Achickwitbeatz presents ⁠the Instrumental Intel podcast⁠, bringing you information instrumental to your artistic career including music industry news & tips, insights & interviews, and beats for your inspiration. Listen on Saturdays at 7 pm EST on ⁠⁠⁠Grander Radio⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠Achickwitbeatz.com⁠⁠⁠.
Follow on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube Audiomack & SoundCloud, and subscribe on your favorite podcast platform. Download the Grander Media app to listen to Grander Radio on the go.

Instrumental Intel Podcast

Achickwitbeatz brings you information instrumental to your artistic career including music industry news, insights, interviews, and beats for your inspiration. Listen on Saturdays at 7 pm ET on ⁠⁠⁠Grander Radio,⁠⁠⁠ Achickwitbeatz.com⁠⁠⁠, and your favorite podcast platform.

Transcript Generated by Riverside

00:01
Hey, thank you for tuning in to Instrumental Intel. I am your host, music producer, Achickwitbeatz. And I'm so glad that you've joined me today. I got another episode lined up with music industry news, Beats produced by me for your inspiration. And later, J. Scott da illesT will be joining me. We'll be chatting about some of everything from Beats, bars, and beyond. So it's going to be a great time. And so right before I get ready to go ahead and press this button to drop this first beat, I gotta make sure that I give a shout out to my home station, Grander Radio, out of Grand Rapids, Michigan, and with that, let's go.

13:14
Alright, I am back with the music biz brief. First up, BMI filed a rate court action against SiriusXM seeking fair fees for licensing its 22.4 million song repertoire. So according to BMI, SiriusXM has resisted paying rates that reflect BMI's market share, growth in the digital market, and the company's revenue surge.

13:34
After years of negotiations, BMI claims SiriusXM is undervaluing songwriters, composers, and publishers. The court will now determine if BMI's proposed rates covering January 2022 through December 2026 are reasonable. This follows BMI's 2022 court victory against live event promoters, which secured a 138% royalty increase for songwriters. Next up in news, Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino recently defended concert ticket prices, calling

14:03
quote unquote, incredibly affordable, end quote, compared to other entertainment. Speaking at a Goldman Sachs conference, he highlighted that 75% of the tickets are under $100, with many priced below $50. Rapinoe argued that while sports tickets can reach thousands of dollars without backlash, music events face criticism for high prices. He says that he sees VIP packages as a growth opportunity, offering premium experiences without front-row seats.

14:30
While some artists worry about pricing backlash, Rapinoe believes that the demand remains strong even with Ticketmaster's dynamic pricing model, which we know many others beg to differ. So we'll see what happens there. Alright, no surprise the Greater Nashville 2024 Music Census reveals challenges for local artists including high living costs, low pay, and lack of diversity.

14:52
76% of respondents have never received financial aid and want tax relief, while Davidson County creatives struggle more with housing costs. The census highlights disparities, with Nashville's music ecosystem being 85% white and women making up only 26% of creatives.

15:09
Respondents earn an average of $52,000 for music work with local performances and studio jobs as key income sources. Solutions include tax incentives, venue support, and increased opportunities for younger, diverse artists. Full results are available at greaternashvillemusiccensus.org. Alright, and TuneFM, a decentralized music streaming platform, is aiming to shake up the industry with a web 3-base model that pays artists more than traditional services.

15:37
Instead of subscriptions, users buy jam tokens and that's JAM in all caps to pay per song streamed with artists earning 1 cent per minute of play, far more than Spotify or Apple Music offer. The platform also rewards listeners with jam tokens for engaging with promoted tracks. With recent backing from globally emerging markets and plans to expand, TuneFM hopes to provide a more equitable and innovative streaming experience.

16:02
Also, HYBE, the South Korean entertainment giant, recently acquired a 51% stake in an unknown company for $25 million, according to a recent regulatory filing. This move is part of HYBE's ongoing expansion beyond music into areas like gaming, AI, and integrated online slash offline experiences.

16:21
Hive has been actively investing in various sectors including its acquisition of Exile Music in 2023 and Quality Control in 2022. With significant investments in gaming and AI, Hive's continued global growth and diversification are reshaping its business strategy. We should learn more details on this latest acquisition in the near future.

