Ten minutes with David E. Beats

Music producer/artist David E beats is what you’d call a triple threat in the music industry. He’s a musician, producer, and songwriter looking to crave his way into the Nouveau scene. Beats is credited with producing; mixing and mastering; writing and rapping on all the songs. Beats graciously spent a few minutes to speak his mind:

Where did your interest in music begin?
It began at a very early age. I was introduced to music by my parents and I grew up enjoying rock and soul. I later got into hip hop at 15.

What is it like as a young artist trying to establish yourself in both the music and production scenes?
It is hard but I enjoy the challenge! I love learning new things and building new relationships because the joy of things coming to fruition is the best feeling for me.

Have you faced any obstacles on your way to where you are?
I face obstacles everyday. Chasing your dream requires a lot of sacrifice and dedication and discipline. So I rarely get discouraged.

You’re called a hip-hop artist, but you blend genres in your music. What, if any, category do you consider yourself be a part of?
I call it “Nouveau”. It essentially consists of all these newer talented artists like Drake and Kid Cudi whom are able to do more than just rap, but create stories and do something truly musical.

What ideals/messages do you hope to portray through your songs?
I just want people to know that they can achieve anything. If I can do it, anyone can!

You’ve been producing pretty rapidly, releasing 2 mix tapes this year, thus far. Is that a trend you want to try to keep up?

I am releasing a full length album shortly called “EXIT” which will be pushed for the time period of a normal album cycle. I do plan to release content quite rapidly however. This is the digital age, and unless you are constantly in peoples minds with your music they will forget you.

What music, other than your own, do you enjoy?
I listen to literally anything. From Fefe Dobson to Lil Wayne and Soulja Boy, I bump it all.

What other artists inspire and motivate you?
As artists we all kinda go through the same trouble and tribulations so I respect any artist who can make this game work in their favor, and those are the ones I look up to!

What was it like having the chance to tour in your Open Mic-Showcase so soon after releasing your first mix tape?
It was a great experience! It gave me the time to perfect my live show and smooth out my stage presence.

Is your music entirely your own effort, or do you work collaboratively with other musicians/artists?
I usually do everything on my own, then I take it to a larger studio to get the songs mixed down.

What is the songwriting process like for David E Beats?
It all starts with the first bar, once I hear the beat, I think of the best way to start the song. From there it just evolves.

What would you say to any young artists out there trying to make it big?
Constant work and diligence. Just when you think all is lost, the seed you planted blossoms.

What is the one song that never fails to make you happy?
TI – What’s Up, Whats Happenin’

Hopefully Not the Last from ‘Kiss

The Spin: Jadakiss – The Last Kiss
Released April 7, 2009
The Island Def Jam Music Group 2009
[rate 4]

If you’ve followed Jadakiss’ career at all, it’s easy to see that he’s consistently put out some of the most solid work in the genre since as far back as The Lox. Although every album has its fair share of what would be deemed commercial songs (and they’re just as good as anything else you would hear on the radio), he hasn’t managed to reach the type of mega-stardom as Lil Wayne or 50 Cent or even gained the type of mainstream notariety as someone like Mims or Chingy. I think plenty would argue that Jadakiss’ lyricism would have him fare well in a battle with any of these guys and the beats that pervade his albums are definitely good, if not equal to his rapping.

“The Last Kiss” finds itself again without a huge hit, but has managed to garner plenty of praise and respectable sales. But also like most of his albums, it’s sort of a mixed bag and lacks continuity. There are a couple of Neptunes beats that stick out, there are beats that sound just five minutes too dated, and then there are southern-style club bangers in the middle of it. Content-wise, Kiss is equally sporadic.

In “Who’s Real,” we hear Swizz Beats’ familiar voice and horn arrangements. For whatever reason, Swizz Beats has certainly mastered his particular brand of simple drum patterns and synth arrangements (which he’s claimed to accomplish in fifteen minutes or less), although he does add in samples, from time to time. His lyrics definitely have not received the same amount of attention for good reason. However, Swizz Beats, in collaboration with other artists, provides a recipe for very effective rap tunes. Thankfully, Jadakiss does a good job of complimenting the track. OJ Da Juiceman provides fairly weak guest lyrics.

Anyone who’s heard a Jadakiss album knows that he’s fairly obsessed with guns. “Smoking Gun” serves as a manifestation of that, but with a sort of twist. This song is a sort of Bonnie & Clyde tale, but more socially conscious and more vengeful. Yeah, actually, it’s more like one of those highly entertaining albeit cheesy revenge flicks from the seventies. At any rate, the content of the song is really interesting and the beat’s pretty nice. I don’t want to give away more than that because it’s such a cool song. Instead, I’d encourage anyone to check it out.

“Respect My Conglomerate” is a Busta Rhymes song that is included on the Itunes version of Kiss’ album. The female vocals sound like they’re sampled, but they’re not. The hook is really cool. The beat’s fairly poppy and simplistic, but effective. Busta Rhymes delivers as always and Jada doesn’t disappoint, either. “Grind Hard” and “Something Else” serve as Jadakiss’ attempt to get in good with the south, even including a verse from Young Jeezy on the latter. “Grind Hard” features a hook by Mary J. Blige and is appropriately catchy.

