On production...

First, to redirect any curious listeners, the GRAYSCALE album is available here. Enjoy!

If you're easily bored by the technical aspects of music making (as many of my friends tend to get when I drone on for hours about this shit), skip this entry and go listen to the album. Now, onto production...

As my own producer, I'm lucky enough to have the ability to craft my instrumentals exactly (to a degree; the artistic process is a nitpickingly tedious occupational hazard) how I want them to sound under my lyrics, or vice versa depending on how I'm writing the song. The digital age has allowed artists like myself to explore and experiment with all aspects of the song-making process, once a Herculean task divided amongst a legion of producers, song writers, house musicians, engineers and technicians. Of course in the digital micromanaging of production, much of the finesse, the time honored and honed techniques of the old are lost in the jack of all trades (master of none) mentality, but I don't see that as necessarily a bad thing. Just the rise to prominence of a new age of music.

I am a musician and the computer is my instrument. Through it, I command an army of synths and samplers, I wield guitars and microphones, I have at my fingertips an old school arsenal of drum machine and turntables that I mash, trash and chop into new forms of traditional sound. I am the one man band in the age of hip hop and iPods.

Did that sound too pretentious? I kinda envisioned Hans Zimmer's score to Batman Begins in the background as I was typing it. Anyways, all delusions of grandeur super-musician status aside, let's talk about the production behind Grayscale.

For anyone unfamiliar with the majority of my production setup, let this outdated picture do the talking.

Bootleg basement setup, I know. Abbey Road it isn't.

A majority of my music is made using the computer and two MIDI controllers pictured above. One of them, an AKAI MPD24 (the bastardized version of an MPC) serves as my drum pad/loop controller, with definable knobs and faders for tweaking synths/adjusting mixing levels/etc. The other keyboard is my baby, an M-Audio Axiom25 with 8 pads and definable knobs as well. These two tools (as well as FLStudio - I've been on that software since it was Fruity Loops v2) are the basis for my production. Furthermore, I have microphones, guitars and a turntable all running in through my EMU 0404 DAS into FLStudio. I love that program.

On Grayscale, I made sure that every track represented a different aspect of my production (or via collaboration, my influences in production). Tracks such as Soundcheck, Don't Call Me and Grayscale are built around live guitar recordings but sampled, chopped, and padded with other samples to fill out the soundscape. On Grab Bag, I sampled from vinyl and drum machines, mixed with digital synths and samples to create a strange collage of sound. Flametongue, Sameeha, and the Station Break Interluude are my collaborations with producers who utilize the AKAI MPC to craft their music, one of the most traditional mediums of hip hop music. The Swami Interluude is my attempt to digitally recreate what hip hop producers do on the MPC on the computer. This Room and Encore are also pretty much entirely digital sampling while Snakecharmers is all original synth sequencing. With this album I wanted to explore the limits of my production creativity, draw from all aspects of the spectrum.

Most producers have a sound that they stick to, the sound that defines them. I'd like to think that my lack of a defining sound is what makes me unique. Who knows? All I know is that I'm trying to take a genre of music I love and put the art back into it.

And in this age, with this much control of the music, maybe it's possible. Maybe it's a pipe dream in the septic system that is mainstream ultra-polished commercial rap music.

Who knows?

Hip Hop Professionalism

Working at a major DC venue, I have the privilege of interacting with artists from all over the musical spectrum: aging rock stars, big name pop sensations, eccentric DJs, a constant slew of up and coming 'sounds like' bands who might get famous, and of course, rappers. Despite my dedication to the hip hop genre as an artist and a fan, working with rappers is a constant, aggravating test of patience and temper. At my club, there is an unwritten code of standards regarding rap shows: no one will be on time, no one will respect the staff, no one will follow the rules the staff tries to enforce, etc. Although I have worked with a few notable exceptions (Q-Tip, the Beastie Boys, ?uestlove, Atmosphere) time and time again, I encounter this extreme lack of professionalism and it always messes with my love for the music. Producing and working a rap show is a big. fucking. pain. in. the. ass.

Most recently, I had the pleasure of working the DMV South fiasco on Saturday night. This show, to me, was the culmination of all the worst aspects of planning, promotion, and performance at rap shows. First off, the show line up was billed as: Bun-B, Wale (feat. UCB), Tabi Bonney, and many others. By the day of the show, Wale and Tabi, both DC artists, had dropped off the bill. Bun was still confirmed to play. Throughout the day, the many other rappers and their many other crews kept showing up but there was no real sense of order and no one person in charge to keep our house crew informed and organized. Only a sheet of poorly typed information I got from someone who might have been important with set times for over ten different rappers and DJs and the prophetic words: 'this will be a tight schedule'. Of course.

