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The ARE
Name: The ARE
Age: 36
Hometown: Houston
Profession: Beats, Rhymes & Life
Crew: trackmasters
Website: www.myspace.com/theare1
Producing since: 1992, i was in NY in 1990. I was around alot of artist and producers. Being in that circle, I knew making beats is what i wanted to do.
Personal style: I like to feel that I can be across the board with music. Hip Hop , R& B etc
Influences: Some of my biggest influences came from the Juice crew. Marley was the man. After that I would say Premo and pete rock because thats alot of what I listened to.
First Equipment: When I returned from NY in 1992, I was able to save enough money to by an ensoniq eps and aleisis drum machine(the grey one). I had seen Premo use it in the studio and felt the need to get one.
Current Equipment: I’m trying to expand alittle these days but my foundation is with the ASR-10 and a microkorg. I’ve never felt like I really needed alot of equipment. I like to be very minimal.
Analog vs. Digital: When I first started recording with my 1st group K-otix it was the mid 90’s. We were all analog and most people lived by it. You could’nt tell me or anyone else anything to sway us about digital. Eventually we all started to use pro tools at home and things still sounded good based on your mix. Now , because of it being so easy to navigate and edit, I say digital.....but I still got love for anolog.
Sampling: sampling is what gives hip hop it’s true feel. The grit, the pop, the classic sound. I’ll always sample. I love pulling that record out and chopping somthing up to make it my creation. Sample laws are really tough on us producers.See what people don’t realize is that when you clear a sample, The sampled artist is usually gonna take a peice of you cut of the publishing. Look at it like this : If the song is 100%, 50% is yours(producer) and 50% is the mc(writer). When the owner of the sampled song is contacted, if they say they want 50% of the publishing, guess what?? That comes from your portion and you have no $$scrilla coming from that song. Shit can get crazy. I know dudes that have produces hits and never saw a publishing check from it.
Releases: I always like doing underground projects. I like thinking of a concept and knocking it out in a few days. Even if it’s just a beat project. I’m always gonna do it. I think I did 2 or 3 last year and I gave them away for free. Manipulated Marauders, Dem Damb Jackson and maybe a couple beat cd’s that I leaked out. WE have a site called rappersiknow.com and we’re linked up with Okayplayer. We use this site to give away free music.
Production done for: My early work was focused strickley on my group k-otix. At that time I was so focused on making the group big that I kept my production solely for the group. Eventually I started to venture out. I did some things with 7L & Esoteric, Headkrack, Kay of the Foundation and a few more. Once I left the group is when I really started to hustle. I did joints for Masta Ace, Wordsworth, Punchline, Stricklyn (EMC), Lords of the Underground, Braille, Truth Enola, Lone Catalysts, Zion I, MED, OH NO, Lil Kim and many more.
Mcing: I’m a fiend for clever lyrics, I grew up on hip hop in a time where you listened close to every word to see what the mc was gonna say next. One of the albums that comes to mind was Organized Konfusion Extinction agenda. Monch’s flow was so crazy. I worked at a record store at that time and I remember getting the promo in the mail and on my way home I could barely get out of the car because each song lyrically was crazy. The flips and medaphors. Unreal.
B-Boying: My earliest memory of b boying was at the skate rink. This was in the early 80’s. At midnight they used to let you take your skates off and go in the middle and dance. Me and a gang of people used try and spin and windmill against each other. At that time we did’nt really know how significant it was ans was gonna be to the culture. We were just having fun.
Writing: It’s a bold statement in art just as hip hop is to music. I always loved checking for new tags and burners. What I think is so crazy about writing is the guerilla tactics. I love the fact that you can hit a train or a freeway sign and get thousands and thousands of people to see your art. Now thats hip hop.
Djing: it’s the platform for music. If there was no dj, there would be no direction for people to hear things they might not otherwise be able to hear. Imagine if thoughout history if the radio or the club just put a radio on random play? It would be one big gamble as to what we would hear or get hip to.
Hip-Hop: Life, a way of life.
Internet: The biggest billboard in the world!!
Media: Media can be a great asset. This business is so built on perception and if you can keep your name in the media as often as possible, your name will stay relivant. I try and do as many interviews as possible, reviews, myspace, whatever it takes. It’s important.
Politics: I don’t get into them. I think they are all liars.
Love: My daughter. She’s amazing!
Fans: The fans mean so much to an artist. I try and give as much time to fans as possible. I always wanna be in touch with them. I try to reply to every myspace message and take time out to say whats up. I also think it’s important to share knowledge of the industry and also insight to what it took to get where i’m at. I remember my first take on true fans was when I was on tour in Japan. The fans are insane out there. We were signing cell phones, shoes and people were bringing things that were really important to them for us to sign. To have a fan come to me and ask for an autograph says alot to me and I show that respect right back.
