No Jumper - The MixedByAli Interview: The Early Days of TDE, Engineering Kendrick's Classics & More

Episode Date: April 19, 2021

Ali talks about what led to his passion, growing up and working as a youngin' with Schoolboy Q and Tyga, fine tuning his sound with Kendrick and Dre and sharing his knowledge to the new generation of engineers. Gems on gems! https://www.instagram.com/mixedbyali/ https://twitter.com/mixedbyali https://www.instagram.com/EngineEars/ https://www.instagram.com/NoNameStudios/ ----- CHECK OUT OUR NEW SPOTIFY PLAYLIST https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5tesvmDS8h50LkjnSAWMOs?si=j6sJD6DkR4mk5NZZWnlK7g FOLLOW US ON SNAPCHAT FOR THE LATEST NEWS & UPDATES https://www.snapchat.com/discover/No_Jumper/4874336901 CHECK OUT OUR ONLINE STORE!!! http://www.nojumper.com/ SUBSCRIBE for new interviews (and more) weekly: http://bit.ly/nastymondayz Follow us on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/nojumper iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/no-jumper/id1001659715?mt=2 Follow us on Social Media: https://www.snapchat.com/discover/No_Jumper/4874336901 http://www.twitter.com/nojumper http://www.instagram.com/nojumper https://www.facebook.com/NOJUMPEROFFICIAL http://www.reddit.com/r/nojumper JOIN THE DISCORD: https://discord.gg/Q3XPfBm Follow Adam22: https://www.tiktok.com/@adam22 http://www.twitter.com/adam22 http://www.instagram.com/adam22 adam22hoe on Snapchat Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

No Jumper. Coolest Podcasts on the world. And today, we got the one and only mixed by Ali on here. What's going on about that? It's a moment. It's a very big moment. Thank you for having me, man. I've been watching the show for so many years, man. Thank you for having me. Wow, really? That's very exciting. We've had a lot of producers on here, but I don't think we've ever touched the engineers of the world. Right, right. It's a new day. You know what I'm saying? That's why we hear. It's to shed light on those people completing that trifecting and creating the record. That's what I'm saying. I mean, I think that it's very important that the kids out there know that there are a lot of different ways. that they can make a living out of the music business aside from just being the rapper.

Because a lot of people are out here trying to be a rapper and they should not be trying to be a rapper. That's a fact, man. I mean, that's one of the goals. I try rapping, it wasn't it. I try producing. I do produce at times, but my passion really lies with taking parts apart and just bringing it back together,

adding different elements and stuff like that. So it's more of like the creation building process that I love the most about it. Interesting. Okay, so take us back to the early days. You were born and where? Gardena, California, born and raised. Uh-huh.

1989 with the Gardena High. You know what I'm saying? Okay. And how would you describe the upbringing over there? I've been at the skate park over there a few times. I don't know if I got the full picture. I mean, it's decent. I mean, Gardena, you know, it's a beautiful city, you know what I'm saying? It has its ups and downs like any of the city. But, you know, I think, you know, it really made me who I am. You know, just the school, the community, the homies, you know. Right. How were your parents? I was raised with my grandparents. So I'm half Polish and have Liberian. So that was one different thing. That's that stigma of not being confident because you go outside the house. and it's all the homies look like this but then you come home eating sour crowd and you know what saying dumplings and stuff and it's like okay bet like I gotta figure this out damn really yeah okay so did you did you know your parents or yeah yeah yeah I know my mom uh you know I had a relationship with my dad

but you know you know it's average circumstances you know what I'm saying it's uh you know they weren't able to really care for me and my grandmother came in and kind of stepped in and took over got you okay so there was like a weird cultural difference from them because both this was the Polish side of your lineage right right right very much so culture they you know they you know they escape Poland to escape the war. Wow. So, you know, just their whole mind state of, you know, how they expected me to be raised, you know, was more of, you know, hey, you're going to be a doctor, you're going to be a lawyer.

But then I'm leaving the house and they're not knowing this other side of, like, the people I'm hanging out with. And, like, yo, like, being a doctor and a lawyer is not in my future, you know. So just that context and contrast of, you know, just figuring out the identity of, like, who you really are just growing up in the streets and having home that you can't really relate to, you know. And that is such an interesting idea of, like, a kid being raised by his grandparents, because there's like a whole generation missing there. A lot of times parents don't understand what their kids are going through, but with the grandparents,

there's even an additional like 20, 30 years in there of them not really understanding what's going on. Even just how they were raised, like, you know what I'm saying, escaping the war, like being in camps, you know what I'm saying, Stalin camps in like the early times of the war. Like, so you know, their perspective of life is completely different from, you know,

somebody who's, you know, growing up in the States. 100%. Yeah. So from your perspective, like, what was it like for you kind of going through this process of going from a kid to a man in L.A. Like, you know, there's a lot of weird influences and pressure and stuff. It must have been quite tricky.

Pressure definitely was the way to put it, a lot of pressure. And again, just being a kid, you know, not confident in who he really is. So being influenced, you know what I'm saying, very fast on good and bad shit, you know. So it was a lot of like finding myself and understanding my comfortability level and just life, you know, dealing with going through situations, failing at it. Okay, boom, that's not the right I want to go trying something else, falling in love with it. but still having to find a way to make money, okay, bet, I like this, but I still hit these streets

and figure it out. You know, it's like a Rubik's Cube, you know, constantly trying to just find those colors that match. Were you drawing the music from early on? I think it was more the process of create music. Like, you know, I didn't come from like a musically inclined family, you know, but it was the more, like, I was one of those ADHD kids that would like take an RC car apart

just to see how it works. Really? That's a good sign right there, I think, for a kid. Yeah, yeah. So, you know, from that, when I was able to really take a song apart and put it back together, I'm like, bet like I found my shit. Do you remember the first shit that you were listening to that really got you enamored with hip hop or music in general? Man, it's crazy because like, you know,

growing up with my grandparents, you know, she definitely didn't listen to any rap or any pop music. It was, I listened to a lot of ABBA. Really? You know, grandparents, she was driving down, taking me to middle school, elementary school, just blast in like ABBA and shit. I'm not mad at that. I think that's a good influence. It's fire. Yeah, it's a great way to start. But obviously, I'm influenced by the West Coast, you know, Pock Dre, Snoop. Like, that really was a soundtrack to like my early, early, early, you know, upbringing. And then my brother, you know, he was heavy into like import like Japanese cars and stuff. So, you know, he was in the techno scene heavy.

So I think, you know, subconsciously kind of played a big part in how I create music, just how... You had a lot of influences. A lot of different textures. A lot of kids might only hear rap or not really be exposed to that much shit. You had all this different eras sort of coming together. That's interesting. So it was like a piece you dish is just different things that I could sample or, you know, find inspiration from. When I think about why I give a fuck about hip-hop so much, I just think about being like nine years old.

old and hearing like the G-Funk sound on Doggy Style and the chronic, et cetera, and that really turped me out. Like that was the whole thing of like, I don't know anything about this, but I know this is the best sounding thing I've ever heard. It felt great. And that's like, that's, that's, that's my whole thing, which is like the old school West Coast music. It's just like the feeling it had. And that just takes me to like just why I love what I do so much. Just seeing how like a Dre would make all everything on chronic just smack across every speaker system. Like what is like the mechanics behind that? What is the system of the process behind that? And being able to understand that and being able to work with Dre so I can see it firsthand, that shit was like, boom, like, I'm here.

Like, you know what I'm saying? This is my calling, you know? 100%. So were you curious about, like, what was going on with the production and shit from a young age? Or how did you start to wade into, like, learning about all that stuff? And it's funny because, you know, high school at Gardena, you know, I played football, obviously. But, you know, there was a hustle. I'm always a hustler. I'm always finding a way to, like, you know, figure some business shit out. And back in high school, like, I was the ringtone, man. You know, back when everybody had the next tails, the eight. 860s and the chirps.

Nice. You know, I figured out, you know, again, because my family was getting to computers, I was computer literate myself. So, you know, I found programs where I can hack these phones and put real songs on them instead of just the beeping ringtones that were out at that time. So from that, you know, I really had homies coming over

and doing like 30 second parody ringtones, you know. And then from that, the art of recording, I kind of fell in love with the art of recording through that. And then the 30 second ringtones ended up, you know, recording full-length songs. Right. Yeah. So how are you selling the ringtones?

just word them off. Like you know what I'm saying? Obviously guard, you know, back in the day it was no social media really. It was just, you know, it was really just hum me's talking to hummy. And you know, obviously I wasn't like, you know, I was, I had friends, you know what I'm saying? So the being on the football team, the word spread,

like you can go here, you know, have like a ringtone saying don't answer this girl phone, or your mama call him, you go home. You know, just some type of parody ringtone just on some funny shit. Yeah. And then again, like, you know, just that homie was like, you could do this, let me record a song real quick.

I gotta turn a song into Myspace or whatever. So that's kind of where the love came from. Did you have any, like, real hometown heroes, like, any way that you knew as a young kid who was, like, having success in rap? Or were you having to really figure a lot of this stuff out on your own? I mean, in the early stages, it wasn't even like, it wasn't even like a thing to be like, yo, I'm like, this is what my career is going to be. It was more of, like, a hobby to kind of keep my mind focused. You know, it wasn't up until I really started recording full-length songs and really falling in love with the art. That's when I really started studying, you know, studying other engineers that, you know, our black engineers,

people that might look like me. You know, I couldn't afford the music schools. I couldn't afford a lot of those things. So the internet, you know, YouTube and forums were like the only things that I really had to my advantage to research. And like, you know, I didn't even know it was a business. Like the recording arts, I didn't know it was a business. I just knew I liked putting audio parts together to create a final product. Right.

