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I don't know, the energy... When you got the music going
and the adrenaline is rushing...
and the fans are going crazy.
You just get caught up in the moment. You get caught up in the music.
So, nothing else even matters around you.
That's kind of how it is when I perform.
Especially when the crowd is giving me the same love and energy back.
It’s just a vibe.
It just creates a whole energy in the building.
That’s like, you know… Indescribable.
- How did you like Brussels' crowd?
You've been here like — three times if I counted right.
At Dour. Then at — Dour Festival?
Yeah yeah, the Dour Festival.
Then with Random Axe.
Yup, yup.
- I was there.
And then here, the third time.
How do you like Brussels?
I mean, tonight — I enjoyed it.
The fans — they know the music, they respond to the music.
It’s always good as an artist to come to a city and see people saying all the lyrics to the songs and everything.
Hands up, responding, participating. All that sh*t. It was dope. I like Brussels. I love Brussels, actually.
Frankly, your show was unrecognisable.
And by that, I mean that the band was playing your beats —
But we didn't really feel like it were your beats because it was their interpretation of the beats.
That’s good man, like I don’t know.
I kinda like to keep the fans guessing and half of the show is like —
different arrangements of the songs then the other half of the records are kinda the same.
I’m just having the band play on top of the original beats so —
- "Losing out" was a bit more —
Yeah yeah, “Losing out”, “Sunday’s best”, “Monday’s worst”, “So gone”, “Sound the alarm”, those are kinda like the same.
But there are those other records, like “Gospel Psych Rock” and "Bounce", "Hold it down" —
- Yeah I didn't recognise that one..
- Yeah, those joints I’d rearrange.
I kinda like to give the fans, the audience, a different experience than the actual studio recording.
I don’t like to just do exactly what I did on the record.
- So they won’t come in like “I already know what he’s going to play”…
- Yeah, I don’t want it to be predictable.
So I try to change up some of the records.
And then, the records that I know are fans' favorites, I try to keep those somewhat the same.
I know how it is as a fan when you go to see someone and you expect to hear it like how it is on the record
and they probably do it totally differently or you might feel a little disappointed
and you just want to hear it how you know it.
So some of the records that I know are fans' favorites, I keep them the same.
But yeah — I don't like to be predictable so I try to change it up on some of the records.
How important do you think it is, for a beatmaker, a producer, to be able to play an instrument?
We know that you can play the drums. Pretty good — I think.
The keys — definitely good. Like on "Tronic", we heard that.
And the MPC, which is not really an instrument but still —
it is an instrument.
- Right, definitely.
I think it’s important. I know for myself, I try to gain or learn as many skills as possible.
Because I know that the better I am as a producer, the better I am as an engineer —
the better I am as an MC, the better I am as a live performer.
It's just going to give me that much more of an advantage as an artist and I'll be able to do more things
and give the fans a better experience.
So yeah, I try not to limit myself to one instrument or just the drum machine. Or just me and the DJ on stage.
I try to expand everything.
But I feel like, you know, some producers are just as good without knowing how to play any instrument.
I'm not really fluent on any live instrument. I can get around the drums, I can get around the keys but —
- But you just play by ear.
- Yeah, it’s all by ear.
My main instrument is the MPC.
So it just depends on the artist, everybody is different.
- A little question about your family.
The whole clip of "Sunday's best/Monday's worst" was filmed inside the house that you grew up in.
There was your little cousin and your older cousin if I remember correctly...
- Yeah, you did your research man! That's crazy.
Right right, exactly.
I mean... One of my cousins, my cousin Chris, he actually played in —
He's a guitarist. He actually played in Q-Tip's band for a while and I didn't even know for a long time until we saw each other
and talked on the phone.
My moms put each other on the phone. "You know blablabla plays for blablabla?"
"What? My cousin plays for Q-Tip? I didn't know that!” So you know what I'm saying.
My cousin Chris, on my mom's side, is a crazy guitarist. He actually played on a couple records for Just Blaze too I think.
For a couple of free ways songs.
So yeah, I got family members that are musicians.
Like I said, my moms and pops, I grew up hearing them sing. All the time. All of that. Soul music. Gospel music. R&B... All of that.
How did they react when you decided — like at eighteen, twenty — to get serious into the music business?
They was cool with it.
They knew... I knew I wanted to do music by the time I was a Sophomore, a Junior in High School.
I already knew that this was all I wanted to do.
I was already messing around with beats and trying to get equipments and all that sh*t. So they knew I was serious about it...
By the time I graduated, I had linked up with Slum Village soon after. So once I got connected with them and did a couple of beats for them.
The rest was History. That's when I just stuck with it.
They knew I had a passion for it so they didn't try to tell me to go somewhere else.
What's one important fact about you that no one else has bothered to ask yet?
And by that, I don't mean about you being good at drawing —
- ...other than music. Oh man...
You know what? I wouldn't say it's very important but it's some sh*t I don't really talk about.
I'm good in the kitchen. I'm good with the cheffing. That's like another one of my things.
Especially over the last four, five years. I've been really into it heavy.
Just getting my culinary art skills up.
That's my new little hobby outside of... When I'm done making beats, I go straight to the kitchen and —
- And then Netflix!
- And then Netflix.Yeah, I make some then I hit the Netflix. That's how I do.