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Xavier Lamar Dotson (born January 12, 1980), known professionally as Zaytoven, is an American record producer from Atlanta, Georgia. He has released collaborative projects with artists including Gucci Mane, Usher, Future, Young Dolph, Migos, Lecrae, Lil Yachty, Chief Keef, Young Scooter, B.o.B, Boosie Badazz, Waka Flocka Flame, 21 Savage, Deitrick Haddon and La Fève.
Zaytoven signed with Gucci Mane's 1017 Records as an in-house producer after producing the latter's 2005 single "Icy". He was credited on Usher's 2009 single "Papers", which peaked within the Billboard Hot 100's top 40.
Dotson was introduced to rap in middle school by a friend. He learned to produce music while attending high school in his spare time between school and basketball, Dotson played the keyboard during halftime at his high school football games. While he was performing one day at the game, he met rapper JT the Bigga Figga who liked what he heard, and invited Dotson to his studio, where Dotson had unlimited access to his keyboards. He truly began to utilize his skills as a producer while making beats in JT's studio before he started making a name for himself in Atlanta.
Having saved up money from his day job as a barber, Zaytoven began to buy equipment for producing. He would ship this to his parents' house in Atlanta, to which he eventually moved, and set up his own studio there. He enrolled in a local barber college in Atlanta and got a job as a barber to help finance the rest of his studio. While attending barber school, a classmate of his introduced Zaytoven to Gucci Mane, who would become his right-hand man in his career as a producer. Zaytoven and Gucci Mane began to work together every day after meeting each other. Zaytoven said in an interview with Fader that Gucci Mane would call him at 7 a.m. asking if he was ready to start making music for that day. Zaytoven and Gucci Mane spent the majority of the early 2000s making music together and selling mixtapes out of the trunks of their cars in Atlanta. It wasn't until 2005 that the two gained mainstream recognition from their hit song "Icy", with features from Jeezy and Boo. This recognition gave Zaytoven's career the boost it needed to take off, landing the hit song "Papers" with Usher in 2010 on Usher's certified platinum album Raymond v. Raymond.
Zaytoven collaborated with hip hop trio Migos. He produced several tracks on their 2013 mixtape, Y.R.N. (Young Rich Niggas), including the hit track "Versace", which peaked at 53 on the Billboard charts. Zaytoven's collaboration with Migos continued; he helped produce their followup mixtape No Label 2, released on February 25, 2014.
In 2015, Zaytoven provided exclusive production for ten mixtapes, including Future's Beast Mode, released on January 15. He also worked on Future's album DS2, which debuted on July 17.
In July 2016, Zaytoven produced or co-produced seven songs on Gucci Mane's first album since being released from prison, Everybody Looking. In the same month, Lil Uzi Vert's The Perfect LUV Tape was released, containing the Zaytoven-produced songs "Money Mitch" and "SideLine Watching (Hold Up)". In 2017, Zaytoven contributed to projects such as Gucci Mane's Mr. Davis, 21 Savage's Issa Album, Migos' Culture, Moneybagg Yo's Heartless, and Yo Gotti's I Still Am. Zaytoven also released two independent projects, Wake Up & Cook Up and Where Would the Game Be Without Me.
Zaytoven was scheduled to release his debut album Trap Holizay on May 25, 2018, and a collaborative album with Lecrae titled Let the Trap Say Amen on June 22, 2018.
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| 2012 | Birds of a Feather | Himself |
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