WEBVTT - Kaytranada 0:00:15.436 --> 0:00:23.196 Pushkin. Hey everyone. If you've been listening to new projects 0:00:23.196 --> 0:00:25.876 by Drake Er Beyonce or paying attention to the recent 0:00:25.916 --> 0:00:29.796 conversations around the resurgence of nineties dance music kicked off 0:00:29.836 --> 0:00:33.556 by their projects, chances are you've heard Ktronada's name or 0:00:33.596 --> 0:00:39.036 his influence. Suddenly, Ktronada's futuristic, soulful disco sound is everywhere, 0:00:39.276 --> 0:00:41.636 including on his new hit song to Inflame feature in 0:00:41.716 --> 0:00:46.316 Anderson Pack. Ktronada is an interesting confluence of culture. Haitian 0:00:46.396 --> 0:00:49.156 by birth and lineage. He was raised outside of Montreal 0:00:49.356 --> 0:00:52.836 in French speaking Quebec, Canada. He got a start as 0:00:52.836 --> 0:00:56.316 a teenager uploading Jay Dilla and Flying Lotus inspired beats 0:00:56.356 --> 0:00:59.716 to SoundCloud. It was there in twenty twelve that his 0:00:59.996 --> 0:01:04.836 edit of Janet Jackson's song If first exploded overnight, becoming 0:01:04.956 --> 0:01:08.556 a massive viral hit. In the ten years since, Ktronada 0:01:08.636 --> 0:01:13.436 has rema officially and unofficially, hundreds of records and released 0:01:13.476 --> 0:01:18.076 two studio albums, including the Grammy Award winning Bubba, featuring 0:01:18.156 --> 0:01:22.756 artists like Caliuchi's gold Link and Masego. On today's episode, 0:01:22.836 --> 0:01:25.236 Rick Rubin and Catronata sit down to talk about how 0:01:25.356 --> 0:01:30.556 using technology unconventionally can lead to creating an entirely new sound. 0:01:31.196 --> 0:01:34.156 Katra also explains the anxiety he felt as an up 0:01:34.156 --> 0:01:36.956 and coming hip hop producer who can never quite connect 0:01:36.996 --> 0:01:41.196 with a classic production tool, the MPC. He also talks 0:01:41.236 --> 0:01:44.076 about what it's like rocking stadiums as the opening DJ 0:01:44.356 --> 0:01:51.396 on The Weekend's current worldwide tour. This is broken record 0:01:51.756 --> 0:01:55.556 liner notes for the digital Age. I'm justin mission. Here's 0:01:55.636 --> 0:02:01.036 Rick Rubin with Ktronada. Great to see you see you man? 0:02:01.196 --> 0:02:03.116 Where have you been mostly? Have you been on tour 0:02:03.276 --> 0:02:07.156 or home tour? I've been touring since probably the whole 0:02:07.196 --> 0:02:09.996 summer and now I'm into tour of it, the Weekend 0:02:10.636 --> 0:02:12.876 US tour. And how's it going to work? Like? Do 0:02:12.876 --> 0:02:14.756 you know what the setup for the for the evening? 0:02:14.756 --> 0:02:17.756 It's going to be in the stadium shows. It's really 0:02:17.796 --> 0:02:20.636 like my same shows, like I do DJ sets. Cool. 0:02:20.716 --> 0:02:25.036 It doesn't quite make sense because I'm just like this 0:02:25.156 --> 0:02:28.316 DJ ACT producer DJ ACT and I don't really do 0:02:28.476 --> 0:02:31.876 much more than just DJ. But it looks cool, I guess. 0:02:31.996 --> 0:02:33.836 And the music is gonna be great, like people are 0:02:33.876 --> 0:02:36.916 coming into good music. Yeah, it's all good. You know, 0:02:37.036 --> 0:02:40.676 music always been great but absolutely like being an opener, 0:02:40.716 --> 0:02:43.516 it's not all the way easy. I feel like in 0:02:43.596 --> 0:02:46.996 some ways though, what's interesting about it is that considering 0:02:46.996 --> 0:02:49.916 the kind of set you do, it's not like, hey, 0:02:49.996 --> 0:02:53.756 look at me. It's like, here's this great music. Yeah yeah, 0:02:53.836 --> 0:02:55.756 And so it's not do you know what I mean? Like, 0:02:55.796 --> 0:02:58.716 I feel like it could really work in that everyone's 0:02:58.716 --> 0:03:01.156 just going to be enjoying the music and then the 0:03:01.876 --> 0:03:05.436 you know, the rock star show happens after and that's fine. Yeah, 0:03:05.516 --> 0:03:08.396 it's fine. You know, I'm not competition something I signed up, 0:03:08.396 --> 0:03:11.076 you know, like they put me in the they put 0:03:11.076 --> 0:03:13.756 me in a lineup for that. So I'm like, it's 0:03:13.756 --> 0:03:16.356 it's it's cool, you know, Like I I love to 0:03:16.476 --> 0:03:19.876 just do me and just and people are like people 0:03:19.876 --> 0:03:22.476 are people already loving it? Like like I just people 0:03:22.556 --> 0:03:25.476 see on the stands and I see like stories Instagram 0:03:25.516 --> 0:03:28.156 stories that people are watching, like even from up there, 0:03:28.876 --> 0:03:30.716 they just like, oh my god, get you now? Are 0:03:30.716 --> 0:03:33.516 you killing it? Tell me from the beginning. When's the 0:03:33.556 --> 0:03:36.716 first time you ever played live? So when I played 0:03:36.756 --> 0:03:39.636 live for the first time, it was in Montreal. It 0:03:39.676 --> 0:03:43.556 wasn't really a set. It's like this beat thing. It 0:03:43.636 --> 0:03:45.596 was not even a competition. Were just it was just 0:03:45.636 --> 0:03:49.276 a lineup of producers for Montreal surprising. There was like 0:03:49.316 --> 0:03:51.796 a lot of them, and I was one of them. 0:03:51.836 --> 0:03:55.236 And we were all making like those like Boom Bab 0:03:55.556 --> 0:03:58.476 kind of like influenced by the low end theory like 0:03:58.556 --> 0:04:02.836 Flying Lotus like and all the brain Feeder like we 0:04:02.836 --> 0:04:05.076 were all like inspired by them, and we were making 0:04:05.076 --> 0:04:10.156 our own community of beat makers and not gonna lie. 0:04:10.196 --> 0:04:12.836 When I came in, it was like some old shit, 0:04:13.076 --> 0:04:15.836 like where this motifuer come from? Because I wasn't not 0:04:15.916 --> 0:04:17.916 I didn't I didn't live in the city at all, 0:04:18.036 --> 0:04:21.156 so I was in the suburbs. And that's like kind 0:04:21.156 --> 0:04:23.436 of like the first time. So I was like, okay, 0:04:23.476 --> 0:04:27.196 I can go out in Montreal and down sound. So 0:04:27.276 --> 0:04:30.076 most of the other people already knew each other. Yeah, 0:04:30.276 --> 0:04:33.156 like everybody else knew each other, but I met everybody 0:04:33.236 --> 0:04:36.876 that the first time I actually played live. So cool. Yeah, 0:04:36.956 --> 0:04:39.556 it was. It was a good time. I was like 0:04:39.676 --> 0:04:43.756 nineteen when you were first coming up, you did remixes. Also, 0:04:43.836 --> 0:04:45.676 before you were asked to do a remixes, you just 0:04:45.676 --> 0:04:48.356 did them on your own. And tell me about that process, 0:04:48.436 --> 0:04:50.636 like how would you pick what to do, and then 0:04:50.956 --> 0:04:53.876 what would you use that source material to build from 0:04:54.156 --> 0:04:57.196 because you had you know, you had limitations. Yeah, then 0:04:57.716 --> 0:05:01.276 oh it's like I don't know even like just find acapella, 0:05:01.396 --> 0:05:04.436 like yeah, that was always fascinating to me. Yeah, it's 0:05:04.516 --> 0:05:07.316 easier now, I think, but when you were starting, I 0:05:07.316 --> 0:05:09.036 think it was a little harder. Oh it was harder. 0:05:09.356 --> 0:05:11.236 Like there's a lot of songs that show like, oh 0:05:11.276 --> 0:05:13.636 my god, if I had the a cappellat this song. Yeah, 0:05:14.156 --> 0:05:17.116 but a lot of them were not available, which was like, 0:05:17.196 --> 0:05:20.356 oh man, you know, but I would find sometimes when 0:05:20.356 --> 0:05:22.476 I had to remix it, I would find ways to 0:05:22.556 --> 0:05:26.156 like just add drums over it, or even making my 0:05:26.196 --> 0:05:29.196 own edit and just stuff like that. Do you want 0:05:29.196 --> 0:05:31.876 to play this one of your early remixes? That's like 0:05:32.276 --> 0:05:34.196 you were not hired to do, but you just took 0:05:34.236 --> 0:05:38.076 it upon yourself. Yeah, I got one. The Janet remix 0:05:38.276 --> 0:05:41.876 was like one that was really that caught people's attention. 