Episode 271
The Transformation of Space: From Bedroom to Studio
This podcast episode delves into the profound journey of creativity and self-discovery, as articulated by our esteemed speaker, who emphasizes the significance of cultivating a nurturing environment for artistic expression. The speaker recounts the transformation of a personal space into a studio, a metaphor for liberation from past burdens, enabling a focused pursuit of musical endeavors. Central to this discourse is the notion that true productivity flourishes in the absence of excuses, a sentiment echoed throughout the conversation. As we explore the evolution of artistic processes, the speaker elucidates the transition from traditional writing methods to a more instinctual and spontaneous approach to music creation, thereby fostering an authentic connection with the art form. Ultimately, the episode underscores the importance of reinstilling love and confidence, both in oneself and in the wider community, as a means to effectuate meaningful change.
Takeaways:
- The speaker expresses a commitment to producing an album, emphasizing their dedication to creative work.
- Having acquired their own studio, they highlight the transformation of personal space into a productive environment.
- The speaker reflects on the burdens they carried previously and the newfound freedom to create without financial constraints.
- They articulate the importance of restoring love and confidence among individuals, addressing mental health challenges.
- The speaker discusses their evolution in music creation, moving from writing to a more spontaneous freestyle approach.
- They acknowledge the changing landscape of music and express appreciation for the freedom it offers to artists today.
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- Chanel
- Bravo
- Def Jam
- Final Cut
- Netflix
Transcript
Record, I'm gonna do it, you know, whatever I have to do to do this album for you.
Speaker A:And then I got blessed with my own studio.
Speaker A:Now my second bedroom is a studio.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And, like, it's just.
Speaker A:It's just crazy.
Speaker A:Like, I just drove a new car off the lot.
Speaker A:It's not materialistic things.
Speaker A:It's not that at all.
Speaker A:It's that I used to.
Speaker A:I've carried so much burden.
Speaker A:Like, damn, if my bills were paid and I could just create all day, that's what I would do.
Speaker A:And that's been my prayer forever.
Speaker A:So now my bills are paid and I have all of this stuff here, and I have no excuse not to be productive.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:And I'm doing different.
Speaker A:I'm doing different things.
Speaker A:So, you know, my living room, I transformed it into a.
Speaker A:A shooting studio.
Speaker A:So we take pictures out there, and I'm not having no company in the COVID you know, so.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And I'm just, you know, just doing work, walking towards that.
Speaker A:So my.
Speaker A:My purpose is to just love and.
Speaker A:And reinstall the love that we've lost, reinstall the confidence and courage that we've lost.
Speaker C:That's some powerful stuff.
Speaker C:I mean, me and Dricky were just actually talking about purpose before you got on the line here this morning.
Speaker C:So just to hear you go on and really expand on that, that's powerful stuff.
Speaker A:And it's important.
Speaker A:Like, I.
Speaker A:It took me years to understand.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:It's something called the secret.
Speaker A:And they say, you know, you got to be positive.
Speaker A:You got to think positive.
Speaker A:There's no one more positive than me.
Speaker A:I take everyone to church, I tell everybody how great they are.
Speaker A:And for years, I was putting out.
Speaker A:Out positivity.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:I wasn't putting it back in.
Speaker A:I don't need enemies because I am beating myself up.
Speaker A:I don't walk up to you and curse you out and tell you that you never make it a bit.
Speaker A:But I'll tell myself that I was realizing the pot, the poison that I was putting in, and it takes a while to fight those.
Speaker A:You know, my mom called them fiery darts.
Speaker A:It takes a while to reconstruct your thoughts.
Speaker A:A lot of us don't even know how corrupt our.
Speaker A:Our hard drives are because of.
Speaker B:Because.
Speaker A:Because of things that has happened to us and things that we've grown up.
Speaker A:So it's a lot of us walking around with just band aids on huge wounds.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Because everybody is wounded.
Speaker A:Like they were saying in the four agreements, you know, very short read, 90 pages.
Speaker A:I definitely encourage you to read it.
Speaker B:Great.
Speaker A:They tell you, like, just because we all have wounds, it's normal now, you know, so.
Speaker A:So, like, like, again, you know, mental health and just, you know, sacrificing who I am because who I am, it didn't really do much.
Speaker A:But the more I do for Yahweh, the more I see my life changing.
Speaker B:Let go and let God.
Speaker B:It sounds like, hey, let go and let God.
Speaker B:It's beautiful.
Speaker C:That is.
Speaker C:That's going to help a lot of people.
Speaker C:Let's talk about some of the other things you have, because I know you have an album.
Speaker C:Are you working on.
Speaker C:You finishing it up right now?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:She got.
