What's Your Story?(how you came to be a producer)

[Vice]

I was curious of everyone's path which lead to beat making.

Here is mine:

I been around many different genres of music, but mostly listened to the radio as a kid. Usually rap, and some rock....but mostly Oldies. My Mom loved listening to Art Laboe's killer oldie show.....so it actually broadened my likings for different styles...... Where I grew up we have a many different races in one school but mostly Hispanic. In about the 6th grade I remember I was into Bone Thugs N Harmony and Tupac and Biggie...... they were "the big thing" at the time. At school, I seen this kid break dancing and noticed the reaction he got from it... so I wanted to learn. I ended getting advice from my older brother to rent the movie Breakin and soon mimicked every possible move. Around 8th grade, I had developed my own style, and was getting a wider grasp on the Hip-Hop culture. Even though at this time I was also getting into House Music. I use to go to this local club with some friends and we eventually became a dance crew. We use to be known for battling and became friends with the DJ(which helped us get in for free)

It was at this little club I met Cold Truth, who at the time was a B-Boy as well.
We had a breaking session at my house and he had some music I had never heard before(which was Pharoahe Monch, along with some other underground Hip Hop.) He introduced me to alot of new underground rap music especially with the cd Sound Bombing 2..... that was the first time I ever heard alot of my favorite artist of today.

Some shit went down in CT's life and he ended up moving in with my family for a little bit. When he moved in he brought with him a Boss Dr 202, and a Dr sample Sp 202. he also had a 4 track that recorded onto Cassette tapes. (He got it as a graduation gift from foster parents)

So naturally I was interested in learning how the hell to use this stuff. With his help I started making beats using sample chops from mostly classical music(which sucked ass at the time, but did show potential : D)

Up to that point the only thing I did musically was played with a cheap Casio piano... I still felt like I had to do something with music, but didn't have money to buy a drum machine. Cold had to pawn his equipment for some cash and he couldn't make the payments, so it was lost.

At this time I got my first job selling alarm systems door to door( was damn good at it to, (because of my "nice boy" look.lol) I had some cash and decided to see if the pawn shop still had the equipment, and they did! So I ended up buying it back and re started making beats again.

To make an already long story short, Cold soon bought an MPC 2000Xl and we used that, from there I got a loan from my sister(which I will never live down) who helped me buy my first Korg Triton and Monitors. I ended up trading some guy for a Roland Fantom and 200 dollars.

After he moved out, he had to sell the mpc and I ended up having to sell the roland to make rent. I used some of the leftover money to buy a guitar and stopped making beats for a loooong time. Cold moved on to a pc and started using software. I eventually followed his steps and got software as well........

which I still use today.......so that's my mini bio of how I became a producer.

 

[skidflow]

When I was 16, I used to sit in my room in front of the speaker and listen to various artist from the "golden era" of Hip Hop and wonder...how the fuck do they make those beats? I gotta find away to do that...and here I am doing it...atleast trying anyway.

I used to be a breaker back in 83 my signature move was the suicide (that prolly why my back fucked up till this day...naw I'm just old as mummy dust...lol) I started ryhming about a year earlier...82...rhymes was wack back then...but I still held it down.

Around 86' I entered high school...by now I was one of the most skillful rhymesayers at the school. I used to get with my boys and make those little cassette demos off of Steady B instros and give them to chicks at school...in 86' this was all the props you needed...I got alot of pussy for that...well mostly fingering chicks...LOL (ladies of the site just being real right now...no offense)

Fast Forward to the military...this is where I lost my skills it seemed completly because I was getting fucked up off Gin DAILY, and hunting for chicks...plus when I did attempt to drop a frestyle then I would say lil phrases like "In the place to be" and "Cold doing this and Cold doing that".....I was officially stuck in a time warp saying rhymes from 86 and here it is 90'....so it hit me: "sun your rhymes is played out...give it up"...so I stopped...until I got out of the military in 93'.

I returned home to get what I had been missing while being stationed at Ft. Sill, OK...good wholesome hip hop. I came home my lil brother was bumping KRS-1's "Black Cop". Thats when I said, "o.k., its time to get back right and get relevant with the lyrics...so I started to use bigger vocabulary in my rhymes...it took alot of practice to get right.

