WEBVTT - Kenny Beats on the Regional Sounds of Hip Hop 0:00:15.436 --> 0:00:25.476 Pushkin. There's a reason Kenny Beats is one of the 0:00:25.556 --> 0:00:28.996 great young producers in hip hop because he does his homework. 0:00:30.316 --> 0:00:33.036 Kenny has a vast understanding of the regional sounds and 0:00:33.156 --> 0:00:35.716 histories of cities to pull from when making beats. For 0:00:35.756 --> 0:00:38.596 an artist, this allows him to find a common musical 0:00:38.676 --> 0:00:40.956 language with rappers, which gives him a leg up in 0:00:40.996 --> 0:00:44.276 an art form as hyperlocal as a rap. Everything from 0:00:44.316 --> 0:00:47.156 the popular local dances to the type of crime most 0:00:47.196 --> 0:00:50.076 prevalent in different cities can inform the sound of a 0:00:50.156 --> 0:00:54.756 local scene and influences how Kenny might approach making a beat. Today, 0:00:54.796 --> 0:00:57.036 we're kicking off a two part series of interviews with 0:00:57.116 --> 0:00:59.836 Kenny Beats and The One You're About to Hear, which 0:00:59.916 --> 0:01:02.836 was taped a while back. Kenny maps out the evolution 0:01:02.876 --> 0:01:06.596 of regional sounds in hip hop, drawing parallels between disparate 0:01:06.636 --> 0:01:09.516 cities and now hip hop has evolved from creating beats 0:01:09.516 --> 0:01:12.956 out of old drum samples known as breakbeats, to sampling 0:01:13.036 --> 0:01:16.516 and referencing itself. I should also say that Kenny producer 0:01:16.596 --> 0:01:19.316 theme song The One You're About to Hear as if 0:01:19.356 --> 0:01:22.636 he were Rick Rubin in nineteen eighty five. See ifing 0:01:22.676 --> 0:01:30.116 gets which Specie Boys song it's based on. This is 0:01:30.196 --> 0:01:34.116 broken record liner notes for the digital age. I'm justin Richmonds. 0:01:38.556 --> 0:01:41.956 Here's Rick Rubin and Kenny Beats at Shanglu La. What's 0:01:41.956 --> 0:01:44.556 a good what's a good place to start? Well, really, like, 0:01:45.156 --> 0:01:47.756 first off, everything that you and I have talked about 0:01:47.796 --> 0:01:50.276 when it comes to regional hip hop and these things, 0:01:50.356 --> 0:01:52.836 I'm talking about such a short time period. Yes, I 0:01:52.876 --> 0:01:54.836 was born in ninety one, so I'm really thinking a 0:01:54.876 --> 0:01:58.676 little bit before when I was born, and then how 0:01:58.716 --> 0:02:00.436 that came into all the stuff I grew up with, 0:02:00.756 --> 0:02:02.996 and then all the stuff I'm actually working in now 0:02:03.276 --> 0:02:06.996 and what that was routed in. But oftentimes, like most 0:02:06.996 --> 0:02:10.516 of the parallels I'm finding between two cities or two 0:02:10.636 --> 0:02:13.356 artists or influence going on in the radio now or 0:02:13.396 --> 0:02:16.916 even on like a street level, it doesn't go back 0:02:16.956 --> 0:02:20.036 as far as like hip hop's roots go back. You 0:02:20.036 --> 0:02:22.316 know what I mean When I talk about like all 0:02:22.356 --> 0:02:25.476 the connections between Memphis and Atlanta, and all the connections 0:02:25.476 --> 0:02:30.956 between Detroit in the Bay Area, or even like Florida 0:02:30.996 --> 0:02:35.916 and New Orleans. The real like common denominator for me 0:02:36.516 --> 0:02:38.996 all started by the time like drum machines and eight 0:02:38.996 --> 0:02:41.116 O eights were introduced and those kinds of things. So 0:02:41.196 --> 0:02:43.436 I'm not even thinking back as far as like when 0:02:43.516 --> 0:02:46.396 Boombap hit any of these cities or g Funk or 0:02:46.396 --> 0:02:50.676 even that, It's just the conversation starts there, yes, you know, 0:02:50.756 --> 0:02:53.356 and like I think it's just so interesting how like 0:02:53.396 --> 0:02:56.956 there was like the first big rapper like signed coming 0:02:56.956 --> 0:02:59.636 out of Detroit that people always talk about was this 0:02:59.716 --> 0:03:02.716 dude named Robert s got signed in like nineteen eighty five, 0:03:02.836 --> 