Tagged with lil b
Interview: Emerald Ruins (Producer for Lil B)
MP3: Lil B – “NYU (Prod. Emerald Ruins)”
Below, you can see my interview with Emerald Ruins. There’s no denying his talent (listen to “Find Out” and “Stay” below) and considering how young he is, there’s no doubt in my mind that he’ll have a long and productive career ahead of him.
You’re 15, correct? When did you start producing and how did you learn?
Yes, I’m 15 years old — think I started producing at around age 13. I don’t really remember what inspired me at the time to want to start making music but it must’ve been something dope, I was a big Ja Rule fan at the time, as was everyone else, so no doubt some heavy influence comes from them. I downloaded the FL Studio demo and shit was a headache, and since I was using the family computer which was in the living room, I couldn’t really be on it too much to play around on it cause someone always needed to use it. So it wasn’t until like 14 that I knew about mixing and mastering and effects and all that producing bullshit that keeps a song from sounding good to sounding amazing. Now, I’ve learned my way around the program and making music is funner because of it.
Where do you find your samples?
I find my samples everywhere man. YouTube, vinyls, forums, cassettes, CD’s, 8-tracks, commercials, toys, outside, anywhere — I hear a dog barking and look up dogs barking on YouTube and add that in my music, I play a video game and hear some spacey ambient shit and look up the soundtrack and sample that. Samples are everywhere mayne.
Is it hard balancing your music with school or are you able to keep both of those worlds fairly separate?
It’s not really hard balancing the two: if you took music away from me I’d probably still be getting the same grades I get, which are mostly C’s.
What’s it like working with Lil B, perhaps one of the most prolific artists currently out?
Working with the Based God man, it’s pretty dope cause now I have that under my “belt,” nahmean? Like if I want to work with someone I can say, “I’ve worked with Lil B,” and that’ll like, increase the chance of them wanting to work with me. Pretty cool.
Are you two working on anything else in the future?
Lil B has told me to keep sending him beats. He gave me his other contact info so he still wants to work with me, which is cool. So yeah, we’re working on some stuff.
Do you think you’ll be able to take a similar route as Clams Casino did after working with Lil B?
I sure hope so, Clams Casino is probably my favorite “new” producer at the moment, hearing rappers over his dreamy-spacey ass shit is like, fresh, you know? Like it’s something different and I really like that, I hope to take the same route Clams did and end up working with some really buzzing up-and-coming artists. Only time will tell I guess.
You’re young — from your perspective, what’s right and what’s wrong in the music industry today?
The music industry, well to be honest, me being as young as I am, I don’t really see much wrong with it other than Pitbull, that cat needs to chill it ain’t funny anymore DALEEEEEEEEE MR 305 WORLDWIDE enough of that shit. Oh and there really isn’t much variety in mainstream radio music, it’s mostly all generic house, but I dig most of it. Overall I think the music industry is fine, I read and hear from many industry artists that the industry is evil and fake and all that but until I experience that myself, it looks like an okay thing to me.
Where do you hope to be in about a year’s time? Are you hoping to turn this into a career someday?
In a year, I hope to have a pretty good following, artists everywhere wanting to work with me, and just you know, being bigger than I am now. That was my goal last year, and now I’m doing interviews like this, working with Lil B, getting my music posted on the Weeknd’s tumblr (which doesn’t exist anymore, sadly), more rappers asking for beats than last year, and basically am bigger than I was last year… so I’ve accomplished last years goal, now to double that this year, we’ll see how it goes, haha.
Anything you want to add?
Not much, thanks for the interview, and to artists: send me a message or tweet or anything if you make good music and want to work with me! Would like to thank everyone who been supporting me and listening to my music, who been sharing my music, giving feedback whether it be positive or negative all feedback is appreciated, thanks to my fam they dope and supportive, everyone who’s been apart of my music all of that, thank you and keep looking out for me and my music! Thanks.
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Lil B’s Lecture at NYU
- “Be in tune with your rare—this is a very rare thing. I’m like a robot. Hey look, tell your hand to do this.” [Raises hand]. “It’s like, man, that’s amazing! That’s amazing to me.”
- “To say “I’m not that gorgeous” is only a reflection of the media. You are gorgeous. I’m telling you. You are what you believe you are. You are a model. You are a rapper. You are a student. You are a positive person. Don’t let these words feel like you’re different.”
- “Every single person you meet, look at them like a golden million dollar baby.”
- [Audience member: “What inspires you?”] “You guys. It’s you, bruh. Being here, we could be brothers now. It’s good, regardless. And everybody, speak both languages too. Listen to slang. Slang is like learning another language. Be bilingual and go learn some slang. For sheezy! Brang dang dang. If you know some slang, rep that. You feel me? You feel me?! Yeah, bruh. Use swag, yeah, dummy.”
You can listen to the entire unscripted 80-minute lecture below. Or you can check out the full transcript of the lecture here.
Mixtape: Clams Casino – Instrumentals (Mastered)
DOWNLOAD: Clams Casino – Instrumentals (Mastered)
Clams Casino and the “Just For Now” Sample
That’s something you can’t find with new-age (pardon the pretentiousness) producers. Sure, T-Minus creates synth-laden beats with a similar loftiness, but the soundscape doesn’t even come close. Face it – a track like “She Will” needs Drake and Lil Wayne to fully function.
What may be more impressive is how all of his fantastic beats come together. “I’m God”, perhaps the defining song so far in both Clams Casino’s and Lil B’s careers, takes it roots in Imogen Heap‘s breathtaking “Just For Now”, a song that sounds nothing like “I’m God”.
MP3: Imogen Heap – “Just For Now”
MP3: Lil B – “I’m God” (Prod. by Clams Casino)
That same song, “Just For Now”, was even been sampled by Clams Casino more than once. ASAP Rocky‘s “Bass”, believe it or not, comes from the very same sample. Originally intended for Lil B, Clams Casino actually reworked the beat after the Based God decided that one part of the song was a bit too fast for him, ultimately resulting in yet another song from the same sample entitled “I’m The Devil”. That part was thus taken out, slowed down, and given to Rocky.
MP3: ASAP Rocky – “Bass” (Prod. by Clams Casino)
MP3: Lil B – “I’m The Devil” (Prod. by Clams Casino)
Simply put on your headphones and slip away into the music…