The Soundtrack Beat Battle in Nashville was definitely an experience. It was an amazing time and truly positive experience for me. I’ve never been to an event where it was centered around beats and producers but thrown so professionally. It was truly a great time and big shouts to KoKo Karine (typo?) for giving me the opportunity to play my tracks. I’ve been in battles before but this one was off the chain. I went with the mindset of winning but in the back of my mind my back up plan was to make sure I was ready for the next one and to truly take in what was going on. I went solo, well my girl came but she came for personal reasons lol. I walked in head held high and it commenced. Soundcheck! They had a dope ass system that definitely brought the best in your beats out. I brought two CDs of beats and crafted them to what I thought the crowd would like. I conducted a mini video interview for the battle and posed for pictures for the video board they had when you played beats. Cool huh?! But, once the battle started I turned my brain on and information/learning lessons presented themselves to me nearly instantly. The judging panel included reps from Sony/ATV, producer for Nicki Minaj (Drew Money of Right Thru Me) and Nipsey Hussle. I’m a huge fan of Hussle and competing in this beat battle so he could hear my beats was a WIN for me. I just wanted to make the connection. I lost in the first round. I played the beats: In for the Kill and a beat called 7 Mile Down which I made for Oba Rowland back when we first put “Feel Me” on the Internet. I played them confidently knowing that I would get to the 2nd. I was wrong. Lesson #1. But, literally after I walked off stage, Nipsey’s manager pulled me to the side and took my contact information down. He was there to take every producer contact info down but nobody was getting his. Lesson #2. I chilled in the crowd and people kept coming up to me congratulating me on how my shit sounded. It was TWO beats and I lost but people was coming up to me. COOL. Towards the middle of the battle I walked through the crowd looking for Nipsey honestly and when I found him son stopped talking to whomever he was speaking to and came up to me. Son was like, “yo cuzz yo shit was hot real talk, did you give my manager yo number caz we gotta link up.”. I was honestly taken aback but fuck it. By this time I had already gave a cd to his manager Lesson #3 but the fact that he was real enough to come at me like that was cool wit me. I wanted to be like, yo I fuck with the Marathon and I’m a fan of you and your work. But, the g in me couldn’t let me go out like that lol. But, I gained ALOT of respect from Nipsey to come 2000 miles in search of beats with just his manager. No rapper ego just a real dude. Hopefully they’ll hit me up. I’ll fly to LA for that shit on my own dime to make that happen. But, all in all I enjoyed myself and I’m definitely going back to do it again MAY 28 if they’ll have me again. Here’s what I learned!
1. Always have business cards; I needed them and didn’t have them. Definitely would have made more moves if I did.
2. Always go for the knockout punch. I held back colder beats because I wanted to make it to the next round. Wrong strategy.
3. Bring AMPLE amount beat CDs. I brought 3 for the panel judges. There could have been artists there who wanted to fuck with me.
4. Capitalize on your own. This is my biggest one. No one is responsible for me blowing up but me. While they were conducting interviews I should have been taping it. Something, always something.
5. Be seen AND heard. I was solo and that was cool however I was a drop of water in an ocean. I could have been passing out beat CDs to everyone. Just anything to make an ample amount of noise for people to REMEMBER who I am.
6. Network with the event coordinator. I did on small scale. But, not enough to my liking. She might need a favor and I may need one as well too.
7. Politic with the fellow producers. They were cold as shit and could turn me on to new techniques and I the same. They were way more BATTLE SEASONED. But, that’s no excuse.
8. MIX MY FUCKING BEATS!!!! I second guessed playing some beats because of the mix. I learned my lesson.
These things will be implemented May 28, 2011. Thanks for reading.
-KB
