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11/21/2005 What's good man? I'm good man. I got school work, music work, things are busy. I just got to New York, its crazy right now. Can you give the people some background on yourself… I started out as a turntablist. I battled throughout Boston and New York. I started making my own scratch-based music. That got me into recording and production. I stopped the whole battling thing because it was too much work because you spend so much time focusing for a six-minute routine. I got focused on beats and started sending out beat CD's my freshman year of high school. I got tracks done with Main Flow and Chino XL. From there, I've just been grinding my ass off. I got a manager recently. I got hired as Krumbsnatcha's DJ, that's been a good look. I got five tracks on his last album. Now I'm in New York and I'm doing production with Ill Will Fulton for Full Clip, which used to be known as Fast Life. What's it like working with Ill Will? He's real cool. He reminds me a lot of myself. We have the same ear for music. He discovered Ja Rule and Irv Gotti, he was there for the whole Camp Lo album, he did a bunch of shit with Cormega…he's just a real good influence. It's fun as shit. Either I'll bring in something to work on or he will, and we already have a couple joints that AZ took, one with Cormega, we played some shit for M.O.P… What's it like working with Cormega? I was in the studio with him once. He brought in a sample that he wanted us to flip. We flipped it in less that 20 minutes, and he came in and killed it. I'm not sure what it's for. AZ's took a couple of my beats so far, I'm a big fan of him. I know they're working on an AZ mixtape now and then another album. I also got to meet Lil' Fame…Disco D comes through. I've gotten to get a lot of connections already. What happened with Lil' Fame in the studio? He came through during our AZ session. He was vibing out to the track AZ was doing. He had an MPC, and I gave him some samples. He flipped three beats that night. I sat there and listened, he'd ask my opinion every once-in-a-while. It was dope just to sit down and watch him work. And in the other room was AZ…it was a pretty surreal night. How did you start working with J.R. Writer? I got connected through Spliff, he's an assistant A&R for the Diplomats. That "Mesmerized" track really blew up, it got on a lot of big mixtapes. We just did the remix with CL Smooth and Scales from Nappy Roots. I just sent J.R. another beat CD, and he recorded another song and he said he has some more coming. I have a lot of shit that fits the Diplomats well. What's Krumbsnatcha up to now? Right now, he's doing his own thing. His new album is going to be executive-produced by Premier. He's still in Lawrence, Mass doing his thing. He's going to be coming to New York soon. He comes by every once-in-a-while because he records at Primo's studio. I'm still DJ'ing for him too, so once the album is done, we'll be going on tour. He really looks out for me. He really stuck his neck out there for me in the beginning. How hard is it to break in at first and get people to take you seriously? It's tough, especially when I started off. I grew up in New Hampshire, and people didn't want to take me seriously. All it takes is for a few people to get on your beats and you can always reference back to them. It's crazy now when we're in the studio and someone goes "that beat is crazy, who made this" and it's a little white 18-year-old sitting in the corner. I still get weird looks, but slowly I'm getting more and more respect. It's not easy though. Is there any experience that sticks out in your mind when you really started believing that you could make it? When I got my manager, Dan Green. He manages Termanology and MoSS. He's a big dude in the industry. He sells a lot of beats in the industry. When he came to me, I was like "that's what's up." Now we have two minds working as one. That's when I started taking it more seriously. In Boston, I had already worked with everyone there within six months of moving there. Since being in New York, I've already been in the studio with AZ, Cormega, and CL Smooth. You just have to keep up the good work, I'm trying. What did you start off on with the beats? I used to make shit with a little drum machine and an external sampler and recorded on a tape deck, multi-tracking and playing the drums live. Then I got an MPC, but I didn't really like that. I'm a visual person, so I got Acid and Fruity Loops. I just stepped up to ProTools, that makes it crazy. I want to get an MPC back now because I love banging drums out and I haven't been able to do that. It's nice to go to the studio I make beats at because they have everything and you can do whatever. How have you progressed as a producer? Before, when I started doing shit, I was really closed-minded when it came to doing music. I was all about the underground and on some "fuck the mainstream" type shit. Now, it's about being versatile. You may get hate for doing a pop joint and then a grimy joint, but I really don't care. I'm trying to make a career out of this. I really want to push myself to the limit instead of being closed-minded like before. What do you rely on for your beats? Right now, I'm relying on samples because that's the shit that really enthuses me and makes me want to flip shit. Will's a genius when it comes to playing original shit. I don't have any training for that, but I've gotten to the point where I can switch it up from just looping an 8-bar sample to playing over a sample and making it original by the end where the sample is gone. I've gotten a lot more versatile, but I still base everything off samples. How important is it for a producer to have DJ'ing skills? I think it helps for a sense of rhythm. I got an ear for things being on-beat and things matching up. I think it helps, but I don't think it's a necessity. I just got lucky starting off on that shit. At first, that's all I wanted to do, just be like the Invisibl Scratch Piklz. But then I realized that I could do more with my ear. It's real handy. Now I can scratch hooks and all that. It helps out a lot. How do make sure you stay fresh and keep improving? Working with Will has really helped me. Him and Dan are real strict on things, they don't just feel anything. I bring shit to them and they're honest with me. That really helps. When I was sitting in New Hampshire and Boston, all people would say is "I'm not feeling that." Will will tell me to make the drums more banging or something. With them, they're trying to be beneficial to me and help me out. If I send a beat to some random producer online for feedback, they may just be being competitive and trying to talk shit, they may not be trying to help me, you never know. I'm just always trying to make my shit cleaner and more appealing to everyone. Where do you draw the line between giving out beats for free and charging? It really depends. With the Diplomats, every time they drop they sell 20,000 copies. I got a lot of beats that they feel, and they have so many producers working for them, so when I get one on with them, I don't give a fuck about getting paid. It's a good look. With "Mesmerized," I didn't even think about getting paid. When it comes to working with Will, he's a professional, so he's about getting the money. I'm still about building my discography up. It's not even my first priority right now. I'm still a college student. What are your goals right now? Right now, I just want to get my name out. I'm doing a bunch of mixtapes. I'm hosting a lot of unsigned dudes. I don't have to do much for that and I get my name on the front of the CD. I'm trying to get on some official releases. My long-term goal is to do something like the Alchemist and get a compilation out with all my beats. I want to do that on a major label. I can also perform. A lot of producers can't perform on stage with the turntables. I just want to be the full package and make a name for it. What's coming up for you? My mixtape, hosted by Statik Selektah, it's called "For the Customers." I got crazy people on there. I'm going to have the J.R. Writer joint on there, C.Rayz Walz…I have to get up with him, he liked a lot of my beats. I got Big Noyd and Prodigy, Esoteric, Termanology, AZ, Zion I…I used to listen to a lot of that underground shit and I'm just trying to mix it with everything. It'll work because it's all my production so it will all have my style on it. What do you want to say to everyone out there reading this? If you're making beats, don't worry about getting them out there. I really worried about getting my shit out there in the beginning, but you really just have to worry about making the beats hot. If they're hot, people are going to want them. Don't rush it. And I want people to buy my mixtape when it comes out!

By Brian Kayser

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