16:41
Alright, you've probably heard by now there's been a lot of industry shakeups. Kevin Liles, the CEO of 300 Elektra Entertainment, is stepping down from his role at the end of this month, leaving both the label and Warner Music Group. He will continue to consult through the end of the year, and he joins other top Warner Music Group executives Max Lusada and Julie Greenwald, who are also departing. Liles highlighted the success of 300 and its cultural impact over the past decade and expressed confidence in the new leadership team.

17:10
He plans to focus on new endeavors, including advocating against the criminalization of hip-hop lyrics and supporting political campaigns. Another shakeup at Warner is Kaz Kobayashi, president and CEO of Warner Music Japan, will step down later this year after leading the company for the past decade. He played a pivotal role in transforming Warner Music Japan into a digital first-label in a market dominated by physical sales. Kobayashi is working on a transition plan with the new chairman and his successor will be announced soon.

17:39
Alright, the American Hockey League, or AHL, is facing a lawsuit from Associated Production Music, APM for short, for allegedly using unlicensed music in social media posts. APM, jointly owned by Sony Music Publishing and Universal Music Publishing Group, claims that various teams posted promotional videos using their music without permission. The lawsuit targets nine teams and seeks $150,000 in damages per infringement.

18:05
So this follows a broader trend of lawsuits against companies like Johnson & Johnson and NBA teams for similar unauthorized music use in their social media content. So once again something to be aware of out there especially if you're making your own content. If you're using music that's not yours make sure that it's correctly labeled and that you actually have the permission to use it because these companies are coming for the money things have been tightening up everywhere so they're trying to make sure they can get every single penny that they can. So yeah just be careful out there.

18:35
The U.S. House Judiciary Committee has raised concerns about the transparency of how performing rights organizations, or known as PROLs for short, distribute licensing revenue. A letter to the Register of Copyrights calls for an investigation into how PROLs gather data and distribute royalties with an eye on improving the current system through new technology or practices. So this could eventually lead to draft legislation, though it's still in the early stages.

19:00
Alright and again another suit. Tempo Music has filed a lawsuit against Miley Cyrus, Sony Music, and others claiming that her hit song Flowers copies elements from Bruno Mars' When I Was Your Man. So if you've seen the story floating out there, there have been a lot of outlets that are kind of implying that it's Bruno Mars doing it but it's actually not.

19:19
It's tempo music, which acquired the rights to the Mars track from co-writer Philip Lawrence, and it says that Flower shares melodic, harmonic, and lyrical similarities, including key chord progressions.

19:31
So the lawsuit also targets streaming services and even retailers that sold or hosted flowers and Tempo seeks damages citing the global success of Flowers which was the best-selling single of 2023. So yeah, it'll be interesting to see how that turns out looking at the notation and of course, the similarity between the lyrics is quite obvious. A lot of people say it was intentional, which it probably was, but at the same time, you know.

19:56
With these cases like that, we've seen people get in trouble for stuff like this very recently. So yeah, we'll just have to see how that one turns out. And finally, ticketing company Light has shut down, leaving concert promoters unpaid and its website offline. The company's founder has resigned and an emergency effort is underway to find a buyer to repay affected fans and promoters. Light faces allegations of mismanaging funds and altering its business model.

20:22
If bankruptcy occurs, it could result in significant financial losses for clients. So yeah, just something to be aware of. At one point the website went down, they said it was under maintenance, then...

20:33
next thing you know it was still down so you know it's always unfortunate when stuff like that happens but just something to be aware that things like this can happen so you know hopefully these people who are owed money by the company are able to recoup what they've lost but yeah once again that's something else that we just kind of have to wait and see if some investors come in and swoop it up. Alright, I'm gonna take a quick pause for the cause and then I'll be right back with my special guest J. Scott da illesT right after this. Keep it locked.

32:49
Hey, I'm Achickwitbeatz, multi-genre music producer and strategist to indie artists and labels. Visit achickwitbeatz.com for resources for artists and instrumentals in various genres available for songs, blogs, blogs, podcasts, themes, TV, film, commercials, and more. Once again, that's achickwitbeatz.com. That's A-C-H-I-C-K-W-I-T-B-E-A-T-Z.com Let's make something happen.

