R.I.P MICHEAL JACKSON

I would like to take this time to say rest in piece MIcheal Jackson. He is one of the most influential people of my era and I can't believe he gone so soon.

CHAINSMOKA-WHERE DO WE GO

I know you guys have been reading my blog wondering if I have any credibility while giving out so much advice. Her is a sample of my music. This is a song and video I made called WHERE DO WE GO. This song feature me Da Chainsmoka, PLexx and M.I.C.

HOW DO I RECORD MY SONGS?

Jack of all trades
If you are just starting out rapping I suggest going to a professional studio instead of buying recording equipment. Try not to be the jack of all trades and master of none of them. That means do not try to rap, learn how to record, be your own manager, promoter, run your own label, etc. You must find what you do best and delegate everything else to other people. You don't see Donald Trump driving around Harlem in a Cadillac burning up all his gas and time collecting rent money from his tenants do you? He hires people for that while he concentrates on new business ventures. When you do book studio time, make sure that you memorized your lyrics. Practice your 16 bars thoroughly while you are at home! Do not waste your time trying to "get it right" while spending $30 dollars an hour. This will not only frustrate you but it will infuriate you as well because of the pressure. If you have the dough then I highly recommend going to the studio instead of doing it yourself. It took me years to get good at recording and I'm still not the best. As a matter of fact, I hate recording. It truly is the one thing I hate about being involved with music because of the enormous amount of time I wasted waiting for rappers to get their versus right and lay it down

But I don't have money to record
If you insist on recording at home and spending all that money and time then I recommend buying Pro Tools. I'm sure you hear Pro Tools mentioned a million times by rappers like Jadakiss and people involved with music but probably not quite sure what it is. Pro Tools is recording software for your computer. It is not for making beats at all! You must have another program for making beats like Reasons 4 or Frooty Loops. Pro Tools is an industry standard meaning that 9 out of 10 times when you are in need of mixing and mastering your music or dealing with major studios they will also use the same software and everything will be compatible. It's very important to be on the same page as everyone else to constantly progress.If you have a group make sure you try your best to all use the same equipment. I refuse to waste time by trying to figure out how to use whatever you have that is different from what I 'm currently using. I used to have friends call me and ask me to how use something I'm not familiar with and get mad because I can't help them.Thats like asking me how to play John Madden on Playstation 3 when I have it on Xbox 360. The buttons are different on the controllers, different programmers probably made each game, different features on both systems, difference codes, etc.When you buy Pro Tools also make sure that you buy a book to teach you how to use it too! Do not spend months clicking buttons and tinkering around with the program trying to learn on your own. What might take you 3 months to learn you could learn in 20 minutes reading a book. Time is money. Lastly, Pro Tools is compatible with both a Mac and Windows. The CD that comes with it is a hybrid CD that works for both. I warned you not to record yourself but if you must I wish you good luck.

Should I charge people?
You should definitely charge people to record! I repeat, you should definitely charge to record! Pro Tools, microphones. headphones, computers and other studio equipment ain't free. Charging for studio time will separate the real from the fake. The people who aren't about nothing will disappear in to a cloud of smoke if you ask for cash.They might even look at you like you shot they mamma or something. If someone is serious about music then they will definitely cough up something. I don't care if you charge $5 an hour. You can at least pocket that cash and put it in your gas tank. Who wants to work 8 hours at their lame ass job and then come home to record an aggravating 4 hour session for free with some joker who could care less about your dreams of making it big.


Dave Chapelle - Turn My Heaphones Up - The most amazing videos are a click away

Get Rid Of Dead Weight!

Are you currently in a group with friends and family? Do they really have a passion for the music or are they just in it to solely waste your time? Do you find yourself in a position where you are doing all of the work?

