Fly is Made For Loves

So I get these requests ALL the time; you know the kind. The kind that I figured a Premo or a Madlib or 9th Wonder would get: “…where you do you get your samples from? Can you hook me up with some dope samples…” I feel like sometimes, much of the art form of making beats is not even in the sample. It’s in the pursuit of something else. You ultimately end up either spending a few dollars on vinyl or you download something just to experience it at face value. You end up with something special. Well that’s the fairy tale take of it. Of course you could always (before you ask) try to find something that you can make totally yours. It has no influence, no bias point of views, and won’t make you feel obligated to do anything other than enjoy the experience of real, soulful music. And even with a point of view as strong as that, I also feel that somethings are so good… they are worth sharing. Some people are going to hear what I hear; other will dismiss the mix as something used to fill up blog space. I feel like what you are about to embark on is beautiful; simply put. Whether you just listen to it while cleaning the crib, or try to use it in place of a very old and very scratched “baby making music” CD, or whether you rip the sound waves into seventy-five samples chopped… you will enjoy what Fly is Made. Check for it at the jump.

Fly is For Lovers by Cosmic Souls Collective [via Mediafire]. Enjoy!
…oh, and please leave a comment! Thanks.

Amor Jones - And More

Here’s a new track produce by fellow Cosmic Soul, Know:juander for Amor Jones. I’ve had this song in rotation since Jones first sent it to me a few weeks ago. Dope track.  I took Kevin Nottingham posting it as my OK to drop it also. Haha. It’s going to be on Amor Jones’ next album which will be produced exclusively by the Cosmic Souls Collective (yes, us). Be on the lookout for the album and future leaks coming soon.

Amor Jones – And More (Produced by know:juander)

And More

Keno - Watch

Here’s a new track I produced featuring KENO from TheOtherSide (group with him and producer WallSauce).  This beat might sound familiar if you heard my last instrumental album More Than Music. Just check it out and let me know what you guys think! Expect more heat from us in the future. Peep the audio below.

KENO – Watch (Produced By Nefarious!)

KENO – Watch (produced by Nefarious!)

Jamar Equality

So awhile ago I (Time Travel) came into contact with a dope MC named “Jamar Equality” via myspace. Jamar Equality is from San Antonio, Texas & is one of the best MC’s I have ever heard. So after i hit him up, we clicked. He was feeling the beats I had, and i was feeling the tracks he had even more. So we talked business and have now done a few tracks together. Jamar & myself will have a mixtape coming soon (no exact date yet) titled, “Modern Warfare”. Don’t sleep on Jamar, or the tape were working on. Jam our track, “What Your Mind Sees” (produced by me) below, which is just a quick mix for now, but still ill.

http://www.myspace.com/jamarequality

-Time Travel

Jamar Equality – What Your Mind Sees (Prod. Time Travel)

What Your Mind Sees (Prod. Time Travel)

I interview rapper EPonym and producer Esta as they release a new video showing their process in creating a song.  They are working on their album called UpFromHere which drops sometime in september, EP says.

Nef: Esta, what was your inspiration for making this beat?

Esta: Right when i heard the record i knew what i wanted to do, it was one of those samples. EP and I both felt like it should be an underdog track.

Nef: Word, I know the feeling. EP what inspired you to write your lyrics to it?

EPonym: Basically the beat felt victorious and shit. And I was getting a vibe like “Hey we’re comin up in the world” so that basically was the outline. Like, despite what people say or have said we’ll still be elevatin’ the album title actually stems from one of the tracks on the album, and we couldnt really think of anything better suiting than that.

Click more to read the full interview…

Nef: Why did you guys decide to name the album UpFromHere?

EPonym: Well, we’ve been working on music for awhile now and with every song it seems we’re getting better, or we’re getting something right that we weren’t before [though not much naw sayin!? jk]. And also in our personal lives, atleast in mine, things have been in a slump and trying to be optimistic there’s really no other way for me or us to go naw sayin?

Esta: EP and I share alot of the same views, not just in music, but life. We’ve struggled alot but we know our goals and are realizing we can achieve them

Nef: Which Poptart flavor do you guys like best?

EPonym: Money.

Nef: *laughs*

Esta: Fucking cinnamon!

EPonym: I’m going to have to agree. Cinnamon is the best one. *laughs*. Not warm though…

Esta:Yeah, I be too lazy

Nef: Thank you for your time and everybody make sure to look out for UpFromHere dropping “sometime in september” *laughs*

Here is the first leak off of SLik d’s next album Summer Vibes. Summer Vibes will be avaliable for free download on Friday, August 14th which is his birthday. The track is called Summer Heat and it also happens to be produced by me. It’s dope. SLik d does this thing on the rhymes, Jarell Perry is on the hook. What more can you ask for? Peep the track below and click the above image to download it!

SLik d “Summer Heat” feat. Jarell Perry (Prod. Nefarious!)