So I was doing my research and, you know, got better equipment, you know, you know, reached out to local talent, local artists that I knew were doing their thing. And, you know, had had more hands-on experience by working with them, which I think kind of elevated just my, my skill at early age. It's funny because to the kids out there, if they wanted to get into what you do, it's, it's got to be 10 times easier now, right? A thousand percent. You were figuring it out from scratch when there was not a fucking guidebook. It's still probably a challenging thing to learn, but you get to go to YouTube and type, how do I do this? Exactly. It's going to be videos. I think it's more of a stigma thing because it's like, it's, it's, back back when I really was getting started, there was still that, that, that, that notion of, you know, you have to go by

the book to become an audio engineer. You have to know your ones and zeros. And that's what really discouraged me early on because like, bro, like, I'm not about to go to school. I couldn't afford it. And, like, I'm not, I hated authority. Like, you're not about to tell me how to do something when I can just figure it out. So, you know, now it's more of, like, there's no limitations to how songs are being created. So kind of just fucking throw it against the wall and see if it sticks. But I'm sure you hear a lot of songs that you are like, that shit is mixed like, and whoever, like, now that you are much more learned about, like, how shit is supposed to sound, you could probably look at a lot of this shit these young kids

are doing it and being like, holy fuck, I wish I had my hands on that. record before it came out, right? Yeah, 100%. I mean, I tell people all the time, your music sounds like shit. That's one of my phrases about your music sounds. It's tight, but it sounds like shit. You know, I think that's, you know,

over these years, becoming who I am in this field, I think that's been one of my main, one of my main purposes is just, like, just making awareness of the problem. Like, you know, people's music sounds like shit, but it can always be better. You know what I'm saying? Really trying to paint the picture of the problem

so I could turn around and create that solution. Right. You know, do you, well, okay, I'm not going to skip ahead steps or anything, but okay, so you're, you're getting interested and you start working with some local talent and stuff. I'm assuming none of that really went anywhere, but you were building up your skill set to be able to be great at this, right?

Yeah, yeah. I mean, early on, you know, I was doing, you know, Tiger's mom and my auntie were good friends. So I did like all the early Tiger stuff. Really? Oh, so I'm assuming you're going to be just working with some guys who didn't blow up. I mean, he wasn't. He was still, you know, just a tatted up little kid, you know what I'm saying from the city. So, you know, it was still nothing that I knew was ever going to take me anywhere.

Right. But, you know, through consistency and, you know, work ethic, that shit, you know, you know, ultimately changes. But, you know, again, just homies that, you know, can ride a 16 or homies from the hood that were just, you know, just dissing whoever, you know, I got a place to record. I always wanted that hands-on experience because I knew it couldn't afford the book experience.

Right. So I figured, you know, hard work is going to override talent. So, you know, I got to just put that work in about doing the work. It's interesting because do you feel like it was kind of a slow period for Los Angeles when you were coming out in terms of the music? Because I was thinking about that a lot recently when the game said basically that, like, he held down the West Coast for like 10 plus years where there wasn't really a big rapper from

LA, like up until I think YG came around. That was kind of like maybe the city didn't have the same confidence that you would feel from a lot of local people in the city now. Would you say it's accurate? I think there was more of a paradigm shift, you know, with the with the type of music that was being created. I mean, during that time, obviously game was on fire. You know what I'm saying? We're all just looking at this just massive success and it's right around the corner, you know what I'm saying? Do it's from from Compton right around a corner from where we recorded at. So, you know, we've seen that and knew as possible. You know, So that's when, you know, you get, you know, the Kendra Marr's, you get the schoolboys, you get the Dom Kennedys, the Pactives.

You know, it's that paradigm shift of like, of a different kind of music that was kind of cultivating during that time. Right. That didn't really take off until, like, the 2010s. So you were never in a jerking crew? Come on. I'm 6'5, bro. You know what I'm saying? 250 pounds.

Can you imagine me in some fucking skinnies, bro? Like, stop it. I don't know, man. There's so many rappers that I, like, think of as these super tough guys. And then I realized at one point they were they were on that. Nah, you got to, I mean, don't get it fucked up. Like, you still catch a homie and some salmon pink pants that would blow your shit back. Right.

So, but, you know, it's just, you know, it's just an error. It was a moment of time, you know. Definitely, you wouldn't catch me in those skinny stuff. When did the football dreams die? After high school, you know, I fucked up my 12th grade year, bro. Oh, really? Yeah, just grade-wise, you know, obviously, you know, at Gardena, it was just, you know, it was like a little college, you know.

Everyone was just partying on the weekends crazy. It was a crazy time. So, you know, After like a two years of success on a team, I figured that like, but like they're going to float me. Like, you know what I'm saying? We're going to be good. And I guess I was used as like a, what's that, a study or whatever? They basically just threw the book at me and kicked me to fuck out after some stupid shit.

And I had to go to a J.C. Instead of going to like a D1, which, you know, was on my radar. So, you know, I went to West, L.A. I did a year there. Before the season started, I fucked my backup. We were at practice fucking around. and the coach had us doing tombstones the whole practice. You know, when you're laying down on the floor, you get up

and you just got to go head on with the next player. So doing that shit for two hours, you know what I'm saying? That's kind of tired as hell. And at the end of, you know, on the D-line is what, maybe like 30 people on there, you know, doing it one after another, one after another, tombstones. So like the last three or four guys, I kind of just, like, I got tired.

And I ended up fucking on my lower discs. So I got two herniated discs and two bulging discs. Do they still like kids do that? What, like the... Like smash into each other at full speed like that? I don't know. Honestly, I haven't been keeping up with, like, the rules, but just seeing how NFL is, like, just soft now. Like, you know, I can't imagine high school or college isn't any different, you know.

Seems like to take the fun. They're telling you can't hit a certain way and, you know, it takes the fun out. Today, like, an ex-NFL player, it came out that he just, like, killed five people and his dad is blaming it on CTE and shit. Because of head injuries and stuff. I mean, the more that shit like that happens, the crazier it looks for the whole entire thing. I mean, you just think of the concept of football, right? You're fucking gladiators going out there, you know what I'm saying for blood. So, you know, I'm what I'm saying?

So, you know, that's why the life, the lifespan of NFL players, what, four or four or five years, if that? So, you know, you get what you, you know. You probably got off on a better career path, realistically. I'm a firm believer in everything happens for a reason, you know. I feel like the football thing kind of taught me structured, discipline, you know, the team. But the music thing kind of really taught me life. And, you know, I figure, you know, like I said, I'm here for a reason. So, you know, I credit that to the universe working in my favor.

Definitely. So after high school finishes, you went to, so you went. went to this junior college and how was that how do you take to that and were you pursuing music at this time so music was a hobby of mine you know again at the time you know it was me schoolboy cue he was cue missal at this time but you were real close with him yeah real close you know i met him uh you know he real close when recording you know a daily basis you can find like it's early shit if you search like like cue missal it's a bunch of trash that you're gonna find how confident were you that he had it um and it's funny in that early time it wasn't really a confidence it was just like this is the guy

that can rap the bad you know what I'm saying it was a bad you're the best person I was like a rap. So again at this time it was more of a hobby. Like it wasn't too much like you know you're about to make a billion dollars. It was like yo it's just taking us out the streets. It was giving us a you know a curricular activity where we can go out and just kind of explore some shit. Shit is so simple before you know all about the game. You feel me bro? And everything changes and it's like fuck it's just brick wall of just knowing how to move around and like my mind instantly went to like you hanging out with him because you thought that he was going to be a big artist not just that was the homie and he was good to rap and yeah again at that time it was it was all about the experience. My brain is polluted. dude. It's all about that experience, man. And, you know, I figure, again, like, I'm, I'm, early on one of the first books I read was called Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. Oh, that's an amazing book. I love Malcolm Gladwell as a writer in general. But in that book, there's this chapter of the 10,000 hour theory that you got to acquire at least a minimum of 10,000 hours

to become an expert in any field. And I kind of just look back at my, at my start now and saying, like, yo, like, going back to everything happens for reason. Like, being in there with Q and with whoever else early on like just getting our hours you know even with us coming to td e like once we got there it was a constant rap camp of just everybody trying to be better than each other you know all the producers trying to make better beasts than each other it was it was you know you know knives sharpening knives you know saying and that's where that notion of you know we got our 10 000 hours you know that's crazy because when i first read that it really makes you think like well what have i put 10 000 hours into and i was like well i've definitely put 10 000 hours into like studying rap

music basically and I've definitely put 10,000 hours into like reading and writing on the internet. Right, right. And I'm like, well, okay, that kind of helps me understand what I'm doing. All right. Exactly. I'm casually, man. People do shit like that, man. It's just, you know, put time into, put time into, you know, just, just hobbies and things that that that end up really turning into careers because it's a, it's a real form of love. Like, you know, that's what people got to strive for when they, you know, want to become their own or you want to just want to just work on their own is what do you love doing? What can you spend fucking 10 hours a day doing without no interruption and everything you do just guide yourself in that direction of doing

something that you like doing 100% you know okay so you're in college you're you're kicking a schoolboy and shit how does things start progressing from here on the music side obviously I got hurt and again like me and Q were recording like just on the side after practice or on the weekends so I get hurt and fucking I have to figure it out like what am I gonna do the doctor is saying that I can't play ball no more right devastating you know what I'm saying first and foremost very much devastating because being a big guy from the hood like this is This is your way out, you know.

So, you know, I just doubled down on my hobby, you know. And from there, you know, just got serious. Again, got better equipment. Start really doing my research on people that I can admire or people that, you know, I looked up to in the same field. And really just fucking shot in the dark, you know, just took a leave of faith and just ran with it. Really? Okay.