0:03:06.276 and that was like very reminiscent of like Brooklyn hip 0:03:06.276 --> 0:03:07.756 hop and like you know what I mean, like New 0:03:07.836 --> 0:03:11.076 York kind of stuff. But like the common conversation with 0:03:11.116 --> 0:03:16.076 Detroit is always eminem Kid Rock, Danny Brown, Big Sean, 0:03:16.316 --> 0:03:19.356 like those are the people like on the Mount rushmore 0:03:19.476 --> 0:03:21.996 of big commercial hip hop in Detroit that comes to 0:03:21.996 --> 0:03:25.836 everyone's minds. But what's going on on the street level 0:03:25.876 --> 0:03:29.516 there right now is so different than any of those 0:03:29.596 --> 0:03:33.756 four big artists. And it all started from what I 0:03:33.836 --> 0:03:37.396 understand with like artists like dex Osama and artists like 0:03:38.276 --> 0:03:42.116 Team east Side and what was dexas grouping of the 0:03:42.516 --> 0:03:46.676 Choppa Boys, and like I can play an example right now, 0:03:46.716 --> 0:03:49.516 the easiest parallel to always draw with people as Detroit 0:03:49.556 --> 0:03:51.716 in the Bay. It's all really fast. When people talk 0:03:51.756 --> 0:03:53.636 about Bay Area music, they really do think of like 0:03:53.676 --> 0:03:56.076 a mustard beat, or they think of like these kind 0:03:56.116 --> 0:03:59.836 of like swung G funk influenced, you know what I mean, 0:03:59.956 --> 0:04:04.036 kinds of production and raps and stuff. And Detroit to 0:04:04.116 --> 0:04:05.876 me is what all the people in the Bay are 0:04:05.876 --> 0:04:08.036 always talking about and listening to when I'm talking to 0:04:08.076 --> 0:04:11.196 those artists, and the first time you hear what I 0:04:11.236 --> 0:04:14.836 think of is like the current style that goes on 0:04:14.916 --> 0:04:17.316 in that city and where all those kids draw from. 0:04:17.356 --> 0:04:20.556 The forefather is from the late nineties, you know what 0:04:20.556 --> 0:04:24.516 I mean. It's it doesn't go back decades and decades, 0:04:24.836 --> 0:04:26.636 and like when you hear decks of stuff, you hear 0:04:28.076 --> 0:04:34.036 big reverbi pianos like piscicado strings and acid basslines, it's 0:04:34.036 --> 0:04:36.956 always these don't don't, don't don't play some play something 0:04:43.876 --> 0:04:47.436 my moment shout, I've gotten the reason why I got 0:04:47.476 --> 0:04:50.516 this vest on me. Yeah, these niggas won't needn't come 0:04:50.596 --> 0:04:57.196 in I so you can hear like it kind of 0:04:57.236 --> 0:04:59.116 sounds like the beats are being made with like the 0:04:59.196 --> 0:05:02.356 stock string sound, the stock piano sound, the stock bass 0:05:02.436 --> 0:05:06.636 sound they had. But when I listen to it, it's 0:05:07.876 --> 0:05:11.316 very often in early like Detroit rap and this subgenre 0:05:11.396 --> 0:05:15.796 of it an acid base wound, like the same similar 0:05:15.876 --> 0:05:18.076 kind of bass sound. And Detroit is also known for 0:05:18.156 --> 0:05:22.476 fathering techno, and there's a lot of those same sound 0:05:22.516 --> 0:05:26.276 palettes used. So in my mind, I'm like, Okay, somebody 0:05:26.396 --> 0:05:28.916 learned how to make music in Detroit around people who 0:05:28.916 --> 0:05:31.956 were familiar with these certain synthesizers, these certain drum machines 0:05:32.036 --> 0:05:35.076 or whatever. But what was resonating where they were from 0:05:35.476 --> 0:05:38.036 wasn't for on the floor drums, wasn't techno, wasn't this. 0:05:38.116 --> 0:05:41.036 It was different kinds of patterns, different kinds of beats. 