Pete Rock to be Special Guest at Guitar Center Sessions in California
April 9, 2008
Los Angeles, CA – Guitar Center is preparing the next installment in its Guitar
Center Sessions series: An evening of dialogue and insight with Pete Rock, featuring special guests Just
Blaze, 9th Wonder, DJ Numark and DJ Revolution, on Sunday, April 20 at the Guitar Center in Hollywood,
CA.
Designed to provide informative, provocative conversation and hands-on tutorials, GC Sessions
serves as an incubator for musicians, offering them an opportunity to network with their peers and gain insight from their heroes in an intimate setting.
The last session was held in early April and featured the RZA on the Roland 8800.
In addition to the event itself, Guitar Center in partnership with Akai and Cornerstone Promotions, is offering five lucky artists a chance to participate in a private tutorial session with Pete Rock prior to the event. Winners will gain hands-on experience using the Akai MPC25000, and Guitar Center will video tape these sessions for http://gc.guitarcenter.com
This event is free and open to the public.
An Evening of Education, Conversation and Insight with
Pete Rock
April 20, 2008 @ 7PM
Guitar Center Hollywood
7425 Sunset Blvd.
Hollywood, CA
WHO DID THAT BEAT?: Trackmasters Producer, The ARE, Steps From Behind the Scenes
April 8, 2008
Houston has one less problem. Grinding since ‘91 as a member of K-Otix, Russell “The ARE” Gonzalez is quickly becoming a name to watch for in ‘08. After dropping several EPs of his own beats (Still Climbing and Manipulated Marauders) and a group project with Kay of The Foundation, Together Brothers, the Texas beatsmith linked up with Tone and Poke of the Trackmasters and became an official member of their production team.
“Poke had heard some beats of mine through Punchline(of EMC). He wanted to get me on the new Lil Kim album and so we started passing beats through e-mail,” he explains. “Kim got on one and killed it. After that Poke told me that he wanted to get the production team back together and he wanted me to be a part of it. I soon went to NY and we were in Battery Studios for 3 months.”
The Lil Kim record “Chillin Tonight” has already been buzzing on mixtapes and is slated to appear on her next album. The ARE also has two tracks on the EMC album, “Leak It Out” and “Say Now.”
“I actually linked up with Wordsworth through Marco Polo. He had done things with them in the past and Marco is mad cool. We build from time to time.”
With ghost-production long being a right of passage, it is becoming more common for big names to assemble a crew of producers (a la The Hitmen) to crank out hits under one umbrella. One key difference is that as part of a crew you are more likely to get credited for your work and the important publishing dollars that come with that.
“These dudes are experienced, I learned a lot,” he says of Tone and Poke. ” They know what goes into making a hit record. They’ve done it many times over. Just the process in itself. For example, putting bridges on an R&B record, adding certain instruments. I’m no new jack to all of this but I like raw shit and I like my music to be a bit loose when it comes to drums and sounds. When dealing with major labels you have to tighten things up a bit.”
After toiling for months with The Trackmasters The Are has a track with Shareefa on deck, Wordsworth, Zion I and a beat project called Planet Zero. The rest he’s going to keep under his hat for now.
“I can’t reveal a lot of the major label stuff cause it’s all in the making and things can fall through really fast in this biz.”
Make sure to check out The ARE’s beats and discography at www.rappersiknow.com and www.theare.com
J. Period Remixes the Mixtape Game: Lands Track in Street Kings Movie Trailer
April 7, 2008
New York, NY – April 2008 – After landing an original track in TV spots for Universal Pictures’ American Gangster last year, J.Period has once again broken new ground, becoming the first mixtape DJ to ever make the jump directly from mixtape to major film release with a remix.
The track, a collaboration with Game Rebellion titled “Break Down,” hits theaters this month in International Trailers for Fox Searchlight’s Street Kings, starring Keanu Reeves, Forest Whitaker, Common, and The Game. The original version of the track was featured on J.Period & Game Rebellion’s Searching for Rick Rubin – a hip hop-rock hybrid hailed as one of the top mixtapes of 2007 (Okayplayer.com). J.Period’s Remix adds new musical elements and arrangement, plus new original lyrics by Game Rebellion front man Netic the Rebel.
“I redid the drums and added some musical elements,” says J. Period of the remix. “The Trailer house really liked it and added it to the international trailer and now domestic T.V. spots. This is the first time to my knowledge that a mixtape DJ has a track go from a mixtape to a movie trailer.”
J.Period’s foray into the movies began with a remix of a Terrence Blanchard classical piece that he did on spec (You can hear it on his homepage.) for American Gangster. “Then the word got out that I could do this.”
Street Kings, an adrenaline-charged tale of crooked cops and the criminal underworld, is also featuring Lupe Fiasco’s “Little Weapon” in current domestic trailers.
With two film placements secured and more in the works, J.Period continues to carve out a unique new niche for himself as DJ/Producer in both the hip hop and film worlds, treading further into uncharted territory for a traditional mixtape DJ. Working directly with major labels to help transform the mixtape genre into a legitimate enterprise.
“Since The Laurny Hill mixtape I’ve been hired by the labels to work with the artists. I’ve always been on the right side of things, but there are technicalities they can throw at you now. I created a J.Period flash drive that can store my mixtapes and I started selling the storage device and the music is a bonus. I’ve been very successful with that. I don’t think anyone’s done that either.”
Up next J. Period is working on a Talib Kweli mixtape with Don Cannon of the Aphilliates, and others with Skillz, Mary J. Blige and Alicia Keys.
Street Kings hits theaters April 11th.
Alchemist, Rick Rock, DJ Khalil and others give away $100K beats
April 3, 2008
Sway and King Tech, iconic hosts of the World famous Wake Up Show are looking for the next Eminem and they got some unprecedented help.