Travelling: When we were on tour in Europe we did countless cities in Germany, Sweden, Austria and many more. This was the first time I had been on the road for weeks and got to see a large part of Europe. It was also gratifying to be on the road doing what you love. After a while it gets harder to travel because of family and home life but I try to every chance i get.
Money: I was talking to a friend of mine the other day. We were talking about how our views had changed so much because we had children and since we were getting older. See, in the 90’s we never wanted to touch a radio song. I remember getiing so mad when one of out favorite artist did a commercial song with singing in the hook. Now that we have kids , a home and want better things, it makes much more sense as to why these artist were trying to adapt to be able to pay the bills. Being broke is not fun.
Life: Is short. The more you do, the quicker it goes. You remember being a young kid and playing outside with friends? Damn, the days seemed sooo long. Now you get older, got bills, got a schedule, got things to get done and the day is gone before you know it. Damn time goes so quick these days.
5 Favourite Producers: Marley Marl, DJ Premier, Pete Rock, J Dilla, the 5th one is a wild card. Marley Marl always had this dope drum programming.
Premo took it to a whole new level with choppin samples, creating choruses with multiple cuts and styles(crazy!!)
Pete Rock was just next level with his sample selection. Pete is the best at using 5 samples from 5 different records and makeing them work together. Mecca and the soul Brother!(Crazy!!)
What can i say that has’nt been said about dills wow. He really inspired me to make things work with certain records. I was always amazed at how he could make anything work. He was the type of producer that would use a sample that u thought was not something that could be flipped. He would flip it into a masterpiece. I was living a studio in the afternoon when i got a friend who said Dilla was dead. I immediatly called my friends at stones throw records to confirm. The answer was yes and I’ll never forget that day. Very sad.
5 Favourite Rap songs: Thats hard, there’s so many! First that come to mind :
Public Enemy – Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos
Pete Rock & CL – T.R.O.Y
Marley Marl – Symphony
Big Daddy Kane - Aint no Half Steppin
A Tribe Called Quest – Electric Relaxation.
There’s alot more but these are the first to come to my mind.
5 Favourite Rap albums:
Big Daddy Kane – Long live the Kane
Tribe – Midnight Marauders
Gang Starr – Step in the Arena
Slum Village- fantastic vol2
Nas- Illmatic
Top 5 songs of any music genre: whew!
Marvin Gaye – anything off of Hear my Dear
The smiths –How soon is now
a few ELO songs. This is tough. All genre’s is a bit broad. There’s so much music.
Top 5 Lps of any music genre:
Marvin Gaye – whats going on
Marvin Gaye – hear my dear
Stevie Wonder –Songs in the key of Life
The Smiths – Strange ways
Radiohead – ok computer.
There’s really too many to sum up in 5. Favorites can always depend your mood. Music is like medicine.
Favorite drink: Vodka! I’ve always drank vodka when out drinking. You know, as you get older, alchahol starts doing different things to you. It’s not as easy to get up the next day and it takes longer to recover from a long night of drinking.
Favourite food: Mexican food. Here’s in Houston, we probably have the best mexican food hands down. It’s so good , it can be dangerous cause you wanna eat it 5 times a week. Lol!
Favourite sneakers: I try not to spend too much on my sneakers cause i like to wear them often. I don’t consider myself a collector. My choice of sneakers are Nike Dunks although I’ve moves into the Nike airmax 90’s as well. Throwback sneakers are the best. I wore them when they out in the early days and now I wear them today.
Favourite movie, actor: Christian Bale is the man!. This dude is the truth! American psycho! The Machinist! He’s got a rawness about him and he plays the part well. Definitly my top actor of this era.
Favourite sport, player: Man, I’m a huge boxing fan so it would have to be a boxer but there’s too many that I follow. Even new prospects that if I named them nobody would know.
Future projects: Well now that I’m working with trackmasters there’s alot on the table. Future projects will probably consist of mant single songs on other peoples albums however, I plan on releasing more of the beat projects and concept albums throughout 08’. I just finished a project call Planet zero that I started a long time ago but did’nt really get it in focus until now.
Advice: Alot of advice is obvious, just work hard. I mean really try and work relentlessly. I try and makes beats everyday and through the night if possible. At one point i was turning out 30-45 beats a month. Also, Never be afraid to leak your beats out. If it’s one thing i’ve learned in this business is that nothing is sacred. Let the world hear and see your art, your craft. It can only help you and spread your name. Travel, if your in a nutral area, make that trip to the bigger city as much as possible, whether it be for events or to shop beats. You have to look at these people in the eye when you do business with them.
Shout outs and props: First I wanna give a big shout to my man Kay! I’m so proud of him right now. He’s worked really hard at finishing his new album Timeline with Nicolay. It’s out and getting great reviews. Other shouts go out to my family and everyone that has made the past couple of years worth wild in this music game. The fans are a big part of what i do and it’s always great to hear from them. There’s so much more to come, I hope everyone can be a part of it. I love you Harlow!
