MG: Tell me about yourself.  Your story in the music game.

Bigg Vic: I started out back in 92 after I graduated high school managing and producing  a local hip hop artist in 1993 by the name of Crime. I landed a  small production deal with 3 Gems Records and Carolina Record Distributors. We moved a few units and really didn’t go too far with that deal. 97 I decided to pick up the microphone and release an album myself on my own indie label Phatt Pocket Entertainment. I wrote and produced the entire album, through that album I was able to get another production deal with Big East Entertainment/B Boy Records towards 4th quarter of 97. Another deal that had distribution problems with EMI during the year I signed with them. During this time I signed another local act and released their single and had a video produced to stay active in the game. That single I produced for the group hit number one on the local radio stations rotation list with A class artist. Funds evaporated with investors and I shortly shut the label down and sold my studio. Came back  6yrs later when the production bug bit me again…in 2006..lol

MG: How was it that you got affiliated with So So Def?

Bigg Vic: I got affiliated with So So Def Nov. 2008 about 2 years after I decided to create my Youtube account and make videos of myself producing tracks from scratch. I had made a decision that I would have the most beatmaking videos on youtube if I did nothing else in the music industry..lol  Well I happen to come across JD’s youtube channel and watched a video of him and Q Da Kid in the studio speaking of a mixtape that Q was working on and that they were looking for production for the project. At the end of the video they left an email address for people to submit beats, but I wanted to have one up on everyone else so instead of emailing the tracks to them I decided to leave JD a video response on his youtube channel and selected one of my beatmaking videos and hit the submit button.

I hit the button and went on about my business, 2 weeks after that a couple of my youtube subscribers told me congratulations on the JD deal, I had no clue what they were talking about so I actually ignored the first email but after the next few people hit me I went to JD’s channel to see what they were talking about, JD had made a video announcing who he selected. He chose 2 producers myself and another producer from NY he offered us both a publishing and production deal.. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing..lol It was totally unexpected.

MG: Are you working on any projects at this time?

Bigg Vic: Yes currently working on Dondria’s project as well as Johnta Austin’s project. Both are artists signed to So So Def.

MG: What was the biggest placement you ever had?

Bigg Vic: So far the biggest paying placement I had was a track I did for Muggsy Malone called “Guardian Angel” featuring the famous Ms. Mary Brown – Warpath/Fontana/Universal. I secured that placement a couple months before signing with So So Def through the PMP Worldwide website.

MG: If you could work with any artist, who would it be?

Bigg Vic: It would definitely have to be an artist with serious lyrical skills, I would have to say Jay Z or Nas either one.

MG: Tell me a good studio story.

Bigg Vic: I remember one time when things first started going digital I was recording my album on a Roland VS880 hard disk recorder. Actually I was done recording my second album and for the first time I let a new producer I was working with at the time work on some tracks with some of the artist we had on the label. I can vividly remember getting that dreadful call that my hard disk recorder wasn’t working. I tried to walk them through some steps to get the recorder working… nothing worked. That night I lost an entire album plus several other artists projects I was working on, I was so sick to my stomach…lol  Nevertheless I bought a back up floppy drive and started backing all songs… we live and we learn I guess!!

MG: What production gear do you use?

Bigg Vic: I have been using Reason 3.0, now Reason 4.0 for the past 5 maybe 6 yrs now. I also have Pro Tools 8 MBox2 Pro, I also have Cubase 5, and Cakewalk Sonar for recording reference tracks when I write songs for projects. Monitors I have M-Audio BX8a which I saw 9th Wonder using and I decided to grab a pair and the Yamaha hs 50’s. I use to own a pair of Yamaha NS 10m’s back in the day.. boy do I miss those monitors. And I also have an Akai MPK49 Midi Performance Keyboard

MG: Where do you stand in the battle of software VS hardware?

Bigg Vic: To be quite honest when I decided to get back in the game and give it another swing it was because of the demo I saw of Reason 3.0 at the time. I couldn’t believe that software could sound so great. I would not be back in the game if I had to go out there and purchase all of my old hardware all over again. Your always going to have people that use hardware that love it but hardware gets expensive. Software has really made the production game affordable for alot of up and coming producers. I love it by all means whatever you can do in a MPC I can do in Reason of course with the Akai MPK49 Midi controller that I use!!!