0:05:41.036 --> 0:05:43.316 They were probably listening to stuff from other cities. So 0:05:43.356 --> 0:05:45.036 when they go to do a high hat pattern on 0:05:45.076 --> 0:05:46.716 a t R A to eight, or they go do 0:05:46.836 --> 0:05:49.956 a bassline on an old juno or whatever it is, 0:05:51.316 --> 0:05:56.316 they're emulating the melodies and the drum patterns and everything 0:05:56.316 --> 0:06:00.076 of hip hop, but they're using techno sounds really if 0:06:00.116 --> 0:06:01.796 you look at it, and I think that's where like 0:06:02.436 --> 0:06:06.116 the early Detroit sound came from. The tempo and everything 0:06:06.156 --> 0:06:08.156 got updated by what kids were listening to in this net, 0:06:08.196 --> 0:06:11.636 but it really was from Detroit techno elements. And when 0:06:11.676 --> 0:06:14.596 you listen to the biggest rappers in Detroit right now, 0:06:14.996 --> 0:06:16.476 if you go to a party in Detroit and play 0:06:16.556 --> 0:06:19.276 these songs like the entire room knows every word if 0:06:19.316 --> 0:06:22.756 even if they have no hook, you hear such similar elements. 0:06:23.076 --> 0:06:26.076 And the producer today, who I think everyone considers just 0:06:26.116 --> 0:06:28.156 the godfather of the current Detroit sound as hell of 0:06:28.196 --> 0:06:31.076 a And when you listen to some of the hottest 0:06:31.116 --> 0:06:34.676 stuff going on out of the Bay or like artists 0:06:34.676 --> 0:06:36.716 like Geasy, you know what I mean, or artists like 0:06:37.356 --> 0:06:39.596 that are coming out of La right now, a lot 0:06:39.596 --> 0:06:43.476 of their sound is informed by these tempos, these kinds 0:06:43.476 --> 0:06:45.876 of kick pounds, these drum patterns, And I think when 0:06:45.876 --> 0:06:49.156 you look at Mustard and you look at like how 0:06:49.196 --> 0:06:52.076 he took over radio in twenty twelve with these big 0:06:52.116 --> 0:06:55.836 basselined hundred bpm beats and that I think it's a 0:06:55.836 --> 0:07:01.956 combination of like these Detroit and Bay sister city like 0:07:02.116 --> 0:07:05.316 kinds of styles of beat making and rap. But at 0:07:05.356 --> 0:07:08.756 the same time, the producers he grew up listening to 0:07:09.196 --> 0:07:11.676 probably weren't the guys making these beats in Detroit. He 0:07:11.676 --> 0:07:13.316 was probably listening to the Battlecat, and he was probably 0:07:13.356 --> 0:07:15.116 listening to DJ Quick, and he was probably listening to 0:07:15.236 --> 0:07:18.276 LA music, where the sound choice is different and the 0:07:18.316 --> 0:07:22.436 bounce is different. So like when you talk about g 0:07:22.596 --> 0:07:26.516 Funk or you talk about like legendary La and Bay producers, like, 0:07:26.756 --> 0:07:30.236 it's much more swung and much more funky, you know 0:07:30.236 --> 0:07:32.156 what I mean. And it's a much different kind of 0:07:32.196 --> 0:07:35.516 attitude than the Detroit shit, just like being in the 0:07:35.556 --> 0:07:37.836 Motor City is a way different attitude than being in 0:07:37.876 --> 0:07:40.076 the Bay. And so I think they were inspired by 0:07:40.076 --> 0:07:43.476 each other. But Mustard was going to use a softer, 0:07:43.756 --> 0:07:47.396 rounder bass sound instead of that acid base because it 0:07:47.476 --> 0:07:49.516 might be a little more smooth, but he's still going 0:07:49.596 --> 0:07:53.716 to keep it at one hundred bpm. The only the 0:07:53.716 --> 0:07:55.956 only difference is sound choice. To me, really a little 0:07:55.956 --> 0:07:58.196 bit of tempo, a little bit of sound choice, but 0:07:58.236 --> 0:08:01.676 it's essentially the same vibe and you're getting across like 0:08:02.116 --> 0:08:04.036 the same kind of feeling and you listen to like, 0:08:04.636 --> 0:08:09.636 like even in other huge Mustard songs like be Honest 0:08:09.956 --> 0:08:13.076 for kid Ink, like you hear the piano influence and 0:08:13.116 --> 0:08:27.156 you hear other things that are very Detroit it's just 0:08:27.396 --> 0:08:30.196 he opts for the snaps and the no hats and 0:08:30.276 --> 0:08:34.116 the chill little like like the little chants and extra 0:08:34.156 --> 0:08:38.716 percussion and hat rolls rather than the really strict fast 0:08:39.156 --> 0:08:41.476 you know what I mean, hats and percussion of this 0:08:41.516 --> 0:08:43.356 and that. But it's similar sound choice too. You hear 0:08:43.396 --> 0:08:47.596 those same like chant sounds and same rim