If I had to describe Jadakiss’ career to someone, I’d say something like, “Jadakiss is a five-star lyricist who consistently makes four-star albums.” It’s hard to not feel like if he just had an album with two or three really big hits that he could be on the same eschelon as someone like Jay-z or Nas.
I think it’s unfortunate that this isn’t the case, but I certainly keep hoping for it, and considering that he’s one of the only good hip-hop artists still doing big things in New York, his time may be yet to come. Predictably, I give this album four out of five stars.

From Yesterday to Tomorrow

The Spin: Donny Goines – Minute After Midnight
Release Date: December 16, 2008
2008
[rate 3.5]

It is often mentioned that Hip-hop is a genre, nay, a culture that thrives on trends. Donny Goines and Kanye West represent two very differing perspectives on the nature of hip-hop and its evolution. Like a cultural gladiator, hip-hop seems to be ever-evolving, for better or worse (D4L anyone?). Hip-hop has certainly seen its share of triumphs and bitter losses. But in a culture where there is often so much turmoil, positive music that moves its people serves as a beacon, especially over a landscape that until recently was longing for great minority leadership.

Donny Goines is raw. He might rhyme in predictable couplets, but he’s been a long time coming. Donny Goines, like Souljah Boy before him, is, to a great degree, a product of crafty internet marketing. One area where he most definitely differs is in his East Coast-friendly hustle. If you’ve shopped for a mixtape in the past several months, you’ve most likely come across this man’s particular breed of grimey Bronx swagger. He tells it like it is, and being from New York, he doesn’t have to tell you about his swagger. There was a time when swagger was assumed, not boasted of. It seems so recent that hip-hop was, for all intents and purposes, synonymous with New York, and New York, only. But since all of Lil’ Wayne, Kanye West, T-Pain, Dem Franchize Boyz, Yung Jeezy, et al., have so firmly gripped the hip-hop charts, there has been little room for the deft, albeit perhaps often complex to its commercial detriment, lyricism and soulful, grimey, but creative beatcrafting that the East for so long provided.

Like De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, even Grandmaster Flash before him, Donny Goines is not content to merely showcase catchy vocals, he has something to say. And the beats behind him are provided by a smorgasbord of well-known hip-hop producers. His album is laced with beats that sound of the fare of so many hits five years ago. Perhaps this is telling of where New York is at right now, but it’s clear throughout the album that Donny Goines is content with the reality of what he remembers rather than focus on pushing those boundaries. The confidence he exudes leaves the listener convinced.

The album’s “Intro” (and i parenthesized because it’s titled, “Intro”) starts things off declaring, “nothing is a far stretch,” and throughout the tale he tells, he manages to make you believe it most of the time. In “The Triumph”, we’re reminded that while all those pasty old pundits we see on TV seem to be rather fixated on Ronald Reagan’s wonder, the 80′s left minorities wondering if things could deteriorate any more. Donny seems determined to fight the righteous fight for all of us, whether we co-sign or not. He’s simply too unabashedly honest to make you think that he doesn’t intend to execute exactly as he says. He paints a clear, yet depressing picture in “Ghetto USA” that should make any self-respecting human reach into his/her wallet for a Sunday morning contribution at least. Sped up samples remind us of Mr. West’s initial influence on hip-hop in “Ricky’s Story”. This track is notable because, while the rhyme scheme doesn’t actually change from the rest of the album (it’s painfully consistent), it’s basically double-timed here, for a nice change of pace and a refreshing internal rhyme effect. He sounds a little Tipper-ish, warning, “Now they’re wondering where is he and none of them can convince me this isn’t a pity since he started bumpin’ that Fifty. His mind frame on high fame and fly chains, so he figured if he supplied ‘caine his life changed, cause all the rappers on TV and CDs made it seem as if it was easy with these keys”. That’s a long quotable, but where is this rapper on the rest of the album? I digress. “I am Moving” is a notably fresh-sounding track. This track is the strongest on the album, despite deviating so far from what the rest of this compilation is doing, providing a more ethereal canvas for radio-friendly lyrics. Goines gets back to his element on “Can’t Fit in my Shoes”. The backing track depends on a sped-up vocal sample and break-emulating drums. Easily he draws us into his world and into his perspective with lines like, “I aint convinced you nothing more than a whole bunch of liars that spit”, as he struggles with doing what’s necessary whilst being financially broke. In “Can You Hear Me”, he poses the questions, “Why would you make a virus that left so many of your people lifeless? Why put the world in crisis, separate the rich from the poor where I live?” Hard to argue against that. The backing track satisfyingly uses a synth-created melody and classic hip-hop drums. The final three tracks on the album lack the enthusiasm, accessibility, and head-bobbing beats from earlier in the album.