So what's that it look like? Do you really start going in with a schoolboy or were you like just sort of along when his shit starts blowing up? Or how did that go? So around this time, you know, again, Cuba. is still, you know, he's still in the streets, but going to school because he loved ball, too. And he's doing his thing on the side, so he had a few dollars in his pocket to record. So while I was out of, you know, I couldn't play ball no more, I was still heavy on the music. So, you know, he would come over to the studio after, you know, after practice, we'll meet, link up, and we will just work.

Things dried up for him, and we just had nowhere to record at this point because he was paying for studio time, you know, $150, $200 a day. So when it dried up, you know, we, you know, there was nowhere for us to record. But at this time, I was really getting to know, you know, everybody at, at, at, at, you know, at, TD at the time, which was, you know, punch, top, day free, you know, KDAT, sound wave, you know, all the guys. So, you know, as I'm building a relationship and really you spending a lot of time at this house where everybody's recording, which, you know, top provided a home studio for us, I was like, okay, bet, you know, I'm working with an artist, which we have no place to record now. You know, I have access to the studio with a group of talented creators, which you go all learn from.

I'm like, yo, like, come to Carson, come pull up. You know, this is cool homies that I'm fucking with. you know, you know, let's see if you fit right in. What was your perspective on TDE? Like, how far along and then becoming a big deal were they at that point? Because obviously in high school, I always knew about J-Rock. You know, J-Rock was bubbling in the street. So, like, you know, coming into the game, any type of success is huge success, you know, coming from the outside looking in.

So, you know, me looking at T-D, I'm like, yo, this is these group of guys that are really doing it, you know what I'm saying? Like, they're local. They're getting to it. I'm seeing billboards of J-Rox, you know, projects all over the city. I'm like, yo, like, this could be a way where, you know, I can offer my services and as well, like, you know, I can learn a lot in this industry. So, you know, I took that leaf and invited Q over there. And, you know, Q's thing, you know, he's from Hoover.

So Q thing was like, you know, like, damn, these nays from Bonnie Hunters, these niggas. Like, like, is it a setup? You know what I'm saying? He's just leery. Like, I don't know how I can fit into this equation. You know, either somewhere from Compton or Watts, you know what I'm saying? Q's all away from South Central. So, you know, just luckily he trusted my instinct and he came by.

And it was his record that Kendrick and Ab Sol was working on. Kate out at the time was working on and you know I guess they were really testing Q and his skills and just threw him in the booth and they loved him and he never left really yeah wow and so was there any kind of issues about where anyone was from and did anyone give a fuck about where you were from or was it where they passed that by that point in terms of being professional about it it was just at that respect level like obviously top dog like you know that was his house so like if you come into that back house like you just don't be on no type of bullshit right it's like when you come here it's all business is time to work you know like he didn't go through what he went

through to be able to provide this studio for us to fuck it off. Right. You know, so it was, you know, he sat everybody down and it was like, this is what we're doing. Like, you know, we're gonna take it professionally. We're gonna go about it the right way. And it's like any issues, you know, there's a set of boxing gloves right there. You know, but, you know, it's always been love, you know. What was your viewpoint on Kendrick at that point and like how far along he was and how

talented you thought he was? I mean, instantly, very talented. That was like one of, like, my first task is Dave had sent me to go pick up these, these CDs from DJ Nick Beam. He used to print up like all these mixtape CDs back in the day. So I picked up these training day mixtapes and these J-Rock or the finest volume, I think, two or three

mixtapes. And, you know, those are the first times or that was the first time I really heard of KDai. You know what I'm saying? And I'm just hearing this mixtap training day. I'm like, yo, who the fuck is? He's just, it's going bizarre. Definitely, if you haven't heard training day, go back and check it out. This was 2005 Kendrick.

But I'm just listening. I'm like, yo, this man's just like so elevated, so advanced. Like, just the flow patterns. Just how he was rapping was completely different from I was hearing at that time. So, you know, obviously I'm seeing, I'm seeing the potential of what's going on and I'm just trying to see how I can add my value. Definitely. And so how did they react to schoolboy and how did they react to you? Like how did that connection like become solidified? Were they just like super impressed by his talent right away? First, it was

just like they, you know, by me coming in and, you know, at that time, Punch was doing all the engineering. You know, he was sitting down, he was being and he was working on the business with top and day, but also, you know, because there was no engineer on board, you know, But everybody wore multiple hats, you know. That's where we learn work ethic and execution, is wearing multiple hats and playing roles if we need them to be filled. So, you know, when I came in,

and obviously I have my prior experiences from doing ringtones and, you know, just kind of grow in this field. You know, I'm like, yo, like, just teach me the basics and let me run with it, you know. So I think by me coming on board, it kind of alleviated a lot of time from punch to be able to focus on business,

but also it started for me to build a trust within a group of guys, like, you, Ali is really serious about being one of the time. the top mixers, the top engineers. He might not know it all right now, but his drive, his work ethic, you know, I can see it, it is infectious.

So, you know, obviously, you know, me mentioning Q and bringing him on board, you know, they were open to it. It was still leery, because we're still all young, like not really crazy success, and the streets are still kind of playing a part in a lot what people were doing. So, you know, it was a gamble, but like I said, he came over and fit right in, his personality, you know, his music, you know, just became this tight-knit family.

Definitely. So does that just begin a completely different era in your life where you're just sort of posted up in the house working for 100% years? I'm like, well, at this time with 18, 19, and, you know, still that young. No structure. Like, you're still wet behind it. You're still fucking up. Like, you know, it kind of just gave me a purpose.

You know, like I said, so many years of not knowing where I come from because of my family and how that's perceived with, you know, Polish descent and, you know, where is my black side and family? I didn't really understand who my dad. I didn't know my dad early on. So, you know, now I feel like, boom, I really have a purpose now. Like, let me just take advantage of the opportunity. So from 19-20, I cut all the partying out.

I kind of just, like, went off-grid, you know, with my head down, you know, sacrifice my early 20s. Really to just perfect my craft. Wow. You know, I'm saying? So, like, you know, I lost a lot of friends. Really? You know, girls, you know, I ended up getting kicked out my granny's house. So I moved into Top's house and, you know, I'm sleeping on the floors.

Cada, we're sleeping toe to, you know, head to toe, you know, sound wave on the floor, a schoolboy sleeping the booth. And it was just, it was just game on, you know. Wow. So your grandparents were peasant. because they thought you were just fucking up. Fucking up. And I was fucking up.

You know what I'm saying? And, you know. And everything else in your life? And everything else. Like, I'm going to jail, bro. Like, just not trying to get a job. Just, you know, that, you know, this shit. I'm telling her about my dream of being a musician.

She's like, what? Like, when have you ever wanted to do, you know, wanted to do music? When have you ever played an instrument? Right. And trying to explain engineering, it's like, fucking, it's like, trying to explain hieroglyphs, you know? But Kendrick was, like, gonna be the next big rapper

for quite a few years there before he became, like, the biggest fucking rap. rapper and was that kind of like this era of like everyone's talking about him he's getting all these cosines but it just hadn't really exploded yet and then like all of a sudden like 2011 or 12 or whatever it fucking explodes and like he fulfills the promise that everybody saw on him it was pretty crazy 100% like going from you know even before kendry tomorrow he was ked out and dropping training day you know even doing the the collab album it's called a do it nigger squad it was a whole you know a tee compilation compilation album um and then from that you know Kendry he changed his name you know he just

is epiphany like yo i'm gonna go by my real name and then from that everything changed from the music down to just everything and it was like yo like like whoa you know it was like everyone seen what was about to become right you know it was just making sure that we're prepared for that ride you know right you know doing kenselamar ed or ep kinsnamar ep and then kinsenmour o d uh and then section fucking 80 came and just like that shit like exploded you know it was you know if you listen to that album section 80 in the time to which it dropped There's no other album that sounds anything like it. You know, and I think that's really what made him stick out in the herd is like coming completely different.

Right. You know. And so how did things start to change in terms of like, you know, you guys are sleeping on the floor and shit? And like things might must have to start switching up as people are seeing more success and stuff. Like how does this all unfold? Yeah. So success then was different to where success is now. Like, you know, back then it was really just blog success.

You know, the Tudot boys, the rat radars, like, you know, that era. So we were getting that blog success. We're doing show, like, you know, the hip-hop shows and, you know, but it wasn't no money where everyone's floating off of. You know what I'm saying? Success really came after Section 80 and, you know, we go on this world tour, bro, off of this project. And from there, it was just a chain. It was like a snowball effect. Really? A chain of effects from, you know, me being, we was on tour with Tech Nine, actually. Wow, really?

Jay Rock was Science Strange for a little bit through TDE. And then we went on tour. It was J-Rock, E-40, Tech-9, and all the strange guys. And Kendrick was J-Rox hype man. Wow. And then while on that tour, like, I'm getting a call from somebody at Interscope. Like, yo, Dr. Dre wants to highlight at Kendrick. And I'm like, you the fuck off my line. I think it's a joke, right?

Like, they're blowing me up. I'm like, somebody's pranking my phone. Like, it's probably one of the hummies. You know, bullshit. And then somebody else, and then I forgot his name. Somebody else called me. And then it was like a real, like, hey, somebody's somebody's worth of Interscold wants to talk to you, please hold.

And they're really breaking it down. Like, yo, like, you know, when you get back, like, you know what I'm saying, we want to set up a meeting with Kendrick. So, you know, I relayed the information to, like, Dave and Top. And, you know, when we got home from that tour, you know, everything kind of just started getting into motion. Right. I remember that Dr. Dre co-signed. Like, I forget if there was a show.