Around 95' I convinced my boy Boo to invest in some hardware because he was able to at the time...so we started bangin out tracks. All of a sudden my boy got "knocked" by the Feds...its was a wrap...but I still kept sharp with the ryhmes...mind you my boy made the tracks...I just rhymed.

97' I moved to Raleigh to take a better job as a kitchen manager at a hospital...but still I was "on and off " with rhyming until 03' thats when I met cats from the Solid Union. My boy Tommy B made all the beats, and over the course of a couple of years we desparately needed another musical input in the group to give give us a different sound at times...so I started messing around with FL 4...fell in love...I really didnt allow the group to use one of my beats until like 05'...its was titled "the history of SU"...one of the illest beats I ever made. I kept at until I got nicer...then all of a sudden in 07' my FL crashed on my desktop forcing me to learn the Reason program that was on my computer for about a year and a half...that was a blessing in disguise because thats who I am now...

ez

 

[Chrono]

basically.....


my parents never listen to music... abandoned of experiences through the vaporous corridors of the sonic experience.. i was creatively NUMB

then one day at the age of 8 i met a kid riding his bike through the neighborhood. Through the years we'd hang out and later as my parents were getting a divorce i spent quality time with his mom, pops an family. It was great!! They always threw parties, though at that age we never drank or anything, and their family took me in like fam. Keep in mind I am white and before this I have never experienced racism towards any race.

So, Russ's family moved here from Brooklyn because his mom had a job with American Airlines that moved them here. So every year they went to vegas.. but every 5 years or so they'd go back to Brooklyn. Russell would make mix tapes from recording off the radio.

When I was 15 I met a kid in my school from Japan, Masaki Yashido, and we became friends. He eventually came to the neighborhood an was adopted by the crew.

When the semester was over it was going to be time for Masaki to go home. He invited me to go with him an I was like YEAH.. i mean there was no way.. but I had no idea.. my mom was stationed in Japan as a young girl, via grandpa, and dad knew her nearly the moment she got back at like 16. My dad's fam owned the house her parents rented. ANYWAY, they paid for the trip.

Soooo.... when i was in Japan, Masaki taught Judo during that 1993 summer and I was alone at the place by my self. Masaki did teach me how to use the subway system and I would visit many places.

One day I came to a dealer of cassette tape players.. keep in mind this is 1993 and the only American tape players you could find were as thick as three tape cassettes put together. Well, I found one that was barely the width of a tape itself, it came with a control remote halfway through the cord AND it was cheap.

too make a long story short, the new york mixtapes he made me.. i listened to for the first time. it became my home the rest of the month and a half i was there. i did meet a girl and there is a love story there too.. but it has nothing to do with hiphop

lol, if your interested I still have that walkman and could take pictures it to put up for kicks. much love fam.. on the internet?? only for you fam

-Chono T

 

[Vice]

basically.....


my parents never listen to music... abandoned of experiences through the vaporous corridors of the sonic experience.. i was creatively NUMB

then one day at the age of 8 i met a kid riding his bike through the neighborhood. Through the years we'd hang out and later as my parents were getting a divorce i spent quality time with his mom, pops an family. It was great!! They always threw parties, though at that age we never drank or anything, and their family took me in like fam. Keep in mind I am white and before this I have never experienced racism towards any race.

So, Russ's family moved here from Brooklyn because his mom had a job with American Airlines that moved them here. So every year they went to vegas.. but every 5 years or so they'd go back to Brooklyn. Russell would make mix tapes from recording off the radio.

When I was 15 I met a kid in my school from Japan, Masaki Yashido, and we became friends. He eventually came to the neighborhood an was adopted by the crew.

When the semester was over it was going to be time for Masaki to go home. He invited me to go with him an I was like YEAH.. i mean there was no way.. but I had no idea.. my mom was stationed in Japan as a young girl, via grandpa, and dad knew her nearly the moment she got back at like 16. My dad's fam owned the house her parents rented. ANYWAY, they paid for the trip.

Soooo.... when i was in Japan, Masaki taught Judo during that 1993 summer and I was alone at the place by my self. Masaki did teach me how to use the subway system and I would visit many places.