0:05:44.276 --> 0:05:46.636 I always gonna play this on my shows no matter what. 0:05:52.956 --> 0:05:58.236 It's psychedelic it's bad. I feel like a lot of 0:05:58.276 --> 0:06:01.796 my remixes, like my early ones, they were like so 0:06:03.276 --> 0:06:06.356 like innocent. They were not like I was not trying 0:06:06.396 --> 0:06:09.316 to blow up. I was really like expressing myself at 0:06:09.316 --> 0:06:11.796 a point where I don't know I was doing edits, 0:06:11.836 --> 0:06:15.036 but like my DJ sets and stuff like that, and 0:06:15.316 --> 0:06:17.996 I want to resent myself like that. It almost that 0:06:18.036 --> 0:06:21.796 almost feels like two records playing at once that don't 0:06:21.876 --> 0:06:26.036 really work together, but somehow they just stay glued together 0:06:26.076 --> 0:06:29.676 and you find this other rhythm going on the way 0:06:29.716 --> 0:06:31.996 they bounce off each other. Oh yeah, it was well 0:06:32.076 --> 0:06:34.236 received when it came out and whatever. That that was 0:06:34.276 --> 0:06:35.876 the one that kind of like put me on them, 0:06:36.076 --> 0:06:40.196 like on the maps, so cool intellectual world. It's it's 0:06:40.316 --> 0:06:43.236 it's funny because like when I end up remixed songs, 0:06:44.116 --> 0:06:47.076 don't I really love the song. I end up loving 0:06:47.196 --> 0:06:50.196 fall in love with the song, and then and then 0:06:50.196 --> 0:06:51.996 I'm trying to break up the song. It's like it's 0:06:51.996 --> 0:06:54.356 funny and I'll end up remixing and I don't feel 0:06:54.356 --> 0:06:56.636 the same about the original, Like I don't have the 0:06:56.716 --> 0:06:59.636 same love I used to have with the original respect 0:06:59.636 --> 0:07:02.996 it as yeah, yeah, no, I understand. But but you've 0:07:03.196 --> 0:07:05.956 it's almost like you've seen it in a new light. Yeah, 0:07:05.996 --> 0:07:07.956 and it's hard to see it back the way or 0:07:07.996 --> 0:07:10.116 you can't. Maybe you can't never go back and see 0:07:10.156 --> 0:07:12.636 it the way he'sap exactly. It kind of messes up 0:07:12.676 --> 0:07:14.916 with my head. But it's all It's all good though, 0:07:14.956 --> 0:07:18.436 because yeah, because man, I end up making like classics 0:07:18.516 --> 0:07:22.636 that people are just like, whuoa, so cool and I 0:07:22.676 --> 0:07:25.356 love that. I love that I had that power, you 0:07:25.356 --> 0:07:27.756 know what I'm saying. So cool? Maybe start only remixing 0:07:27.756 --> 0:07:31.556 songs you don't like, then it's all good, only better 0:07:31.956 --> 0:07:39.676 exactly talk about them that the world. So it's interesting 0:07:39.716 --> 0:07:42.196 the timing you make that you put it up on SoundCloud, 0:07:42.236 --> 0:07:45.876 I imagine, yeah, and now that I don't think it 0:07:45.916 --> 0:07:48.916 would do the same, like the world has changed. Oh yeah, 0:07:49.116 --> 0:07:51.356 tell me a little bit about that moment in time. 0:07:51.876 --> 0:07:55.596 How was SoundCloud viewed in the world. It was something 0:07:55.676 --> 0:07:59.876 that was so like you could find original music there 0:08:00.196 --> 0:08:04.756 just up becoming like DIY artists. There was just this 0:08:04.796 --> 0:08:09.556 world of like this explosion of bedroom producers that we 0:08:09.596 --> 0:08:12.876 could finally upload our stuff online. There was not like 0:08:13.276 --> 0:08:16.196 at the time when there was like bedroom producers, there 0:08:16.236 --> 0:08:18.756 was no outlet for them to like put their stuff 0:08:18.796 --> 0:08:21.716 out there. It was discovered a community of people making 0:08:21.716 --> 0:08:24.196 stuff putting it up to share it with other people. 