Yeah, it was a show in L.A. I was DJ. And Dre came out and basically said this is the future of L.A. Bro, Dre, Snoop, corrupt. This is, like, an iconic picture of, like, Kendra just, like, bawling because it's like, that's, like, an emotional moment. Like, all this shit that we've been through to get to where we're at today, like, you know, and then finally getting that recognition from somebody like Dre who, you know, obviously us being from the coast, we look up to, you know, and put at such a high regards. Right. It was, it was, it was, it was, it was satisfying to say the least.

It was, it was affirming, you know, it was like there all this grinding and sleeping on the couch and stealing hot dogs from Albertsons and eating a cup of noodles every day. Like, you know what I'm saying? It was all for, it was all for this, for this moment, you know. Holy shit, that's amazing. Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, Dre is just like, co-signed so few artists that he hadn't directly signed. I mean, even including the artist he signed, it just does not. throw his co-sign around at all. He's all about his brand as quality, quote unquote. Facts. Facts. So as like when Kendrick, you know, really, you know, when Top of Kendra really solidify the deal with Dre, you know, it was time to, you know, get to mixing, good kid.

And one thing that Kendrick just made clear is like, yo, like, we're going to do this, but, you know, I need Ali involved in the mixing. Not only because, like, we already cultivated a sound when it came to Section 80, but also he understood my passion into which I wanted to be the biggest fucking guy in this field. Right. So he really shot me that layup. Like, yo, now you're gonna work with Dre and learn. And you know, like indirectly like, yo, go learn from this nigga.

Really? So. And that's crazy because like, I'm sure Dre has his way of doing things and he's probably not super interested in dealing with new people from the rapper or whatever. Did you feel like this was gonna be an uphill battle? It was, it was more intimidating because I didn't know how to, I'm still fucking way behind the years. I'm still like just entering. I'm like super low level. So I'm just under, like it was intimidating, bro.

Like, like it was just like it was just like it was. This is Dr. Fawken Dre. Like, you know, how can I come correct and gain this respect? But instantly from the jump, it was just more welcoming, you know? Like, and like you said, he has his own set way of doing things. I think it really made me who I am today because I'm from me learning his process along with the process that I've already been cultivating. I'm able to fuse that together to create my sound, which I have today.

So, you know, through mixing good kid at my city, he's really just guiding me, training me, showing me how to use this big-ass analog board and, you know, kind of kind of just, you you're preparing me for what's to come next. Definitely. Hey, what about that tour in the world? Like, that must have been pretty fucking eye-opening for somebody who hadn't really been too many places prior to that, huh?

Bro, I whiled to fuck out. Yeah. Like, imagine just being like, like, just early 20s, bro, like traveling the world and, you know, just meeting different people, like, different part. It was just, it was a blur. You know what I'm saying?

It was a blur. Like, you know, but it was one of the best experiences ever. You go through so much of your life thinking that where you grew up is the world, and then all of a sudden you're in all these other cities and it's just like, holy fuck, the world is so much bigger than I knew. It puts everything into perspective, like, you know,

like for one, your problems are not as big as they are. And it just makes you reach for a higher level. You know, when you start seeing different shit, it inspires you a different way, you know. It inspires a different way. I think that's why I'm, like, into teaching and stuff now because I feel like opportunity is, you know, it's like each one teach one.

Like you got to always just give back what you've learned, you know what I'm saying, to those other diamonds in the rough. Yeah, and from having these conversations, that's what I realized. is that so many people who are successful at some point in their life, somebody sat down with them or took them around and brought them around shit and showed them how shit's done.

Because it can take you forever to figure out the business on your own, but somebody could really help cheat code your ass through that. Yeah, because I see you do a showload of seminars and all kinds of teaching stuff on your Instagram. How does that work? So, you know, just a couple years back 2018, you know, just be even prior to that, I've always told myself, like, you know, once I get to a point in my career, you know I want to be able to give back to those diamonds in a rough like myself you know the the mission for me to get to where I am was fucking it was brutal you know just people just

pushing you away because they see your hunger and like yo this thing might be a factor let me not me suppress him and shut them up or just people not taking me seriously because like I look people think I'm security first not an engineer you know what I'm saying the height is a low liability on that you feel me like so it's like danes I'm I'm gonna teach him out of mix and he might rob me you know what the fuck about to happen so but it was you know I figured like once I get to the point in my career where, you know, I could be that big homie. I could be that person that could really just show the next generation of sound where those landmines are. You know, by me stepping, by me hitting those landmines, I can kind of help these kids and the next

generation maneuver around them. So their journey would be a lot easier. You know, that's my thing. It's like, you know, I look at it. If a lot of people help me on my come up, you know, there will be a lot of people like, they could live through me in my career, you know, and they really can't, you know, I have more of a chip on my shoulder than anything. But by me being able to be vulnerable and open up to this, to these things. to the youth and to the creators of tomorrow, you know, I can live through them, you know. Rather than, you know, my legacy can live

the next 100 years through the people I've helped along the way. You know, so that's big to me. Again, it's purpose, having a purpose and, you know, making all this money is cool and Acculates is cool, but they're just things. Like what's gonna be, what's gonna immortalize you? You know what I'm saying?

And that's community and how you give back. Definitely. So, okay, if you were explaining what you do to a total idiot, which I'm assuming you have to do from time to time and, you know, Some people watching this are probably somewhere along that idiot's spectrum. Explain what your job is, what you do, why it's important, and how it works, basically. So audio engineering is three phases.

You have the recording engineer, the mixing engineer, the mastering engineer. The recording engineer basically is the one in the studio with the artists. They put the bead inside the program pro tools, and they're recording that artist, getting the best performances from their voices, adding certain elements to kind of make things pop out, and just kind of getting the sound together for the artist as he's like recording these songs. The mixing engineer, and this is all the lamest terms, the mixing engineers basically take all of the elements

from the recording engineer and from the producer. So they take the beat files, the kick, drum, snare, bass, and then take all the takes from the artist, the lead vocal, the backgrounds, the ad libs, the chorus. And then they basically take that and throw it into a program and they mix it together, adding certain effects, reverb delays again, blending it all to create a final two tracks,

product that goes to mastering. And then the final product is mastering where you take that final two track product and you add specific limiting and you normalize it to get it to the loudest potential peak to get ready for radio. Oh, okay. So it's a multitude. I mean, it sounds difficult as hell. But, you know, it's again, like you mentioned earlier, it's a, it's a part of the business

that I think in 21 is more respected than ever. As many producers and artists are coming out really championing their engineers, which I think it's a great time to really just uplift the community by just showing, like you said, there is ways to be successful in this business without being a producer or an artist, you know? Definitely. Really showing like a dope part of creating a record,

an intricate part in creating a record, which I think in today's time is vital. And the more you know about the quality of a record, like when we listen to submissions on stream and stuff, a lot of times we'll be hearing a song and it's like, you know, maybe the melody sounds okay, maybe the artist's voice sounds okay, but because the production and the mastering

and everything are complete and total. lack of mastering probably. It's just almost impossible for me to judge the quality of the music. And I mean, yeah, so that's a big factor that obviously a lot of people don't have the luxury of learning that, but it's the kind of thing that if you do learn that yourself, it could be completely the difference between your songs sounding like shit and your songs sounding great, right? It's like meeting like somebody for the first time, like meeting a girl for the first time.

They look at your teeth and your fingernails. Like your first impression is like important. Jimmy Avine said it in like the Defiant One's documentary. You know, you know, when he was coming up, he started as engineer, Jimmy Avine. And, you know, the way you presented a product, the way you presented a song was important because before they listen to the lyrics, before they listen to the, to anything else,

they're gonna listen to how it sounds. That's what's gonna catch your ear first. And then everything else plays a part after the fact. So, you know, a lot of artists, I know personally, a lot of artists lose their shot, or a lot of artists just really can't get over that hump because their music sounds like shit. Yeah, you know what I'm saying?

There was, I heard a few people pointed out during the Gucci versus GZ battle that like GZ shit was all properly mastered and shit and done in these professional-ass studios, and a lot of the Gucci records that became huge viral hits just weren't ever really mixed or mastered.

So when you hear it, like, now and you hear it with a proper system, it's like they sound like they were recorded on different planets. You can hear the difference. Like, it's clear as day, you know? And that's why, like, one of my missions, obviously, is just to push the problem of the industry.

And the problem is that your music sounds like shit. And then my job is to create that solution. Definitely. So if you were giving advice to some kid who's interested in all this shit. How would you tell them to start? Would you tell them to find a local artist or somebody that they can link up with to just begin practicing?

Is there specific courses or anything that you would recommend online to get good at this? What I would tell them is, first of all, before you look for courses or any other shit, like you got to be OK with fucking starving for a couple years to get good at this craft. A lot of people nowadays, because they are successful engineers and they are people doing their thing right now

that it's a get rich quick scheme. This is the easiest way to enter the industry and create a name for themselves. It's not the case at all. You gotta actually develop a love for it. I think that's what breeds the longevity in the game. But then also, it's really just learning the fundamentals, like learning the terminology and just learning

as much as you can so you can enter these rooms and know what you're talking about. I think a lot of engineers kind of, a lot of people coming into the game that want to be engineers today, like they don't have the sufficient information to really hold these conversations and they get weeded out.

They kind of missed their opportunities by doing too much too early. You know, baby steps. Learn what you need to learn. Know the basics and then gradually grow. I think that is important for any field of business. You know, it's just you got to call for you all. Right.

