Fade
The Beat Strangler
Administrator
illest o.g.
Straight from Sacramento, California, Medl4 has been working on his beat craft since 2009 and hasn't looked back. With strong drum work and well thought out mixing, his instrumental albums are something every Hip Hop fan should check out.
So Medl4, sup?
Chillin man, drinking some earl grey tea like captain Picard, legalizing it and staying sane. About to get busy on this instrumental I've been working on.
I've been following your beats for a while now, when did you first start making music?
I started making music around 06, kinda by accident. I went to a dude's house with my friend and they were all freestyling and shit, they were some cats that were up on good Hip Hop, and around my town, it's kinda rare when you run into anyone that actually listens to anything besides Top 40 and such. They got me to record this terrible verse and it kinda just went down after that, I started taking rhyming really seriously and eventually we formed a group called MFT (Metafortune Tellers) in early 07 which is still intact today may I add.
Anyway, the folks I'm in the group with were producing a little bit and I just wanted to rap, I dropped a mixtape in 08, but the production was either donated or stolen beats. I fucked around on the MPC a few times and made some terrible little loops with horrible drum patterns but wasn't really trying to take it seriously. Then one day in Spring of 2009 out of nowhere my homie gave me a copy of Reason 4.0 and I was hooked. It took a lot of reading, listening, and watching tutorials for me to grasp what everything was and how it worked, shout out my homie Byear for his in depth e-mails explaining EQ, reverb, compression and all that good stuff.
I was just studying music and sound design and trying desperately to give these homemade beats the feel and sound I wanted. I actually didn't know how to use the sampler in Reason NN-XT for the first year, I was just playing my own melodies and hoping for the best. Then a cat explained I can load WAV files and chop them up, and in the words of the Fresh Prince "my life got flipped turned upside down". I stopped rapping for the most part and now focus all my musical energy towards making beats.
I would describe your style as east coast-ish, even though you're from Sacramento. How would you describe it?
I take influence from everything, but the reason I think my beats tend to sound like they're from the East Coast is because I grew up listening to a lot of East Coast Hip Hop, it was just more raw to me. I love West Coast music, but I was into Wu-Tang and Jeru The Damaja over NWA and Kurupt. I'm still a fan of all these cats but there's something about that grimy rhyme style over some dark head nodding beats that I will never get tired of.
I just make what I like, and usually it comes out sounding like something that isn't out of CA. But I like that because if everyone is making music only reflective of their region, it would be boring. We have plenty of cats out here making those Bay Area or Southern CA style beats which I am also a fan of, but I try to fall somewhere in my own category and just take inspiration from all angles.
What's it like in Sacramento, is the hip hop scene alive and well?
Well, it's hot, very hot right now. I live about 20 miles outside the city in a town called Roseville, but there is literally NO music scene, it's awful. As far as the Hip Hop scene around Sac, it's very underrated and under appreciated, we don't have too many venues or outlets for people to get their music out. Emcees around here pretty much have to go on tour to get any recognition besides the internet or local fame.
For me as a producer it's been a huge blessing to have the internet and social media at my fingertips. There are a few Sacto cats right now making a strong name for themselves in the industry and that's really inspiring to see, I hope it will reflect well and people will start to check out the scene around here.
I've met cats that listen to Hip Hop and know their shit, but you ask them who they feel locally and they don't really know anyone, it's really weird like that, some major name cats will come through and the turnout is huge, I'm like, where were these fans at when local artists were throwing a show and the turnout is 25 people? It's like if they haven't heard of you, they aren't interested, but if Techn9n or Aesop Rock for instance come to town, even with minimal promotion, the shows are packed.
I can understand in a sense because the entire game is different, there are so many new people shitting out mixtapes and singles all the time that it's really hard to discover the good stuff. I'm a fan too so I know how it is, but I just want the fans of Hip Hop to give Sac a chance and discover the plethora of talent being overlooked on the daily.
I recently did a review of the Tribe Of Levi album, are you affiliated with them?
Those are my folks, much respect to them, one of my favorite groups locally and in general, their live show is something to behold. I met them back when we used to frequent this open mic type thing called "The Session" at this little cafe that served beer and didn't trip on 40-50 people coming through and rocking the mic, something very rare now, our little mini project blowed for a minute LOL. But it was cool because that's where a lot of people made connections and networked and showcased their work.
I plan on working with Tribe of Levi in the near future, I already did a collaboration with Mic Jordan that came very close to being on "Good Medicine" but I decided to hold it back for a project where I feature all local emcees over my beats, look out for that! As far as affiliation, I'm not one of the members or anything, but there is a collective in Northern CA called TPR (The People's Revolution) which includes T.O.L and there is talk of me joining the roster soon. I hope I'm not being presumptuous by stating that at this time, but in that way I would be affiliated, yes.
Walk us through the process of making a beat.
Well, I like to work in the day time, partly because I can't make a lot of noise past 10:30pm and also because I like to partake in a fine malt beverage in the evening time. But usually I make some tea, pack up a bowl and find samples, anywhere, vinyl, internet, CD, doesn't matter to me. I just set out to find sounds and mash them into pieces. I always start with drums, I've heard someone say that's an amateur move, but that person can go fuck themselves LOL.