One day I came to a dealer of cassette tape players.. keep in mind this is 1993 and the only American tape players you could find were as thick as three tape cassettes put together. Well, I found one that was barely the width of a tape itself, it came with a control remote halfway through the cord AND it was cheap.

too make a long story short, the new york mixtapes he made me.. i listened to for the first time. it became my home the rest of the month and a half i was there. i did meet a girl and there is a love story there too.. but it has nothing to do with hiphop

lol, if your interested I still have that walkman and could take pictures it to put up for kicks. much love fam.. on the internet?? only for you fam

-Chono T

so did when did you actually start making beats? Was it after hearing the mixtapes? Or was that just what introduced you to the music?

 

[Vice]

Around 86' I entered high school...by now I was one of the most skillful rhymesayers at the school. I used to get with my boys and make those little cassette demos off of Steady B instros and give them to chicks at school...in 86' this was all the props you needed...I got alot of pussy for that...well mostly fingering chicks...LOL (ladies of the site just being real right now...no offense)
ez

LMAO @ fingering...haha....

that's dope man.... good read... I thought you were producing since back in the 80's, I didn't know you started off on FL 7.....

 

[skidflow]

LMAO @ fingering...haha....

that's dope man.... good read... I thought you were producing since back in the 80's, I didn't know you started off on FL 7.....

Naw bro...I've was so called studying the game for a long time, but I been SERIOUSLY making beats for about 4 yrs...I got alot of growing still production wise...I'm about to get back on the mic though...I miss it...you guys been inspiring me...I feel like its a new day. This old cat about to start laying it back down. lol


and it aint gonna be no geritol flow either...gotta come back like my ribs touching. lol

 

[Sucio]

Wow...time to bring it back...


When I was growing up in NYC, there was always some kind of music blaring from my apt. Mostly my father. He was big into Motown & Salsa, but played all kinds of music. I was obsessed with his stereo he bought. It was about a thousand dollars at that time (in the 80s). He purchased it from Gimbels credit only to have them close their doors soon thereafter (he neverpaid more than 300 for it). On Saturdays, when my father was at work, my mother and I would clean the house. I used to play DJ and made sure when the record was done, I had another one ready to go. I played tracks from Thriller to Peabo Bryson, to The Boogie Boys. I played everything and that point fell in love with music in general. But my love for hip-hop wasn't born at my home...I credit my uncles and aunts for that....

I used to frequent my grandmothers house not too far away.... I had a few uncles/aunts who were about 5-7 years older than me. Living in the hood (stereotypical) they were big into hip-hop and freestyle. Since I was so exposed to that, I became a big RUN DMC fan. From then on I fell in love with the hip-hop culture.

When I was in junior high, I used to just try to make beats with my knuckles hitting the cafeteria table when I was bored.....THEN ILLMATIC CAME OUT! Man...I think I listened to "it ain't hard to tell" like a million times. Then at that point I wanted to make beats......Of course back then I was a kid and didn't have the money to afford such equipment, so then that feeling went away.....

Later on in college I came across FL 3 from my uncle....didn't like it much at first so it just sat in my pc. Then somehow Nomics got a hold of it too (I've known him since the 8th grade or so). We started making beats from then....and decided to collab on tracks.......Started off using generic sounds n shit...some of the beats were dope, though... I wish I still had the first beats I made..I think Nomics still has his first beat "samurai" on his pc....

My producer name was "Coming Soon" I laugh everytime I think of that name....

Nomics eventually moved to Albany...as did I and started becoming a little more serious about music and Nomics started Equilibrium Entertainment. We started sampling tracks instead of composing and improved our overall sound....Worked on an album (The Most Famous Classic by Ty Butta). Never really got anywhere with that album but learned a lot about music in general. After a while I decided to move closer to my family in FL.


I hooked up with an old NYC friend of mine out here in FL who just so happened to need beats for his artist Skitzo. He became my lead artist as well as a rappers Izzo and Red Don.

With the new location, my producer name was changed to Sucio Beats (all my friends call me Sucio, now for the reasons about to be stated.). My uncle gave me that name when I told him out of the group of chicks, which ranged from good looking to downright crap, that I'd do em all... So Sucio stuck......and my friends have seen that side of me every day since then....