You know what I'm saying? I've seen artists like Young Thug in particular, like engineering his own shit, like punching in and then doing it at the same time. You ever like, is this like as crazy as it seems to me? Like it just seems like the most intensive thing to be doing all that work at once. Not necessarily. I mean, and that's one thing about it's dope. today is there's a lot of artists like Fug,

like a Kendrick, like a Roddy Rich, like these artists who went through those beginning stages starting as an engineer because they didn't have access to other engineers. So because they didn't have that access, they was like, yo, I gotta play all hats. I gotta, you know what I'm saying? So now they're in this apex time in their career,

it's like I can do it better myself because I know what I want my shit to sound like because I've done it in the early times, you know. So there's a lot of DIY artists that, you know, are taking control of. their sound because at the end of the day the artist knows exactly where they want to go sonically it's up to the engineer to take them there but if the engineer can't take them there the artist can easily get in that driver's seat and pull off you know so that's there's a lot of you know kudos to them i know a lot of thugs stuff but you know as an engineer it's important you know even for the artist watching it's important to just understand how to express how you want your shit to sound you know that's how you build that relationship with the engineer and your sound can grow from that because you guys you guys have that relationship you have that rapport and you know how to communicate what you guys need from each other definitely um okay so around that time uh well i'm assuming you guys are working for years and years on good kid

mad city like did you know that this was going to be as seminal a moment in the culture as it was like how are you looking at it leading up to the release man good kid was different because like good kid mad city is really telling the story of all of us like all those stories we can relate to you know meeting up with a chick and then your car my breakdown and you and somebody else's hood or you know what I'm saying the homie trying to influence you to do some crazy shit like that was really telling a story for all the people who couldn't speak for themselves you know so it was so partial to me personally because I couldn't express myself especially in that time being insecure you know just still finding purpose still finding myself you know I'm able to really now

point at this aisle I'm like yo this is what I'm going through this is what I've been through and you know there's light at the end of the tunnel but you know there are those good kids in the mad city and this is how I can express myself as by relating to this music and there's all these rap albums but i feel like that album in particular probably really spoke to like how a kid from LA felt around that time in a way that probably not any project for a long time before or after that had done because there was no way to really express yourself you know what you're gonna go on my space and you know what i'm saying or at that time there wasn't as many artists that are uh that are enabled to go and become artists now to express themselves that there is today you know artists now could

just you know record a song on the iPhone now they're expressing themselves now they can express himself to music. At this time, there was none of that, you know. There was, you know, it's either the streets, sports, or, you know, you can relate to something that you hear on the radio. How many songs do you think you made for that album that didn't get used? A lot. You're a whole good kid mass city album that we finished, mixing everything that is never going to see the day. Really? You know, before, before Drey, before anybody. It was a whole good kid Matt City. Wow. Which I have in my drive and, you know, from time to time, I might listen to the records because

it was just that great, you know, even hearing that first, project it was like yo like it's fucking over you know is that ever hard for you to like work on the stuff that you're so proud of and then you just don't ever get to see the reaction from the people not necessarily because like I've already exhausted like all the plays while I'm mixing it or while I'm working at it I'm hearing a song a thousand fucking times so by the time it comes out anyways I'm already over it you know but you ever find yourself like wanting to reference like well when Kendrick said this and then you're like oh wait nobody knows about that besides me 100% you know every artist worker man like you know they come back and switch verses and you know might be somebody dissing one person

and then they have a change of mind and let me just take this out and then you know what I'm saying it's all the type of shit people are doing nowadays but you know it's like it's like an unwritten like responsibility of like just having everyone's music before it's release like it's a it's a prideful moment you know definitely um do you think a lot of people are kind of like in the engineering shit but then they they plan on using it as basically like a vehicle to transition into doing production or something different like what made you really just want to be the greatest at this particular thing. Like, I'm one of the guys that play my strengths.

You know what I'm saying? And, you know, I know my weaknesses, you know, and I'm not going to pick up a mic if I know that's not going to, if that's going to die, that's going to take me away from the time spent on, you know, doing this one thing. But to answer a question, 100% a perfect example was like blast. You know what I'm saying? You know, it's funny. You know, it's funny.

I haven't worked with him, but we talk, you know what I'm saying? I'm a big fan of blast. He's incredible. Incredible. Like, I love his music. And, you know, instantly. when I heard it. And it goes back to that first impression aspect to, you know, hearing music. When I heard blast shit, I'm like, this shit sounds polished. Yeah. You know what I'm saying?

It sounds like somebody's behind this that knows what the fuck they're doing. And when I found out it was him, I'm like, okay, it makes sense. Right. It makes sense. When we have that conversation, I'm like, I've had that conversation with like DJ Head for example. Shout out of Head. He said he's like, I haven't seen anybody like this since Todd Dulles sign where he does, he does everything. And that's like super appealing to the label and also just gives you a lot of faith that they're going to be able to make shit that they really. love 100%. They're not depending on somebody on one other person or entity to come in to make them them. They're going to put their all into it no matter what it takes. But, you know, yeah, I'm seeing a lot of, you know, people that, again, come from the circumstances of not being able to have access to engineers.

So, you know, by default, they have to become that. You know, it's just like David Banner. When David Banner used to speak in them on scratch magazines and shit. And this one thing that stuck with me is like he started making beats because he never had access to producers, you know. So he became one of the greatest producers by necessity, you know. Definitely. You know, so I feel like that's being translated today's time in all fields. Right.

So your lifestyle must change like dramatically around that time though, right? Like you must start getting way more money off of these records. And then I'm assuming you guys aren't just like sleeping on the floor in the house anymore at this point. The tours must be on a totally different level. And you're just like along for all of this stuff. Like what was this all like? And after all these years are struggling, it must have been fucking overwhelming. It was very much overwhelming.

You know, again, you know, being somebody who played multiple hats or wear multiple hats, you know, during his time, now it's time for Kendra to do shows. and there's no DJ, you know, so I'm fucking completely terrified. I'm stage fright, you know what I'm saying? Again, couldn't hold a communication, couldn't look somebody in the eyes when I talk to him, just, you know what I'm saying? Super just not confident. And I got to step on to be the DJ now.

That's interesting. I wouldn't have thought that you used to be like that. You come in here with a lot of enthusiasm and stuff. It takes a lot of work. Really? Interesting. But again, at this time, like Kendra needed a DJ. And what better person to do with than somebody who's in the studio knows these songs,

you know, verbatim, you know, line by line, second by second. So, you know, I take this job. And again, that's part of the process that makes me comfortable with talking to crowds of people is the fact that I go from being an introvert inside the studio to having a scream on a mic and turn up on the stage when I've never been that guy. That's so interesting, though, because I feel like the DJ is, it's such a unique role because you literally will have, you know, 20,000 people in front of you. And it's your job to keep this energy up at every moment that the artist can't be.

the one keeping the energy up and that it's like when i see people who are really great at it and i see them after a 40 minutes set and they're drenched and sweat i'm like that is fucking crazy it's real dog like it's real like DJing is hard in itself man just being able to control that crowd with songs you know it's uh so like doing that early on for kendrick it was you know it was frightening as fuck you know but uh you know the job had to get done what's the most overwhelming audience you ever performed to coachella bro that's i was thinking it's got to be cocella brer the first time fucking a hundred thousand people bro just a sea of people and it's just me and kensing on stage bro no band no nothing bro like i could have shat myself bro it was just it was just a lot of energy

you know definitely took mad shots of jamo before i was that's your uh beverage of choice at the time i'm a tequila man now oh okay yeah yeah i respect uh yeah yeah i've been in that position a bunch of times where like uh even seeing thug perform in england a couple years ago and it's like you know 50,000 people or some shit. And it's kind of like, this is pretty incredible that one dude rapping can command this audience. Like, I know how big rap is, but it still

is just kind of mind-blowing. Like, this is how big rap is that we're on the other side of the fucking world, and they're going crazy like this. That's the fact. I mean, I remember one of the craziest shows was, like, Glasgow, London. And we, you know, Kendra had this record, cartoons and cereal. I don't know if you remember the record.

Oh, yeah, I do, yeah. Bro, that shit overseas live, complete mosh pitch. That was the one gunplay was on, right? Yes, bro. And that shit, like, when that shit was performed live, bro, it was he ran it back three.

It was just the last song. It was his encore record. He would come back and it'll just come on with that static, with the, you know, with the pitched vocal. With the lights dimmed, bro, the crowd would go berserk, bro. Like, mosh pits will open up.

People were getting bloody. It was like, and I think that's really, like, just showed the performing aspect to create any songs. Like, you know, from that creating records that really really really really really catch the ear of the people in those crowds you know once you can command a crowd i think you could you know you sell different type of music you like you there's a different part of of being a performer once you really get those live performance interactions like

it's like it's like it's like a spiritual event you know it's crazy how did that song come about how the fuck did kendrick end up working with gunplay gunplay had bible at the dash at the time and that was like we all were like this dude is fire so it wasn't that surprising for them to work together at that time but it is a pretty crazy, like, relic of that era. So, like, Dot is like a guy. He's always on YouTube, especially during this time. Again, this is the rat radar. Like, blogs are just, like, life, you know?

Wake up 8 a.m. and just 10 tabs are open. Just like, what the fuck is going on? I miss that. You know what I'm saying? It's different time, bro. Now you can't pay somebody to look at a blog facts. It's crazy. No, jumber.com.

Check out of blog. But, yeah, man. So, you know, he's somebody who's very, very intentional. You know, very, very intentional. Even with features. And at the time, we were banging a song called yams. Gunplay was Triple C, Gunplay, Yams, straight, yams. And we're just hearing Gunplay just like, Bubbles in a cookie.

Y'all dig some rookies. Like, this is flow pattern. This is his energy. You know what I'm saying? Like, that shit was just, like, infectious. And then when he had this record, it was more of, like, gunplay's tone, his voice. Like, everything would make the most perfect sense for this record.