Speaker A:She got Chanel's Human Experience.
Speaker A:That's it.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:It's a.
Speaker A:It's seven songs.
Speaker A:I'm still.
Speaker A:I haven't got a definite answer on my direction yet from, you know, my boss.
Speaker A:So I'm.
Speaker A:I'm still recording.
Speaker A:I'm recording because I know I have an idea what I want to do.
Speaker A:But if it ain't where he want to do, then it's not going to work.
Speaker A:And I don't want no trouble, so.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:So I just know that the album is she God.
Speaker A:And I'm just recording and waiting for him to tell me which way to go.
Speaker C:What's your typical writing process, or does it change depending on the inspiration?
Speaker C:Things like that?
Speaker A:Yeah, but I stopped writing.
Speaker A:I don't.
Speaker A:I don't write anymore.
Speaker A:That's the thing that it passed ever since I got this setup and I had to learn how to do that, but it is so free.
Speaker A:Like, I.
Speaker A:I can sit there with a pen and paper, and I'll sit there for a long time and just stare.
Speaker A:You know, there is a freedom with doing what I do now, and I love it.
Speaker A:I'm just gonna keep getting better at it.
Speaker A:You turn the mic on, you say one line, and then you just keep freestyling until you find the next line, and then you go punch in and you find the next line and you play with melodies and come up with hooks.
Speaker A:And these are some of my better records.
Speaker B:So you don't write anything at all.
Speaker B:Do even come up with the concept in your head before.
Speaker B:You just listen to a beat and let the beat take you away.
Speaker A:I have concepts I need to attack and.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:Like.
Speaker A:Like with Bravo, they've asked me to do certain songs for them so I would know where I'm going with it.
Speaker A:But it's quicker too, at least for me.
Speaker A:Like, I used to take me a while to write, you know, like, you know, hear that beat over and over and over and over and over again.
Speaker A:You're sitting there like that, like, yeah, no, this is way better.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:When do you feel good about a song?
Speaker B:Like, when is there ever a moment where you're like, I'm done with this song.
Speaker B:We don't have to do anything else.
Speaker B:Do you get that?
Speaker B:Or do you kind of just.
Speaker B:No, leave it.
Speaker A:You never do that.
Speaker A:Because you can have somebody come sing behind it.
Speaker A:You could always have an ad lib behind it.
Speaker A:So I, I'm never like, oh, this is done.
Speaker A:Don't touch it.
Speaker A:Perfect.
Speaker A:You know, I'm never that one.
Speaker B:But then eventually you do release them.
Speaker B:So when do you go from that moment to release?
Speaker A:This is my first project.
Speaker A:I stand behind like that.
Speaker A:I have, I have, I have an album that I had out maybe 10 years ago.
Speaker A:Yikes.
Speaker A:10 years ago called Are We There Yet?
Speaker A:Are We There Yet?
Speaker A:I love that body of work.
Speaker A:It's about a good seven, eight songs on there.
Speaker A:I'm crazy about.
Speaker A:But this, this body of work, I've actually evolved.
Speaker A:It took a long time, but, but yeah, I, I dig these songs now.
Speaker A:So there's certain songs where it's like, okay, I, I, this is done.
Speaker A:But if somebody else like, yo, what about this?
Speaker A:I'm not gonna be like, no, it's finished.
Speaker A:You know, got you.
Speaker B:Right?
Speaker B:I hear you.
Speaker C:As far as your new work, because we know just from your previous work, your freestyles, etc, that you're a real wordsmith and you put a lot into like just the lyricism, wondering how you feel about newer music not being it kind of on the same thread as previous.
Speaker C:And also, does your newer music reflect kind of the change in the lyricism.
Speaker A:In rap now or so when I initially got signed to Def Jam, you know, you have 16 bars and 16 bars is 48 seconds.
Speaker B:Yep.
Speaker A:You're free to, you're free to do whatever you want in there.
Speaker A:Now.
Speaker A:Back then we would use as many syllables, you know, on the word on the, on the, on the beat.
Speaker A:So it'd be like, yeah, you know, I'm like, I got my Apple computer nowadays.
Speaker A:It's like, I got that Apple pewter.
Speaker C:Pewter, you know what I'm saying?
Speaker A:Shooters, movies.
Speaker A:But back then, I love it now.
Speaker A:See what happened?
Speaker A:I had to, I had to, I had to.
Speaker A:I went through it because, you know, just like with Final Cut 7, I spent years perfecting Final Cut 7.
Speaker A:How dare you drop Final Cut 10?
Speaker A:And it's user friendly and I spent.
Speaker A:I spent all my.
Speaker A:I never used Final Cut again.
Speaker A:I was so pissed.
