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10/26/2006 What's up? Matt: We're staying busy. We're pushing that Ray Cash - Clangin' and Swangin'. We're also pushing our arsenal of beats and staying busy around the clock. How did Clangin' and Swangin' come about? Alex: We started working with Ray about two years ago through our associate Joey Fingaz. He didn't even know we made beats. After a couple of sessions, we told him we made beats and he asked to hear something. He liked what he heard and we had five tracks on his debut album on Sony, C.O.D. We had other tracks that didn't make the album and we were just sitting on them. We were like, Let's put it out as a mixtape. How is Clangin' and Swangin' doing so far? Matt: The project is doing well. The project is basically like a mirror image of his album. It's crazy. Everybody loves it just like C.O.D. They say that's a classic album and one of the most slept-on albums of the year. A lot of people judge him before they hear him, but the people who give him a chance love him. How is it working with Ray? Alex: Ray is one of the most gifted lyricists in the game. The dude is nice. He's got a lot to rap about. He's straight hip-hop with that story-telling rap. He's not about the dances and hokey-poke rap. It's a real throwback style. Plus he's real professional. Matt: Working with Ray is cool because he's so versatile. He can take any beat at any tempo and flip it and he doesn't sound like he's not being himself. We're the same way with our beats. He's really good in the studio and he knows what he's doing. A lot of guys don't know what to do in the studio but Ray definitely does. You guys did a lot of tracks with Ray but they didn't obviously all make the album. Are you happy with the tracks you got on C.O.D? Matt: Yeah. I'm happy with any placements we get and I was happy that we were able to work with him in the studio. A lot of times you send a beat off and it goes to another artist in another city and they hear it later on. Ray actually came in and we recorded all his material together. I couldn't be happier with it. Plus it's getting great reviews, so that helps. You flipped one of the most classic piano samples in hip-hop (The Charmels' "As Long As I've Got You," originally used for Wu-Tang's "C.R.E.A.M.") on "Cash Rules." How did that come about? Alex: We're always thinking about things we can flip. We were thinking about "Cash Rules" being perfect for Ray. At first we had it as an uptempo track at 90 BPM's. That just didn't sound like Ray. We took it down to about 75 BPM's and it sounded hot. It was perfect for Ray. There was definitely some pressure there because I loved the Wu's Enter the 36 Chambers. Matt: The fact that RZA and the Wu signed off on allowing us to use that, because we used Method Man's vocals, it's just a real compliment to us and it shows that we're on the right path and it shows that we're doing the right thing. It's easy for people to hate and say that we shouldn't touch a sample like that, but we obviously did it right if RZA signed off on it. How did that go down? Matt: We just make the music and the powers that be clear the sample. The reason it didn't make the original album was because the sample wasn't cleared. It made the online version that sold on iTunes. That's why we put it on Clangin' and Swangin' because we wanted to make sure it got the proper exposure. It might even go on his next album so it gets its proper run. There's a very diverse range of sounds on Clangin' and Swangin'. Matt: We wanted to show that we could do an entire album. If somebody asked us to do an entire album for somebody, we want to be able to show everything in 60 minutes. That's what we did here. We showed all his different styles and all our different styles. Alex: As a beatmaker and producer, you don't want to sit in the studio all day and make the same type of beat. I'll just get burned out on a sound. A lot of times you get going on a certain sound and you make five or six songs with those same sounds and you just kind of burn out. That's what's allowed us to have a very diverse catalogue. When we're in the studio, whatever comes up comes up. Will you be doing more work with Ray Cash? They're considering having us do 75% of his next album. We're trying to get most of his next album. Our future together is looking good. We're definitely going to be doing some big things with Ray. How was it working with 50 and M.O.P? Matt: That was an experience. A lot of people have to put in a lot of work to get there and that was our first placement. We learned a lot about the business. There were some bumps along the way but that was a great experience overall. Alex: That was a great experience for us. We had worked so hard to get to that point. When you get a phone call like that, it just makes you smile because a lot of times you're just walking into the future blindly making beats. People are doubting you and then when things finally click into place, it's real gratifying. What's going on with the Kickdrums and Little Brother? Alex: That was hooked up by DJ Mick Boogie. He's doing his thing and nationwide he's getting a lot of recognition. He's doing a mixtape with Little Brother and we sent him six to ten beats and they ended up choosing one of our tracks and rocking over it. We like to get the best of everything. We got the best of mainstream with 50 and the best of the underground with Little Brother. The only thing left is the pop world. How important have Mick Boogie and Joey Fingaz been to the Kickdrums' career? Matt: It's really been pivotal. Everybody always says it's all about who you know. Of course skill plays into that, but the more people you know, the better. Mick and Joey have helped us hook up with a lot of people. That's definitely helped our career out. Alex: The DJ is the backbone of hip-hop. Hip-hop has taken a turn in the past ten years and the MC is in the forefront, but the truth is everybody needs a DJ to be affiliated with. We've probably collab'd on at least 75 mixtapes. That's a huge amount of exposure. If you're a rapper on 75 mixtapes, your name is going to get out there. Matt: Working with us has also helped them out because it gives them exclusive material like the joint we did with Little Brother. It's a really good working relationship. We help each other out. How did the Kickdrums first come together? Matt: Cleveland is a small city. There's a circle of people that are doing this and if you're good at what you do, you'll stand out. My partner Alex stood out. We were both recording out of our basements and we got to a point where we had to acknowledge what the other was doing and we just clicked. Alex: We have similar backgrounds. We're friends. We respect each other as people as well as creatively. Matt: We both have the same work ethic. We know that we have to work around the clock. Can you take us through the making of a Kickdrums beat? Matt: Two heads are better than one. That's the best way to put it. We just bounce back and forth on ideas. We'll start with a concept and go from there. Alex is a talented musician. He plays a number of instruments. If we need any of that, Alex can do it. We also do a lot of mixing. A lot of people say our tracks sound like they're already radio-quality. We mixed three tracks off C.O.D. that missed the whole New York, multi-million dollar mastering because they sounded so good. Alex: We also live on different ends of the hall in the same apartment. We both have the 500mb jump drives and we'll just trade them when we start a beat. Two years ago we used to do all our tracks separately and now we work together on almost every one. The mixing has to be right. The sequencing and chorus have to be right. Like Matt said, two heads are better than one. Matt: And of course when you're working with two people, you'll bump heads a lot but at the end of the day, we respect each other's opinion. What equipment do you use? Alex: Both of us have MPC's. I have a lot of instruments. I have electric and acoustic guitars. We have Mackie monitors. A lot of people don't have good speakers but we dropped a couple thousand on speakers and you can hear everything so clear. We use the Fantom. We have a lot of keyboards and compressors. We have the Mackie mixing board, Pro Tools and plug-ins. It's the typical studio when you don't have millions of dollars. What's next for Kickdrums? Matt: We have a world of opportunities ahead of us. We don't want to look too far ahead. We just want to place some beats. We don't know what's going to be hot tomorrow so we're just focusing on today. We're just trying to brand our name and venture into other businesses. Right now we're just focusing on today. What do you want to say to everybody? Matt: Hip-hop really needs a change for the better. People have to realize that there has to be diversity. When you're listening to Kickdrums music, it's good music all around no matter what we venture into. There's going to be good melody and it's going to be laid out correctly. We're not trying to play anybody. We're trying to bring something that you'll enjoy listening to.

By Brian Kayser

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