Music

Two months after the release of his Billboard 200-topping album Heroes & Villains, Metro Boomin is continuing his hot streak by partnering with Budweiser for Super Bowl LVII.

Reintroducing its tagline “This Bud’s for You,” the hip-hop superproducer will feature in the beer company’s “Six Degrees of Budweiser” commercial airing during the big game. The spot will kick off a new focus for the brand by reaching a younger audience and depicting authentic, first-hand experiences that shows the importance of human connection, determination and the American spirit.

The commercial, narrated by Kevin Bacon, is Budweiser’s interpretation of the idea that everyone can be traced by six degrees of separation. From Metro to a local food truck owner and construction worker, each individual is connected by their determination, spirit and a six-pack of Budweiser, which is passed from person-to-person until one beer remains. The final beer is then offered to the viewer, hence “this Bud’s for you.”

While Metro (born Leland Wayne) isn’t necessarily a beer drinker, the opportunity to partner with Budweiser for the Super Bowl felt like a step up in his career and a full-circle moment for him given his ties to St. Louis. 

“Budweiser being in St. Louis and me being born and raised in St. Louis and always representing and speaking out for [the city], I saw it as a golden opportunity,” he told Billboard. “A lot of my closest friends growing up, some of my family and everybody like… Bud’s always been around. I remember going to the Anheuser-Busch factory, we had a field trip there when I was a kid. That just goes to show you how big of an impact Budweiser has always had on the whole city, even from the original Busch Stadium.”

Metro said he also resonated with the six degrees of separation concept since “that’s how I live my everyday life. I do everything regular, I’ve always been regular, I aspire to always be how I’ve always been because that’s how I see all of us We have our differences, but I feel like we’re more all the same more than anything,” he says humbly. 

Back in December, the Grammy-nominated producer released his highly anticipated second solo album Heroes & Villains — creating his own sonic universe of good guys and bad guys via collaborators like 21 Savage, Travis Scott, Future, Young Thug and more, who were turned into comic book sketches for the project’s rollout. Metro also dropped a short film starring himself and Morgan Freeman, whom he met for the first time in-person while filming the movie. (Metro and Freeman first worked together when the veteran actor narrated the producer and 21 Savage’s 2020 joint album Savage Mode 2.)

“That’s how I do my art. Put the younger generation and the older one and my generation, just everybody in the same car,” he explained. “On Heroes & Villains, it was like, ‘OK, what if we can get him on-camera and actually shoot something with him?’ because it’s like how do you level up? I thought that might be a little far-fetched, but he was down for that too!”

The album earned Metro his third No. 1 on the Billboard 200, along with all 15 tracks debuting on the Billboard Hot 100, including “Creepin’,” which currently sits at No. 4. The song, which features The Weeknd and 21, is a re-creation of Mario Winans’ 2004 hit “I Don’t Wanna Know.” While clearing the sample wasn’t easy, Metro said the track’s success is exceeding his expectations.

“I can’t say this about a lot of songs because I just try to make stuff that I love and hope it resonates with other people, but it’s really a rare occasion to where even after we made [‘Creepin”]. It was like, ‘OK. I know this is gonna go up,’” Metro said. “Not just because of me or because of The Weeknd, but also with it halfway being a cover of a song that I loved so much growing up, and just know how much it worked before [and] it getting a new spin for the next generation.

“Mario Winans is like a big brother to me, he helped out with some other stuff on the album, so on that end, we had all the love and support,” he continued. “On the end of the original sample, even before the Fugees’ [‘Ready or Not’], it was the Enya song [‘Boadicea’]. There was just a small hiccup in the road. We ended up getting it cleared, but they just had us change the name.”

The 29-year-old is already back in the lab, saying he plans to drop the villain’s version of the album in “probably like a week or two.” He also created a custom song that will be played in the Budweiser commercial.

“With my career, my head’s always down. I’m always working so I’m not always looking back like, ‘Oh, this album did this or this happened,’ you know?” he said. “Just like in the gym, I feel like this Super Bowl commercial is like when you start to see some gains. It’s one of them things where you can see [my] growth.”