0:08:24.916 --> 0:08:27.236 Who were just heads really because it wasn't like really 0:08:27.316 --> 0:08:29.356 mainstream at all. It was more just for other people 0:08:29.396 --> 0:08:31.716 who like making cool stuff and checking out what other 0:08:31.756 --> 0:08:35.676 cool people making. Yeah, yeah, because for me, like I 0:08:35.716 --> 0:08:38.276 would say that, like I didn't find it right away, 0:08:38.276 --> 0:08:40.636 but I had my accounts. It's two thousand and nine, 0:08:40.756 --> 0:08:45.076 maybe that's like ten years plus. But before that, there 0:08:45.156 --> 0:08:48.996 was like a YouTube like community that I had. A 0:08:49.036 --> 0:08:51.316 lot of those producers end up making it, you know, 0:08:51.396 --> 0:08:53.636 like doing their own thing now, which is good, but 0:08:53.676 --> 0:08:56.836 I was like a teenager at the time. It's one guy, 0:08:56.916 --> 0:09:03.156 kay kaylin ellis just he's a amazing musician. But I 0:09:03.236 --> 0:09:06.436 knew him online since I was he since he was twelve. 0:09:06.476 --> 0:09:08.876 I was like fourteen, and we were all like in 0:09:08.916 --> 0:09:12.396 this community of be makers, like all enforced by you know, 0:09:12.476 --> 0:09:16.236 Fly Lotus and you know Jay Diller. You can't really 0:09:16.236 --> 0:09:18.676 find kids like around us. I was listening to that 0:09:18.716 --> 0:09:21.316 type of music on top of that, so for us 0:09:21.316 --> 0:09:23.516 to come together it was like it meant a lot 0:09:23.556 --> 0:09:26.676 to us. And we were all uploading our beats on 0:09:26.716 --> 0:09:29.676 YouTube at the time because SoundCloud was not really the thing, 0:09:30.796 --> 0:09:34.036 but YouTube was like more accessible to YouTube was the 0:09:34.116 --> 0:09:37.396 first place to be able to make something, put it 0:09:37.476 --> 0:09:39.596 up and feel like there was a community that would 0:09:39.596 --> 0:09:41.276 be able to check it out. Yeah, that's how I 0:09:41.276 --> 0:09:44.636 felt like, because I mean a lot of friends online 0:09:44.676 --> 0:09:47.596 that still to this day, I'm like, yo, I keep 0:09:47.636 --> 0:09:50.156 contact with like some of them, you know, to this day, 0:09:50.196 --> 0:09:52.196 and I think I still think it's amazing because we're 0:09:52.196 --> 0:09:56.236 all making like tight shit, like, but we were like 0:09:56.516 --> 0:09:59.556 so young, just trying to be our favorite producer, like 0:09:59.556 --> 0:10:02.836 trying to be like them, you know, imitating them. And 0:10:02.876 --> 0:10:04.916 I feel like when you imitate a producer and you're 0:10:04.956 --> 0:10:08.316 young and you're starting to produce, it's like it's good training. Yeah, 0:10:08.396 --> 0:10:12.756 you find your way in most people start. The first 0:10:12.756 --> 0:10:14.956 thing you do is through imitation, just to kind of 0:10:15.076 --> 0:10:17.796 figure out how to do it. Yeah, and then slowly 0:10:17.796 --> 0:10:20.116 it just starts becoming more you and less them. Just 0:10:20.556 --> 0:10:24.156 happens even without trying, Like it just happens, you know, 0:10:24.436 --> 0:10:26.316 kind of run out of their stuff to copy, and 0:10:26.316 --> 0:10:29.676 you're still making stuff and now it's new exactly. But yeah, 0:10:29.876 --> 0:10:34.676 like back to the community thing on YouTube, we slowly 0:10:34.716 --> 0:10:37.756 move into SoundCloud, like one by one went on SoundCloud. 0:10:38.316 --> 0:10:41.556 It definitely evolved over the years, you know, in twenty twelve, 0:10:41.676 --> 0:10:45.756 Like when that remix was uploaded, a lot of people 0:10:45.836 --> 0:10:49.156 were like getting known to YouTube. So there will be 0:10:49.156 --> 0:10:53.116 like YouTube channels where they would post like one of 0:10:53.156 --> 0:10:55.476 the producers on SoundCloud they would like and then they 0:10:55.476 --> 0:10:57.676 will upload them because they had a lot of subscribers. 