Mike Bozzi

Mike Bozzi is an American Grammy Award-winning mastering engineer based at Bernie Grundman Mastering in Hollywood, California. He won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year in 2019 for mastering Childish Gambino’s “This Is America” and has received six nominations for Album of the Year and six nominations for Record of the Year. He is best known for his extensive work with Kendrick Lamar, mastering all of his major studio albums including ‘’Good Kid, M.A.A.D City’’ (2012), ‘’To Pimp a Butterfly’’ (2015), and ‘’DAMN.’’ (2017). His credits also include work for Post Malone, SZA, Tyler, the Creator, Mac Miller, and numerous other artists across hip-hop, R&B, and pop genres.

Early life

Bozzi was raised in a musical family with deep ties to the industry. His father served as a prominent radio program director in New York and Los Angeles before transitioning to an executive role at a major record label, exposing Bozzi to various aspects of the music business from an early age. Early in his career, Bozzi worked in various music industry roles, including as an usher at the Greek Theatre, a manager in music retail, for an independent label, and as an intern at A&M Records.

Career

Bernie Grundman Mastering (1992–2015)

Bozzi joined Bernie Grundman Mastering in 1992 as a part-time quality control engineer, where his duties involved critical listening and creating final production masters for duplication. Within a year, he became assistant engineer to legendary mastering engineer Brian “Big Bass” Gardner, serving as his production engineer for over 20 years. During this period as Gardner’s assistant, Bozzi contributed to multiplatinum and Grammy-winning projects by artists including Prince, Janet Jackson, Linkin Park, Dr. Dre, Eminem, Outkast, Katy Perry, and Christina Aguilera. Following Gardner’s retirement in 2015, Bozzi took over his studio and became a lead mastering engineer at the facility.

Lead engineer and Kendrick Lamar collaboration

Bozzi’s breakthrough as a lead mastering engineer came with Kendrick Lamar’s album ‘’Good Kid, M.A.A.D City’’ (2012), which earned him his first Grammy nomination for Album of the Year. This began a long-standing collaboration with Lamar, and Bozzi has since mastered all of his major releases, including ‘’To Pimp a Butterfly’’ (2015), ‘’Untitled Unmastered’’ (2016), and ‘’DAMN.’’ (2017), as well as singles like “Humble” and “All the Stars”. Bozzi has become the preferred mastering engineer for the Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE) roster, mastering releases for Schoolboy Q (including “That Part” featuring Kanye West), SZA, Jay Rock, and Ab-Soul.

Expansion and continued success

Beyond his work with Kendrick Lamar and TDE, Bozzi has mastered major releases across multiple genres. His credits include extensive work with Post Malone, mastering the albums ‘’Beerbongs & Bentleys’’ (2018), ‘’Hollywood’s Bleeding’’ (2019), and singles including “Rockstar” (featuring 21 Savage), “Sunflower” (with Swae Lee), and “Circles.” He has also mastered albums for Tyler, the Creator (’’Igor’’, 2019), Mac Miller (’’Balloonerism’’, 2025), Doja Cat (”Say So”), and numerous other artists including Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg, YG, Earl Sweatshirt, Tupac Shakur, Young Buck, and Giggs. In 2019, Bozzi received a Latin Grammy Award nomination for Best Engineered Album for Ricardo Montaner’s ‘‘Montaner’’, demonstrating his range beyond hip-hop and R&B.

Awards and nominations

Selected discography

∙ Kendrick Lamar – ‘’Good Kid, M.A.A.D City’’ (2012) ∙ Kendrick Lamar – ‘’To Pimp a Butterfly’’ (2015) ∙ Kendrick Lamar – ‘’DAMN.’’ (2017) ∙ Schoolboy Q – ‘’Blank Face LP’’ (2016) ∙ SZA – ‘’Ctrl’’ (2017) ∙ Post Malone – ‘’Beerbongs & Bentleys’’ (2018) ∙ Childish Gambino – “This Is America” (2018) ∙ Tyler, the Creator – ‘’Igor’’ (2019) ∙ Post Malone – ‘’Hollywood’s Bleeding’’ (2019) ∙ Mac Miller – ‘’Balloonerism’’ (2025)

References

External links

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