddy Ricch, Steve Lacy, and Tyler, The Creator to perform a few songs. He was also brought onstage during Kendrick’s set as Kendrick performed “Not Like Us” five times in a row. Later, he performed at Tyler, The Creator’s annual Camp Flog Gnaw festival, where he again brought out YG and Ty Dolla Sign, as well as Big Sean and Tyga. During this concert, he notably cut off Drake’s verse from Drake’s own song “Crew Love,” switching from The Weeknd’s verse into “Like That” by Metro Boomin and Future (the song infamous for sparking Kendrick Lamar’s feud with Drake). Most recently, he appeared at Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl Halftime Show during Kendrick’s rendition of “tv off.”
With the storm that’s been rising off this iconic producer, there is no doubt that there is more to come from Mustard in 2025. The iconic beat maker’s fifth album, Perfect Eleven, is slated to release soon, though we don’t have the exact date yet. Who knows what new hits he might produce, or which artists he will collaborate with next? Only time will tell.