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Cardiak | |
|---|---|
 Cardiak in 2016 | |
| Background information | |
| Also known as |
|
| Born | Carl McCormick (1988-06-26)June 26, 1988 (age 37) |
| Genres | |
| Occupation | Record producer |
| Years active | 2008–present |
| Labels | Universal[1] |
Carl McCormick (born June 26, 1988), professionally known asCardiak, is an American record producer. He began producing music in 2008.
He has produced music for numerous artists, includingEminem,50 Cent,Lloyd Banks,Ryan Leslie,Rick Ross,Wale,Jeezy,Meek Mill,J. Cole,Dr. Dre,Fabolous,Ace Hood,Chris Brown andTrey Songz.[2] He has been nominated for twoGrammys, both for his credit as a co-songwriter on theH.E.R. song "Damage".[3]
Carl "Cardiak" McCormick was born on June 26, 1988 inWillingboro Township,[4]New Jersey.
In 2006, McCormick graduated fromRancocas Valley Regional High School.[2]
McCormick initially began his music career in 2008 as a rapper, but wanted to produce his own music, when a close friend introduced to adigital audio workstationcomputer software calledFL Studio.[5] After atrain of thought, he decided to produce music full-time rather than rap.[6] The first track he produced landed in the hands of then-rapperJoe Budden, who released a studio album calledHalfway House, with the track being titled "The Soul".[7]
Throughout 2009, he later produced tracks for formerG-Unit rapperLloyd Banks, as well asLil Twist,LoLa Monroe,Ace Hood andFreeway. McCormick received notoriety for his first major placement in late 2010, when he produced Lloyd Banks' single, "Start It Up", featuringKanye West, Ryan Leslie,Swizz Beatz andFabolous, featured on Banks' third studio album,H.F.M. 2 (The Hunger for More 2), which released that November. The single was accompanied by McCormick's two following contributions as a producer, "Take Em to War" (featuring fellow G-Unit cohortTony Yayo) and "Unexplainable" (featuringThe Lox memberStyles P). "Start It Up" peaked at number 52 on theBillboardHot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.[8] In 2011, he produced forFabolous ("Y'all Don't Really Hear Me Tho'"),Wale ("600 Benz"),Meek Mill ("Sparkle") andKid Ink ("My City", "Here We Go" and "Sick 'Em"). He produced50 Cent's comeback single, "Outlaw". The track was released through 50 Cent's website.[9] RapperYoung Chris released a mixtape,The Revival, which was entirely produced by McCormick.[10]
In 2012, McCormick produced Meek Mill's "Lean Wit It", "Polo & Shell Tops", Lloyd Banks' "Show and Prove",Ryan Leslie's "Black Flag", Joe Budden's "Cut from a Different Cloth", andTrae tha Truth's "Tell Me That I Can't". He also produced two tracks ("Amsterdam" and "Diced Pineapples") onRick Ross' fifth studio album,God Forgives, I Don't, which was nominated for aGrammy Award forBest Rap Album in 2013.[11][12] In 2013, McCormick's notoriety continued to soar. He later produced forVado ("God Hour"), Ace Hood ("The Trailer" and "Have Mercy"),French Montana ("Ballin' Out"), Wale ("Bricks") and Ryan Leslie ("Black Mozart").[13][14] Leslie's behind-the-scene process of the making of "Black Mozart" was later detailed in a YouTube mini-documentary, which featured McCormick discussing how he produced the title track and "History" with Leslie.[14]
That November, McCormick andFrank Dukes produced the track "Groundhog Day" for rapperEminem. The track was later included on adeluxe edition bonus disc of Eminem's eighth studio album,The Marshall Mathers LP 2, which was released on November 5, 2013. The album won a Grammy Award in 2015 for Best Rap Album.[15][16]
Throughout 2014, McCormick only produced four tracks: Kid Ink's "I Don't Care",Slaughterhouse's "Party", Rick Ross' "Family Ties" andJ. Cole's "Love Yourz" (the latter third he co-produced with CritaCal andIllmind, another New Jersey native).[17] He also participated in a YouTube challenge called "Rhythm Roulette", maintained by webizineMass Appeal (co-owned by rapperNas), which a record producer has to select three records blindfolded to sample while producing an instrumental using it; he created a beat using a sample fromAllure's 2001 single, "Cool With Me".[18]
In 2015, McCormick was involved in the production of two tracks: "Deep Water" and "For the Love of Money" for rapper-producerDr. Dre. The latter beat, which developed in early 2014, was solely produced by McCormick and later sent to Dre by his A&R manager, Tyheim Cannon, andInterscope Records vice chairman, Steve Berman, for the musician's third studio album,Compton, which was released on August 7, 2015.[2][6][19][20] He continued producing for Fabolous ("Doin' It Well"),Scarface ("Exit Plan"),Trey Songz ("Do It Now") andJeremih ("Worthy").