Using their new online social network for musicians, www.ursession.com, they are sponsoring a month long search for the next hot MC. But rather than have contestants upload original songs they have been given free use of beats supplied by twenty-two of the best producers money can buy, including Pete Rock, J-Dilla, Alchemist, DJ Babu and Rick Rock.
“We’ve been doing the Wake Up Show for about eighteen years now,” begins Tech. “I’ve [had] so many talented cats that come through the show and [I thought to myself] if this dude had a better beat he could do something.”
With the growing number of artists flooding Myspace trying to get their music heard, Sway and Tech wanted to find an efficient way to separate the wheat from the chaff. “It’s like everyone can go to Toys R Us and buy a basketball and go play with the Lakers, ” he jokes. “You look at the court and can’t tell who’s Kobe.”
So they got on the phone and reached out to producers they knew and respected. Once the site was built they advertised the contest on the air. The winner will be chosen by online voting and receive $5000 in prize money. Contestants can use any of the beats, but can only submit three completed songs.
“If you can’t rap to one of these beats you shouldn’t be rapping,” says Tech. “We did the Wake Up Show for years and this is our way of giving back. Rap music needs our help because the average person can’t get a J-Dilla or Focus track. The philosophy was let’s all work together and find the next ill dude. Somebody needed to do something. 70% of rap right now is a joke.”
For more information visit www.ursession.com
Guilty Simpson on Dilla: “I didn’t want to two-track beats and record ‘em with him not being here.”
April 2, 2008
Detroit MC Guilty Simpson built his career making guest appearances on tracks produced by the late J-Dilla. But when it was time to release his critically acclaimed debut, Ode To The Ghetto, there weren’t as many sound beds from Mr. Yancey as some fans had hoped.
“I didn’t want to two-track beats and record ‘em with him not being here,” explains Simpson, who was first heard by many outside of Detroit on “Strapped” from Jaylib’s Champion Sound. “Not saying I won’t do it in the future, cuz I’d have to. But I didn’t want to do that this time.”
Like many MCs that favor a particular sound, Guilty had sample clearance issues with some of the Dilla-produced tracks he’d recorded.
“I had a song called ‘Stressed’ that I liked but that had a Beatles sample and I had ‘Man’s World’ that had a James Brown sample,” says Simpson. “Then I had ‘Make It Fast’ which was a record and I put on the NBA SK8 soundtrack, then ‘Clap Your Hands’ that I put on the Chrome Children soundtrack. I’ve been giving people a lot of Dilla songs that I could have saved for my album. And with me still mourning his death I wasn’t ready to get into all of the Dilla tracks. That was my homey. No matter how much people love Dilla that was homey. It hit me twice as hard cuz my friend is gone and I was fan of his music also, so I just want to do it at the right time in the right taste.”
Simpson’s debut features beats from other top tier producers from Detroit, like D-12’s Denaun Porter and Black Milk. One track, “I Must Love You,” was produced by J-Dilla.
“I was one of Dilla’s favorite MCs but he always wanted to see me expand,” Simpson says. “He referred me to Madlib and Black Milk. And I was working with Mr. Porter before I even got with Dilla, a lot of people don’t know the history. I hope to come out with projects exclusively produced by Dilla but I didn’t think the timing was right.”
Guilty Simpson’s Ode to The Ghetto is in stores now.
Jazze Pha Chokes Emeril With a Pork Chop
April 1, 2008
It appears that cooking up Ciara’s “Goodies” wasn’t enough of a challenge for Tennessee producer Jazze Pha. On March 31st he debuted an online cooking show called “What’s Cookin’ with Jazze?” In the first episode he gets Emmanuel Lewis to help him make a pork chop pizza the size of a Donk. Check it out. Just wipe your mouth when you finish eating, ladies and gentleman.
Producer Gal “Ladies First”
April 1, 2008
Name: Cara (aka Producer Gal)
Age: 26
Where from: Montreal, Canada
Contact:
Producer Gal on Myspace
Key Tracks: “Simply Thankful”
1)Ski Beats just tapped you as the winner of the Crate Kings beat battle. What was that competition like and how did it feel for him to pick you?
I love competing against other talented beatmakers. It’s always interesting to hear how someone else will come at you musically. I’ve won other beat competitions and the feeling is still the same. It’s rewarding to sit in front of my equipment, delve into a track, and make something within the hour that will affect people positively. I appreciate being held as the champion. But I think all the 60 beatmakers that took part in the contest are winners.
2) Are you more software or hardware based?
I love the hands on experience of playing equipment (keyboards, drum machines) as well as software flexibility.
3) What mistakes have you learned from in the studio?
Haha , I’ve learned that you cannot let everyone listen to what you’re creating. Next thing you know, that friend of a friend who came with your friend went home and now is trying to sound like a bad imitation of you.
4)What is the last piece of equipment you purchased?
I got me some EVENT 8 XL studio monitors
5) What is your favorite beat so far and how did you make it?
“Simply thankful” and “Staying away” because they have pretty and many elements. Cubase was the culprit.
6) How has being a woman effected your experience as a producer?
They say that men and women think differently. In many ways, this is true. Musically, I don’t know that there is a difference. If you love and respect music, it shouldn’t matter what your gender is. I don’t know, maybe the fact that I’m a woman makes me less brutal to critique someone’s work? (haha) And as far as work opportunities, it’s all about how consistent a person can be. And how efficient they are in a pressure situation. As someone once said “A real producer will be able to work on the spot. On demand.” This is a skill we all have to work on, no matter what field you work in.
Got some heat? Send an MP3 of your best beat to hydrosonics@nodfactor.com. Registered users will have priority in response!