0:10:58.156 --> 0:11:00.756 That's what happened with my remix. So like a tastemaker 0:11:01.116 --> 0:11:04.196 would repost it. Yeah, and so there were people who 0:11:04.236 --> 0:11:06.196 were just looking for whatever was cool, and then they 0:11:06.236 --> 0:11:08.716 would turn on more people to it. Yeah. It's like 0:11:08.756 --> 0:11:11.036 it's like, you know, just like somebody who has a 0:11:11.076 --> 0:11:14.036 Tumbler page and they got a lot of followers on 0:11:14.076 --> 0:11:17.796 their Tumbler, they were like upload. You know, they're got 0:11:17.876 --> 0:11:19.996 my YouTube channel, this is all the music I listened 0:11:20.036 --> 0:11:23.876 to and they love that person's taste, so and so 0:11:23.996 --> 0:11:26.796 they trust them, and my remix would end up being 0:11:26.836 --> 0:11:30.276 on that page. And then yeah, I was like, what 0:11:30.316 --> 0:11:32.876 the hell's going on? Like I would get like notification, 0:11:33.036 --> 0:11:36.236 Like I would go up at noon and get like 0:11:37.076 --> 0:11:40.276 six hundred notifications on my phone over there on SoundCloud, 0:11:40.876 --> 0:11:43.516 and I'm like this is not real. Yeah, I'm going 0:11:43.516 --> 0:11:46.196 back to sleep because like I was sleeping madly, like 0:11:46.236 --> 0:11:48.356 five am, six am, and that's when like I was 0:11:48.436 --> 0:11:50.996 making music and work all night and sleep all days, 0:11:51.156 --> 0:11:55.676 normal normal young young musician hours, yeah, you know yeah, 0:11:55.756 --> 0:11:57.876 and then you know I was I woke up again 0:11:57.956 --> 0:12:01.036 like maybe like three pm, like what the hell's going on? 0:12:01.076 --> 0:12:03.636 So I just see like those like numbers, and I 0:12:03.676 --> 0:12:06.556 just couldn't believe it. It It was like what is going on? 0:12:06.796 --> 0:12:09.596 You know, like and I just saw that that person 0:12:09.676 --> 0:12:12.276 uploaded on their YouTube channel and then that kind of 0:12:12.276 --> 0:12:14.156 like spread a word about this remix and I just 0:12:14.196 --> 0:12:17.836 can really can't believe in until posted the second one 0:12:18.236 --> 0:12:21.036 to be a Girl remix? So cool? When did the 0:12:21.116 --> 0:12:25.476 SoundCloud change? When did SoundCloud stop meaning what it meant? 0:12:26.076 --> 0:12:28.676 I have no idea. I think they could sell like 0:12:28.676 --> 0:12:31.516 when business like you know, need sponsors and need like 0:12:31.916 --> 0:12:36.436 ads so they can like you know, still float. Business 0:12:36.436 --> 0:12:39.796 model change to be something Yeah it becomes less cool 0:12:40.316 --> 0:12:42.236 or I don't know, Like for me, it didn't really 0:12:42.276 --> 0:12:45.076 bother me, but I could sell like nobody was really 0:12:45.116 --> 0:12:48.596 uploading stuff there. And did people go back to YouTube 0:12:48.756 --> 0:12:51.076 or was there another option? I don't think there was 0:12:51.116 --> 0:12:53.596 another option. So what do people do now? I think 0:12:53.716 --> 0:12:56.436 right now it's like TikTok could be a good one. 0:12:57.236 --> 0:12:59.036 There's a lot of news I got discovered. A lot 0:12:59.076 --> 0:13:02.076 of artists are discovered on TikTok right now, so there's 0:13:02.076 --> 0:13:04.636 always gonna be a new thing. But there was definitely 0:13:04.676 --> 0:13:07.956 something special at the time. Yeah, it also was whole tracks, 0:13:07.996 --> 0:13:11.436 because that's another difference between that and now TikTok. TikTok 0:13:11.436 --> 0:13:14.756 tends to be super short clips. It's not songs. It's 0:13:14.796 --> 0:13:18.156 a you know, fifteen twenty seconds. Yeah, like most like 0:13:18.476 --> 0:13:21.116 most snippets, you know, it would be like, oh my god, 0:13:21.156 --> 0:13:23.236 like when's this song coming out? And then somebody would 0:13:23.276 --> 0:13:27.596 blow up from a snippet. It's either like some people 0:13:27.636 --> 0:13:29.156 can't make it or break it because it's like the 0:13:29.196 --> 0:13:31.996 snippet turn out to be better than the song. Yeah, sometimes, 0:13:31.996 --> 0:13:34.316 so that happens a lot. That would say, it's easier 0:13:34.316 --> 0:13:37.796 to make fifteen seconds interesting than a whole song interesting, 0:13:38.196 --> 0:13:42.196 and then many whole songs interesting. Baby right Yeah, I'm like, 0:13:42.316 --> 0:13:44.556 man like, yeah, we have we have come to that 