This month marks the ninth year that I have been making rap beats. Man, I can’t believe how fast time flies sometimes. Figured I’d take a breather from all the lists of things that are awesome, and instead just put together a post on my early years of beat making.
Right out of highschool Stef (P.O.S) convinced me to buy an MPC2000XL and give production a shot. Up until that point I had played saxaphone in school and played guitar with TPC!, but had no idea about beats. I just loved rap music. I actually thought early on that rappers hired people to play all the music parts (before I had any clue as to what sampling was). Stef helped me set everything up and spent a couple hours showing me the basics. From then on I was hooked. Can’t thank that guy enough. Legend Recognize Legend.
Below is the first beat that I ever made. Gotta warn you, it is not good at all. At the time though I was pretty convinced it was the greatest thing ever. Guess there is such a thing as being too confident after all.
Haha, I remember having to trade the neighbor (what up Rudy Da Riddla?) my DVD player so that I could borrow his CD burner in order to get the beats off my MPC and actually onto a disc. I think it took me like three days to figure out how to use the thing. Really wish I would of known about/had the money for Pro Tools back then.
So at that point I had my first beat tape, but no rappers. Doomtree was still in the very early stages of forming and I wasn’t ready to show those dudes anything yet. I ended up meeting a couple people through a friend at the pizza joint I worked at, and fell in with a crew called Carp D that was forming. At the time it was Grimmy and Camino, Moochy C, Bonaphide, and a couple other dudes. Flynch (one of the best ever) was making most of their beats but they gave me a chance to get in there a little bit and get my feet wet. Holy shit did I learn a ton. I got to go into the studio every day and see how it all got done: song structure, punch ins, ad libs, sound effects, rapper counseling, mixing, etc. Again, Legend Recognize Legend. Can’t thank them enough for the crash course.
Below is the first beat of mine that ever made it onto an album. It’s by Grimmy and Camino, from their album Ghetto Bible. Big shout to my man Camino doing it real big in Las Vegas these days. One of the best moments of my life has to be getting these CD’s back from the plant and opening one up to see my name in the production credits (even if it was spelled wrong).
Grimmy and Camino – “Lord Why”
So that’s a little trip down memory lane for me. Wanted to share a little bit of how I got started. I’ll try to keep these posts balanced with other stuff that is actually funny/interesting, but I’ve just been tripping out lately at how much has happened in the last nine years.
OTHER STUFF
In closing, I’ve been asked lately by more than a couple people who don’t really listen to hip hop music, “Lazerbeak, what exactly is a Lava Banger?” So I decided to try to put the answer into terms that hopefully everyone can understand. Each One Teach One, feel me? Below is what I’ve started sending out to people when they inquire about the definition of a Lava Banger:
” The term “banger” has been used in hip hop for awhile to describe a beat that is super hard and awesome. Basically the kind of beat that immediately requires your head to start violently nodding and makes your face scrunch up a little like you are a bit disgusted (it’s a really good thing though). I added the lava part because I feel like my beats are “hot fire” (another phrase that probably gets used way too much in hip hop to describe one’s awesomeness) on top of just being bangers. Too hot too handle if you will. While there are several producers out there capable of making bangers, it is my humble opinion that Lazerbeak is the only person in the world capable of creating genuine authentic Lava Bangers.”
Bam, there you have it. I’m going into the studio today and tomorrow with Stef and Dessa to hopefully finish all the tracking for the Lazerbeak album. Supremely determined to have this thing mixed and finished by the end of the year. Should have photos for next week. Go Vikes!!!
— Beak