The creation of BATTLES was something to remember. It is another beautiful piece created from diverse inspirations. One of my favorite producers is Primo, the man blew away my mind with the tracks he made during the 90s for GangStarr. Everyone speaks about his distinctive tones to his drums and how the jump out at you on every track. Riding in the car and bumping “Above the Clouds” is one of my favorite things.
After GOLD I knew that in order for ALYST to have a continual buzz and momentum I needed to create more hard street sounding tracks since GOLD was bubbly. So my challenge was how to I create a deeper darker tone with the drums but make them pop like Primo. I was going thru drums in my mpc x and found within my stash a kick and a snare with some deep impact. I flipped the tone on them and gave them more body. Once I did that I added a thick bass line and played around with it to drop like an 808. Once I had the skeleton to the beat laid out I started searching for guitar vsts I had but nothing sounded like the edge tone I was looking for. My mac mini was already acting up and shut down on me between session. Lucky I always back things up and I remembered this time to back things up to both the mac mini and my flashcard inside the X. Luckily I did because if not everything I did would of went to waste and I would of had to start from scratch. Of course with the mac mini acting up I didnt want to add any stress to it by using multiple VSTs so it could crash again.
So I went the standalone option and used my Yamaha MOD X for the guitar melody. They also have great effects and added a few more fill in sounds and that was it. Track was done. As a beat maker you quickly learn to realize that you have to be truthful to yourself. If you hype yourself up you end up lying to no one but you. Yet along the course as you create you get lucky and blessed when your music the beat speaks for itself. A distinctive key of measure is when the beat rides thru and you become so engulfed in it that you lose track of time and you can listen to the track with out vocals no problem. Thats what happened here I knew it was fire but to make a beat a song was the next step. Another track I sent out to get mixed and mastered by platinum engineer Rich Travali.
When I called ALYST we spoke for a couple of hours and basically it was to have him understand where he was and how people look at you when you are making your way to reach your dreams and goals. A lot of times people do whatever they can around you to divert you of your peace of mind your soul your life and your success. Soaking in that aspect and going thru the personals that was happening in our individual lives was the key to making this songs energy.
He sent my email that night a beautiful surprise. I finally had the right version and the right song. It had energy it had lyrics that made you think and relate to what we all go thru in lives some by circumstances some by choice. Life Love Success all comes at a price but if you are willing to fight thru the BATTLES you will reach your nirvana. What is meant for you is already meant and blessed guided by the high above. No one can change what God wants and has ordered to happen no matter what.
The video was the next step in finalizing this piece. I remember driving thru a short cut to get to the Holland Tunnel into Manhattan and when I used to drive by there was an underpass that was empty but huge. The walls were all full of graf and the layout was amazing. It became the actual shoot local for the video. The team went out on a freezing Saturday morning and we began to shoot. The background was so hot we didnt have to do much set up. It was the first time we used a drone to follow the artist in a walking forward shot. I also made sure we used angles while filming that gave it a cool look thru the video. It was beyond cold but we got it done. All the pieces started to come together when things are suppose to be and thats what happened here.
