“It was the most difficult decision I’ve ever made.”

I spoke with producer Conductor Williams, best known for his work with Westside Gunn and Griselda, about the hardest decision of his life: walking away from a 20-year railway career to make beats full-time.

This is the story of a leap, rooted in faith, family, and sound.

Before the placements, before the industry knew his name, Conductor Williams had a steady union job.

“I worked for a railway… nearly 20 years,” he told me by phone from his home in Kansas City.

It wasn’t just a paycheck. It was a career.

“Conductors and engineers make real money. You stay in nice hotels. You get chartered. It’s like the NBA,” he said.

He worked long shifts—12 hours on, 12 off—but still made time for music.

“I’d get home and still make beats. I don’t know how I had the fuel, but I did. Every day,” Conductor said.

Eventually, the travel and the grind caught up to him.

“My health was declining. I was eating like crap, sleeping odd hours. I was down bad.”

His wife saw it clearly: “She said, ‘You gotta figure this out. We need you here.’” 

Conductor hadn’t landed a Drake or Cole placement yet. But the decision to pursue music was already underway.

“My heart is in the music,” Conductor shared. “The railroad was something I learned to do. Music is something I am.”

Quitting wasn’t easy. He had seniority. Security.

“I had so many years in. I was never going to get laid off unless 1,500 people got laid off before me,” he said.

But his coworkers could see it coming: “They were taking bets on when I’d leave.”

Conductor didn’t just quit. He prepared. And he had faith the next step would reveal itself.

“If this don’t work, God will give me something else to do. I don’t fear that,” he said.

That trust came from a deep spiritual foundation: “It’s not just strategy, it’s spiritual.”

Since going full-time, the gratitude hits hardest in the quiet moments.

With relief in his voice, he told me: “I’m coaching my son’s basketball team, and I realize—I’m just here. I’m not watching the clock. I’m not drained. I’m present.”

Conductor remembers the old life vividly:

“I’d be at a soccer game, hadn’t slept in 36 hours. I was there—but I wasn’t really there.”

He continued: “I probably work harder now. But it’s what I want to do. It’s emotional and mental exhaustion now. Not survival exhaustion.”

The work changed, but structure is still key.

“I wake up at 4 a.m., work before the kids get up, take a lunch, pick up the kids from school, do dinner, maybe hit the lab again. That’s how this works.”

And the creative fire hasn’t dimmed.

“I feel now how I felt when I first got my MPC. I still wake up excited. Like, yo—what record am I going to find today? I just wish everyone could feel how I feel—knowing I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing.”

I ask Conductor if he’s ever wavered on his decision to pursue music full-time:

“I’m not going back to the railroad. And if this stops working, God will show me something else. Whatever it is, it’ll touch people emotionally. That’s all I ever wanted.”

Photo Credit: AMES CREATIVE