You know what I'm saying? That's what I mean by being very intentional with features. Like, I need gunplay on this, saying this. You know what I'm saying? Because it's going to fully tie the rest of the record together. Right. And, you know, and when that came about, bro, like, to this day, it's one of my favorite Kendrick records, you know?

Yeah. Oh, God, I got to re-listen to that. Yeah, bro, please. The other one I got to ask about is the Fredo record. Right. Oh, yeah, yeah. How did that happen? Crazy.

So we're at Enoscopy. It used to be no excuses. And, again, that just be tapped in, like, and he just fucks with people. And, you know, Frato, you know, people were just, you know what I'm saying? And that whole, we were on Chief, Keith, all that shit, mad early, like, 2011, 10, 12. Like, it's super early, bro. And, you know, Dodgers is like fans of dudes.

Like, you know what I'm saying? If you fuck with you, like, you know what I'm saying? Let me show love and fuck with you. So Fredo came through one day. He had a record that he wanted to get it. And Dodgers did it, bro. Even Fredo was like, what the fuck? Right.

You know what's amazing? Performed it at Alapalooza and everything. Yo, that, like, what was the vibe like between them in the studio? It was unique. I mean, they seem like very different types of dudes. Very much so. You know what I'm saying?

Very much so. But it was more like a kind of like this real down-the-ear person. Like people just think like, oh, he's a Kenjama. He's just, you know, yada, yada, yada. But it's like when you really sit with him, he's human as fuck, he's going to crack jokes on you. You know what I'm saying? Like the most human person ever.

And I think when Fredo came in, like, he didn't know how to like interact. Am I going to be overly aggressive? Am I going to be humbled? Am I going to just not give a fuck? You know what I'm saying? So you could tell through the session that, you know, Frado's really just testing the waters and, you know, what type of, where is this gonna go?

That record to me really stood out as proof that like slow, simple rap can be just as powerful as technical rap. You know, like, just having those two styles side by side and having them both be like, I really genuinely love both parts of that song and I can't say I really love one part more than the other. That's an important thing,

because rap is in like a transitionary state. Exactly. to an extent of that time. And it's important just for new artists to, you know, not even new artists, in general, to really, that's how you stay relevant is by tapping in with the youth. That's how you stay relevant by understanding the sound

that, you know, is on the come up, is on the cusp of blowing. And, you know, that is the master of that, you know, knowing how to really, you know, fuck with people and he's genuine in all sense of it. Definitely. So what's like, at some point did you guys have the conversation of like,

okay, we got one of these artists blowing up, a couple of the other artists seem like they're blowing up too, but we're going to keep it TDE. Like, we need to stay united. Like, we can't, like, just because you're seeing the success, we don't want you to run off and start doing a bunch of other things. We have to stay as a unit. Is that conversation, like, actually kind of happening at some point?

I think that doesn't have to be said. You know, we all, you know, it's like, look, like when you're on the freeway, right, you know, you got five lands on a freeway. You know, if you got five motherfuck, you got five people on a team that all want to be head of honcho, they're all in the same lane, right? That means that line is a straight line. Instead of everybody trying to perfect one part of the business in their own field, those five people spread across the lane and they all can move together as a unit. You know, building a team was most important. Building a squad is most important.

You know, we would go up to labels and to go up to video shoots and fuck with people and, you know, we wouldn't get the respect that we know we were demanding at that time because, you know, it just wasn't that at that time. So we had to go back to the drawboards and create our own environment, having our own producers, having our own managers, having our own engineers, having our own artists, you know, that way we can move as a unit and not have to worry about. other inputs from other entities you know i'm saying we can move because we got blinders on you know what our mission is and we're not going to stop until it's executed definitely you know i'm saying so it's just about that team building aspect you know you can't a lot of people i'm self-made i'm self-made like now like you know you can you can only go so far it takes a village to raise a child takes a village my boy and yeah you know i've seen it happen over and over and over again so like it's it's validated for sure but like when i look through your instagram i see you working with so many fucking different

artists that's kind of amazing like I don't even know I can start listen to them off and ask how those relationships come about but you definitely found yourself in a position where you're working hard enough that you can do a shitload of TD stuff and then all this other stuff as well man at that transition

phase myself it was like 2017 I was doing Divine Feminine for Mac Miller I was doing oxymor for Q I was doing prima donna for the Finstables I was doing Danny Brown atrocity exhibition. Wow. And I was doing one, I was doing YGs, the YG album. And I was spreading myself hell of thin, you know. I'm at this point of my career with like, damn, like,

I've gotten to this point of my career where people are now acknowledging my work. And they want a piece of it. They want me to add my two cents to their record. Really? So I'm still doing all the TD stuff, but I'm finding time or making time to try to spread myself through in and do everybody. How can I turn these artists down? And all these artists are you like, determined to be in the studio with them during the recording process as well they're not just passing it to you afterwards so i gotta spend there's not enough hours and a day for that right so i just i hit a brick wall bro like you know what i'm saying just like i'm staying up late you know finding you know finding ways to stay up late um and i just hit a complete brick wall bro and just

like was deteriorating you know what i'm saying like i just you know when you just spread yourself too thin and you just kind of just lose your mind like you're there was no sleeping there was you know no me time and you know this was a pinnacle time and you know this was a pinnacle time and you in my career because it could have, I hit a brick wall and I fail hard, you know what I'm saying? But it wasn't until taking that step back and really, you know, going to my mental health and really taking time for myself and rebuilding myself, I couldn't understand what I was doing. You know, if you look at my credits from like 2017, from 2013 to 2017 and then 2017 to now, there's a dip in that year because I was like, I was just out of it, you know, just like just not

completely, not there, you know, really? Yeah. So that was like a real pinnacle moment. in my personal career because, like, it was either going to kill it. Like, I'm just going to, like, completely ruin relationships. No one's going to want to fuck with me. You know, I'm not making deadlines because I'm spread too thin. And, you know, I'm just popping pills.

I'm just doing a lot that, you know, can just, like, completely kill my career. And then, you know, when you hit rock bottom, you have no way to go up. So, you know, I kind of just, you know, boom my shit up and, you know, just hit the ground back running and kind of revamp everything. So is it just, are you a lot more selective in who you'll decide to work with at this point? 100%. It's just like I got the points where all money isn't good money. Like, you know, I'm grateful enough that I had a successful career to where I'm not thirsty for every project. And I have to be very intentional because like I understand that as quickly and unknowingly I was headed down a dark fucking path, it can happen again if I don't take care of myself. Right. So I just try not to put

nothing material before like my own mental. I saw um you on the rap radar podcast back in the day and you were talking about working on Nipsey's project and I think it was probably like less than a year before he passed. How did you start working with him? And, I mean, I guess we can get to the unfortunate ending to working with him. But how did that relationship start? And it started like 2010, where Nip was like signed to cinematic to Johnny Shipes and them. Right.

You know, obviously from L.A., you know, everyone heard of Nipsey. And at the time, J-Roc was really doing his thing. So it was like, you know, red and blue. You know what I'm saying? It was like Nipsey and J-Roc. So we go on, the game goes on the L-AX tour. and then he puts Nipsey and J-Rock on support So that was that tour was the first time

You know it's 15 of us is me Kendrick J-Rock B-Dog like it was all the hummies just in a 15 It was 12 homies and a 15 passenger with luggage Just following games tour bus across the country Wow And and you know Nip was on that tour as well And you know during that time it's like we really got to know each other Because we have no you know we're in fucking Maine

Fighting you know what I'm saying literally in Maine Like fighting homies because game is taking over Like people's like VIP peace and we're just all brawling together and like just creating this unity on the road like this is like L.A. Like we're going to move as a unit. All these L.A. dudes on a fucking in a van. Bro. And like you just you know how big these personalities and egos are. That's just like hard to even fathom. And you're in Maine. Yeah. Out of all places, Maine. I grew up like a couple hours from Maine full disclosure. So I'm very aware of this. So fucking, you know, that was the first time we really had a relationship.

And, you know, just being in the circuit, being in New York a lot with J. Rock when he was doing, you know, when he was really bubbling in those early times and, you know, just, just on the same grind, you know what I'm saying? Like, it's like on tour. When you look at the, when you look at the thing with the names who's on tour, you see the artist behind him and so we're all just moving as a unit, kind of chasing each other. And then, you know, fast forward some years, you know, he's still working doing his thing. And then, you know, he just hits me. I'm in New York again, and he calls me like, yo, it's time, like, V-3Lap. And I get to L.A. It was the first time that we've worked with each other. We've known each other for years. But, but, you know,

Yeah, the first time we worked each other and we started Victory Lap and it was a long three months You know we were all going through shit You know we all down there lived at the studio fucking daily Day and day out Just finalizing this album, you know me Nipsey Mike and Keys Fis 1500 Fucking everybody man it was it was it was a moment for sure right Definitely and I mean yeah that must have been absolutely terrible for you losing them. What was that like? Yeah, it was surreal bro because

We literally was just with each other. We were celebrating the Grammys. You know, we were at, it was me, YG, Nipsey. And, like, we were at Catch and just, like, celebrating it was just, like, a surreal fucking moment. There's, like, a really epic photo on your Instagram and you guys all, like, you're standing on the couch and shit, you're all together, and it just,

you look so happy, and it's just, and even you see Jeezzy right there. Right. You got to think, like, you know what I'm saying? We've all seen the hustle from, like, the early 2000s. And now we celebrate Nipsey's, you know, Grammy nomination. And it's like a real, like, damn, like we all, you know what I'm saying?

Even with YG, you know what I'm saying? Like, I remember YG from his, from his aim account, Chubu me pito, like, you know what I'm saying? Like, you know what I'm saying? Like, we all just go back. We all were on the grind together. And it's like for everybody to reach this level of success, it was like, yo, like, it's, you know, it's a great feeling, you know?