1. Making beats
   
2. Rapping
   
3. Coming up with hooks
   
4. Going to radio stations
   
5. Buying and learning Pro Tools
   
6. Looking for shows to perform
7. Managing the group
   
8. Promoting
9. Selling CD's in the street
10. Building websites
    

Do your so called friends sit there and do nothing while you are breaking your back? My suggestion is to dump there asses ASAP! Do not let them destroy your dream because they are lazy, don't believe in themselves, or just along for the ride. You only live once and now is the time to make changes. I don't care if it's your best friend, brother, sister, next door neighbor or someone you just met. 20 years from now when you are working at a shoe store like Al Bundy because you let them waste your time then what are they gonna do you? Don't become an adult and sit and wonder what could have been. Getting rid of dead weight is a great relief and also a great way to get closer to your goal of making money with your talent. It's also a way to reduce the number of people you have to split profits with as well. A lot of people will have there hand out but you should give them what they put in. Nothing! LOL

HOW CAN I MAKE MONEY ONLINE

There are unlimited ways you can make money with your talent. Since we are now in the information age, the best way to make money is the internet. Most sites allow you to upload your .mp3 or .wav files directly to there servers and allow the whole world to buy your songs or beats. The best part about this is you can make money in your sleep. You don't have to ride around your hood in your Cadillac burning gas and wasting time trying to convince people that your music is hot and twist their arm to buy something. Forget your hood! You now have access to the whole entire world instead. Money is green ain't it? What do I care if someone in Russia buys my beats verses someone in New York. As long as I have an audience.LOL. Another great aspect about selling your beats online is that you are not bound to one website. You can have multiple streams of income coming in from numerous sites all at once. Can you physically be at multiple jobs all at once? I didn't think so.

Make sure you promote your music online as well. I didn't make any money at first because I thought my beats were so good that the people on the internet would magically come to me and buy my instrumentals. I was an idiot! How can people buy something that they don't know exist? If you are not willing to promote your product or service then you might as well throw in the towel now.Here are some sites you can go to and make money right now

www.rocbattle.com
www.gotbeatsonline.com
www.tunecore.com/

WHAT DO I USE TO MAKE BEATS?

Personally I like to use Reasons 3 and Recycle to make beats by Propellerhead. These software basically go hand and hand. I use Reasons 3 for the drums, synths, snares, hi-hats, orch hits, piano loops and etc. Recycle is used for sampling and adding to Reasons 3. I originally started off with Frooty Loops but I was underwhelmed at the sound quality. It sounded like I was using a cheap Casio keyboard that parents give to their young children who just randomly mash on keys.LOL. At the end of the day I would recommend trying out whatever you can get your hands on and determine what's best for you. Initially when I 1st started making beats I was confused to what I should use. Everyone has a different opinion on what is best and will try to influence you on what you should use. When the smoke clears, it really doesn't matter because a drum is a drum, snares are snares, and sound is sound no matter what you decide to go with.

HOW DO YOU MAKE BEATS?

In Hip Hop there is two ways you can make beats. Either you can sample or make original beats using a keyboard. Sampling is when you take a small portion of another artist work and then basically adding your own instruments to it such as kicks and snares. Kanye West, DJ Premier, The Alchemist and J-Dilla are samplers for example. Manny Fresh and The Neptunes are producers who don't sample and mainly use a keyboard to make their instrumentals. Timbaland is an excellent producer who actually utilizes both techniques. I personally prefer to sample because I'm more talented at that. I recommend trying out both techniques to see what suits you better. Try not to force one or the other.

BE ORIGINAL

A lot of rappers are not successful nowadays because they try to hard to emulate someone else. I never understood why people do that. If I want a 2pac record I will purchase his album. If I want to listen to T-Pain then I will buy his work. The consumer does not want to hear a carbon copy. I believe that the only time you should copy someone is when you are just beginning. At that stage you should try to do exactly what your favorite artist does and master their style. After that you should branch off and add your flavor to it.

Nowadays people are scared to be there selves. My theory is that the artist and labels are so concerned with money that they are not willing to experiment. They like to follow formulas that appear to work for the moment. They are quickly disposed of after one album. The most noticeable effort is the overuse of autotune. The funny part about that is technically T-Pain is not the first person to be successfully using a gimmick like that. Anybody remember Roger Troutman? LOL

At the end of the day it's better to be yourself and let your personality shine on the track. If you are funny then make the listener laugh. If you are a so called gangsta then let the consumer know what trials and tribulations that you been through. If you are a back packer then make some boring positive songs with lackluster beats like other backpackers.LMOA. If you want some overnight money then try to do whats been done already. If you want to have a career like Jay-Z, Busta Rhyme, Snoop and Scarface then be original. My own mother can tell the difference between a Busta song and Snoop! That's the ultimate test. If your parents, who are way out of touch can tell rappers apart then that rapper is on to something.