Bloggin 4 Beats: Kung Fu Hustle
June 24, 2008
So on a recent road trip me and my boys broke out the ipods and start playing samples. Yeah, I know, some real hip-hop nerd shit, but it was fun as hell. So the playlist starts to go beyond stuff that’s been sampled to stuff we’d like to hear sampled. So my boy Fred plays “Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained” from the Kung Fu Hustle soundtrack and we go ape shit. [Read more]
Big Pun Producer Domingo Hustles Beats on MySpace
June 24, 2008
Most people may know him for shattering dreams with Big Pun, but Qn5 producer Domingo has been helping unsigned artists fulfill their dreams one beat at a time. In addition to television scoring the mind behind Big Pun’s “Dream Shatterer” has been selling beats to unsigned artists on MySpace for $50 a pop. It may not seem like much, but when you’re dealing in volume those dollars ad up.
“I made five figures off of it last year and will do a 100K this year easy,” he says. “I was gettin’ tons of emails from unsigned artists. So Memorial Weekend in 2006 I started and that weekend I raked in $5000. At that time I was selling them for $150 to $250 and I sold about 20 that weekend.”
In addition to the beat hustle Domingo is hooking up artists with MCs he knows like Sean Price, Ras Kass and Kool G Rap. “Some cats just want the verses, so I provide the connection,” he says. “Besides beats if you need verses holla.”
However, he still makes up to twenty beats a week just to “keep the bodega stocked.”
Hopefully we’ll be hearing some of his new material on Ras Kass’ upcoming CD, Institutionalized, due in August. Domingo, who has also bodied beats for KRS-One, Masta Ace, Tony Yayo and a slew of others will be the projects Executive Producer.
If you’re interested in buying beats from Domingo hit him directly at Myspace.com/domingomusic.
Singer/Producer Dwele Makes Beats on The Run
June 24, 2008
When he’s not busy giving people music to cheat to Detroit’s Dwele is making beats on the run. On his new CD, Sketches of a Man, the singer/producer has a track called “Five Dolla Mic” where he explains what it’s like to make something out of next to nothing:
What do you do when you moved to NYC and you left your sounds at home?
All you got is an M-Box, an MPC and your apple computer zone? I’ve got a five dollar microphone
I bought from Good Guys up in LA when Dwele found out that he left his good mic at home…
He goes on to sing about playing on a throwback piano and borrowing a jazz guitar from Eric Krasno from Soulive. That’s what you call making it happen.
“I’ve been playing keys and trumpet since about fourth grade,” he tells The Urban Daily.com. “Everything else I just picked up and started playing. I’ve been doing music for as long as I can remember. I’ve done production and remixes for Natasha Beningfield’s ‘These Words’ and I played the trumpet on Pharoahe Monch’s ‘Trilogy’ from Desire.”
Dwele’s new CD, Sketches of A Man, is in stores now!