How Mali Wilson Went From Behind the Board to Behind the Mic

On this episode of Butternomics, Brandon Butler sits down with Mali Wilson, a music industry veteran who spent 15 years running Tree Sound Studios in Atlanta, one of the most iconic recording spaces in hip hop history. Lil Wayne was loyal to that building for over a decade. Drake, J. Cole, Big Sean, Wiz Khalifa, 2 Chainz — they all came through her doors, many of them before the world even knew their names. Mali took over a studio that was $300,000 in debt and turned it into the room where some of the biggest records in rap got made. In this conversation, Mali opens up about what she learned watching superstars build and lose careers up close, why she walked away from a deal with Clive Davis when the industry was collapsing, and what it really takes to earn respect as a woman operating in rooms full of men who weren't always ready to make space. She talks about launching Earth Girl, a movement that has reached over 4,000 young women through camps, mentorship, and real music industry education, placing nearly 200 songs on networks like Paramount and A&E. And she gets into the deeply personal story behind her debut album "Retro in Real Time," co-written with her husband Eric, aka The Black Banker, a project born out of falling in love for the first time after a lifetime of putting everyone else's music before her own. Mali recorded on Aretha Franklin's mic and Al Green's mic in Memphis, and she's not playing small. This is what it looks like when someone who spent their whole career building for others finally decides to build for themselves.

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