Beatmaking Quotes

Lyrics over some nice beats - that's what the people want from us.

I feel like I can make records where, you know, I can get in the alley and exchange bars with Styles P, but I can also get in the studio and create a classic with Rihanna.

Sometimes, I make 50 songs and pick out the best 10. I've been in the studio all day, all night, making the beat, writing the raps. You never know what's gonna be a hit.

Dub has been a big influence in terms of production. It's inspired so many people and so much music - in terms of music where mixing desk was the instrument. Central to that is the echo chamber, and I think there's a little bit of a romantic thing there.

Madlib isn't a beatmaker, he's a producer.

I learned a lot from working with and watching Knxwledge, seeing how he produces non-stop. He doesn't dwell too long on stuff. He's very simple, using only about two or three elements. I like that in production. Sometimes it doesn't take more than three drums, a melody, the vocal, looping a sample or whatever, just as minimal as possible.

I've been DJing mostly, and most DJs end up producing. That's just me.

I try to tell the truth in my lyrics; write good melodies and make hard beats. So, basically, I just combine hip-hop with melody. That's how I classify myself.

My goal is to be the Jay Z of DJing.

I like writing on piano and a computer, and a lot of 'Plans' came out of samples and vocal lines.

As a producer and DJ, I just like makin' great music and hot records for the club.

I never made beats to make beats; I only made them when there was a record to make them for. That's one of the things that has changed in hip-hop that's made me like it less. It feels much more like it's a producer-driven medium, where there are all these tracks that are completely interchangeable.

I grew up on Dilla, Timbaland, Pharrell, all these drums that are super pocketed, so all those influences come out on a song like 'Ungrateful Eyes,' with all the crazy drum swing.

I just take rock songs and mix it with hip-hop and a little bit of R&B.

I consider myself more of a producer and a musician than a DJ.

I'm trying to make music that I like, and I love hip-hop. At the same time, I love guitar. I love rock and everything.

I'm a rapper-singer, or singer-rapper - it's not one before the other. I do both.

For people who love Tribe, I'm the defector. They say, 'You should get back with Ali to do the beats.' But a lot of people don't realize I did all the music in Tribe. In the first three albums, I did all the beats!

When I went to AI New England in Boston, I used to do my mixtapes, and honestly, if you look back at any of my mixtapes, every single mixtape tells a story.

Hip-hop is a part of rock & roll because it comes from DJ culture. DJ culture is the embodiment of all genres and all recorded music, if you actually pay attention to it.

I'm into my grime, hip-hop, dance, and house music.

I made my first mixtape when I was 11.

I guess I only work with versatile rappers, chameleons like Guilty Simpson, J Dilla, and Doom.

Hip-hop is rich in musical allusion. It takes something that already existed, respects it, and reuses it.

I started off as a recording engineer and a beatmaker. I was this skater kid that would skateboard to auditions, and then I would use the money I'd make and buy a bunch of equipment and make a bunch of beats. I still am that kid, just with a little more money.