And, you know, for that to happen and especially where it happened at, it was just like, like, what the fuck? Like, you know, ultimately it was like, dang, for one, you're just not safe anywhere. And two, it was like, what? Like, you know what? Like, what the, like, what? Like, what? Um, so, you know, it was, it was, it was hard to accept for a long time, you know, very hard to accept. Um, but yeah, man,

it's, it was crazy. And you, you did the record that he did with Jay Z that just recently came out? Yeah, uh, off the Judas on Black Messiah soundtrack. Uh, shout out to Archie Davis, uh, brought me in on the project. Um, but it was, you know, it was, it was one of those, like, crazy moments because just the sonnics of the song, it just sounds like a victory lap. It sounds like, you know what I'm saying? Like, we're here, like, the Rocky, like, on top of it, you know what I'm saying?

And it's like, in my mind how I looked at, like, the mission's complete, but like, you weren't here for it. You know what I'm saying? And it's like, it kind of like, it kind of made me look at it in perspective like, damn, like, he really served a way greater purpose than like anybody can really fathom because like the impact

he left behind the impact left behind it was just enormous you know it got i can't really it's hard to really explain man it's it's it's like some full circle like just it just doesn't make sense bro it's it's just crazy was there a different feeling when you're working on a record like that of that enormity that you know having j z on it and having nip after he passed and just like how crazy it is that the song even exists like was it was a somewhat emotional experience for you to be working on it? 100%.

It was more of like a, like we're closing this, we're closing this chapter route, like how we started type of shit. You know what I'm saying? It was more of like, like a, like a, like a, like a celebratory, like, like,

celebratory type of moment. Like, you know what I'm saying? Like, um, but just personally just working on it, just hearing his voice again, uh, on a song, some new,

a new nipsy verse. Like it was, you know, it was soothing to me. You know what I'm saying? It was, it was, it gave you a false sense of like,

everything's okay like you know what I'm saying until it's until it turned off definitely um what was your uh introduction to Mac Miller like and and how much do you work with him that was my dog man um man we were fucking again we fucking lived at encore studios doing divine feminine for fucking two months bro like even before that you know we called him the the sixth member of the fifth member to black hippie wow because you know he just he just fell right in just this young kid that you know just come to the sessions fucking this is when blue sleep Blue Slide was the biggest thing ever, right? And he's fucking pulling up, just fucking just dirty little white kid.

That's just like got a gold roll-y-on. That's just funny as hell. Like, just crack jokes, like he's one of the homies. And yeah, man, just during that time, that's, you know, that was the time I was really going through a lot personally. We both were, you know, just he was, you know, we had to stop mixing the album because he had to go to rehab. Really?

So we took a whole month pause and he did that. And, you know, I would go and just bring him lunch on every other day. and it was more therapeutic to me than anybody can ever, you know, ever imagine because I needed that break. You know what I'm saying? During that time, like I mentioned doing everybody's album, you know, his was the last album that I had to work on before this whole fucking mound of work kind of was finished. And I needed that break because I was just hitting that edge. And, you know, just being able to just talk to him and see him with a clear mind, it showed me where I needed to be, you know. Right.

You know, so, but he's like, man, it's one of the, one of the most genuine. dudes ever man mac like when that one that one hurt me harder than than anything just because i knew what he was dealing with demon wise and the struggle and you know uh and just where he was at man it that that won't probably hurt me the most there's a lot of people that like end up getting wrapped up with drugs as they into the music business whether it's just to stay up late or or just they think that they need to get fucked them in the studio to be creative or whatever um i think that's like important that you even mentioned that that was something that you dealt with.

Probably a lot of people deal with the same thing, you know? 100%, man, because it's, you know, it's pressure, bro. Like, it's a lot of pressure on, like, especially nowadays social media, but it's a lot of pressure on becoming something that really you're not or pressure to, like, keep this image of, keep the image of what the mass has put, you know what I'm saying, think of you. And it's, you know, it can lead to a dark tunnel, man.

We've been seen it over the past couple years, you know. A lot of people are just dying and, you know, just not being healthy And, you know, now that I have a daughter, it's like it's, it's not about me anymore, you know what I'm saying, and it's important for people to know that, you know, for one, mental health is real, two, you can't hide it by doing drugs. You can't sweep that shit under the rug by doing drugs. You got to really face it, you know what I'm saying? You have to really face them demons and, you know, I'm sure really come out because, you know, you can really lose that battle. Like, we're seeing people do lose it on a daily races. How old's your daughter? She's four. She's going to be four, May. And that's changed you a lot. I was saying. You know, I can't fucking stay up to five in the morning and coming. You know what I'm saying? saying she's she's up at six hitting my eyelids like are you up like I'm up now I'm gonna fuck it down that's crazy because when you first start getting in the game you pretty much have no choice you got to just be there until the artist wants to leave right you feel me you feel me so you know it it calmed me down I you know I was one of the engineers that loved getting to the studio at 10 a 10 at 10 at 10 at 10 at night and work all

through the night go home at 9 in the morning like completely switch my schedule but I'm I work at 11 a.m. now it'll be done by like 9 10 um and it just made me more focus it made me more creative because I'm clear-minded now. You know, I have time to rest. I go home and I'm grounded with my daughter, you know, where I have a way to disconnect when some people, even when they leave work, they're still succumbed in emails or text messages. Like, I could fully disconnect. And like I mentioned earlier, everything happens to reason. I think she is the reason why I'm embarking into this new journey in my career. What's the new journey? The new journey. I mean, it's still the same mission, you know, still trying to, you know, just give knowledge and information to the next

generation, but through that, you know, like I mentioned, the workshops that I do. Yeah. By me doing that, you know, I was able to really tap in with early creators and people who potentially are the sound of tomorrow. Right. But as I'm doing that, you know, I did something that I'm very proud of, which was, you know, ask all of our attendees, you know, as a small business, you know, I look at myself as a creator as a small business because I still mixed bodies of brand.

I do my taxes. You know, it's a business. And as a small business, like, what are you all dealing with, you know? What are some of the antiquated business models? What are some of the problems you are dealing with? So after a year of traveling the world, you know, we come home and, you know, I take all this R&D, all these notes and I'm reading them. And I'm like, yo, these people, these creators around the world are dealing with some of the same things that I'm dealing with, whether it's tracking payments, whether it's, you know, getting booked instantly, whether it's communications, file transfers. And, you know, I'm like, yo, like, we could build a platform to automate all this, you know.

So that's when this whole moment in transition in my career, and everything I've done up to this point kind of made sense in a way where I can give back to the masses without me either traveling the world. I can give back through helping them kind of cultivate and create their own businesses. So, you know, we started engineers. Like I mentioned earlier, engineers was simply just the Instagram

where I gave, you know, motivational tips. I gave techniques that I've acquired over the years. And then we moved on to workshops. But, you know, as everything grew, our community grew, And, you know, we were able to really give this solution to a problem, which is one part of the music industry that has not shifted since the beginning, you know, because of the independent music sector in today's time, everything has evolved from selling beats, getting your stuff uploaded to distribution. Everything has changed, but the one thing that today drives the industry, and that's how engineers are conducting their business. So, you know, me being me and the type of guy that I am and, you know, just trying to find a way to create solutions for the problems. I feel like we've done that by creating this platform engineers.

You know, engineers essentially is a platform. Engineers provide solutions for independent creators to basically streamline and streamline the business and manage their business via end-to-end business management solutions. And we've been alive for about four weeks now with the actual product and it's been going incredibly well. That's dope. Yeah.

It's such a world that is so complicated that you could almost never figure it out on your own. So like it's the ultimate thing where, somebody who is willing to lean in and help you out if you're early on and like understanding this shit it could just be so unbelievably valuable so i think it makes a lot sense and even like again a lot of the issues that i've dealt with fucking tracking payments are taxes you know just being on time of paying my taxes you know coming into the game being self-taught like no one broke it down to me like all this money you're making it's not all yours right you know so it's creating an infrastructure creating a system and creating a platform to really you know help these independent creators and these small business you know has really sustained their business. It makes sense. I mean, I heard about Bandman Kevo making like hundreds of thousands of dollars a month on OnlyFans just selling financial literacy advice.

I mean, there's clearly a lot of young people who are creative or involved in rap or whatever who have like a real eagerness to understand the business side of things, but they want to hear it in a voice or like a context that they feel like they can relate to, you know? And not even just that. A lot of these artists are really taking ownership into the own hands to where I can still have access to the same people, the labels have access to, but, don't have to give up a big percent of it, I can do this shit on my own. So giving access is one of the big things that we provide. That kind of information is what the label has that they want you

to think you can only get if you go to them. The goal is to even the playing field. You know what I'm saying? Nowadays in 21st century, you know, with all these platforms being created on a daily basis, there's still nothing cultivated towards is one unrepresented business. You know what I'm saying? So a platform created for engineers by an engineer who still deals with these problems. I feel like we created that solution, which is engineers. That's amazing. Yeah. I think that's really dope.

Thank you. A lot of people, I even saw a YouTube video. I don't know if it came up and you're recommended, but the YouTube video is basically like what happened to Black Hippie, like, why the Black Hippie album never came out. From your perspective, was there a time period where that could have happened and then it just didn't really happen during that time period, and then people kind of moved on?

It was happening. It was happening. We worked on Hella Records, but then everybody's individual success started going crazy. As usually happens. You know what I'm saying? Like at that time, Q wasn't really taken off,

you know, and then he dropped setbacks. You know what I'm saying? You know, and then Seoul was doing his long term series. So, you know, as we're like, okay, boom,

like, you know, this is how we can kind of bring more, more love to everyone's, like, kind of, you know what I'm saying? I can get more eyes and ears on all the artists.