Summer Heat (Feat.Jarell Perry)

click ‘more’ for contact info and to peep another leak produced by my homie Scrabble

SLik d “On My Mind” (Prod.Scrabble)

On My Mind (Prod.Scrabble)

SLik d on Myspace

SLik d on Twitter

Jarell Perry on Myspace

Jarell Perry on Twitter

I was one of the lucky 8,000 people that attended the Stern Grove Festival in San Francisco on July 26th. Lyrics Born and The Lyrics Born Re-View were headlining. The Lyrics Born Re-View consists of The LB Band, vocalist Joyo Velarde and The Jazz Mafia Horns.  The Mighty Underdogs opened the show with an ill performance keeping each and everyone of the 8,000 hippies, potheads, and Hip-Hop fanatics entertained. The Mighty Underdogs consists of rapper Gift of Gab from Blackalicious, rapper Lateef The Truth Speaker from Latryx, and producer Headnotic of the Crown City Rockers.  There were various special guests throughout the set including Pigeon John, Trackademicks, and DJ Sharp. Kat Ouano (future mother of my children) also did her thing on the keys during The Mighty Underdogs’ set. Overall the show was ill. The scent of la in the air kept the mood right. The venue was beautiful, the music was DOPE, and I was accompanied with some of my favorite peoples. Make sure you check these artists’ music out if you havent already.

Click ‘more’ watch a short clip so you  can have an idea of how huge this event was.

Since I’m a design freak and I just like the practice, I hopped on Photoshop CS3 (yeah, no version 4 for me!) and cranked out this final art for A Kid Love, beta. Proceed to the jump for the back artwork.

This is the official artwork for the album (now). That’s the cool thing about beta versions. lmao.

Another Fresh Sole Beat Season 1, Episode 2

You would not believe how late it is. I’ve been feeling a bit withdrawn. The fact that I’m not getting any sleep or much cut these days (laughs it off) doesn’t help. So I was supposed to “inebriate” away my sorrows tonight… with various alcohols and meaningless conversation. Well I was actually supposed to be at Diamond Head underneath a pitch black Hawaiian sky. FML.

Enters this sample I had been playing around with all day… to chop or not to chop? That was the question. I was planning to go small and massive, but I instead went for a traditional 16 x 4 using different parts of the sample. Since virtually no record of this sample being used has surfaced on the internet, I will choose to kept my mouth shut on this one. This is turning out to be a blog, huh?

So I have to tell this story too; I’ve been teaching myself Music Theory as of late, in an attempt to enlarge the territory that is my beat-making artistry. Half way through the book, like any person not being institutionally trained, I start doubting myself and my ability to take things whole and decompose them creatively in my mind. As a result, yesterday was mundanely productive. I say productive still, because having made it more than half way through the first course book, I accomplished the feat of connecting several principles of playing that before didn’t make sense. What in the world does this have to do with beat-making? I don’t know, however, I would take a stab as feeling that once you’ve understood, at least, bass clef and treble clef… their underlying principles… and their relation to each other and musical notes in general, it should open an array of sounds up for use in your production, but more or most importantly, strengthen what your hears allow you to sensibly hear. [This paragraph pertains to the bass line notes used in the beat. I totally sucked at playing bass lines in the past.]

Back to the beat. Drinking wasn’t working out for me at all… so after being in a room with three random people and knocking a couple back… I respectfully got up and walked back to my end of the barracks and slid my ID card in the door thingy. (Don’t laugh.) From there it was the refrigerator to grab the last Full Throttle and some peanut butter M&M’s. Then it was to my work desk, F3… what are the homie’s doing. Time Travel had just gotten off AIM, so myself, Juno Complex and Nefarious! chalked a few laughs and F-you’s to Twitter seeing as Nefarious! lost about 500 followers and the good admin people were evidently ignoring him, or fixing the problem without notifying him (laughing at the latter actually being a possibility.)

We wrapped up talking out and planning of our Teaser tape and I told my ex-girlfriend peaces and said I would get to making a beat. Works for me, because there was already a sample stretched across the screen on Recycle.

Add a few slices in across the wave form for chop points (92 to be exact) and then we’re moving along. Reason was already prepped since I had been practicing chords previously during the day. So how do you go about making your beats? Some people do drums first. In my personal opinion, I feel like the sample becomes the fine sketch you paint over. So I lay the sample first. (Regardless of how I prepared it in the video. Then I actually laid the bass down next and added some reverb and fold back distortion. Just a note: it brings out the beauty in whatever channel you aux it to; especially samples and bass instruments in the rack. Just drag and drop it underneath the mixer (four max).

After the bass was done and where I wanted it I laid the drums and then added some spice to it… very subtle though. I had actually planned on making a video from another sample I was working on, but it was late, I had nothing to do and I figured why not? So I created the video, threw the footage down in iMovie and added some creative breath to it. The end result is AFSB Episode 2, still Season One. Enjoy.

Here’s a new track I produced featuring Atlanta emcee J.Nolan. It’s the first track leak for my next album called The Soul Dojo. That album will basically be me on the beats with an ill roster of emcees on rhymes. No release date yet so don’t sleep! You can check J.Nolan’s music out on his MySpace page and follow him on Twitter via @J_Nolan.

J.Nolan – For Your Love (Prod. Nefarious!)

J.Nolan – For Your Love (Prod. Nefarious!)