0:13:44.636 --> 0:13:47.876 time where the key to the highlight of the song 0:13:47.916 --> 0:13:52.876 would become the snippet, and then people would expect something different, 0:13:53.076 --> 0:13:55.996 you know, and do you still do DJ sets or 0:13:55.996 --> 0:13:57.956 do you play your own so tell me what is 0:13:57.956 --> 0:14:01.516 the current. I'm still doing DJ sets, you know, because yeah, personally, 0:14:01.516 --> 0:14:04.196 it's like my choice, Like I definitely want to take 0:14:04.236 --> 0:14:06.836 it to another level, but it's that it's my choice 0:14:06.836 --> 0:14:10.076 of like playing you know, the front edits yea, and 0:14:10.156 --> 0:14:12.396 if it's fun, I mean that's the most it's fun. 0:14:12.396 --> 0:14:15.636 It's is I feel the most confident, Yeah, as an 0:14:15.636 --> 0:14:18.596 electronic act if I'm not a keyboard player, because I'm 0:14:18.596 --> 0:14:20.356 not a keyboard player, you know what I'm saying, Like, 0:14:20.476 --> 0:14:22.196 I don't think it would make sense for me to 0:14:22.316 --> 0:14:26.316 like play with like keys and stuff like that. Like 0:14:26.356 --> 0:14:28.516 I love hip hop so much. I like the elements 0:14:28.516 --> 0:14:33.396 of like ones and twos and keep it like you know, 0:14:33.596 --> 0:14:37.236 dance music disc driven or you know, hip hop driven. 0:14:37.316 --> 0:14:39.756 So yeah, I just love doing that and just play 0:14:39.876 --> 0:14:42.876 like different versions of the songs. Like I would play 0:14:42.916 --> 0:14:46.476 like the bo Girl remix and just put the not 0:14:46.516 --> 0:14:50.436 the acopella, but like maybe just the keys, the bass 0:14:50.596 --> 0:14:54.436 and the vocals until the drop happens. Actually it's like 0:14:54.596 --> 0:14:58.156 different from the song cloud uploated version, Like every every 0:14:58.236 --> 0:15:01.716 version I play live is like slightly different. When I 0:15:01.836 --> 0:15:04.636 think of what the DJ's mission is in a club 0:15:05.396 --> 0:15:10.116 very specific to get people dancing, very specific energy. Is 0:15:10.116 --> 0:15:13.836 it any different when you're performing as you you know, 0:15:13.876 --> 0:15:16.356 you're you're not the DJ there to just rock the crowd. 0:15:16.396 --> 0:15:18.876 You're there because it's they want to see you what 0:15:18.956 --> 0:15:22.396 you're going to play. Is it a different mission than 0:15:22.476 --> 0:15:27.396 just getting up and rocking the club? Because when I 0:15:27.436 --> 0:15:30.276 do my act, it's like it's I gotta play the hits, 0:15:30.276 --> 0:15:34.796 I gotta play like songs from the album, and but 0:15:34.876 --> 0:15:37.636 I still end up DJing. But it's it's like strictly 0:15:37.716 --> 0:15:39.996 like my hits, you know, and like I have a 0:15:40.036 --> 0:15:44.956 long discography of like remixes or like even my own songs, 0:15:45.076 --> 0:15:47.516 albums EPs. But you know, it's like for me, I 0:15:47.636 --> 0:15:50.196 just love to lose myself in DJ. And it's like 0:15:50.236 --> 0:15:53.516 it's really like sometimes I just can't help myself to 0:15:53.676 --> 0:15:56.756 like DJ, you know. So yeah, because it's all fun 0:15:56.836 --> 0:15:59.196 for me. It's really like it's not really serious. It's 0:15:59.196 --> 0:16:01.436 not like, oh my god, my big break. You know, 0:16:02.236 --> 0:16:04.156 we're gonna take a quick break. But we'll be right 0:16:04.156 --> 0:16:10.676 back with more from k Drenada. We're back with more 0:16:10.716 --> 0:16:13.916 from Rick Rubin and Kate Nada. Who would you say 0:16:14.076 --> 0:16:17.156 biggest musical inspiration has been over the course of your life. 0:16:18.076 --> 0:16:22.476 Oh wow, of course you know Jay did it to 0:16:22.556 --> 0:16:26.236 me like when he passed away. Yeah, you know, I 0:16:26.276 --> 0:16:29.316 was listening to a lot of tribe called quests like 0:16:29.396 --> 0:16:31.556 you know, like when we talk about two thousand and six, 0:16:31.636 --> 0:16:35.716 you know, like