In early 2016, J. Cole's2014 Forest Hills Drive (2014) and Dr. Dre'sCompton (2016) were nominated for the Best Rap Album Grammy; McCormick contributed tracks as a producer on both.[21] McCormick later received a co-composer credit after contributing to work forDrake's fourth studio album,Views, released on April 29 that year. He was credited as composer, but uncredited as co-producer on the album's eighth track, "With You", which featuredPartyNextDoor and instead creditsMurda Beatz andNineteen85 as co-producers. Murda Beatz later confirmed that he used a sample pack given to him by McCormick for the production of "With You".[22][23] The album would end up being the most-streamedSpotify album of the year with 2.45 billion streams and debuting at number one on theBillboard 200, despite lukewarm critical reviews.[24][25][26] He and affiliating producer Calvin "CritaCal" Price co-producedMacklemore & Ryan Lewis' "Need to Know" for their album,This Unruly Mess I've Made. Later in December, J. Cole released his fourth studio album,4 Your Eyez Only, featuring the track "Immortal", which credits McCormick and Frank Dukes as its co-producers.[27][28][29][30][31]
His success helped him collaborate with other record producers such asHitmaka,[32]Focus...,Symbolyc One and others.[31] Within 2017, he expanded outside of hip hop production, working with R&B artists includingChris Brown ("Confidence"),Tank ("When We")[33][34] and PartyNextDoor ("Never Played Me"). However, he still produced for rappersG-Eazy ("Crash & Burn"), Meek Mill ("Issues"),Gucci Mane ("Tone It Down"; co-produced with Hitmaka),[35]Dave East andASAP Ferg ("Paper Chasin'"). He also produced a bulk of singerAsiahn's extended play,Love Train, which was released earlier that year.[36][37] For the 2018-19 period, McCormick continued his success at music production, producing forRL Grime ("Undo"),Cozz ("Demons N Distractions"), Dave East ("Corey"), T.I. ("Laugh at 'Em"), Zoey Dollaz ("Find a Way"),6lack ("Loaded Gun"),YoungBoy Never Broke Again ("Permanent Scars"),Yuna ("Likes"),2 Chainz ("Rule the World"),[38]Cordae ("Wintertime"), Chris Brown ("Come Together"), Rick Ross ("Rich N***a Lifestyle"),Teyana Taylor ("How You Want It?")[39] and co-produced (alongside Hitmaka) theQuality Control Music single, "Leave 'Em Alone", featuringLayton Greene,Lil Baby,City Girls andPnB Rock, which itself was a remake of singerCiara's 2006 single, "Can't Leave 'em Alone".[citation needed]
In mid-2020, he, Hitmaka and Paul Cabbin produced Trey Songz andSummer Walker's "Back Home", a title track from the former's eighth studio album,Back Home, which charted at number twelve on theBillboardHot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart.[40] He also produced two tracks for PartyNextDoor's third studio album,Partymobile ("Nothing Less" and "Believe It"). On the deluxe edition ofConway the Machine's debut album,From King to a God, McCormick and Hitmaka co-produced the bonus track, "Ameenah's Van". A successful placement that year was McCormick's production of theH.E.R. single, "Damage", which was the former's idea after listening to a freestyle, recorded by Lox membersJadakiss and Styles P, for a 2008DJ Clue mixtape, which they were rapping over the instrumental toHerb Alpert,Lisa Keith andJanet Jackson's 1987 single, "Making Love in the Rain" (which itself was previously sampled byQueen Latifah's 1993 single, "Just Another Day..." andBone Thugs-n-Harmony's 1996 ballad, "Days of Our Livez"). Using the same sample and having co-produced it withJeff "Gitty" Gitelman, "Damage" debuted at number five on theBillboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles chart in late 2020, number one on R&B radio in June 2021[41] and was certified two-times platinum by theRecording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on March 4, 2022.[42][43][44] "Damage" was also nominated for a Grammy forBest R&B Song in February 2022.[3]
Throughout 2021, he continued producing tracks for Conway the Machine ("Spoon's House" and "Blood Roses"),Anthony Hamilton ("Love is the New Black"),JoJo ("Worst (I Assume)"), H.E.R. ("Come Through")[45] and Rick Ross ("Revelations"). McCormick continued into 2022 with Tank's "No Limit",Ari Lennox's "Leak It" and 2023 withTink's "Goofy",Chloe Bailey's "How Does It Feel" andKiana Ledé's "Too Far". He,Elite,Pluss and Mario Luciano produced "Culture", a track performed byMez,Reason, Symba and 8AE, which was included on thesoundtrack for the boxing drama sequel film,Creed III.[citation needed]
On April 26, 2024, PartyNextDoor released his fourth studio album,PartyNextDoor 4, which included the track, "Control", produced by McCormick and Drake's engineer,40.[46]
McCormick uses third-party music plugins andMIDI keyboards byM-Audio andNative Instruments to create and produce music throughFL Studio through a laptop,[5] currently optimized byWindows 11.
His production style consists oftrap music,sample-based hip hop laced with live instrumentation,contemporary R&B andhip hop soul.[47][48]
He currently sells drum kits and sample packs through aShopify site called "Flatline Kits", which he has launched in 2014.[citation needed]
 | This section needs to beupdated. The reason given is: His discography is not up to date with recent placement as producer by sources. It has been inaccurate since 2021. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(April 2024) |
"Outlaw"
| Year | Award | Category | Nominee(s) | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Grammy Awards | Album of the Year | Back of My Mind (H.E.R.) | Nominated | [51] |
| 2022 | Grammy Awards | Best R&B Song | "Damage" (H.E.R.) | Nominated | [52] |
| 2025 | Grammy Awards | Best R&B Song | "Here We Go (Uh Oh)" (Coco Jones) | Nominated | [53] |
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