Anyways so I get my basic drums down, be it my own sequence or a break beat, depending on the position of the planets and inflowing currents of celestial energy. I then pull up whichever song(s) I found that I like and begin the process of taking little pieces and putting them together to fit my desire. Once I have about a 4 bar loop of chops, then I go back to the drums and either replace them to fit the song more or layer on more percussion and what have you to benefit the flow. Most of the time I make it 8 or 12 bar loops and add in turnarounds and different chops.
Once it's to my liking I start thinking about what would sound nice over the existing loop, how I can change it up and at what points in the song to do so etc. When I feel like I have a dope beat I stop and export it to play it through the headphones. Usually there is something that needs to be adjusted or panned or whatever, sometimes I am happy with it as is. I look for all types of intro/outro sounds to make it more of a comprehensive record, adding little vocal snippets of strange sounds can often make the difference between a simple beat that someone can rap over and something that catches your attention as an instrumental. Once it's done I usually put it on SoundCloud. Now that I'm done making "Good Medicine", usually I make about 2 or 3 beats a week, it varies as I go on. I feel very down on myself if I haven't made anything for a while.
Where do you get most of your inspiration from when getting ready to lay down some tracks?
Man, that's a tough question. I guess the need to create. I also am haunted by the feeling that if I'm gonna lose the touch if I don't use it. I get really motivated when I make something that surprises me and other people really dig it, that makes me want to keep going. I listen to all different kinds of music, mainly Hip Hop and Jazz, but everything else from White Zombie to Gogol Bordello. I appreciate any type of music done well and it makes me want to step my game up and get my sound quality to sit next to something that was mixed in a million dollar studio, although I am yet to reach that point LOL.
You recently dropped the "Good Medicine" LP on IllMuzik Records, what's the theme of the album?
Duality, the balance of light and dark, yin and yang etc. I wanted to convey emotions through Hip Hop instrumentals. There is a lot of vocal samples having to do with existentialism and esoteric philosophy, I'm very much into finding out the answers to life and aside from my art I spend a lot of time pondering the infinite and reading about human consciousness and so forth. There are parts in the album that are almost psychedelic and allow you to zone out and just absorb the frequency. Then there are parts that are more melancholy and dark, that style for me is usually what I like to make, really dramatic strings and voices layered in. But I also tied in songs that were more of a lighthearted nature, something you can just walk around and feel good about life while listening to it type shit. It's all about the balance, ever changing but always in alignment. Also there are parts that are just me having fun with noises and throwing in random shit to keep it interesting.
I always say that your drums are your strong point - what do you do to make them sound like that?
Well thank you, first and foremost. I just know what I like I guess, I don't really consider myself a drum expert or anything by any means. But like I said, I do start with the drums first, and often that can take a while because I am very particular about what gets chosen and how to sequence it, and if I'm using a drum break from a record or something behind my own drums, it's even more tedious because I'm trying to blend the two and add my own little doodads on top without it sounding unnatural or forced. Layering is very important to me, I don't only use one snare or shaker or hi-hat, I spend the time panning them properly and lining them up with each other so that its not just jumbled up dissonance (hopefully). In the end, it's what you don't necessarily hear up front that makes a big difference, like that extra little hand clap layered behind the snare could be giving it a whole different vibe even though it's behind the main one.
What's in your studio?
My lab is pretty basic, I have some Yamaha HS-50 monitors, my incredibly resilient HP desktop, a MIDI controller and a record player. I had an Akai MPK49 but some shit got weird and now I have an M-Audio Oxygen49. Turns out I've gotten way more use out of the cheaper one because with the Akai I couldn't ever get the buttons and knobs to work with Reason. I basically had a $450 (at the time) set of keys, and don't get me started on the pads, I hope they improved them since the first generation, yikes.
Do you do anything else besides making beats? DJ? MC? Graffiti?
Yes indeed. I am still a member of MFT so whenever we get together, which is rare because of location differences, we always make a few tracks and I dust off the rhyme book and get in the booth. I will plead the 5th on the graffiti thing because let's just say I had a bad run in with the fuzz a while back. I am currently painting with acrylics and watercolor or whatever medium is available, I do a lot of canvas work but I'm known to paint hats, shoes, whatever. I always wanted to DJ, but never had any tables or know how when I was younger. DJ'ing and scratching is what initially got me into "underground" Hip Hop, I first heard a lot of my now favorite emcees on Beat Junkies albums.
What kind of projects are you working on right now?
Shit, just trying to be a better human and create art in all forms. I have a compilation album in the works but it's at a much slower pace because of all the features I want on it, but it will happen. I'm just making beats regularly and finding new ways to flip sounds. I imagine it wont be long before I start piecing together another album, when the time is right I will begin construction.
Thanks for taking the time to do this interview. Any shout outs you'd like to give?
Absolutely, thank you for the consideration. Shout out to anyone that has ever played my music and liked it, thank you! I don't want to give a big MTV awards spiel, thanking everyone I've ever known, I'll just end with a quote from my homie Byear of MFT - "the folks is ever folks, and that's got a ring to it".
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