I was literally discovering them at the time, 0:16:36.236 --> 0:16:39.556 and then growing up there's a lot of like stuff 0:16:39.556 --> 0:16:42.356 you produced songs I love. I didn't know Jay Della 0:16:42.436 --> 0:16:44.596 produced them, you know, so I just like look at 0:16:44.596 --> 0:16:47.836 this discography and I like, like probably fifty percent of 0:16:47.876 --> 0:16:50.116 the discography. So I was like, wait, admitted you know. 0:16:51.036 --> 0:16:53.836 And then you know, I heard Donuts, I heard all 0:16:53.836 --> 0:16:56.116 the beat tapes, and it was like something that was 0:16:56.156 --> 0:16:59.836 like that would study like as a producer. Him and 0:16:59.876 --> 0:17:04.036 mad Lib. I would say, like mad Lib specifically, like 0:17:04.036 --> 0:17:06.516 like Jayla introduced me to mad Lib and then mad 0:17:06.556 --> 0:17:09.716 Li was like you know MF Doom like the Mad 0:17:09.796 --> 0:17:12.876 Villain project. But mad Lip was like literally the one 0:17:12.916 --> 0:17:16.356 that I was like, Okay, he does jazz, he does 0:17:16.436 --> 0:17:19.676 house music. He got this house project on a monic 0:17:19.756 --> 0:17:23.516 different moniker and thought I thought I was so impressive, 0:17:23.556 --> 0:17:26.236 Like that really inspired me to do different things. Have 0:17:26.356 --> 0:17:28.996 you read the j. Diller book I I did read. 0:17:29.036 --> 0:17:32.836 Didn't it great? It's a really good book. It's I 0:17:32.916 --> 0:17:37.396 hit up the author d Yeah, like I hit him up, 0:17:37.396 --> 0:17:40.796 and I'm like, man, that was this such a beautiful book, 0:17:40.876 --> 0:17:44.276 you know. Yeah, And it's like, you know, it reconfirms 0:17:44.316 --> 0:17:47.036 all the like his true story, Like I don't know, 0:17:47.116 --> 0:17:49.676 like there's a lot of like myths. They were creating 0:17:49.676 --> 0:17:52.796 a lot of like stuff about Jay Diller. But now 0:17:53.036 --> 0:17:55.076 like reading the book, it's kind of like it makes 0:17:55.076 --> 0:17:58.956 you feel like, Okay, it's a good timeline of like 0:17:59.076 --> 0:18:02.396 what happened with like his musical career, like what happened 0:18:02.396 --> 0:18:05.356 with Cute Tip and yeah all that. Do you remember 0:18:05.356 --> 0:18:10.076 what your first memories of music in childhood? My dad 0:18:10.476 --> 0:18:14.076 played a lot of music, had this like big system 0:18:14.196 --> 0:18:17.676 like amplifiers and you know CD players, like I knew 0:18:17.676 --> 0:18:19.596 how to use CdSe when I was like four or 0:18:19.596 --> 0:18:23.036 five years old, and a lot of Kompa in the house, 0:18:23.156 --> 0:18:27.196 Haitian kompa, but also a lot of you know, Michael 0:18:27.716 --> 0:18:31.556 Bob Marley was my favorite artist who like George Benson 0:18:32.676 --> 0:18:37.156 al Jarro, like a lot of jazz as well. Man, 0:18:37.196 --> 0:18:39.276 it was just all types of music, Like my dad 0:18:39.316 --> 0:18:41.596 was playing while he was painting too, because he's a painter. 0:18:42.076 --> 0:18:44.836 Do you think hearing the diverse music when you were 0:18:44.836 --> 0:18:47.916 a kid impacted the stuff that you made sense? I 0:18:47.916 --> 0:18:50.276 don't really think so, you know. I feel like in 0:18:50.356 --> 0:18:54.796 some parts, like there's there's influences where like let's say, 0:18:54.796 --> 0:18:58.316 like when my dad played Michael Jackson, like it definitely like, yeah, 0:18:58.636 --> 0:19:01.116 there was just something about the up tempo and upbeat 0:19:01.236 --> 0:19:04.036 stuff where I was like, okay, you know, like Michael 0:19:04.196 --> 0:19:06.956 is in that circle. So yeah, that was something that 0:19:07.036 --> 0:19:09.796 was influenced by. But I forgot to tell you, like 0:19:09.876 --> 0:19:13.436 my sisters also had like this VHS tape of like 0:19:13.516 --> 0:19:16.756 ninety six ninety seven like hip hop R and B 0:19:17.276 --> 0:19:19.876 Beastie Boys as well, you know, so it's like a 0:19:19.916 --> 