What have I been up to?

 Not like anyone cares... I figured it's been a while since I've updated this thing so why not.

 It seems like I've been pretty quiet musically lately, but the truth is, I've been busy.


 First thing I've been doing is working on a "secret project" with one of my favorite MC's. I really feel like the feel of this record and the beats I crafted are going to make people look at what we do in a different light entirely. It's such a huge departure from what this MC usually does and the beats are really different from anything I've ever done before. This project is going to make a lot of noise based on the fact that it's so different. Be on the lookout for it. I'll have more info when I finish the last beat and I'm allowed to talk about it.

 Q-Unique is releasing a mixtape. I don't know when, but I'm a part of it. It's an honor to work with Q. He's a legend to me. The Arsonists were such an integral part of my life in their day. I've been wanting to work with Q forever and we've talked about doing shit together, but it never happened. Now it has. I'm definitely proud to be a part of this.

 Da Circle. I can't say enough about these guys. They really like almost everything I send them lol. They're huge supporters of what I do. We have some ridiculous amount of joints done. 14 or something like that. Last time I linked up with them I had me external HD with me and they took another 20 beats. Needless to say, I'll be putting a ton of work in with them.

 After years of talking about getting something done, I placed a beat with Ill Bill. I still have no idea what he's using it for, but when he emailed me back 5 minutes after sending it to him, he told me to track it out immediately. Props to Bill. Long time coming. I sent him something else and I spoke to Paz about it.. it looks like it might make the next HMK record. I'm not sure if it's set in stone, but the beat is retarded and I really hope it makes the cut when they choose beats for that record. It would be tremendous to me to get on that. 

 Diabolic's "Fightin' Words". In case you guys didn't know, I do in house production for War Horse Records. So far Bolic's taken 5 or 6 beats for the record. Hard to believe that 6 years ago this guy was pissing off of my terrace on my 30th Birthday and now he's working on his sophomore album and I'm a huge part of it. It's going to be dope for sure.

 Outerspace's "Lost In Space". I think I have 2 joints on there. I've heard them both and they're phenomenal. Crypt and Plan are like family to me. I love everything we make together. Also I have a joint going on Plan's "Camouflage Everything" mixtape. Big shouts to Crypt and Plan for keeping me busy and showing me mad love.

 Nature. DCMhiphop.com. Mickey and Josh are great dudes. I'm also currently doing in house production for them as well. They're working hard on Nature's record. I placed a joint on there. It's dope as fuck. Doing a track with Nature is crazy to me. I'm definitely looking forward to hearing the record in its entirety. 

 Demigodz. Yeah, I got a joint going on the new DGZ record. HYPED for that. The beat is crazy and I don't even have to question if they killed it. I know they did.

 King Syze. We're going to start working on the follow up to "Collective Bargaining" shortly. That album was crazy. 17 tracks, 0 skits, $10. I know it was highly slept on due to the lack of any real promotion, but it's still out there and you should still cop it.

Digital:  Collective Bargaining on iTunes

There's Physicals available but it looks like Syze's site is down. Anyway, the follow up to this record should be just as good, if not better than the first. We really reached out to a lot of people to get it poppin'. Expect the same format. A bunch of features and tons of bangers. Syze is family and working with him is great.

 I've also been setting aside beats for my producer album. It'll probably have the usual suspects on it plus some others. I have about 8 beats set aside for it so far. I'm trying to make it a really cohesive thing rather than just "let me send out 1,000 beats to 1,000 different MC's and throw it all together". I want it to have a certain feel and I'm accomplishing that. It's a logistical nightmare and I don't really see it coming out anytime soon. It's in the crawling stages. However, if it works out the way I want it to, it should be pretty dope. That's about it.

Hope y'all are doing well out there in intarwebz land.

Peace!

Obligatory "This is the music BUSINESS" post.

Alright, a few things have kept me away from this blog for a bit, but that's my business and not yours. One thing however has made me feel so strongly about writing a new post, that I have awoken from my literary slumber to rant and rave yet again.

Listen up people. If I don't know you, have worked with you in the past and liked the finished product, or we don't share some of the same DNA, do not approach me with the word FREE when it comes to asking me for beats. I don't get it. I've had a slew of people contacting me recently asking me for free beats. I'm a nice guy, but I'm not that nice.

I've been doing this long enough and have worked with enough established artists that my time is worth money. If you don't understand that concept, then I don't know what to tell you. I'm not saying that I deserve thousands of dollars per beat, but I don't think that $200-$500 is too much to ask. If you're serious about your project, you should have some sort of a budget. If you blew your financial load on features and don't have enough for beats, go lease some $20 jawns off of some Soundclick producer that doesn't really give a fuck what you do with the beat as long as you send that $20 via Paypal.

