Fade
The Beat Strangler
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illest o.g.
After winning the April 14th Beat This! Competition, we had a chance to interview ShonSteez (DueceMade Ent.) and find out what he's all about. Read on...
What's poppin, how you doin'?
Good man - Lovely right now for sure... Tha world's turning and I'm still here so you know....
Tell us a bit about ShonSteez, the producer?
Well, I've always been involved in tha music world, so it's been hard to hide from it. My entire family; minus my mother are all heavily involved in music and have been all their lives so I think it's safe to say that they are tha backbone of what carried me into pursuing making music beyond playing my guitar growing up. As an upcoming producer; I'm still learning so much and believe I still have plenty of room to grow and elevate my skills - but I'm definitely loving every minute of my journey into making progressive music and meeting some awesome people in tha process.
Where are you from?
I'm from a small town in Northern California called CHICO.
I've never heard of Chico, CA - what's the closest "big city"?
Probably, Sacramento... But really, tha nearest "big city" would have to be San Francisco.
What's the music scene like there?
Honestly, I'm not feelin tha music scene here. This place tends to feel very stagnate a lot of tha time and there doesn't seem to be much of anything going on here besides a lot of drunk college kids and fraternities wasting their college tuition away on booze and roofies.
Do you produce other forms of music besides Hip-Hop? If not, do you plan to?
Well I mainly stick to Hip-Hop, but I have no restrictions holding me back in messin' with other genres to create music - It's just that Hip-Hop is what I love. I gotta say right now though, it's Hip-Hop all tha way. People often mention that my music belongs in tha movies though, so maybe you'll catch me dropping a score for a popular film on tha 'boob-tube' someday?
What sort of recording setup do you have?
Man, well right now it's real minimal but it gets me by. I have an ordinary PC equipped with Reason 2.5 and a slew of samples diced and sliced by yours truly. Tha only other thing that I'm proud to say I own at tha moment to create music with is a Oxygen 8 keyboard to be used in conjunction with Reason 2.5. I don't even have proper monitors to hear my tunes back in so that gets frustrating a lot of tha time. I'm planning on getting those things some day I hope!?
Since you don't have monitors, what do you use then?
Haha... Yeah, I took my poor ass over to tha nearest Best Buy after saving a little change and bought some Logitech Z-340's (they run around 50 bucks at tha most)... I did a little research before buyin' em too. I mean, I basically had to find tha most compatible computer speakers that I could find with a descent low-end and Hi-end at tha least. And outa all tha shitty low-budget/non-responsive speakers I could afford, those were tha best sounding ones. I mean, for 50 bucks you cant really lose!? So those are unfortunately what I monitor with next to my Stanton 2000s Headphones... Hehe, those things are worth more than my damn speakers. I basically like to bounce back between tha two to try and achieve what I believe is tha best sound I can get outa that shabby little system.
How long have you been producing?
Roughly 2 years or so.
What made you decide to start producing?
Hmmmm... Well I think that goes all tha way back to being exposed to seeing my Dad play with his bands and being involved in the music as much as I was without even knowing it. My Dad used to have one of those old school Boss drum machines too and I always wanted to play with it but he wouldn't let me. But when he would be gone on occasion, I would pull it out and start messin' with it. I always liked techy stuff and drums for that matter, so to me that thing was like a video game with programable sounds. I later picked up a guitar and took lessons for that, but I always really wanted my own drum set more. Problem was I had no funds to buy one. Then one day Reason came along. It was like having my own drumset and more all trapped in one package. I got a copy from a friend who bought it legit and from there on in I've been completely engulfed in electronically making music.
Before you started producing, what did you do to pass the time?
Basically, I jus got faded every night and watched tha movie "Barfly" one too many times. On tha creative tip; I liked to make images and artistic stuff in Illustrator and Photoshop, but before all of that, I used to skateboard for tha majority of my years growing up. Nothing much I guess.
What do you do in your spare time now?
Man, nowadays... It's like I really dont have any spare time, but when I do I go right to tha computer and work on a new project. It's like I'm drawn to that thing without even thinking about it... like without even knowing what I'm gonna do, I just have this urge to create a new beat. And then, when I get really bored of that, I usually organize my samples or create a new piece in Photoshop... And that's about it. I really don't have much of a life outside of my job, school and makin beats when I can.
Do you work/go to school?
I go to ChicoState University... just transfered there from a local JC that I attended for 4 years. As for my job, well.... I like to pretend that part of my life doesn't exist since I really hate that fucking aspect of my life right now - I just feel like it's holding me back from doin bigger and greater things, so I'll just leave it at that.