rolls and 0:08:47.636 --> 0:08:49.876 everything in both the beats. It's just a matter of 0:08:49.916 --> 0:08:53.036 like swing bounce mustards a little behind the beat or 0:08:53.036 --> 0:08:55.756 I feel like Detroit stuff is either strictly quantized or 0:08:55.756 --> 0:08:58.236 if anything, a little ahead. Do you think that, um, 0:08:58.756 --> 0:09:01.676 the local drug choice makes a difference in the tempos 0:09:01.716 --> 0:09:05.156 and it's it's got to. I mean, if you look 0:09:05.156 --> 0:09:08.156 at the Bay, like one of the biggest movements ever 0:09:08.236 --> 0:09:09.796 out of the Bay is a high fee movement. And 0:09:09.836 --> 0:09:11.596 if you look at mac dre and keep the Sneak 0:09:11.636 --> 0:09:14.276 and all those kinds of guys like it was very 0:09:14.276 --> 0:09:16.596 informed by Molly, you know what I mean, and like 0:09:16.676 --> 0:09:18.196 by the drugs that they were doing and stuff. And 0:09:18.196 --> 0:09:22.036 in Detroit, I mean it's not necessarily drugs, but the 0:09:22.076 --> 0:09:23.516 type of crime and the type of things that go 0:09:23.556 --> 0:09:27.356 on their prostitution mainly and the different types of drugs, 0:09:27.356 --> 0:09:29.436 like much more harder stuff. From what I understand, that 0:09:29.476 --> 0:09:33.356 gets sold in Detroit way more prevalently is that's talked 0:09:33.356 --> 0:09:35.436 about in the music way more, you know what I mean, 0:09:35.516 --> 0:09:37.876 And from what I understand, the Bay Area and Detroit 0:09:37.916 --> 0:09:40.156 of that in common with prostitution and things like that. 0:09:40.156 --> 0:09:42.996 But you hear about different kinds of things because this 0:09:43.316 --> 0:09:45.876 music is getting made on a street level and they're 0:09:45.956 --> 0:09:48.796 just talking about what they know in that city. And 0:09:48.836 --> 0:09:51.516 that's what gets the biggest reaction is the people who 0:09:51.516 --> 0:09:53.756 are being the most authentic and the most honest and 0:09:53.836 --> 0:09:56.436 the most regional. They're talking about things that specifically, you know, 0:09:56.556 --> 0:10:00.556 this neighborhood. Like when you talk about New Orleans bounce music. 0:10:01.236 --> 0:10:04.516 One of the characteristics of bounce music is call and response. 0:10:05.156 --> 0:10:07.996 From day one with a big Freeda and Magnolia Shorty 0:10:08.036 --> 0:10:10.196 and those kinds of people, like it was always about 0:10:11.076 --> 0:10:13.556 getting the audience to respond to something that you were saying. 0:10:13.556 --> 0:10:15.956 Even in the beats, it would be there'ld be these 0:10:15.956 --> 0:10:40.756 big chants and something about like let me see you 0:10:40.756 --> 0:10:42.076 bet it, let me see you bets it, let me 0:10:42.116 --> 0:10:44.436 see you The energy is incredibly yeah, and it's so 0:10:44.516 --> 0:10:48.236 high up and the whole genre of of of bounce 0:10:48.356 --> 0:10:50.796 music is based in two or three drum samples. If 0:10:50.796 --> 0:10:53.356 you ask anyone who knows anything about bounce music, they'll 0:10:53.356 --> 0:10:57.316 tell you the trigger Man, uh drum loop is what 0:10:57.516 --> 0:11:00.076 basically the whole genre was created off of it. If 0:11:00.116 --> 0:11:01.876 you look up just the trigger Man, it's but the 0:11:01.916 --> 0:11:08.636 original record is the show Boys. Everyone knows this. The 0:11:08.636 --> 0:11:11.196 whole genre is based in that. And it's like that 0:11:11.196 --> 0:11:14.116 that one break created this whole thing, and it's from 0:11:14.516 --> 0:11:16.596 drum machines, you know what I mean. It's not a 0:11:16.676 --> 0:11:19.996 James Brown thing. It's not an old meters like loop. 0:11:20.076 --> 0:11:23.476 It's someone played those eight oh eight rims and then 0:11:23.796 --> 0:11:28.116 sampled that and forty other songs and it created a 0:11:28.156 --> 0:11:29.636 tempo and a vibe and this and that. But like 0:11:30.836 --> 0:11:34.516 when you see the like the call