DON'T MISS TODAY:

Back to Artist Profiles

8/1/2007 What’s up?  Inf: I’m pretty good.   Price: I’m cool too, as usual.   How did the Track Slayerz come together?    Inf: A couple of years ago, I met Price on the internet through Soundclick. We just traded sounds. After that, we stopped talking for awhile. Then last summer we had gotten back in contact and we were sending tracks back and forth. From there, we were like, ‘We would make a pretty tight duo.’ From there, we’ve been the Track Slayerz.  How do you guys work together on beats?    Price: We have to do it through the internet. Most production duos, they’re right there with each other and they’re like 25 years-old. I’ve never seen Inf before and he’s never seen me before. We have to send the songs back and forth to each other. And we’re only 18 years-old. I think that’s spectacular.  Inf: Yeah, we have to send session files back and forth. Price will like, lay a melody track and I can work on the drums or the sequencing. We do whatever it takes to get the job done.  How difficult is it communicating online and sending files back and forth via the internet instead of being in the studio together banging out beats?  Inf: I think in certain cases, it may take longer. I think it would be easier to work in person because you can just knock on their door or turn around and tell them to turn the volume up on something. It does put a damper on things working online, but I don’t think it’s that much more difficult.  You guys are about to sign a production deal with Black Wallstreet. Are you at all surprised by your early success?  Price: You have to be surprised. I know we’re surprised. It’s crazy because I’m about to go to college and Inf’s already in college. It’s crazy because people in New York, people in LA and people in Miami are all striving to get a deal and they’re 26. We’re 18 and we already got a contract on the table.  Inf: I’m surprised. I always wanted to get a production deal. I’ve been making beats for awhile and people tell me that my beats are good, but I really think that I can get much better. Juice called us the “modern-day Neptunes with a gangster twist.” I’m not trying to be like the Neptunes. I want to just be us. My goal is go to someone else’s MySpace page and see us listed as their influences. Everything is still a surprise to me.  How hard is it to balance producing and beatmaking while being in school?    Inf: Because I started college last semester, it was pretty hard. In my first semester, I found my grades slipping because I would be running back to the dorm or back to the studio to work on beats and I should have been studying for a test or going to a lab. It’s a pretty tough juggling act.  Price: Especially for me, I didn’t even go to prom or homecoming. When everybody was at prom or homecoming, I was making beats. When girls were trying to find their dresses, I was trying to figure out how to make my kicks better. When the dudes were trying to find their suits, I was trying to figure out how to make my melodies better. But it’s all part of the game when you’re just trying to get better.  How did you guys link up with Black Wallstreet?    Price: I was working with Dubb from Black Wallstreet. He’s Black Wallstreet-affiliated. I heard his song on the Black Wallstreet Journal. I hit him up on MySpace and we worked and then we fell out of touch. Then I hit up Juice and sent him a couple of records. When I got home from school, he had sent me a message saying that he was really interested in working with us. Ever since then, he’s just been on our music and he’s been pushing us to be the next big thing.  What did Juice’s cosign mean to you?    Inf: It means a lot. It still does mean a lot. A lot of artists that we work with are close friends and I’m thinking that maybe they’re just saying that all my tracks are hot because they’re trying to get production from me. But when I’m moving up and I hear that Juice says that Game is feeling a track that we did and that we can possibly get a production spot on his next album coming out, that feels great. But we still have years to go.  Price: It feels good that we’re turning heads. It’s hard, especially when other producers don’t help you.  Have you already experienced the politics of the game?    Price: I’m going to give you one example. I hit this one guy up one day on AOL Instant Messenger. At the time, we weren’t where we needed to be and he told us that we weren’t that good. I told him that his music couldn’t be that good either and he replied back with, “Blasphemy!” As producers, you can’t be like that. We have to help each other. That’s the way you get album and mixtape placements.  What’s it like working with Juice?    Inf: He’s a cool dude. I’ve spoken to a few artists and they come off as sort of Hollywood-ish. Juice is cool. One of the first tracks we got to Juice had a Coldplay sample in it and he’s spoken with Chris Martin and he’s been pushing that track. He has a really good ear. He’s a pretty cool dude.  Will you be working more with Dubb as well?    