Much like fellow Young Money also-ran Tyga’s “Rack City,” this song was tailor made to be the soundtrack to debauched evenings at strip clubs around the world. That said, where “Rack City” took its cues from the Bay Area’s current club sound, “Wop” is full on New Orleans bounce, anchored by an incredible sample of Little Richard’s “Tutti Frutti.” A beat this banging could easily overpower a less than capable emcee, but luckily Lil Chuckee rises to the occasion here. We’re only in the first month of the year, but I can’t see many strip-club anthems topping this one. I eagerly await the inevitable Twerk Team video.
Also, Travis Porter totally needs to be on the remix.
Recently I had the chance to speak via email with Tommy Black (@TommyBlackML), the Swedish producer behind David’s #1 track of 2011, Schoolboy Q’s “Fantasy,” as well as tracks by Kendrick Lamar, Ab-Soul, and others. Here’s what he had to say.
Could you go into detail about the recording process for Schoolboy Q’s “Fantasy”? How did you go about creating that beat? Was it made specifically for Schoolboy, or did he hear it and go in on it? Were you in the studio during the recording?
I didn’t have my own place to stay at during that time, so I was moving around between a couple of my homies spots. I only had my laptop, headphones an a synthesizer, and I sat down in one of my friends kitchen (wich I used to get some isolation and focus to create) and just pounded that production out. When I was done with it, I handled the headphones to my homie Luc and he was like “It’s a done deal!” I usually steps in my own dimension when I create music, so I didn’t have Schoolboy Q in mind untill the beat was done (he had just recently sent me an email the first time asking to send him some beats). I thought this production would fit him perfect, I sent it over and I almost got the reply immediately that he wanted to use it on his “Setbacks” project.
You’ve done a lot of work with the Black Hippy camp (Schoolboy, Kendrick, Ab-Soul, etc.). How did you link up with them? What is your working relationship like?
I came across a video 09′ on youtube called “Day In A Life” by Ab-Soul, and I thought he was dope as hell! I had alot of productions ready to go, and I badly wanted him to hop on one of my tracks. So I contacted him thru myspace, he felt my music and we started to work from thereon. I remember coming across this new Kendrick Lamar joint called “Rare Breed” on XXL’s website on one of my lunchbreaks at work, and I was like “Damn! this’s my beat!” and he was killing it! This was before the “Overly Dedicated” project. Eventually Kendrick Lamar contacted me and wanted me to send him beats, then Schoolboy Q etc etc. So my music spread thru Ab-Soul from the first. I usually don’t like to send music fourth and back over the internet, I rather like to work in person and be able to vibe together, and at the same time get a more costumized track for the artist. But I never get disappointed with the results coming from the Black Hippy camp.
Do you plan on doing work outside of that camp? If so, which artists would you like to work with?
I’m working on my own two projects right now, one instrumental and one with guest artists. I also got tracks with the west coast legend Butch Cassidy and a hella dope mc by the name of Pr1me (they formed the duo “Blues Brotherz”), I got tracks with some up and coming artists and a couple of tracks that I can’t really out right now. It’s going to be a secret untill further notice, lol. I also work with some dope artists out here in Sweden and in Europe. But I always got tracks for the artists over at TDE no matter what, they make incredible stuff. Wich artists would I like to work with.. It’s quite a few, too many to name, but it would’ve been dope to do something with Royce Da 5’9, Big K.R.I.T or Bilal.
How long have you been making beats?
I started around 99′ – 2000.
Is there one producer who you would say informed your sound when you were just starting out?
It’s so many of them, hard to pick just one. In hip-hop: Dr.Dre, Rza, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, Jay Dee just to name a few.
How do you generally make beats – do you start with an idea or feeling you want to capture, or do you start out with a sample?
It depends, for the most I start with a idea I get, sometimes a sample. I usually start with the drums at first, making sure that they’re on point (sometimes the drums needs to be exchanged to fit the sounds and the vibe). It don’t matter if u got the dopest vibe and melody, if the drums and the bass don’t match and is on point, it’s not going to bang.
What is your studio set-up like? Which programs do you use for recording and mixing?
I’m using Renoise to program my music, it has the same structure as them old tracker programs but in a new fresh shape. Cubase is used for some stuff also. I got my reliable Yamaha CS1x, it’s a plastic half-analog synthesizer with years of costumized sounds that nobody can duplicate, lol. I like the Korg ms-20 alot too. I got an XTZ A-100-D3 amplifier and some nice Heybrook speakers. I use almost anything, any instrument I get my hands on.
Your sound is very unique in terms of what’s going on in hip-hop production today - it’s very smooth, laid-back, almost reminiscent of downtempo electronica. Is that intentional?
Well, I’m a big fan of all types of jazz music, cosmic stuff, funk / soul / old psychadelic rock etc. All kinds of music that you’ll catch a feeling from. You don’t catch a feeling this often from the music nowdays in my opinion (especially not from the tv or radio). My music just turned out this way, bringing that old timeless sound to a new era. I grew up listening to alot of electronic music / funk / jazz records that my mother used to play, may sound cliscé-ish, but it comes to me natural.
Were you always a hip-hop producer, or did you start out working in other genres?
I started out with writing lyrics and rap (both in english and swedish). I’m still a beast on the mic, lol. It was hip-hop that I started with from the beginning, hip-hop is great because it has no limitations. U can do whatever your creativity allows you to do. I’m producing alot of experimental, more jazzy records on the side that I’ll put out there in the near future.