and response thing 0:11:34.556 --> 0:11:38.036 that goes on and bounce music turned into cash money 0:11:38.196 --> 0:11:41.516 and no limit and artists like Juvenile or credited being 0:11:41.556 --> 0:11:44.396 at the start of dance music and then they turned 0:11:44.436 --> 0:11:47.396 into like crunk music from there. And then you see 0:11:47.396 --> 0:11:49.996 little John all of a sudden be influenced by these 0:11:49.996 --> 0:11:54.516 big call in response channel if you like everything he 0:11:54.596 --> 0:11:57.156 was saying was always like further Crowd, like to the 0:11:57.316 --> 0:12:02.396 Windows too. I was like, it's very New Orleans bounce, 0:12:02.636 --> 0:12:04.596 you know what I mean. Even if you look at 0:12:04.636 --> 0:12:08.916 like the influence on Memphis to crunk music and Little John, Like, 0:12:09.236 --> 0:12:13.076 there's so many different parallels there. And at this point 0:12:13.276 --> 0:12:16.516 when you trace back either the artists I'm working with, 0:12:16.516 --> 0:12:20.556 the artists I'm big fans of, I'm not always like, oh, 0:12:20.596 --> 0:12:23.876 this goes back to this old DJ Premier record and 0:12:23.956 --> 0:12:26.836 that was sampled from this James Brown record, because I 0:12:26.836 --> 0:12:28.636 feel like so much of hip hop is like that. 0:12:28.716 --> 0:12:31.196 But now we're so far along that it's like I'm 0:12:31.196 --> 0:12:36.596 tracing it back to people sampling something off an ASR 0:12:36.756 --> 0:12:38.636 or you know, an NPC, and that only goes back 0:12:38.676 --> 0:12:42.316 to the early nineties, late eighties, you know, like G 0:12:42.556 --> 0:12:46.396 Easy and Cardi B have a current song. I think 0:12:46.436 --> 0:12:49.076 it's called no Limit. Let me play it. If I 0:12:49.196 --> 0:12:51.836 hit it one time, I'm a White book, if I 0:12:51.916 --> 0:12:55.156 hit it two times in the like of if three 0:12:55.236 --> 0:12:57.956 Times I'm a White it's the it's a sample of 0:12:57.996 --> 0:13:01.356 slab of My Knob by three six Mafia. They redo 0:13:02.916 --> 0:13:05.476 the flow. There's things about the beat that are really 0:13:05.476 --> 0:13:11.396 similar than give Me don't have the eggs, don't have 0:13:11.556 --> 0:13:17.916 to pay Memphis super Memphis like MPCs TR eight to eights, 0:13:17.956 --> 0:13:20.916 super simple patterns. But like asap Ferg's biggest song last 0:13:20.956 --> 0:13:25.996 year Ride with the Mob, hamdu A La check and 0:13:26.116 --> 0:13:30.116 with Me and do your job is the name Bimbala 0:13:30.196 --> 0:13:34.196 did the chain tona photo watch Presi Plaine Jain, Yeah, 0:13:34.236 --> 0:13:38.756 make Guiney chain arrested piece So and that's a huge 0:13:38.796 --> 0:13:41.476 New York artist and then a huge Bay Area artist 0:13:41.556 --> 0:13:44.636 and Cardi also a New York artist, all being influenced 0:13:44.676 --> 0:13:47.596 by an old song from Memphis, and three six Mafia 0:13:47.636 --> 0:13:50.516 were known for slowing down the trigger Man break that 0:13:50.636 --> 0:13:54.636 came from New Orleans. They all tie in in a 0:13:54.676 --> 0:13:58.156 weird way. So like this has been something for me 0:13:58.196 --> 0:14:00.716 that's just been such a phenomenon in the last few years, 0:14:00.756 --> 0:14:02.876 because I stopped making hip hop for a while, and 0:14:02.916 --> 0:14:05.996 I came back to it and was so scared that 0:14:06.036 --> 0:14:08.836 my card would get pulled off, not understanding you don't 0:14:08.876 --> 0:14:11.756 even certain thing that's going on in a city, or 0:14:11.756 --> 0:14:13.876 the lineage of it and or how to make it 0:14:14.076 --> 0:14:16.196 or the sound choice, and so I would get stuck 0:14:16.196 --> 0:14:19.116 in these little pockets of being like Okay, I'm working 0:14:19.116 --> 0:14:24.276 with this kid right now from Baltimore. I need to 0:14:24.396 --> 0:14:28.476 understand more about what goes on there in the rap scene, 0:14:28.516 --> 0:14:30.596 in the dance music scene, what