Producing Hip Hop: How to Get into the Game
To get in the game and be successful, you have to study the great ones that did it before you. Producers in hip-hop whose beats are heard on the radio daily have mastered the art of selling beats. You should read their biographies sometime. They paid their dues to get to the top.
I can’t think of a single producer who had the title just handed to them. They all had to earn it through repeated trials and mistakes. But that’s how it is in life, yo. If you survive through your mistakes and learn something from them, then you are well on your way to success.
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The Innovators
I think that a key element to producing hip-hop is variety. Nobody wants to hear the same ole same ole all the time. The cats that produce tracks coming from a different direction get the most props. The Innovators.
Remember Aqemini? That old school Parliament Funkadelic style mixed with hip-hop. That was my favorite CD for two years in a row. I still play it to this day. The production was so off tha hook that I couldn’t seem to remove it from the disc changer.
That’s what I’m talking about right there. Innovators. Producers who put tracks out into the universe that blaze like fire. And the track will be on some other sh– too, sounding nothing like what is on the radio at the time.
Producing hip-hop should be an act of purity. A hip-hop production should be about putting your soul on wax, not making a track to sound like whatever’s hot at the time. Too many artists sell out too often.
Keep That Hunger
I like to listen to an artists’ original CD, or even the demo tape that they were passing around trying to get a deal. That’s the real artist. The true artist is an artist that is hungry. Some get a taste of success and after a while, they lose that hunger. You don’t want to ever find yourself in that scenario, yo.
A Few Helpful Hints
All I’m sayin is once you start putting music together professionally, please keep it real. At the beginning and all throughout your career:
- Keep….it….REAL. Do this and you will always keep churning out the hits.
- Stay true to your musical style and you will rise to the top and never slip.
- Keep the hunger.
Hip hop producers live the American dream man. There’s gotta be nothing that could ever possibly compare to getting paid for your beats and actually earning a decent income doing so.
I am all about the spirit of the entrepreneur. I have been one for three years and runnin ya’ll. I love it. I have to work my a—off, but it always grows back the next day.
I am actively looking forward to the day when my music lab becomes my main source of income though.
As always, keep shooting for the moon and you will at least be among the stars.