What's even funnier is you clowns who try to tell me that you didn't pay "so and so" for a feature on your "album". Do you people realize that I know a lot of the people that you're featuring on your record? Do you know that I make phone calls and ask questions? Do you know that when they tell me that you paid them for a verse when you told me you didn't I think you're a fucking snake and I will never work with you ever? First impressions are key. If you're starting off by bullshitting me, you'll always be a bullshitter to me and nothing you can say will ever change that.

Now, there's also this little thing called give and take here. All of you "MC's" asking me for free beats but paid for features, check this out. How about you make some sort of proposal to me like "Hey, I don't have cash for a beat, but I got for a feature. You think you have something that could work for the track?" This is what we call mutually beneficial. Of course I'd probably have to like the dude who is being featured on the tracks music, but to me, that sounds a lot better than "I don't have any money, give me free shit".

We ALL do this for the love of music. We also do it to supplement our incomes, and in the case of the well established, do it for a living. I'm not going to run the whole cliche of "Do I come into your job and......" because that shit is played out. What I am going to say is have some consideration for the artists you approach about collaborations. While we may not be a physical business per se, what we're doing is still work. Even though we enjoy the living shit out of it, it's still a job.

"And to all of you talkin' shit on the internet dudes..."

I need to address this. Badly. I just don't understand a lot of you people overstepping boundaries that you wouldn't cross in real life. I just don't get it. I don't understand why you people think that it's safe to talk shit behind your keyboards. Like you have to understand that the people you pop off at the mouth are are real dudes. You can't think that the internet isn't "srs bznzz". Cats don't forget shit.

Why on earth would you think that it's peace to talk sideways to people you don't even know? Is it some sort of fucking test? Sure, behind your keyboard you're Thor, but outside of that, you're a DJ Qualls type of faggot. You can be a keyboard warrior all you want, but when you show up at a show with a smile on your face, I can guarantee that that shit eating grin of yours is going to be wiped off of your face in the most unpleasant way possible.

I'm not a violent dude. Shit, the last time I actually got into a fight was like 15 years ago (fuck you, I'm grown and old), but y'all internet heroes have another thing coming if you think that any of my family are going to let shit slide if you threaten me on some internet shit. I'm not saying that I need 1,000 cats to back me up, but they will because that's how we roll. You also have to be insane to think that ANY of these cats are going to let shit slide and say "LOLINTERNET" if you come out of your neck on some bullshit. A lot of you seem to think that a lot of these people don't or haven't lived the shit they rap about on records. Let me be the first to tell you... YOU'RE WRONG.

Let me ask you something... Would 90% of you come out of your face to people the way you do on the internet to people on the streets? Probably not. Here's a word of advice. Play your position and don't front on the internet like you're some sort of hardass when in reality you're a frail faggot. That shit can and will catch up to you. And when it does, I will point and laugh at your stupidity.

Anyway, cut the shit. It's not good for hip-hop or your health.

Why I probably hate you or How the Internet is ruining hip-hop part 2.

Alright, I already had a go at the internet MC's, now it's time to go at you cracked Fruity Loops faggots. Not only are you stealing software and calling yourself a producer, you're making wack shit on top of it. Look, there's a lot of talented musicians out there making composed beats on software. Tons of them. But did you ever notice the few differences between you and them? If not, I'm going to do you a tremendous fucking favor and point them out.

1. Complex melodies. The cats that are putting out solid composed joints aren't making 3 note melodies that sound like someone slapped their balls on a midi controller and happened to record the 3 notes that their sack hit. Their shit is involved. There's depth to the shit that they're making.

2. The use of gay ass stock synths and 808 drums. Seriously, get the fuck out of here with that shit. If you were able to find a cracked fruity loops, I'm pretty fucking sure you can find some decent sounds that aren't dated and played out.

3. That faggot shit 808 snare roll. It doesn't need to be in One beat, let alone every fucking beat you make. Not only that, it's relatively a new thing and all of you hacks have played the shit out already. I mean WHAT THE FUCK. There's video tutorials on this bullshit on youtube. I mean is there really that many of you that want to do this shit that people have gone out of their way to post tutorials about it on youtube? Seriously? I want to literally break every one of your midi controllers and cut off your fucking internet connections so this shit stops. Immediately.

Now, that's a pretty short rant about that shit, but those are like the 3 major points. Well, besides the fact that the majority of composed shit outside of the really talented cats sounds exactly the fucking same. However, I think it's time to move onto the sample based producers.

There's a lot to say here and I'm going to try to break it down shortly and concisely. Who the fuck am I kidding, I'm going to go balls deep (pause) on this topic.

