http://www.sixshot.com/interviews/9424/

Speaking of capturing someone’s ear, when it comes to up and coming producers, where do you think they go wrong when they’re trying to get placement for their material?

There’s a program I’m doing with Red Bull, and it’s a producer competition. So I had a chance to listen to about 1,000 new producers and sh*t. I would say the biggest thing they’re doing wrong is just being the same. Like a heard a fake “Hustlin’” beat, and I heard that one like that at least a hundred times this year.

Its just amazing how guys will get in a studio, and just copy some sh*t. Another thing is that they don’t want to build a foundation; they just want to go straight to the top. Instead of working with some dude around their way who maybe the next hot artist, they’d rather skip all that sh*t, and work with ‘Lil Wayne. And when you do that, people consider you to be just “another guy.” But when you have people that you’ve worked with behind you, they’re going to be more inclined to f**k with you. And if you’re a new producer, you might sell one beat per year. And what’s that like? About 5 or 10g’s?

You’re better off just working a job, and perfecting your craft, and come back when you can really do your thing. There are a lot of misconceptions about how rich a producer can get. Of course they are few that are making a ton of money, but its like Michael Jordan. Not everybody can be Michael Jordan. There aren’t even a lot of guys that can be Bill Wennington, you know. He’s not the main guy, but he was contributing, and he was winning rings too. I’m happy to be a contributor, and I’m happy to be in the game. I didn’t even sell any beats my first 3-4 years making beats. A lot of them just see people like Pharrell and Timbaland on the cover of Scratch Magazine, and those are guys who are doing their thing.

Timbaland was making beats for DeVante and sh*t like that for like 7-8 years before he really became Timbaland. Now with the Internet, people have a little bit more access and they’re look for that first shot immediately. 

So do you think the Internet has helped more, or hurt more?

I think its great because you can get access to music so fast, but it can also make you a little bit more disposable. Like you don’t have the same value to people. Like sometimes people put so much into one artist, they’re going to hate everything else that isn’t that artist, which is f**kin’ ridiculous. It’s like if you like Common, then you can’t like 50 Cent because you’re supposed to be on “that side.” And it’s like f**k all that sh*t. Listen to what you like, and what moves you.