So are you creating these new tracks every day, or have you already finished them and you’re just releasing them?
“It’s a little bit of both. I have a lot of ideas and concepts lying around, sort of like rough draft stuff. Stuff that I’ve pitched to artists and they haven’t used or haven’t released. So I’ll just take something like that and finish it and add something to it, or start a new project. It’s a little bit of both. There’s nothing that’s finished finished, like everything I have to go in and actually finish it, or start it and finish it. And actually, yesterday I did a lot of work, and I probably got 5 or 6 done.”
I’m sure you prepared a little bit, but it’s refreshing to hear that you didn’t just build up this huge repertoire only to drip release them over the month.
“No, no, because I wanna also make it so that if I go in a certain direction, and I’m getting inspired by people’s comments or inspired by people, like, I can just do something that day also that can cater to that. Or if something happens in the world, I can film it or – I want it to be a part of my experience spilled out into the world also. I want it to be very organic.”
So it’s a really malleable project at this point. Anyone can really shape it in any direction. It might even end up as heavy dubstep or something… But, I really like both yesterday and today’s release; they’ve both got a down-tempo retro vibe to it. Where would you say that comes from, is that just what you’re into at the moment?
“Yeah, that’s kinda just where my heads at. The way that I make music right now just kind of creates the sound. I do a lot of chopping up of a cappellas, like mainstream a cappellas that you would never know that I would use, and pitching them down and doing all kinds of crazy stuff. Sort of making music out of something else, but hiding the fact that it’s copyrighted… shout out to Soundcloud. (laughter) And yeah, I think it’s just where I’m at right now, because honestly, I could make polka music, I could make dubstep, or I could make whatever. It just kinda depends on what my headspace is and what I’m trying to do.”
So are you making the video or visual supplement every day as well, just like the music?
“Yeah, the one I put out today, I think it’s called “Emergencé,” like “Beyoncé,” I actually went to LAX and filmed. Stood in front of where the planes land, filmed it in slow motion, and then put it together in a short little video. The first video I did, I went to the Santa Monica pier, and did a slow motion shot up to the people from the ocean. So I’m gonna try to do that every single day. I have some friends that I work with also that I’m going to be getting footage from, but it’s all gonna be stuff that people have filmed that I know or work with, and I’m gonna edit it and make it something.”
Can you explain the aesthetic a little more? You’re choosing it to complement the track I would assume.
“Yeah, like for the airplane one I listened to the track and just drove to the airport and filmed it… (laughter) But yeah, I definitely think it needs to fit the track. If I record or get a piece of content from a friend and it jumps out at me, I would make a piece of music to that, or find something that would fit accordingly to it and, you know, make it work in the video editing process.”
So it’s all reactive, everything is inspired by everything.
“Yeah it’s just organic, man. That ‘s just my whole thing, like, let’s just get real organic with it, you know?”
You mentioned earlier your remixes and collaborations, and this project is yours, this is all your original material. Could you explain the difference between working by yourself versus with another artist?
“Oh yeah, working with another artist is tricky, because, I can definitely speak for myself in this respect, artists are very weird, and you kinda never know what’s going on in their mind. So it’s hard, because some artists have egos, some artists will have weird problems with socializing or communicating, some artists just wanna work by themselves, so when you try to work with them it’s kind of like an off-putting thing. And I try to be – again, I try to keep it open, right? So if I’m working with an artist, I go in and I’m like, “hey man, what to do you want to do – what are you trying to do?” It’s sort of catering to an artist, and with this I can just let go. I can just do whatever I want. So it’s definitely more refreshing, but you have to dig a little bit deeper in yourself to find the inspiration to actually make the track and make it a full track instead of saying, “oh we’ll just throw a singer on there,” or “oh, it’s cool, we can just have homie play guitar and whatever” So it’s a little bit different but there’s definitely positives and negatives to both.”
How did you get your start in production and engineering?
“Oh man, well like I said, I used to be in bands, and the majority of the people I make music with I’ve known – my good friend Roscoe Soultrain, who plays a lot of the bass guitar on the remix stuff that I’ve done and a lot of my material, I’ve known him since like preschool. So we’ve been makin’ music pretty much our whole lives. And yeah, I mean, it’s just kinda like a thing. My dad played guitar, and I don’t really remember a time where I did not make music. So it’s been my whole life, but I’m originally from a small town in Northern California, and when I first realized that it was a real thing [to have a career in music], I was in bands and stuff and I sent Sha Money XL, who was 50 Cent’s manager, right? I sent him- emailed him a CD of beats or something, and he hit me up and was like, “Yo, I’m gonna show this shit to 50 Cent, this is awesome!” And I was sitting in this studio on a farm in Northern California… (laughter) I was like, “oh my god this is real… OK cool, I gotta get to LA because, this is, you know, I need more opportunity for this.” So that was an eye-opening thing for me – I didn’t get placement or anything, but it showed me that it was possible, that it was a thing where it was tangible. So that’s kinda how it all started. I think I was 22, 23, something like that. It was a pretty big deal, especially when you’re just playing in local bands and just kinda, you know – honestly, I was just getting high at the studio and playing Tiger Woods on Xbox.”
Is there anything you’d like to say to your fans?
“Nah, I just want to thank everybody for listening to my music… If you listen to my stuff – just thank you. I really can’t say anything else. I don’t want to be egotistical about it or anything, it’s just like, a big thank you because there’s so much music out there these days, everything is so saturated, there’s all kinds of great music, like on Hype Machine – shout out to Hype Machine. But, just thank you! That’s really all I can say, thank you for listening!”