First of all, I'm tired of you kiddies trying to sound like Dilla. Nine times out of Ten, your non quantized drums don't have swing. They're pretty much WAY off beat. I'm trying to figure out how you listen to some of the shit you make and say "Yo! These drums are dope!" when in actuality if you went out and played that beat live and people tried to dance to it, they'd look like fainting goats and retarded giraffes because the shit is all off beat. Dilla was one of the best to ever do it. While I appreciate people trying to represent their influences in their music, it's a little much when you try so hard that your shit just sounds like a really poor clone of one of your influences. Stop it. Now.

Second of all, this is going to be a hotly debated topic, how many of you fucks actually sample off of vinyl these days? Now, I'm a semi-purist. What I mean by that is, yes. I sample off of vinyl a lot. But I'm not one of these stay at home faggots that stays ripping played out samples off of youtube and going to blogs and downloading all of my shit. Then again, I'm older than a lot of the cats I see posting their beats online so maybe I'm stuck in the past. But really. There's nothing better than going out to the thrift store, grabbing a bunch of records, taking them home and just listening to the pop and crackle of the record when the needle hits it. Even if you don't find anything to sample on the record, just that. That fucking sound is amazing. How many of you have even heard that sound coming out of your speakers and have created it yourself instead of using some bullshit filter to create it? Please, enlighten me.

Thirdly, we have the guy that chops the shit out of records and they sound like shit. "YO BRO THIS SAMPLE IS AMAZING BUT I HAVE TO HAVE 500 CHOPS IN EVERY JAWN I MAKE!" No, you don't. Rare loops are ill, chops are ill if you don't overdo it. You people really need to learn when and when not to chop the shit out of something. I get my slice on as much as the next producer, but if I find an undeniably ill loop that hasn't been sampled before, the shit is getting looped. Not every single beat you make has to be a testament to your skill at chopping a record. A lot of the time I hear some ridiculously chopped up shit and I think to myself "How the fuck is someone even going to rhyme over that bullshit?" I mean unless you're making beats and jerking off at the amount of chops you have in it and that's what you're into, that's peace. But if you're making beats for someone to rhyme over, that's terrible. Let the shit breathe. Stop acting like a rhesus monkey overdosing on speed when you sit in front of your DAW. An ill loop is just as dope and interesting as something that's been obliterated by your 5 million zero crossing slices.

As you can tell I'm a sample based producer. I'm also a trained musician. The thing is, I like taking other people's music and turning it into my own. Fuck you if you think it's stealing. Fuck you if you think that I'm not talented because I sample. An extra fuck you if you say it's harder to compose a beat than it is to sample. They both have their challenges. You need a great ear for both. I choose to go the sampling route because, if you're not a herb you'll realize... SAMPLING IS HIP-HOP.

Peace.

A little preview of "Collective Bargaining"

So, as some of you know, I'm working on an album with King Syze. Here's a little taste of a studio session with Poynt Blanc.

@the studio with Poynt Blanc 4/1/11 from King Syze on Vimeo.

King Syze in the lab with Poynt Blanc 4/11 from King Syze on Vimeo.

Collective Bargaining studio session 4/1/11 from King Syze on Vimeo.

I figured instead of ranting about shit today, I'd share something with y'all. More info on the album coming soon.

Why and how the Internet is ruining hip-hop Part 1.

This is going to be a series. A really LONG fucking series. There's so many ways that the internet is ruining hip-hop. It's boundless. There's material for days on this. But today, I want to point to a reason and give an example of why the Internet is destroying the music we love so much. The first part of this series will delve into the fact that the internet has given every faggot with a mic that watched 8 mile a chance to show the world their amazing skills. Really, I don't go on youtube and see every schmuck that went to a Cradle of Filth concert pulling out their guitars and drums and posting it all over the fucking interwebs saying "YO CHECK OUT MY SHIT! IT'S DOPE!" Well, maybe it happens and I'm just blind to it.

Anyway, today we have our first example. This jamoke posted this on ughh.com and asked for constructive criticism.



Now, I post there under many aliases because I find it amusing to troll the shit out of kids there when I'm bored. I actually posted in this kids thread as the user FgtShit. As you can see if you go to the thread (I'm not going to link it here, because I will not hand you shit unless it's my music because you're probably going to steal it anyway), I gave him very honest feedback with an eloquent post. I will quote it here for posterity.

"You sound like a Speak and Spell with downs."

Mind you, this isn't the only kid on there that posts garbage like this. There's a whole slew of them, but they actually think that they're good so they won't get any shine here. Fuck them.

Let me explain something to you aspiring "internet rappers". Nine out of ten of you think you're awesome. Nine out of ten of you need to get roundhoused in the larynx. You are not the exception, you are the rule. The rule being "Just because you watched 8 Mile and 100,000 Soul Khan and Iron Solomon battles, doesn't mean you can rap". That is the fucking rule. Learn it, live it, love it, and stay the fuck out of my hip-hop.