Inf: Yeah. He’s actually working on his second mixtape and we possibly have a couple of spots on there. Recently, we’ve been putting in double-time, trying to move tracks to anyone with a name. We’re trying to build up that resume and work with anybody that has a name. Yesterday I sent out some tracks and we’re really trying to work with anybody that’s got a name and is serious about doing this music. We’re trying to get to that person.  Will you be working with Game in the future?    Inf: I’m pretty sure of it. I can almost say ‘definitely.’  Price: Yeah, that’s a definite. We should be on the next mixtape.  When Game makes albums, he usually goes to big-name producers. Does that worry you at all?    Inf: I feel good about it. Juice has Kanye, Hi-Tek and JR Rotem, but we’re going to be on there too. People are going to be like, ‘Who are the Track Slayerz?’ I feel confident that me and Price can bang out a track that will blow away the world.  Price: Especially being that it’s going to be his last album, I think that will make it even more special to get a track on there. I think that we can pull that off because we have that talent.  There are artists out there that don’t like the Game. Will you get caught up in the politics?    Inf: Not at all. Price already had a conversation with Juice about that. I try not to get into the whole beef thing and the affiliations. I just try to make good music.  Price: I asked Juice about it because I had wanted to do a record with Hot Rod. One of the producers that I work with sent me a contract for a song with Mazaradi Fox. I talked to Juice about it and told him that I was just trying to expand my name. He told me, “Don’t worry about me. Just get your name out there. As long as the Track Slayerz get the name out, I’m happy.” That was really cool. He just wants to see everybody grow as an artist.  Is your sound a perfect match for Black Wallstreet?    Inf: I put in The Doctor’s Advocate and listen to it and I’m from Atlanta and Price is from Sebring, which is around Orlando. It’s kind of tricky, but we’re trying to do everything, whether it’s a Dirty South or East Coast banger or love song. Any song you need, we should be able to do. Fitting into that Black Wallstreet sound, I think it could be tricky, but I think that we could pull it off. They have artists all over. I think it’s pretty possible to mesh well with their sound.   What equipment do you guys use?    Price: We use SL-7s. Inf uses an Oxygen midi controller. Inf uses Pro Tools and I’m about the same. I use Cool Edit 2.0. You don’t need to have everything to work with. 9th did “Threat” with Fruity Loops! If you can make a beat like that on a computer program, then you don’t need a Triton or a Motif to make a super-hit, although it would help.  Inf: Yeah. We have a few artists that we work with, like Young Chillz. When I went out to Boston, they hit me with the Mbox to help me. You don’t necessarily need all of that major equipment. It’s all about the mixing and finding your own sound and perfecting your craft. I’ll be on forums, helping out younger producers and I’ll tell them that mixing is very important because you want your track to bang and to sound good. I have opportunities when I hit up studios in Atlanta to get on the Motif or the old school Juno 106. Midi controllers, computer programs and VSTs work too.  What are your goals as Track Slayerz?  Price: I think we are trying to take over the universe by 2008 because it’s pretty hard to be a producer. There are people that don’t even know that I make beats. The only payback and the only revenge is to take over the universe. I don’t even want to take over the world. I want to take over the universe and the universe next to it because there are multi-universes.  Inf: I want you to turn on BET to hear a Fabolous song that we did and then you turn on MTV and hear Rich Boy over our beats. I want everybody to be able to get down to us.  What advice would you offer to other kids out there trying to come up?  Inf: Keep grinding. One of the first connects I got was Pesos, who’s an assistant A&R at Atlantic Records and he works with Sickamore. At first, he wasn’t trying to hear what I was doing. I just kept on hitting him up like, ‘Hear what we’re doing.’ When he finally checked out the tracks, he liked them. We finally got to do a song with his artist Oun-P and that was one of the first tracks that we did that set off the Track Slayerz. Just keep grinding. I get letters on MySpace with people telling me that I’m not going to make it. Stay at it and don’t listen to people. Just find your motivation.  Price: Your beats have to be good. If your beats are good, the people will mess with you. If you keep hustling, you will get a deal on the table.   What do you want to say to everybody?    Price: Track Slayerz is the future. If you need beats, get at us.  Inf: It’s Track Slayerz with a capitol ‘T.’ Big shouts out to the Clipse, Juice, Black Wallstreet, Chillz, DJ Skee and everybody else. You have to hear Chillz’ music. It’s going to be amazing.  trackslayerz@gmail.com

By Brian Kayser

[17] REACT TO THIS INTERVIEW