What is your favorite beat that you’ve made, and why?
Hard to pick.. But “Blow My High (Members Only)” by Kendrick Lamar is one of them however. The feeling I had when I did that track was crazy, and when Kendrick did his thing, it turned out even crazier.
Fat Joe’s latest single “So Fly“ sounds very similar to the track you produced for Ab-Soul & Kendrick Lamar (“Rapper Shit“) – one might even say it’s a total beat jack. What are your thoughts on this?
The “Rapper Shit” joint is based on a sample, and when u use a sample you can’t expect to be all alone with it if you don’t cut it to “impossibility of recognition”. The original record is out there and people have access to it. The same sample is often going to turn up more then once on different projects. But if you have HEARD another producer’s work on a sample and you also decide to mess with it and have the same pitch and almost the same sample cuts, then you can call it what you want..
I know you’re planning on releasing a few projects this year – The Medkit and The Nine Lives of Tommy Black. Could you speak a bit on both projects? What should we expect from them? And what else are you working on?
Yessir, “The Medkit” is taking some time, it was ment to be released in 2011, but I had some issues with the distrubution etc. so I’ll drop “The Nine Lives Of Tommy Black” at first. That one is going to be an instrumental project. The Nine Lives Of Tommy Black is kind of experimental and not just on some strictly hip-hop instrumentation. But those who like my work so far will surely feel it! The date is not set yet, but you can expect it to drop in a couple of months. The Medkit is sure to drop 2012, and it will feature guest artists on the majority of the tracks. Mostly US features, but also a couple tracks from two of the dopest hip-hop duos here in Sweden (in swedish). I can’t wait to drop that one either because it will tear the roof off the mutha! lol. So be sure to be on the lookout for those two projects!
That’s all, is there anything else you wanted to add?
Go here to stream or download T Double P‘s “Mary Guappins Mix.” It ~gets~ 2011.
SLEAZY MONEY MUSIC GROUP PRESENTS….
THE MARY GUAPPINS MIX
01. Gunplay feat. Waka Flocka – Rollin’
02. Meek Mill feat. Rick Ross – Body Count
03. Waka Flocka feat. YG Hootie & Slim Dunkin – Pole
04. Juicy J feat. VABP – Smoke That Bitch
05. Trouble – Bussin’
06. Meek Mill feat. Rick Ross – Tupac Back
07. 2 Chainz feat. Meek Mill – Stunt
08. Future / King Louie / Meek Mill – Tony Montana
09. Tity Boi – Spend It
10. YC feat. Future – Racks
11. Juicy J – Who Da Neighbours
12. Rich Kidz feat. Young Thug – 100 Dollar Autograph
13. T.I. feat. Travis Porter & Young Dro – Hot Wheels
14. Mouse On Tha Track – Alligator Hummingbird
15. Webbie feat. Lil’ Phat – What’s Happenin’
16. Riff Raff SODMG – Jose Canseco
17. Young Jeezy – Everything
18. Sen City feat. Mel Matrix & Hard Luck – Pop Rose
19. Soulja Boy – My City
20. Schoolboy Q feat. Jhene Aiko – Fantasy
Even though the LSU Tigers weren’t able to win the National Championship, Baton Rouge’s own Mouse on tha Track must have been cheering hard. His video for “All the Way Live” was full of LSU highlights, even if it wasn’t quite as entertaining as this LSU Championship video (hat tip blackbeans.tumblr.com). The first single for Mouse and his uniquely named partner Box’s mixtape All Options Open makes perfect sense as the school’s theme song, considering it opens with “I just want to be number 1, party with the girls, have fun”.
Once you’ve heard “Wipe Me Down”, “Zoom”, or even his more recent material like “Swagga Fresh Freddie,” it is impossible not to recognize Mouse’s buzzing-at-2am synths and the strong ‘90s No Limit/Cash Money Records influence. “All The Way Live” could populate all types of southern sporting events; it is pure party music with a a bit of Lil Jon’s European club sound incorporated into Mouse’s signature synth styles. There’s even a little bit of 2 Unlimited “Get Ready For This” in the mix. That Box is able to rework part of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Spirit” into an amped-up bridge, and retain its wrangling-with-fame themes in this basic party song, deserves some kind of appreciation. Even when pulling from so many different styles, the song has a conceptual unity; it doesn’t get mired down by ‘influences’ and pushes Mouse’s own style forward.
“Pushin Pillows” was one of my favorite last-minute year-end-list additions; the production’s pillow-y textures and dreamy guitar lines have an unforgettable insouciance. Plus, the entire concept of the song is an especially evocative one. That said, as a somewhat-former-Catholic who happens to find a particular potency in the morally conflicted rapper role, I think that whatever the eventual lineup, The Jacka should be tapped for the remix. Not only does his “Aspen” fit in similar conceptual territory, but his lyrical approach parallels the track’s inherent contradictions. Witness his opening lines on the recent “I’m Gucci (Bay Mix)”: “Fuckin’ with my n**** Mess, Neiman Marcus, Saks 5th / Gucci store, Louis store, Ferragamo to get dressed / all because of funerals, n**** that’s doin’ bids stretched.” Very few rappers can successfully juxtapose the recognition of consequences of criminality with the desire to enjoy the rewards; sure, some artists bring it out in vocal performance, but rarely in the lyrics themselves. He sets you off in one direction, as if his verse is going to be one-dimensional bragging; then he undercuts it immediately by pointing to the real cost in theatrical fashion.