Look, I understand you want to be a part of the culture. I understand that you want to think that you're doing something to better the culture. How about this. What the culture needs right now are fans who support the artists they enjoy listening to. The culture doesn't need more bedroom MC's telling me to "CHECK OUT THEIR SHIT BECAUSE IT'S DOPE". So yeah, help the culture. Drop the webcam and the Logitech mic, take a walk to your local music store, and buy some music and show the artists you enjoy listening to some support.

As a PSA by the way, most of the time when a legend "gives you props" after a set or whatever, unless you're actually dope (and let me tell you, you actually know when you're dope or not, I mean if you can't fill a shithole bar that holds 50 people in Suffolk County on your own, that should tell you something), they're just doing it so your feelings don't get hurt. They don't want you to cry yourself to sleep at night because someone you admire and respect tells you that you're fucking terrible. The legends are good people. They don't want to hurt anyone's feelings, but sometimes I wish they would so all of you uppity faggots that post your shit on Ughh.com and get shit on and come back with the "I GET PROPS FROM LEGENDS" bullshit would stop. Nevermind the fact that they usually just want to chill after the show and not have every local herb that was on stage that night ask them what they thought of their set.

I think I've said enough for today. Get the fuck out of my face and go get a hug from your mom if this offended you. If it did offend you, then I'm obviously talking about you and in the deep reaches of your soul, while you claim that you're dope, you know... THAT YOU'RE WACK AS FUCK.

Peace.

An introduction.

If you're reading this, you're either totally bored, think I might have something interesting to say, or you unwittingly stumbled onto this blog and saw my awesome design and figured you'd check it out. Hopefully I'm not that huge of a disappointment and you find my incoherent ramblings amusing. If you don't you probably have no sense of humor and if I saw you in real life, I'd probably think you were either a Hipster, a faggot, or a shitkid. Enough about you, let's talk about me.

I'm a hip-hop producer from NY. I love music. I love making music. I love taking other people's music and turning it into my music. Yes, I use samples. Fuck your fruity loops stock sounds, 808's, and autotune. I make that raw shit that won't appeal to the Skinny Jean, Dirty South, and Trap Music fans. Well, maybe it will if they appreciate some non-gay shit as far as music goes, but hey. You can't please everyone. I'm a realist. I know not everyone will like my shit, and to be honest, fuck you and your opinion. Feel free to shit on my music all you want, you won't get a rise out of me. You're a soulless piece of shit hiding behind internet anonymity that has nothing better to do than pop off at the mouth (or keyboard?) to try and get me all upset. It's not going to work. Unless of course you really mean that shit and if you do and you're speaking your mind, I commend you. Feel free to post your opinions of my shit either way. I'll definitely respond regardless.

So, now that we got those formalities out of the way, you're probably wondering "What the fuck is wrong with this kid?" There's nothing wrong with me. I call it as I see it. In this day and age of political correctness, I will NOT bite my tongue. Maybe some will consider that a breath of fresh air, I just call it me being me. I know some of you might find that offensive, but you shouldn't. How many times have you wanted to tell someone exactly how you felt, but you didn't because you thought their feelings would get hurt? I mean, what the fuck. Since when has it become a problem to speak your mind? This new generation of shit coddling asshats has made everyone way too fucking sensitive. "Oh, you can't just say that to him/her." Well, why the fuck not? It's like telling someone your true feelings on their art, music, personality, is like committing fucking genocide. Like people really look at you like you're some sort of demonic being from another dimension if you don't mince your words. Fuck outta here.

Well, that was long winded as fuck. I guess I should talk about my music here instead of trying to make myself look like some badass outlaw who will falcon punch the shit out of your significant other while holding a beer in my other hand without spilling a drop.

I've worked with a lot of amazing underground artists. The short list looks something like : AOTP, Outerspace, Reef The Lost Cauze, King Syze, Nightwalker, Diabolic, The Day Laborers, Subtex, A Masstapeace, M-Dot, EMS, Doap Nixon, Mr. Beatz, Majesty, DVS, BARON of Red Clay, Sabac Red, FinaL OutlaW, Rite Hook, Amadeus, and a bunch of other people that in my current state of mind, have forgotten. My apologies. I'm gearing up to do some tracks with some other cats that should make a lot of noise in the next year or so. Exciting isn't it?

My friend Vega over at:  http://thecryptonline.com/v3/ did something really awesome for me. He tagged and put together a compilation of shit that I've done over the years so far. Yeah, there's a couple of shitty remixes in it, but most of it is all original shit. You can check it out here : http://thecryptonline.com/v3/index.php/skammadix-time-has-told-the-collection.html

Sit back and enjoy the show. It's probably going to get a lot more interesting from here on out. I'll be sharing new music and shit like that as well so keep your eye on the site and if you're not a complete faggot, follow me here and on Twitter where I talk with Spek27 about breast milk ice cream and Laser Tag.