Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio News.
Speaker 2: We really have a fun guest that we want to
Speaker 2: get to right here at Bloomberg Technology.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we've actually just really set him up. We got
Speaker 1: to look at what happened over the last few days
Speaker 1: when it comes to the music industry. Phil Ackman looking
Speaker 1: to sell a stake in Universal Music Group, just days
Speaker 1: after the asterdam listed company rejected a takeover bid by
Speaker 1: the hedge fund billionaire. We got with us an expert
Speaker 1: in the music industry, someone who had a very long
Speaker 1: relationship with a subsidiary of Universal Music Group. We're talking
Speaker 1: about hit Boy.
Speaker 2: Yep. He is three time Grammy Award winning artists and
Speaker 2: a producer's known for shaping the sounds of jay Z, Beyonce, Naw's,
Speaker 2: Drake and so many more. Welcome, Welcome, hit Good Got
Speaker 2: appreciate y'all. So this is all about technology. How are
Speaker 2: you thinking increasingly about technology and its impact on music?
Speaker 3: Well, I started in music like using take I used
Speaker 3: a program called fl Studio. It was called Fruity Looms
Speaker 3: back in the day where this FL studio now. And
Speaker 3: you know, some of the biggest hits of origin racing
Speaker 3: in hip hop and just popular music have been made
Speaker 3: on fl But when it first came out, people were
Speaker 3: kind of like, oh, it's just like a computer program.
Speaker 3: It's not serious music making. But you know, tech is
Speaker 3: a it's always gonna advance.
Speaker 2: Man.
Speaker 1: Con is that where we are with AI today because
Speaker 1: people could actually just create you know, what they think
Speaker 1: of as Yeah, you know fruity loops using AI? Yeah,
Speaker 1: is that music?
Speaker 2: It is music for sure.
Speaker 3: You know, you still have a person having to prompt
Speaker 3: and it can't just press a button and prompt itself.
Speaker 3: So just you know, imagination, I feel like it's at
Speaker 3: all time high. If you have a great imagination and
Speaker 3: you use that in your work, you're going to succeed.
Speaker 1: But here's the thing. Isn't it all trained on music
Speaker 1: that's already out there?
Speaker 3: So well, not all of it, you know, there's some
Speaker 3: people that train it on certain you know, different ways,
Speaker 3: but you know, however, it's done like I feel like,
Speaker 3: you know, when MEDI came out, the person that studied
Speaker 3: the keyboard the piano for twenty years and learned gruves
Speaker 3: and melodies was like, what is this MIDI thing? You
Speaker 3: could just import notes and then make it sound like me?
Speaker 1: Like you know, so you're not worried about a loss
Speaker 1: of creativity in this era at all, Not at all.
Speaker 2: It's a boom, not an own music even created without technology,
Speaker 2: just trained on all the music that we've kind of
Speaker 2: got in our brain.
Speaker 3: Percent.
Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure, Hey talk to us about we want
Speaker 2: to go back to universal eighteen years right? Eighteen years? Yeah,
Speaker 2: but you decided to go off on your own? How
Speaker 2: did that change what you can do? Man?
Speaker 3: I feel like I've been just empowered to the maximum capability,
Speaker 3: like you know, just like being in that deal for
Speaker 3: eighteen years, I always kind of felt like I had
Speaker 3: a black cloud over me, and as many hits as
Speaker 3: I did make, I still feel like I wasn't in
Speaker 3: my complete right mind because that was always lingering. But
Speaker 3: now I'm completely free, and I got all these tools,
Speaker 3: in all these this knowledge I've gained over the years,
Speaker 3: I feel unstoppable.
Speaker 1: So what did that relationship prevent you from doing?
Speaker 3: From making the amount of money I should have been
Speaker 3: making and just progressing through my deal for or you know,
Speaker 3: the amount of work I put in.
Speaker 1: But was it the right thing for you early in
Speaker 1: your career?
Speaker 3: I guess so, because I'm here right now, Bloomberg.
Speaker 2: Do you know what I mean?
Speaker 3: So you know that also to struggle to grief, you know,
Speaker 3: the grief, like it just it led me to this
Speaker 3: place where I'm I'm just like I feel powered up.
Speaker 2: You know. Tell us about this solo album that you've
Speaker 2: got coming out. Software update software up there. I love
Speaker 2: the name tell us though, Like what this means to you.
Speaker 3: It's beyond just the music, you know, it's like updating
Speaker 3: yourself as a person, just moving better, dressing better, living better,
Speaker 3: whatever it is to update yourself, you know, on a
Speaker 3: daily basis, do that, you know, working out whatever it is,
Speaker 3: eating right, Like just you know that you got to
Speaker 3: update the software, just.
Speaker 2: Like a computer.
Speaker 1: What's it like going from somebody who's known as a collaborator,
Speaker 1: you know, Carol mentioned a few and the people you've
Speaker 1: worked with, Kazi, Beyonce, Nov Drake and more to doing
Speaker 1: this to doing this solo project.
Speaker 3: To be honest, it doesn't feel any different because I'm
Speaker 3: just a creative. I get the same excitement and the
Speaker 3: same high when I'm making a beat as if I
Speaker 3: do a verse or if I engineer for a big artist.
Speaker 3: Anything I'd do creatively that gives me that spark. I'm
Speaker 3: enjoying it.
Speaker 2: You know, what's a message you would like to send
Speaker 2: to people with this album? Just got about thirty seconds.
Speaker 1: To lock in UPDHL software.
Speaker 3: You know, just look inside every day and just look
Speaker 3: in the mirror and get better.
Speaker 1: Hey, very briefly, is on YouTube what my space was
Speaker 1: to you in the beginning of your career? Ten seconds?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I would say so for sure.
Speaker 3: You know I can just fire off as much as
Speaker 3: I want you on YouTube.
Speaker 2: Well, thanks for spending time with us. Definitely really cool.
Speaker 2: Good luck, good luck to the album. Show for a
Speaker 2: second to hit poy here, Grammy winning artist and producer