MG: What makes your tracks stand out from the rest of the producers out there?

Bigg Vic: I would have to say my style and sound is alot different from alot of other producers out here. For one I don’t listen to alot of radio but i will listen to the top charters to see what direction the industry is moving toward. There is a certain method to my madness, and I believe every track you hear from me is going to have a mean bassline somewhere in that track just about everytime.

MG: Are there any tips you can give to producers just getting into the music biz?

Bigg Vic: To new producers just getting into the biz I would say keep creating and keep coming up with as much original material as possible because the music game is always changing. Stay consistent and persistant you have to stay humble and hungry, it will come if you keep swinging that bat.

MG: How should they go about getting their music heard?

Big Vicc: I started off using PMP wordwide to submit my music for possible placement on up coming projects, and hear of alot of producers having success using Dynamic Producer as a way to get their music into the hands of top A&r reps. If you have what it takes both of those sites cost between $35 to $50 per month but it’s worth it if you have fire.

MG: Is it necessary to have a lawyer or agent?

Bigg Vic: I don’t think it’s necessary to have a lawyer or agent in the beginning starting out but you will definitely need a good attorney once you start getting placements to make sure get every nickel owed to you for your work.

MG: How can an artist or label get in touch with you if they are interested in a beat?

Bigg Vic: If  you want to get in touch with me for production you can reach me directly at biggvicmusic@gmail.com

MG: Is there anything else you would like to add?

Bigg Vic: I’m currently putting a site together for upcoming producers called Reason Beat Club that should be fully up and running next month Feb 2010.  I also  just launched  my first set of Custom Drum Kits at http://www.the-resource-guide.com/Drumkits.htm

And I launched a book titled “Street Smart Guerilla Marketing Tactics” for aspiring Producers, Artists, and Managers. The complete guide to marketing your music empire online. http://www.the-resource-guide.com

That concludes our chat with So So Def’s Bigg Vic. Definitely keep an eye out for what he’s working on in the future, and stay tuned for A LOT more interviews with some up and coming artists and producers as well as a few more well-known surprises.

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Today we’ve got a special treat for all the producers out there from our friends at StickTrickProductions.com. They provide custom drum breaks at great prices. You can get a custom 16 bar drum loop for about $50. We’re talking REAL DRUMS, REAL DRUMMER, on a vintage kit…shit is beautiful.

What they’ve done is provided us with a nice big zip kit of long drum breaks, all in high-res WAV’s just ready for you to chop up, loop, or just enjoy. In total there is about 200mb’s of drum breaks. All original high quality recorded drum breaks. For real…and it’s free!! Grab this one. There are a few samples below. But make sure you go to http://www.sticktrickproductions.com and check out everything they have to offer. Don’t sleep on this offer, I’m sure the prices won’t be this low forever. Come on, custom drums??? How much better does it get than that?!?! For $50 you can not have to worry about clearing those drum breaks you always wanted to use.

Yeah FREE DRUM BREAKS!

Download Free Drum Breaks via MediaFire (link coming soon!)

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Today we’ve got the always entertaining and often underestimated Royce da 5′9″ with a new rendition of the “Too Hard for Rihanna” track So Hard.

This beat sounds like it was custom made for Royce so it’s no surprise he jumped at the opportunity to drop his own version.  The track features Kid Vishis, who if you think sounds a little bit like Royce, you’re right, it’s his brother. Not “brother” but official Blood Brother. Hopefully they’ll be a lot more new music coming from this tandem soon. For now, just enjoy this one.

Royce da 5′9″ f/ Kid Vishis

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A track of the Red Cafe – Hottest In the Hood Mixtape hosted by Diddy.

This is one of those lost gems that most people don’t get to here. Check out the “California Dreaming” Sample for all the sample-heads out there. Just another little audio proof tidbit.

Want to have your music featured here? Check out our Featured Artists section and send something over.

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The course will focus on the socio-economic meanings and situations related to soul music of the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s. Influences and all that good stuff. Best of luck to 9th and if anyone is at Duke, good luck getting a seat in that class now. I’d love to teach a class like that, makes me want to throw some Syl Johnson on…think I will…and I’ll share it with you.