Show time comes around and no one is on time. The crowd is smaller than some hip hop posses I've seen crowd up the stage (Wu Tang, I'm looking at you) The promoter has shown up at this point, but there's still no rhyme or reason to the night. The first act goes on around 11 pm, an hour after the tight schedule predicted. Rapper after rapper, each comes out for two to three songs, and leaves. No mention is made of Bun B. Throughout the night, staff are ridiculed in the usual rap show fashion: shouted at, questioned for no reason, intimidated, etc. Same shit, different day.

The debacle drags on and the crowd thins out a bit more. People are antsy to see any of the acts they paid 35$ to see. Around midnight, the big box truck with the flat screen on the outside parks by the club, advertising the night's show. Bun B's face is plastered across the front. Come 2:30 am and thats the most Bun B the crowd is going to see. People start to get angry. I've seen a similar scenario play out at the Kool Keith/Project X shitshow last year, and I already know where this is headed. Fans, drunk, confused and angry shouting for refunds. Same shit, different day. As my co-worker Chris put it, people paid for an overhyped over priced open mic. They got abused and swindled.

Which brings me to the subject of hip hop professionalism (or complete fucking lack thereof). Working with most major rock/pop/insert genre here groups, I get to see the various levels of experience and professionalism that bands and their crew display. The oldhead musicians usually run a tight ship, working off years of touring and shows. There are bands who come through in vans with gear stuffed and cluttered in the back and a vague semblance of whats going on, but even they're not too much of a pain to deal with. At least they can change their own strings. With these rap shows however, the professionalism is like a cheap handjob in a porta john - there's no love and it smells like shit. DJs that don't know how to setup and work turntables (or CD-Js, or anything that's not point and cue Serato), tour managers that don't manage their acts, groups that don't know how to do a soundcheck or even really care how they sound, the list goes on and on. Apparently, what it boils down to is rappers just don't give a fuck about their fans, the shows, the venue...nothing beyond making money and smoking weed in the greenroom. Apparently.

If artists want to keep talking about 'hip hop isn't dead' and 'we make music for the fans' then they should take a lesson from the older rock stars and get their shit together. Music sales are in the suck and concert tickets are still money makers. Fans will be influenced by your shitty attitudes on stage. I saw Mos Def show up three hours late to a sold out double show. The next time he came back around, he barely sold a quarter of the tickets he had the last time. Point being, the fans don't have all that extra money to throw around any more. If you don't treat them well, they won't show you any love. And then you won't be able to get the expensive VSOP and food platters in your dressing room anymore.

Grow up and treat this shit professionally or no one will take your music seriously.

First post, RoboNation wrapup, and the state of things to come!

First post on the new Swami Sessions blog!

If you're just tuning in, my name is Navi and I am a hip hop musician/artist living just outside of Washington, DC. When I'm not slaving in the studio, I work at one of the most prominent club/music venues in the DC area. If you're looking to download some of my older material, feel free to check out my website and download what you can (click on the keyboard).

So first order of business on the agenda, Robonation! Despite Murphy's Law in full effect (no bass rig, iPod shuffling up the setlist, set time mis-communication) everything went pretty well. My half hour set stretched out a bit longer than myself or the event planners predicted, but when you're caught up in a freestyle session with live instruments, time slips by a bit too fast...Had to skip two songs on my setlist to make up for that. That much said, I had a fucking blast and I can't wait to do it again! As soon as I get some pictures or video, I'll post them up!

Next order of business, the album. Grayscale, originally slated to be released free online on September 1st, has been delayed due to (lack of) studio time and my own hectic work schedule. I have five songs left to record for the album, though, and I'm hoping to have it out by the end of this month. I'll keep my fingers crossed. However, the Grayscale Trailer mixtape is still available on my website, so you should go download it.

Although the album has been delayed, I've still had time to record some tracks on my own bootleg recording setup . On top of Asher Roth's I Love College beat, I do my own little story take on college. This'll probably be the first installment in a series of short story songs. You can download it here. Hit me up and let me know what you think!

That much said, check this blog for site updates, news, info, and (most likely) stories and bitching from work...until then!