0:19:23.316 lot of like it's like a video tape of a 0:19:23.396 --> 0:19:26.636 bunch of music videos, and that's like something that would 0:19:26.636 --> 0:19:30.036 like watch more than cartoons and watch more than you know, 0:19:30.196 --> 0:19:32.476 anything else. That was like my main interest, like watching 0:19:32.476 --> 0:19:36.076 those music videos, and I absorbed that. What was your 0:19:36.076 --> 0:19:39.796 first experiments with making making beats or making music of 0:19:39.796 --> 0:19:43.916 any kind? Definitely when I start Djane Well, I didn't 0:19:43.916 --> 0:19:46.036 had like the tools to DJ at all, Like it 0:19:46.076 --> 0:19:50.956 was literally like software like online like virtual DJ. I 0:19:51.036 --> 0:19:53.716 knew all the shortcuts, so it was like I really 0:19:53.716 --> 0:19:57.076 sounded good, like I had like all the gear. And 0:19:57.116 --> 0:19:59.796 then it got to a point where I discovered looping, 0:20:00.276 --> 0:20:04.276 like drum loops and jazz loops, so everything was very 0:20:04.316 --> 0:20:09.076 like technical, so it felt like a lot of like produced. 0:20:09.156 --> 0:20:12.516 There's like how they started, you know, like all the 0:20:12.596 --> 0:20:15.916 legends y'all started with like this tape recorder, like like 0:20:15.916 --> 0:20:18.876 they just recorded like every loop on tape. So it 0:20:18.956 --> 0:20:21.476 felt like it was the same way where I would 0:20:21.516 --> 0:20:24.596 like record a whole three minute loop of like that beat, 0:20:24.916 --> 0:20:26.796 or I would do like you know, some sort of 0:20:26.796 --> 0:20:31.516 like automation live and had like five beats under my belt. 0:20:31.636 --> 0:20:34.916 And and that was on the laptop, and that was 0:20:35.036 --> 0:20:36.636 like that was not even on laptop. That was like 0:20:36.636 --> 0:20:40.796 on a desktop like PC computer that was really slow. 0:20:40.836 --> 0:20:44.556 And then and all that, and then the fruity loops 0:20:44.556 --> 0:20:48.876 came in the way where I was like trying again 0:20:49.396 --> 0:20:54.436 and fail to like actually like use the software. And 0:20:54.836 --> 0:20:57.076 my little bloody was like, yo, like this is how 0:20:57.116 --> 0:20:59.396 you use it. You gotta like put the kick here. 0:20:59.436 --> 0:21:02.116 But you know, I was like, oh, really okay, and 0:21:02.156 --> 0:21:05.516 then I just never stopped making beats from then. It 0:21:05.596 --> 0:21:09.276 seems like it also if you use technology in a 0:21:09.316 --> 0:21:12.236 way that's different than the way everyone else uses it, 0:21:12.236 --> 0:21:14.676 it can lead to some really interesting things. You know. 0:21:14.796 --> 0:21:17.876 It's like it might not be technically the right way, 0:21:17.916 --> 0:21:20.356 but there really isn't the right way. When we're making music, 0:21:20.396 --> 0:21:23.236 We're just looking for these moments, yeah, where it feels 0:21:23.276 --> 0:21:26.676 good exactly and to me something that I really like, 0:21:27.236 --> 0:21:29.196 Like I was really confident with my music, so I 0:21:29.276 --> 0:21:32.076 was like, how am I not really like like a 0:21:32.196 --> 0:21:34.916 musician musician and I'm making all that music? So that 0:21:34.996 --> 0:21:37.716 really like messed up with my head, like if I 0:21:37.796 --> 0:21:39.636 was doing the right thing or not, you know, like 0:21:39.756 --> 0:21:44.156 during my teenage years of like learning how to make beats, 0:21:44.396 --> 0:21:46.116 because I would see a lot of people like you know, 0:21:46.236 --> 0:21:50.516 using the MPC or play the keyboard and just you know, 0:21:50.636 --> 0:21:53.476 come up with stuff that is like things I never understood, 0:21:53.556 --> 0:21:57.476 but I always used it my own way, and that 0:21:57.796 --> 0:22:00.356 really like play with my head, like am I doing 0:22:00.356 --> 0:22:03.916 something right? Am I doing something wrong? But everything sounded good, 0:22:03.996 --> 0:22:07.236