Now that I've been here in FL I feel that I've really gotten better as an overall producer. I've sold quite a few beats out here, and one to Black Wall Street's Juice last year.

Currently I'm working with a small rock/neo-hippie band called Organic with a group within the group called the Indigo Children. We are trying to cover a lot of bases here and not be so one dimensional.


I condensed this story a bit because if I didn't I'd be typing for the next hour.

 

[krysolite]

some big history for hip hop in all of you eh. nothing inspiring about my story.

background:
my parents immigrated here before they had me, so they had to find some cheap place to live. moved into a ghetto ass neighborhood (in toronto. not as bad as some places in the states.) i lived there most of my life where all my friends listened to hip hop so i was raised with it. i had piano lessons for 5 years or so.

finding propellerheads reason:
parents started making money and wanted to put me through a private school in high school. the first year at this school, they had some crazy music lab where they had macs all loaded with reason and midi keyboards. i started fucking around with it one day and thats when i knew i had to get that program. sheeeeit. it was CRAZY. i looked for a reason download on the internet but i couldnt find any for a YEAR. and i can't buy that shit, i was a kid. ye.

now:
so thats 7 years now since i had reason. in regards with hip hop (because everyone mentions it), i can't listen to anything else. except jazz and reggae. i would rather listen to nothing then listen to some songs on the radio. dam. how do they get so popular? only mixtapes and select albums for me.

but anyway. its cuz i walked into that class that day. i had to give the teacher something. that shit blew me away.
imagine that was ur first experience with producing software. a lab full of macs with reason 2.0 with midi keyboards and mics. the teacher showing the class u can flip the whole rack around to fuck around with wiring and filters. how could u not get hooked right away?

 

[Vice]

haha... That's where the name Sucio came from....that's tight. Good story.... and I know what your mean about typing for an hour, cause I had to shorten mine up to..lol

Krysolite, that is tight that your first experience of production was in a classroom...you probably got the opportunity to learn things quicker, where learning the way most of us did we had to do more experimenting with programs and such.

dope reads though.

 

[divineaspex]

Started out rapping...blah...blah ...blah. Cliche story stuff, ya know.

 

[djjumpinjoe]

I started as a DJ in the Chicago House seen back in 1985 ....... Started listening to Hip Hop around 1990 ..... Started making tracks around 1992 ....... I use to flow as well but my mind is way to small for that shit .... lol ..... Bought a tr505 drum machine just to fuck around with ..... Then I bought a Ensoniq Mirage and thats when it started ..... Had a old ass tascam tape 4 track thought i was the shit .... lol ..... Then a yamaha 8 track and a ASR-10 ..... Then a Roland 16 track Digital ..... Then Fruity Loops ..... Then Protools .... Then MV-8800 and now im back to Fruity ....... And now looking to sell all my shit and just use Fruity ......

 

[GRAFIK]

My Story.....

When I started high school I went to this house party where dude had turntables in his room. We were actually in his room doing some drugs at the time. Anyway he let me get on his tables and from there, honestly I was hooked. I mean I grew up listening to hip hop but to be spinning and scratching records was crazy to me at the time.

So that year I saved up and bought my first DJ starter kit. It was some cheap as belt driven Numark turntables and like a 30.00 mixer. I actually bought a bulk of hip hop records on ebay to practice with. I would just sit in my room and practice all the time.

When I got into college I had bought a ton of records and started doing house parties, bars, clubs, etc… I figured this is what I wanted to do.

I think it was my freshman year in college my dad bought me this music maker software for Christmas. I started fucking around with it and my beats were as shitty as they come. I just used stock sounds they had and just made some basic throw away beats. I used this software for about a year or so…

From there I started watching videos online and listening to other music and finally bought FL studio. I always practiced when I was not in class. Most of the time I would skip class and make beats. You know smoking weed and what not… I used FL studio for about 4 years or so…

Finally I graduated and got a little bit of money from my job and bought the MV-8000 and have been making beats with it for about 3 years now…

Honestly in a nutshell I just love Hip Hop that is why I started DJing and making beats.