Speaker A:So pissed.
Speaker A:Because it was so much that you had to learn to just do keyframes and stuff.
Speaker A:So I never went back.
Speaker A:So that's how I was frustrated with rap for a minute.
Speaker A:You know, the patty cake, patty cake microwave.
Speaker A:I was like, what?
Speaker A:I was pissed when Young Jeezy came out and these rappers.
Speaker A:I was like, what?
Speaker A:But then.
Speaker A:But then, you know, you realize something that you've always is a.
Speaker A:Is a law in music.
Speaker A:Kiss.
Speaker A:Keep it simple.
Speaker A:Stupid, right?
Speaker A:So it's like.
Speaker A:It's like the music nowadays.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:It's so many different varieties of music.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:I love.
Speaker A:So it's not.
Speaker A:People are quick to say everybody sound the same and.
Speaker A:And they will sound similar.
Speaker A:They are.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Are people who sound like everybody else.
Speaker A:And then there's people who are just making waves and.
Speaker A:And making dope music.
Speaker A:But I, if anything, appreciate the freedom nowadays.
Speaker A:And so, yeah.
Speaker A:If you asking me, does my music reflect it.
Speaker A:I just told you, I don't write anymore.
Speaker C:Yes.
Speaker A:I get.
Speaker A:I get to do what these guys do.
Speaker B:What?
Speaker B:Right, Right.
Speaker A:So I get on the beat, yo.
Speaker A:Huh?
Speaker A:Hey.
Speaker A:Swag it out.
Speaker A:You let that she go four bars.
Speaker B:Yep.
Speaker B:Couple years.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:Check.
Speaker A:Hey, it did like, before, you would have to have a full sentence.
Speaker A:Now you take every word out.
Speaker B:Killer y.
Speaker A:Hey, Billy, you be like, yeah, you know, so.
Speaker B:Or you can repeat four words over and over again.
Speaker A:Word, word.
Speaker A:So it's all about the energy.
Speaker A:It's all about vibes.
Speaker A:Now.
Speaker A:Before, like, for a minute, we were listening for something.
Speaker A:Now it's about the vibe.
Speaker B:Who are your top five MCs?
Speaker B:I ask every rapper who are your top five?
Speaker B:Give me some of your favorites.
Speaker B:You don't even have to give me five.
Speaker A:Jay Z, of course.
Speaker B:Obviously.
Speaker B:Of course.
Speaker A:It'd be like this.
Speaker A:It'd be like this, right?
Speaker A:So I got Michael on my arm.
Speaker B:So, okay.
Speaker A:Everybody loves Michael.
Speaker A:Oh, my God, I love Michael.
Speaker A:Some people like Michael Jackson loves to dance.
Speaker A:Some people like all his songs.
Speaker A:Billie Jean.
Speaker A:I have Michael tattooed on me because this is the biggest star in the world.
Speaker A:Who chose to say heal the world.
Speaker A:I have Mike on me because Mike was working to change the frequency of music.
Speaker A:So when I say that I love Jay Z, of course, certain people be like, oh, yeah, just that.
Speaker A:But I love J.
Speaker A:I've loved Jay since Reasonable Doubt.
Speaker A:You know, I remember taking a bus to school and they had his sticker out there.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:I mean, you know, Biggie, it's, it's not fair because there's so many dope artists like this is Kid Oswin Benjamin.
Speaker A:He was just, he was just in the 48 year movie, the 40 year old rapper.
Speaker A:40 year old version on Netflix.
Speaker A:He's from New York.
Speaker A:He is a monster.
Speaker A:You get what I'm saying?
Speaker A:There's people like Sue Surf, who is a battle rapper, but Sue Surf to me is a star, makes music, everything.
Speaker A:He's a star to me.
Speaker A:So yeah, I just, I just, you know, I don't know.
Speaker A:I just, I, I can't say who's my favorite rapper.
Speaker A:It's not fair.
Speaker A:You know, I've, I've grown up.
Speaker A:Melly Mel will tell you that he's the greatest rap all time.
Speaker A:And he wanted to battle Jay Z, you know, but without Melly Mel and the message and don't push me.
Speaker A:Come close to the edge.
Speaker A:How can I get to a Daddy Big Daddy Kane?
Speaker A:How can I get to a Rakim?
Speaker A:How can I get to a Biggie, a Jay Z, a, a Wu Tang?
Speaker A:Then how can I get to a.
Speaker A:You get what I'm saying?
Speaker A:A 50 cent, like a pop smoke extension, you know what I'm saying?
Speaker A:Like, you know, you love Nipsey Hussle.
Speaker A:This broke my heart.
Speaker A:These guys left a fawn a little dirt.