kind of dances come 0:14:30.636 --> 0:14:33.316 from there, what kind of attitude the people have from there, 0:14:33.356 --> 0:14:35.436 and why the type of crime it's on in the city. 0:14:35.476 --> 0:14:38.036 It's like, all these things inform the conversation of what 0:14:38.116 --> 0:14:39.996 my high hat pattern is going to be when I 0:14:40.036 --> 0:14:43.876 get there that day. And it's sometimes something that's small 0:14:44.396 --> 0:14:46.676 that gets the person to get on the record and 0:14:46.716 --> 0:14:49.996 do their thing or not because you're assuming, like, oh, 0:14:50.076 --> 0:14:51.756 let me just let me clean that up that snares 0:14:51.756 --> 0:14:53.396 a little ahead of the beat, let me just quantize 0:14:53.436 --> 0:14:55.356 that for you, and then do a similar beat to 0:14:55.476 --> 0:14:58.276 your last single. And then guys get there and they're like, nah, 0:14:58.356 --> 0:15:01.156 this doesn't feel right. And it's not always even the 0:15:01.276 --> 0:15:03.476 volume in the studio or the sound choice or anything 0:15:03.516 --> 0:15:07.876 like that. It doesn't rhythmically hit where they're used to 0:15:07.876 --> 0:15:09.636 it hitting in their head when they think about home 0:15:09.676 --> 0:15:11.956 and they think about the process of making music that 0:15:11.996 --> 0:15:14.196 they started with in their basement with their friends, and 0:15:14.236 --> 0:15:17.076 it probably affects a comfort level in there in the 0:15:17.116 --> 0:15:20.196 way the rhyme works. It's like if you're used to 0:15:20.236 --> 0:15:22.556 a certain bounce and writing to a certain bounce and 0:15:22.596 --> 0:15:27.796 a comfort level, it's harder to it's harder to channel that. Yeah, 0:15:27.996 --> 0:15:30.636 if it's bouncing different, even if the temple is the same. 0:15:31.116 --> 0:15:34.636 And I think guys assume that they're being a good 0:15:34.676 --> 0:15:38.236 engineer or a friend to the artist or the song 0:15:38.396 --> 0:15:41.996 by trying to clean something up with an equeue or 0:15:41.996 --> 0:15:45.236 trying to put it on beat, or trying to make 0:15:45.276 --> 0:15:47.596 it relate to something that they think is working right 0:15:47.596 --> 0:15:49.716 now on the radio or for another artist, blah blah, 0:15:49.716 --> 0:15:53.636 And that's where you lose everything. And for me, it's 0:15:53.636 --> 0:15:56.956 like understanding when a new artist comes to the studio 0:15:56.996 --> 0:15:59.956 from New Orleans that it's not always a conversation of like, oh, 0:15:59.956 --> 0:16:01.956 do you understand the trigger man break and help bounce 0:16:01.996 --> 0:16:06.356 music started? It's not that, but it informs where they're from, 0:16:06.396 --> 0:16:08.516 what they grew up on. Maybe they lean towards these 0:16:08.596 --> 0:16:11.476 kinds of tempt Maybe they scored these rhythms, maybe not, 0:16:11.516 --> 0:16:13.716 but it's in each case to learn about them. Did 0:16:13.756 --> 0:16:16.396 you have to go to the places I haven't been 0:16:16.396 --> 0:16:18.076 to a lot of the places I've wanted to, but 0:16:18.476 --> 0:16:20.636 a lot of times. I'd been to these places before 0:16:21.196 --> 0:16:24.116 I learned more about it, because I'd traveled as a 0:16:24.196 --> 0:16:27.556 DJ for years. I've been to forty something states playing shows, 0:16:28.196 --> 0:16:30.436 but then came back into hip hop and working with 0:16:30.436 --> 0:16:31.996 all these different artists a lot of the time in 0:16:32.196 --> 0:16:35.716 LA and it was kind of like getting schooled about 0:16:35.716 --> 0:16:37.236 these places that yeah, I've been there. Oh yeah, I 0:16:37.276 --> 0:16:39.796 know about this neighborhood and this restaurant and so forth 0:16:39.836 --> 0:16:42.916 and so on. But did I ever apply any of 0:16:42.956 --> 0:16:45.116 that knowledge of what I'd even seen in my life 0:16:45.116 --> 0:16:47.396 to the music. No, not before someone was right in 0:16:47.436 --> 0:16:49.756 front of me and