 

[Schizo-Manic]

My cousin influenced me he was emcee I was just a little kid amazed like you can put words together and actually have a message. Keep in mind he was like 20 years old I was like in 5th grade, this was around the time when O.P.P. was jumping off so he copped me the cassette tape and I was hooked on hip hop sense. Next year 6th grade it was all about Dre & Snoop along with Wu-Tang 36 Chambers these where the first albums I purchased on my own this was around like 93-94. Fast forward to high school, I started studying beats just listening counting in head the patterns. Senior year in high-school my boy copped a triton around the time when they was popular he left Jersey went off to college. Then I went to best buy picked up Acid 2.0 installed it looked at it, confused like a MF I didn't get it I didn't put no effort into trying to learn it. That started collecting dust then I downloaded Fruity Tracks back in day look at it same result I really didn't put the time in it to learn it that was that. Fast forward about 3 years I was still listening to music studying, until one day I re-listened to Liquid Swords "4th Chamber" then I was like yooo I gotta learn this shit. Then I was working at Vonage doing customer service around spring of 2006, I was talking to a co-worker who was a producer he was yea I make beats on fl studio then I came to the realization how much time I wasted. Went to guitar center and brought fl studio 6 it stayed on my PC for like 6 months still bamboozled. Summer time came and went and I started making beats around November of 06. Since I learn visually youtube was like my best friend and the rest is history. Now my cousin is locked up doing a crazy bid and he can't even hear my shit. It's all good though I stay motivated

 

[Chrono]

so did when did you actually start making beats? Was it after hearing the mixtapes? Or was that just what introduced you to the music?

ahh that was my introduction to hiphop period.. I began writing lyrics in about 98 and then bought FL in feb 2003.

 

[Relic]

Twas the Viet Cong in Khe San what made me to start doin this chere...

Mine is a really long ass story and I have a meeting in 15 min so I will have to post later..
Good thread though.

 

[krysolite]

haha... That's where the name Sucio came from....that's tight. Good story.... and I know what your mean about typing for an hour, cause I had to shorten mine up to..lol

Krysolite, that is tight that your first experience of production was in a classroom...you probably got the opportunity to learn things quicker, where learning the way most of us did we had to do more experimenting with programs and such.

dope reads though.

i wish tho. it was a class for the seniors and they got rid of that class by the time i was old enough to take it. i just saw it, messed around with it for a couple minutes, went home and tried to dl it. learning reason fully to the extent that i know it now took years. it took about a half year before i actually knew the basics on reason.

 

[stormelements]

Well I started make beats in College. I've always been into music, back in grade school I use to play the Cornet, Trumpet, and the Clarinet. Anyway, a friend of mine in college had this program called Hip-Hop eJay, it was like $30 bucks...lol I got a copy of it and we use to make beats back and forth to see what we came up with. It was fun, I was addicted!! A few months later I discovered Acid loops. And then a couple years later I decided to really persue it and brought my first piece of equipment, the Motif! It was a wrap after that, been producing for 8 years now!

 

[Vice]

Well I started make beats in College. I've always been into music, back in grade school I use to play the Cornet, Trumpet, and the Clarinet. Anyway, a friend of mine in college had this program called Hip-Hop eJay, it was like $30 bucks...lol I got a copy of it and we use to make beats back and forth to see what we came up with. It was fun, I was addicted!! A few months later I discovered Acid loops. And then a couple years later I decided to really persue it and brought my first piece of equipment, the Motif! It was a wrap after that, been producing for 8 years now!

I played the trumpet in Elementary..lol.. I don't share that much.... shit even did a couple concerts.....haha.

I forgot, I made some beats on Playstation's MTV Music Generator in between not having any equiptment, that game is actually pretty cool... I remade a couple sketches I did on that game for beats now.lol.

 

[Schizo-Manic]

I still got this casio SA-20 keyboard "100 Sound Tone Bank" keyboard that had since 1st grade, looking at it now its mad small.

 

[Krazyfingaz]

i started out rapping of course back in highschool and one of my homies and I started a group. we got tired of rapping over industry beats so he went and bought the playstation music generator ( SHUT UP!!!!)when it first came out because neither one of us could afford a mpc or asr and we did not know much about computer software programs and it was like 40 bucks. he could not understand the generator so he gave it to me and i made all the beats for the group. after about id say 3 years I got acid 3.0 and the rest has been history since then.