J Beatz Interview

He’s a producer on his way up the ranks and has an increasing list of features to his credit. It seemed only right to grab a word and get some info on volume two of his Have A Butchers Vol. 2 free download mixtape which is available now from the link below or www.myspace.com/jbeatzproducer

M: How’s it going mate?

J:Yeah I’m alright mate bit of a par right now can’t make beats the pc needs to be repaired but other than that I’m nice.

M: We are coming to the end of 2008, How do you feel your year has gone and What were the highlights for you?

J: 2008 was alright still a lot has happened in a short time such as having my music played on Logan & Westwood, getting airplay by bigger dj’s, working with more known artists and progressing as a producer and I hope that in 2009 bigger and better things will be on its way.

M: What grime artist do you feel has improved the most in 2008?

J: Definitely have to say Revolver is the most improved he went away and came back with new flows, new bars and at first when I heard him on Practice Hours I thought he was any road mc but I’ve heard some bits from his forthcoming mixtape Grimes Son and he can do concepts as well a massive improvement.

M: Who have you been working with lately?

J: I’ve been doing some work with quite a few artists I’ve been working with Revolver, Lay-Z, D Power, my Behave Yourself camp there’s some more but I’ll keep them quiet for now.

M: What do you use to produce your beats?

J:  I use nothing but a pc and Fruity Loops 7 at the moment but I am thinking of getting a little midi keyboard and an mpd to make my beats faster and easier to make. I have used Reason before on a course I was on but it isn’t for me it’s a bit too complicated to use and very time consuming so I’ll stick with Fruity Loops for now.

M: How would you describe your style of production?

J: I can’t really describe my style because I make a lot of different types and styles of tunes for example one day I’ll make a bass heavy grime tune and in a couple hours I’ll make a nice funky house tune or a R&B tune. I wouldn’t say that I have a style but I would say it is a mixture of everything I listen to, for example one of my funky house tracks may have grime elements and one of my grime tunes may have dubstep elements.

M: Do you ever see yourself producing full time or is it more of a hobby for you?

J: I would definitely want to make producing a full time job in the future but I would only do that if I was making enough money to make a living out of music so until then music will remain a hobby.

M: What was your first thought when you heard Chipmunk won a MOBO award?

J: I was happy cos he’s a talented guy from north London who’s been putting in the work for years who’s a big fan base and it shows that you don’t have to do a bait electro tune for mainstream exposure (which many artists done and got nowhere) and the wickidest ting is that he’s got this far by making Grime music.

M: What was the last grime release you purchased?

J: Last grime release I think I bought was Tinchy Stryder Vs Maniac which was quite good but I did prefer Maniac’s instrumental, I hope to see more artist/producer projects like this happen more often.

M: What are you listening to at the moment?

J: I’m listening to Unitled’s mixtape Misconceptions which I produced the track ”You Don’t Know” (check the hood video on youtube.com/behaveyourselftv) and the mixtape is very good it’s different to what’s out there at the moment because there’s concepts on there which you wouldn’t think to hear a grime artists talk about and at the same time keeping it in grime. I’m also listening to N Dubz uncle b album which is very big and also Wretch 32’s Wretchrospective which is definitely one of the best albums of the year.

M: What are your main interests outside of music?

J: I don’t really have any interests other than music; music is the only thing for me to be honest. I can’t see myself doing anything else in life for a living other than music that’s why I’m putting in so much work right now spending hours behind the pc constantly networking, trying to make as much beats as I can in the time that I have on the pc, emailing beats to dj’s and artists, releasing my free mixtapes such as The Catalogue & Have A Butchers Vol. 2 to gain more recognition

M: What are you working on at the moment? And what are your plans for 2009?

J: Right now I’m working on the Behave Yourself mixtape which should be dropping summer 09 and also I hope to have a vocal mixtape out during the year. My plans for 09 is to gain more recognition, get some airplay, work with some more artists and singers, release some more free downloads and keep putting in the work like I always do.

Thanks for talking to us mate.