was saying to me, like, now 0:16:49.876 --> 0:16:52.876 this is how we do it, like it's sposed that's 0:16:52.876 --> 0:16:55.756 supposed to be what's wrong to you, that's right to us, 0:16:56.476 --> 0:17:00.716 And now like that's paramount for me. So it still 0:17:00.716 --> 0:17:04.716 wouldn't be what you make wouldn't really follow a templated 0:17:04.796 --> 0:17:09.596 you'd use this information as it's like a menu of 0:17:09.716 --> 0:17:13.036 things to pick from because you don't want to make 0:17:13.036 --> 0:17:17.276 the same record someone else made. Never but it's basically 0:17:18.116 --> 0:17:19.956 a lot of the time the job. I feel like 0:17:19.956 --> 0:17:22.716 if the producer in the studio should be just to 0:17:22.796 --> 0:17:26.196 give the vocabulary to the artist so they can get 0:17:26.196 --> 0:17:28.556 out their idea better. You're trying to show them, Okay, 0:17:28.596 --> 0:17:30.356 maybe you want to try this vocal effect, or you 0:17:30.356 --> 0:17:32.036 want to try this instrument, or you wanta try this 0:17:32.116 --> 0:17:35.076 variation of this instrument. For me, it was giving me 0:17:35.596 --> 0:17:41.036 a vocabulary to understand what they're doing, you know what 0:17:41.116 --> 0:17:43.996 I mean, because a lot of times I'm always helping 0:17:44.156 --> 0:17:45.996 you know what I mean, And like, this is the 0:17:46.116 --> 0:17:48.876 artist helping me to just come into their world. Even 0:17:48.876 --> 0:17:51.676 if we don't use that lesson today, a decision I 0:17:51.756 --> 0:17:53.636 make or a sound choice or whatever is going to 0:17:53.716 --> 0:17:57.636 be just informed by the conversation of oh, like you 0:17:57.756 --> 0:18:01.716 make music from Memphis, you know I mean, I'd work 0:18:01.716 --> 0:18:04.396 on a lot of rap. So, like we were saying 0:18:04.396 --> 0:18:07.476 with the Bounce music, shouting out, where you're from, who 0:18:07.516 --> 0:18:10.236 you are, what you stand for is a quintessential like 0:18:10.716 --> 0:18:12.756 cornerstone of a lot of the artists I work with. 0:18:12.796 --> 0:18:15.476 Where they're from is who they are, And my mind, 0:18:15.516 --> 0:18:18.156 I'm like, Okay, would an ode to where you come 0:18:18.236 --> 0:18:21.156 from as far as the tempo or a sample or 0:18:21.196 --> 0:18:23.756 the sound choice set it off when you play this 0:18:23.876 --> 0:18:27.116 live in your hometown, I think it would. And like 0:18:27.436 --> 0:18:29.476 those are the moments where this becomes a tool where 0:18:29.476 --> 0:18:33.116 you're like, oh my god, where the DJ mentality brought 0:18:33.156 --> 0:18:38.436 into production really helps. You're always thinking about what's going 0:18:38.476 --> 0:18:41.236 to rock the club. But isn't that what you would 0:18:41.236 --> 0:18:43.356 say when you used to talk about the first records 0:18:43.676 --> 0:18:45.676 on deaf Jam is that the rap records that were 0:18:45.676 --> 0:18:48.196 coming out didn't reflect how it felt when you went 0:18:48.236 --> 0:18:49.996 to a rap show. You would hear all this scratching 0:18:50.316 --> 0:18:52.276 and all this mic work and all these things, and 0:18:52.316 --> 0:18:55.956 like that's what brought those songs to life. I think 0:18:56.036 --> 0:19:01.116 with people now, like whenever that breakbeat or triggerman sample 0:19:01.276 --> 0:19:04.596 or old vocal thing or something from your childhood or 0:19:04.596 --> 0:19:07.796 that place that makes you think of somewhere comes into 0:19:07.836 --> 0:19:10.756 a new song now with an updated type of beat 0:19:10.876 --> 0:19:14.436 or drum sound or tempo or whatever it is, it 0:19:14.556 --> 0:19:19.436 already like sets such a strong platform and foundation for 0:19:19.516 --> 0:19:22.476 like this song to reach a lot of people and 0:19:22.516 --> 0:19:24.036 make them feel a lot you know what I mean, 0:19:24.076 --> 0:19:26.156 because it's it's routed and like, oh, this is an 0:19:26.196 --> 0:19:30.996 experience a lot of