Enjoy, and good luck to 9th.

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These are just a few key trends that hip-hop music needs in in 2010. If you’ve got some to add, drop them in the comments.

1. Bring back the samples – We saw a slight resurgance in the sample game in 09, but we always saw the shift towards electronic music. Not even the whole “I played this” type of stuff, but straight up Electronic the Genre – you know, DANCE music. Hip-hop in 09 kept moving towards electronic dance music. It’s cool for dance, but let’s not merge everything into one big POP genre. The solution – BRING BACK THE VINYL. It’s still the epitome of hiphop, so keep it coming.

2. Let them RAP – As has been the trend since the passing of the “BIG’s” (Big Pun, Big L, and Notorious of course) rapping has faded and replaced by half-singing r&b hip-hop vocalists. Obviously if that’s your thing, go for it, but when I’m listening to someone like Young Jeezy trying to sing, I’m hitting the skip button. If you’re a hip-hop artist, prove it. That’s what’s been lost, saying something. I’m not talking about the no-one-hears mixtapes, get that stuff out in the open. It’s been started in 09, let’s continue in 2010.

3. Bring back the grime – I’m sure I’m not alone in thinking that everything is too “soft” these days. Not even talking about content, but voice and sound. It’s a shame when Lil Wayne has the grittiest voice on the radio and that’s just because he’s so f**ked up when recording. Remember the emotion you’d hear from someone like Sticky Fingaz or even Jadakiss. His songs got zero radio play here.

What does hiphop need in your opinion? We need you to chime in.

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Empire State Of Mind from Brock Mills on Vimeo.

You’ve got to check this one out! Definitely a great montage. A photographer set Jay-Z’s Empire State to photos he took throughout all of New York City. Definitely a great thing to see if you’re an NYC fan, lover, or just urban enthusiast.

Definitely worth checking out!

This guy Brock Mills who created it has some AMAZING photography too. You should definitely check him out and take a look at his prints, I think they are for sale.

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By now, everyone is up on Pandora. You can get it on your iPhone, blackberry, and of course, on the computer at the job. Pandora has been making my days working behind a computer more enjoyable for about 2 years now. It’s a great productivity tool in my opinion and it’s going 24/7 in the office over here.

So we want to give up some of our secrets, this is the TOP 5 Pandora Stations to get you through the day (just click the link to go to the station):

1. Brooklyn Go Hard Radio – Why? It’s Jay at his best. You get everything from Nas to The Game. It’s that 96 vibe, just a little bit updated. As I type it’s playing “Can’t Knock the Hustle” Unplugged w/ Mary J. How can you really get any better than that?
2. Termanology Radio – Why? Surprisingly, they don’t play much Termanology, but they do play a lot of underground stuff, 90’s music, and all around grimier music. This is for the underground heads that are vibing out on the train/bus/car ride home.
3. The Roots Radio - Why? An amazing variety of real hiphop. Not “soft” hiphop, but real stuff.  Everything from the expected Roots Classics, but also Common, Consequence, Mos Def, all quality songs, no junk. Even joints you’re sure to have not heard in a while, like Busta’s Lament from ATCQ.
4. Jerry Butler Radio – Why? Because Jerry Butler is simply the man, that’s why. One of the most underrated and undersampled soul artists of all time. When you want to get that true old school vibe going, look for some stuff to sample, or are just a huge soul fan, let Jerry Butler lead the way. You get the Dells thrown in, a lot of that BIG Philly sound. They just threw on the Moments track that was sampled for Jay-Z’s Empire State single.
5. Timbaland Radio – Why? Because every once in a while, you need to hear some commercial stuff, and if you’re gonna do that, make it the best. This is one of those stations you throw on if you’ve got a mixed office and want to keep the mood very light and upbeat. Maybe your girl or friends are tired of listening to your underground stuff. Get the best of both worlds with Timbo radio.

The best thing about all of this? You can add your own variety to each station, so start stacking them up. Timbaland, Beyonce, 50 cent radio is a pretty good one for the full scope of commercial urban music.

Got a great station you want to share? Leave it in the comments! We’ll definitely give it a try.

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