This is hip-hop that a lot of the more devout hip-hop veteran fans can grip. Donny has managed to create quite a buzz, even finding his way onto MTVU for the video to “I Am Moving”. The problem is that there’s nothing new here. It’s a good album, and as someone that wants to see hip-hop do better than it has the past few years, I have a desire to see new hip-hop artists get away from glossy, over-produced tracks, or worse, beats made in five minutes by kids from Atlanta, with Dr. Seuss-style rhymes. However, this album just isn’t that interesting today. Yesterday, it would’ve fit in with the in crowd, but tomorrow it’s history. The album gets three out of five stars, and owes a lot to the subject of the second half of this: Mr. Kanye West.

Who remembers Ye’s first major production? Ding! Time’s up! “This Can’t be Life” from “Dynasty: Roc La Familia” by Jay-Z. And the first time we ever heard Mr. West’s voice on a major? Ding! Survey says, “Never Change” from “The Blueprint” by Jigga.

Those songs contained samples from Harold Melvin and David Ruffin (of Temptations fame). Contrary to popular belief, Kanye was not the first to speed up vocal samples, he just brought it to prominence by sticking to his guns as hip-hop handed the reigns to Jay-Z and ignited a young producer’s career during one fateful summer.

How times have changed. Kanye’s sampled electronica and indie rock, told us how he really felt about George Bush, worn a crown of thorns, and cried for us over the loss of his mother. It’s amazing how daring Kanye can be and how he manages to command hip-hop to catch up to him and conform, just in time for him to lead us elsewhere. Now is time for elsewhere. Wayyyy elsewhere.

I must admit that I like Kanye. He’s overly sensitive, he’s ego-maniacal, he has no sense of what is socially acceptable, and as daring as he is, he’s often a copy-cat (after all, T-Pain definitely was using a vocoder long before all these guys were, right?). Still, he is like that great scoop journalist or better yet, he’s like a psychic who constantly predicts earth-shifting events and then goes and makes sure these events actually happen. It’s hard to say whether he’s a step ahead or whether he’s changing the natural course of music. Plus, he’s so vulnerable that you have to appreciate the man’s willingness to wear everything on his sleeve.

This album is initially alarming. About half the album seems devoid of snare, and hi-hat or cymbals are even harder to come by. Synths and soul samples are replaced by piano, pads, and stringsets, full of reverb and/or delay. While Kanye has progressively deviated from more traditional hip-hop styles, his mastering of studio engineering (more extensive use of effects, notably) has allowed for cleaner, often more minimalistic production methods.

The most impressive thing about this album is how strinkingly raw the emotional output is. When Michael Jackson released, “Off the Wall”, one of the last singles released was “She’s out of My Life”. The song met minor controversy because, toward the end of the song, Michael’s vocals start deteriorate as his apparent emotion overtakes him. Ironically, it’s this same sensibility that helps and hurts Kanye’s album. Detractors will be basically correct when they say that he can’t sing. But that lack of real vocal training and lack of vocal chops cause him to rely on a greater emphasis on evocation of emotion.

This go-around, the greater controversy may be the current trend of using a vocoder. It’s been argued that its use in Kanye’s case is more as a crutch than for effect, although that seems pretty nonsensical, considering all the singing he’s done on previous albums. Still, such extensive use of the vocoder, combined with the fact that Kanye’s not rapping, combined with the sparse atmospheric beats, this album is being deemed by many as an experimental album a la Common’s Electric Circus. But much like Electric Circus, if you are willing to open-mindedly accept the music for what it is, it certainly holds plenty of merit.

That aside, there is one consistent argument to be made against Kanye’s music, historically. Lyrically, West has always been below the bar we set for great hip-hop artists. While his beatmaking acumen, his penchant for witty marketing and P.R., and a vulnerable but headstrong personality have led to practically innumerable megahits, he will not be remembered like Bob Dylan, James Taylor, Bob Marley, or Marvin Gaye for witty lyrical offerings. He often relies on monosyllabic rhymes, and he rarely delivers with any sense of unpredictability, rhythmically or lyrically.

Overall, this is a more contiguous album than his earlier works. This is really the first time since his first album where he takes you somewhere, with a different perspective from what we’re accustomed to, and allows you to feel the world through his emotions. I certainly appreciate the risk that Kanye has taken, and this is definitely his most mature album to this point. Still, all the sparseness exposes Kanye’s vocals and lyrics far too much for comfort. There are definitely points in the album where it seems a grade school child wrote the simple lyrics and then Kanye simply sang them into a vocoder while curled up into an emotional ball. This album is very effective most of the time, but some of the time, you cringe slightly. I give it three and a half stars.

Ultimately, the radio has left us with very little besides 808′s and Heartbreak, to give his title another meaning just suited for the purposes of my piece. Hip-hop has been evolving, sure, but at the very least, one could argue that we’ve allowed the lyrics to regress. Maybe neither Donny Goines nor Kanye West can lead us to a place that invites a new infusion of creativity lyrically and beat-wise, but even if they can’t, hopefully, hip-hop can find a happy medium while living for today.