Metro Boomin has had a monumental year.
The St. Louis native — born Leland Wayne — has released two chart-topping albums “We Don’t Trust You” and “We Still Don’t Trust You” with his frequent collaborator Future. The duo also completed the “We Trust You” North American tour with 27 stops. Though the tour omitted his hometown, Wayne did return to St. Louis in May, when he did a free DJ set at Ballpark Village that included a limited edition Metro Boomin bobblehead for game day ticket holders.
Despite a lawsuit filed in October by a Las Vegas woman accusing the music producer of sexual assault, Wayne has not slowed professionally. His personal mission to celebrate and support single mothers in St. Louis has also continued. To show appreciation for his own upbringing, Wayne started an annual charity drive and party in 2017 specifically for families with single moms. For the last two years, these events have served an additional purpose: honoring his mother, Leslie JoAnne Wayne, who was killed in a murder-suicide by her husband in June 2022.
This year, Wayne — under the Leslie JoAnne Foundation — honored nearly 200 mothers and their children at a private Dec. 15 event at Stifel Theater. The evening was dubbed, “Single Moms Are the Real Superheroes Holiday Soiree.”
Wayne told St. Louis on the Air that it wasn’t until he took his mission on the road by donating money to charities at each city on his tour that he realized how much vitriol single moms face.
“I never even thought that was possible. I don’t understand it. How could anybody have a problem with [single mothers]?” he said. “No matter what they think or say or what their opinion is, I’m going to continue to push forward with my mission. That’s the right thing to me.”
Along with championing single mothers across the country, Wayne’s back-to-back albums have created waves in the hip-hop community in their questioning who should be trusted with the genre.
Many critics have interpreted “we don’t trust you” as a message aimed directly at Canadian rapper and former child actor Drake, born Aubrey Graham. Graham has recently elicited criticism for suing his own record label, alleging unfair streaming practices amid his ongoing beef with Los Angeles rapper Kendrick Lamar — another of Wayne’s collaborators. Wayne, Lamar and Future stunned fans in March with their song “Like That” from the album “We Don’t Trust You.” The track sparked said rap beef involving several musicians calling out Drake.
Wayne says there’s more to being part of hip-hop culture than just claiming it.
“I feel like you need to be contributing something to [hip-hop]. A lot of people take [and] there's a lot of stuff, the selfish gain,” he said. “Growing up I was a huge Tupac fan. People like this moved the culture forward progressively at the time. He was trying to get Black people to vote, speaking out about the injustices against us as well as delivering these timeless bodies of work.”
See photos from Metro Boomin's Leslie JoAnne Soirée by STLPR's Brian Munoz:
For more on Metro Boomin’s take on hip-hop, what it takes to earn his trust and his plans around Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s stop in St. Louis for their Grand Nationals Tour on June 4, listen to St. Louis on the Air on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube or click the play button below.
“St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by Miya Norfleet, Emily Woodbury, Danny Wicentowski, Elaine Cha and Alex Heuer. Jada Jones is our production assistant. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr.