these producers that created these waves 0:19:30.996 --> 0:19:32.796 and these sounds, whether it was what they were playing 0:19:32.876 --> 0:19:35.476 or they're sampling or whatever. I think they're shocked now 0:19:35.516 --> 0:19:37.836 that a lot of times on hip hop, the music 0:19:37.916 --> 0:19:40.836 serves like a bed behind these huge drums, and it's 0:19:40.836 --> 0:19:43.516 not these samples right in the front of these big 0:19:43.796 --> 0:19:47.436 melodies or keyboards things. It's like there's kids who were 0:19:47.476 --> 0:19:50.716 so influenced by crunk music and by three six Maffi 0:19:50.796 --> 0:19:53.316 and by all these things that now it's like the 0:19:53.436 --> 0:19:56.116 drums and the swing of the drums and the sounds 0:19:56.116 --> 0:19:58.916 of the drums are the biggest thing in so many records, 0:19:59.076 --> 0:20:01.436 and you end up with artists like Splurge and ten 0:20:01.516 --> 0:20:03.276 K and kids from Texas who just rap on eight 0:20:03.316 --> 0:20:06.676 o eights Do you want to play? Sure? Splurge is 0:20:06.756 --> 0:20:12.716 from Arlington. These kids just wrap on just drumps. Yeah, 0:20:16.516 --> 0:20:18.036 get that shit to my mom. He'll deal with the 0:20:18.076 --> 0:20:20.236 fashion that she came from town. I came from the mood. 0:20:20.236 --> 0:20:23.196 She took some time. I really to drink like a 0:20:23.636 --> 0:20:25.676 little bits, to go to the pen like a prison. 0:20:26.076 --> 0:20:29.596 Is so good. He's in every single label, meeting everything 0:20:29.596 --> 0:20:32.036 he could be in, telling them no melodies, no hooks. 0:20:32.436 --> 0:20:37.036 It's so good. His mixtape was called no Melody, the 0:20:37.156 --> 0:20:41.556 name of the tape, Like they are the most quintessential 0:20:41.596 --> 0:20:44.596 example of like just getting at how you live, making 0:20:45.036 --> 0:20:47.076 what sounds good to your friends where they are. And 0:20:47.076 --> 0:20:49.516 I think it was it's with Spurs, like he's to 0:20:49.556 --> 0:20:51.516 the point now where if he doesn't just hear something 0:20:51.596 --> 0:20:54.956 big and hard and instinctual and powerful that everybody in 0:20:54.996 --> 0:20:58.916 the room goes, he doesn't even want it. And that's 0:20:58.916 --> 0:21:00.396 what I was saying about the good and bad parts 0:21:00.396 --> 0:21:02.876 of that. And hip hop is like it informs people 0:21:03.116 --> 0:21:06.036 in a certain respect of like, Okay, we know this 0:21:06.116 --> 0:21:07.716 is gonna work at the club, and we know that 0:21:07.716 --> 0:21:10.036 this is gonna go off in this region. Kids from 0:21:10.076 --> 0:21:12.836 around here are going to rock with how this song 0:21:12.956 --> 0:21:16.476 is moving because it just feeds into what we all 0:21:16.516 --> 0:21:19.196 know and what we all collectively like the zeitgeist of 0:21:20.076 --> 0:21:24.476 this area. Like it's crazy when you see artists who 0:21:24.476 --> 0:21:27.116 are very much from somewhere and act like it and 0:21:27.156 --> 0:21:29.996 look like it and have the same slang and accent 0:21:30.116 --> 0:21:32.956 or whatever, but their music just sounds like somewhere else 0:21:33.476 --> 0:21:36.356 very specifically, even like kids like Shoreline Mafia who are 0:21:36.436 --> 0:21:38.876 from LA and very big in LA. People always talk 0:21:38.876 --> 0:21:41.356 about how bay their music is, and yet it's within 0:21:41.396 --> 0:21:45.236 a state, but it's two completely different scenes and sounds, 0:21:45.316 --> 0:21:48.076 And I mean New York is really kind of an 0:21:48.076 --> 0:21:52.156 outlier too. I feel like even today, like I think 0:21:52.436 --> 0:21:55.036 New York, a lot of young, hot New York artists 0:21:55.356 --> 0:21:58.396 hate the fact that when people talk about New York beats, 0:21:58.396 --> 0:22:04.196 they think of Boom Bat nine, they think of Wu 0:22:04.276 --> 0:22:07.556 Tang type rhythms and beats and you know what I mean, 0:22:07.756 --> 0:22:11.676