They start getting their own, like, movements and traction within the community in the industry. So it was just a natural thing of just wasn't a fucking time. It wasn't no time. And, you know,

But obviously things just got busier and busier and busier and busier and busier and then real life came in. People were having kids. People started, you know what I'm saying? Really started taking time for themselves and only blocking out specific time for sessions. And it is ultimately just, it just the timing of it, it just didn't line up. I hear you. It feels like part of like the TDE ethos is very much like quality over quantity to the extent where like you might have one of these guys be your favorite rapper and you're not going to hear an album from for like three years. Quality over quantity facts, man.

You know, it's even harder nowadays because, you know, there's so much music dropping and it's like almost just dropping music into like a black pit and seeing what survives, you know? But, you know, that's one thing that got us here is quality and it's one thing we try to keep that integrity, which is, you know, all the artists involved with TD is really just, you know, making sure when their job it's going to be right, you know. It's like going back to, you know, saying like I was watching a social network that Facebook show or that movie show. And, you know, it's one thing that Marri Zuckerberg said in there and he was talking about, you know, the impression as soon as you, as soon as the server goes online one time,

your reputation is shot. And it's the same thing as soon as you drop a shit project, your reputation is really, you know what I'm saying, it's shot. It puts more pressure on you to really deliver on the next album and the album after that. And that pressure could, you know, can be detrimental to, you know, a lot of things. It's such a weird dynamic where like when you're unsuccessful, you can put out as much music as you want, but then once you're really successful, you're in like a prison of your own success where you just, you know, because it, yeah, if Kendrick dropped an album and didn't properly roll it out, promote it, make sure that it was the quality he wanted, and he sells a lot less than he sold last time. People look at it, you know.

It's what a number game. That's what I'm telling. The whole blog shit was like, that whole era was like, you know, that was something that, you know, I wish we'll come back because that really, it was a different culture. It was a different, like, just time and music. It wasn't all about being, you know, selling well or whatever. That was very much an era in which, like, you could just like a lot of stuff and you didn't really have any way of knowing how popular it was. Just people seem really genuinely excited about music, yeah. I remember, man, the weekend trilogy, like all the House of Bloom shit was going through those circuits and, you know, all the early, like TD stuff. It was just a crazy, crazy.

It was a fun time, you know, it was a real fun time. That's a fact. So you took over an old Death Row studio, and that's where you're working out of now? Yeah, man. Man, like I said, I've had an amazing career, you know, thank you. I'm grateful for, you know, just the fact that I was, you know, trained by Dre and, you know, the West Coast music being really the soundtrack to my whole life. I kind of getting to this point, I'm one of those guys who like, everything happens for reason, right? I'm chill because I understand it's going to fucking work out some type of way.

And how this place kind of just fell in my lap, man. It just affirms that everything happens for a reason notion. Like, it's crazy. So, you know, I'm getting calls from a friend of mine, Matt McNeil, and he's like, yo, I ran across the studio that, you know, I think you would like. And at this time, I'm not in the fucking market for a studio. Like, for one, I know, I know there's a lot. lot of just variables when it comes to building a room. It's, you know, the material has got to be right. The floor and the electrical got to be clean. It's a lot of moving parts. So I'm throwing it to the

left. I'm not really, you know, paying in no mind. And one time he's just fucking nagging the shit out of me. And he's like, I'll bring some weed for you. I'm like, fuck it. I'll come smoking. So I pull it up to the studio and then he's walking me through the building. I'm like, oh, this shit is like, it's old, bro. It's going to be too much money to put together. Like, I'm straight. And then he finally tells me, man, yeah, I thought you would have like it because it's the old deaf road studios. I'm like, what, motherfucker? Like, why didn't you start with that? I would have told me that when you called me,

I would have took it over the phone. So that helps the vibe that you know that Shug was like sicking a dog on somebody in there at some point or something? There were some fucked up shit that happened in that building. But it's more of like, it's more of a full circle moment for me, not more than just like, oh, I got a piece of history. That too, but it's more of like, damn, I'm really following this man footsteps. And being so young, bro, owning this facility, it's like, you know,

it's just a dope feeling. It's like a clubhouse to me right now. like state of art equipment, bro, like anything you ever think of for a recording studio we got, you know. So when you work with artists now, are you trying to get them to pull up on you more often than you're trying to, you know, go to their spot? It's no try. They pull up. Like, it's even before I had the room, like, you know, the relationship I had with artists, which is very important, you know, they want to come hang out. Like my sessions are not just like, we hang out. We talk, you know, we might take a two-hour smoke break. We're going to vibe. And that's how I

know if I like you, you know, if I could sit there and be with you for 10 hours without having to talk about music. Can we just vibe and talk? about life, you know, that's, that's what I like. So now that I have this facility, you know, it's natural. I got a homie's pulling up just to come watch a movie at chill, you know. So, you know, I want to make No Name Studios, you know, really, really the pinnacle of sound in Los Angeles, you know, I want to franchise it over time, you know, no name Miami, no name Atlanta, you know.

But for the time being, you know, it's really just for the first time, able to, you know, have my own facility, you know, and have a vertically integrated business model. Instead of me having a book and ran another studio to work, I can, I got my bookings there, and I got my work there. And because we have the startup, we have engineers. Now, you know, we're hiring developers. We're hiring a full staff now. So now I can have everything housed under one roof.

Definitely. Do you aspire to find any talent and sort of do the whole, like, bringing an artist up from zero to nothing or to something on your own? Is that something you're thinking about? So it's funny to say that. Like, it recently happened just like randomly. I've never had like any just inklings to like start a label or to manage artists. I've always seen that it was just pressure and there's too much dealing with personalities.

Like, you know, but because of COVID, we had to stop doing our live workshops, right? So that, you know, I did a deal with Twitch after that. Saw that. Yeah. So for me doing the deal on Twitch, you know, I got into doing a lot of music and community building initiatives with giving away, you know, a mix of mind costs upwards of $10,000 per song. So I do things where like, you know, I have independent artists from around the world submit songs that we play on Twitch and I have the community pick out the best top 10 songs of that week. Really?

And then I go through four weeks of doing that and then we end up. to finding one artist where I can give a free mix to. And there's one artist that kept fucking winning every single month. Really? Every month. So I'm listening to songs and the people in the chat are fucking with him and the songs were infectious. He ends up winning the competition. His name is Malik Moses. You know, I fucked with the vibes so much. You know, we flew him to L.A. from New York. He came out. We clicked like a little brother of mine. You know what I'm saying? And we ended up doing a deal and now we're working on a project just by meeting him on Twitch.

Wow. So we're literally after this, we literally have a music. video to head to that we shooting to so yeah shout out to amyke mozsus man i'm super excited for him that's a crazy story working on the ep now uh produced by terrace martin uh soundway monte booker groove uh simon says uh mixed by me of course um so you know yeah randomly um that came into my life and we're almost done with that project so be on look out for that well you have a great uh story right there if everything works out yeah so yeah obviously yeah twitch loves it uh so they're gonna get behind it and you know I'm excited to really be in this position and really helping new artists from the ground up I've helped tons of big artists kind of develop their sounds and

help them get to where they are and this time I could really really really do it from the ground up with somebody who's a part of the squad. Definitely. Okay and so just for the record everything that you mix or engineer or anything you end up getting some percentage of the money from that song so you basically like is every month or every I don't know how if it's quarterly or whatever when you get these checks, is it a very nice time to be mixed by Ali when those come in? It's the music industry has just treating me very well. But you're not like some crazy flexing type of dude. You don't choose to spend your money in that way or anything?

I try to, you know, I went to that face. I'm not going to act like I haven't. Like early on, obviously, no fucking economic training, no financial training. I blew a ton of money. But now older, bro, like I have a dog. Who am I going to impress? Like, you know what I'm saying? And obviously I got, you know, I have nice things and things that I enjoy, but it's more of like now it's like longevity. Like what can I create that I can get my daughter where she doesn't have to go through this bullshit later on. You know, so it's more about just being more intentional, being smart. And, you know, being able to create opportunities for family and friends. And, you know what I'm saying?

Just I've reached this pinnacle in my career where I can really help people. And, you know, that's what I really want to do, you know. And, you know, I'm grateful to have the career and have, you know, all these things to be able to do that. And, you know, I'm trying to day by day. Beautiful thing. Yeah, man. Anything else that you're aspiring to do in the near future or anything that the audience out there might not want to know about?

How do they follow you on the Twitch thing? I feel like they'd be interested in winning that. Yeah, Twitch.tv slash mixed by Ali, M-I-X-E-D, B-Y-A-L-I. I'm very excited about our engineers platform. You can go to Engineers, E-N-G-I-N-E-A-R-S, like Engine E-E-E-E-E-R-S. That's the Instagram. engineers.com is the website. I just want to thank you for having me, brother.

Like I said, I've been a fan. I've been watching for a long time. And, you know, just I'm grateful for the opportunity. No, for sure. I mean, I think that everything you've accomplished to the people out there is just a, you know, it's like people understand what being a producer is at this point.

I think people understand being a rapper. There's a lot of different ways that you could try to make yourself useful in this game because there's a lot of dope-ass talent that needs your exact service. And if people out there can kind of train themselves to be able to provide that to, It's a dope-ass lane, and you've clearly built, like, a big-ass life and business off of it. And it's pretty amazing, man.

Thank you for that. Yeah. Mixed by Ali. Fuck with your boy. Shout out to Adam. No Jumper. Coolest podcast of the world. Check us on YouTube, SatCloud, iTunes, like, comment, and subscribe.

Nojumper.com if you want to support. Appreciate you, man. Yeah, all good.