Have you MC'd over any of your own beats?
Haha!... Yeah, unfortunately I have - but let me tell you it's UGLY.
What do you look for when you sample?
Ahhhhh... Well, nothing specific really. First off; I love to sample so when it comes to digging I never limit myself to one specific genre of music. If anything, I think that if I'm looking for something like just drums one day - I might be inclined to search for some Gene Krupa or Buddy Rich on vinyl, but those guys don't come cheap. Seriously though, I say sample anything!... Don't limit yourself! And when you get bored of that, start from scratch with your Motif rack or your soft synths and just go off.
How much vinyl do you have?
Goin' on a whole 10 pieces of my own!... Haha!, I actually don't have much vinyl since in tha past I have gone over to my Pops house to see what he has. Nowadays I'm really into gathering new vinyl for my growing collection though.
Only 10 pieces of vinyl?!? Which ones are they?
Well, I can tell you five right off tha top of my head... But, as for tha others... they're over at my Pops house to dub onto CD so I forgot which ones they were.
Heres tha five though...
- Burt Bacharach & Hal David - "Together", Gene Pitney on Vocals
- Earl Klugh - "Heart String"
- Donald Fagen - "The Nightfly"
- Blood Sweat and Tears - "More than Ever"
- Bill Cosby - "200 M.P.H."
Honestly, nothing in particular... That's tha beauty of digging that I've discovered. You don't really have to be looking for a specific record cuz anything goes if you're open minded. It also helps you expand your musical knowledge of other genres that you maybe never listened to much before. But tha records I like tha most are tha "bargain bins". I go over to Tower and jus sift through tha bargain stuff and on occasion I find some really dope shit! Every record I've bought so far is from tha bargain bin - and I say don't knock it if you haven't tried it yet.
Mainstream, Underground, or neither, where would you like to be, and why?
Man, this is honestly one of my most 'brain-picking' thoughts cuz it's like all politics nowadays in getting your name out there and having people accept you for "you". I suppose it's always been like that though? One thing I do know is that I'm always gonna make music for me first and then tha listener and hope tha people out there feel it - if not, no worries. I guess I fit tha "underground" mold even though I don't see myself as underground. I've always thought my music may be too "eclectic" for a mass following, but I guess you never know.
Where are you trying to take Hip Hop?, and Why does it need to go there?
Man, I don't wanna sound negative cuz I'm just not that type of guy, but I really hate this question. I never think of my music as tha "Truth" or whatever, or tha next big thing. It's more like I'm happy to just be a part of it and participate and contribute to tha culture. That's all I really care about. That and hopefully being heard along tha way.
What's the first thing you do when you start a new beat?
Starting a new beat is such a random thing for me. Sometimes a dope sample might inspire me to start tha beat around it, but for tha most part - I think that it just all comes together in its own organized confusion I guess? Tha beat tends to be tha first and foremost thing that gets laid down though.
What do you think of today's mainstream producers?
I really don't feel most of tha mainstream stuff comin' out these days. It's more of a 50/50 thing for me when it comes to mainstream in general and tha producers in particular. I really respect Primo for what he has achieved. I think that Pete Rock deserves mad credit for paving a road for many others. Tha Wu's RZA can't be fronted on either. I mean, there are numerous others I actually could mention, so I don't hate mainstreams producers specifically, but everything coming out nowadays is steering away from that organic Hip-Hop feel and I don't like that too much.
How did you put your winning beat together?
I actually wrote that beat while I was typing a paper for school tha other day. I started with a nice canvas to paint upon and then I just let it inspire me on my keyboard and I wrote everything entirely on tha Oxygen 8. I really enjoyed this one cuz it brought out a non-sampling side that I sleep on a lot of tha time.
When you say your "non-sampling side", is it something you do often? In other words - do you mainly sample or create your own stuff?
Well, I actually began producing and composing works of my own purely from scratch since sampling was really more foreign to me back then during the start of things. So as time progressed, I started wanting to do both and expand my palet of musical expression beyond jus one limitation. Now I do both and I have even stepped it up a notch once more by learning how to use my keyboard more often instead of being afraid of it. So basically, I'm a switch-hitter.
Any shoutouts you'd like to give?
HUGE SHOUTOUT TO MY ILLMUZIK FAM - YOU GUYS ARE THA BREAD AND BUTTER OF THIS GENERATION'S HIP-HOP!
I'd also like to thank my father - "Lynn Edward Brown" for giving me tha great gift of music - I love you Pops! And to my girl KRISTINA - thank you so much for all tha support you've given, you mean tha world to me.