33:19
Thank you so much for tuning into instrumental Intel. I'm your host, music producer, Achickwitbeatz. And I am very, very thrilled to say that I have with me in the virtual building, J. Scott da illesT. I mean, he's a producer, songwriter, rapper, singer, whatever you need. He does it. You know, I'm probably leaving some stuff off actually, but, you know, I just want to thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to come in and share.

33:46
And if you could, you know, just let the people know who is J. Scott da illesT and how you got involved with music and stuff. Yeah. So, well, first of all, again, thank you, you know, Achickwitbeatz. This is dope. You know what I'm saying? Being able to, you know, connect with you, you know, through IG and, you know, you coming across my music and, you know, I'm able to hear what you do as far as your production and, you know, you invite me to your platform to speak. So I just want to say thank you for that first and foremost.

34:14
Yeah, yeah, but you know, J. Scott da illesT, I'm from Linden, New Jersey, now residing here in Douglasville, Georgia, about 30 minutes from downtown Atlanta. But um, yeah, that's, that's, you know, I'm just a classic man. That's all you know, I love traditional boom bap, hip hop, I love soul music, I love jazz.

34:43
of that is possible, you know, whenever I get a chance to do some writing or some recording. You know, you're going to get going to get pure lyricism for me. You're going to get some storytelling. You might get some singing if I feel like a melody is telling me to sing something, you might get some of that. As far as the production, you're going to get traditional boom bap.

35:07
You know, you might just get some loops, you know, where there are no drums, because I know that's become a thing over the past few years as well. So you might get some of that, but I'm just a nice collection of Hip Hop and music. I like to say about myself. OK, OK. So, I mean, you named all the genres and stuff. So I guess who are some of the specific artists that you could think of that you would say maybe had the most profound impact on your music?

35:35
man, we'd have to go back really, really far. We'd have to go back to the days of the Fat Boys, you know, me being a husky kid growing up, you know what I'm saying? I was able to make that connection with somebody who looked like me immediately, you know? And then what they was doing as far as hip hop, it just spoke to me. I knew exactly what it was. So we would have to go Fat Boys first.

35:59
You know, we'd have to go run DMC and we had to go LL. You know, we'd have to go that whole early Def Jam, you know, Slick Rick, we'd have to do all of that first, you know, then we can get more into your, you know, Nas and Big and Jay. I don't want to sound cliche, but it just is what it is. You know, those guys are really the ones that really, really made me just like focus and hone in on what's really, really going on. And Redman, you know, me being from Jersey, definitely locking in with Redman and Fugees.

36:28
Queen Latifah and outsiders. And there was a guy from Piscataway, I think he was White Boy, I think, named Milkbone. He was from Piscataway, New Jersey. So he had a joint out back in the early 90s. So it was a lot of influences, in regards to what made me wanna pursue a career with rap and production. And of course, as far as producers,

36:58
I gotta mention Dr. Dre. Dr. Dre is probably the first producer that made me want to make beats. You know, I was already a fan of rap and writing, but as far as me wanting to make beats, Dr. Dre is the one that made me do that with the Chronic album. I had never heard anything like that before. And, you know, just hearing, I'm listening to it and I'm hearing stuff that I know nobody's, you know, even keying in on.

37:23
because of my influences of listening to jazz and R&B and hearing live instrumentation and being able to see that in person. So I'm hearing that stuff in his production that I know the average ear is not picking up on. So those are, Dr. Dre was definitely the person that inspired me to start trying to make beats. And then of course, Premier and Pete Rock, those guys will forever be my top producers that I will go to and listen to, hear what they're doing.

37:52
Okay. Man, you named a whole bunch of heavy hitters right there. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. This thing, this thing goes, goes long in my blood. Yeah. So, okay. With, with those being some of the early influences, what would you say was like the turning point where you were like, you know what, I got to do this. I got to pursue this like wholeheartedly. So it was, um, it was during COVID, you know, you know, up to, up to that point, you know, I had.

38:18
you know, recorded myself and, you know, I had recorded a couple of joints with some brothers that might have been trying to do something, you know, here or there, but I had never tried to really pursue it for myself because I'll be honest with you, you know, I dealt with shyness when it comes to certain things. You know, as artists, we always are very, you know, particular about, you know, who we show our art to and who we let hear our art and, you know, we so, you know.

38:44
worried about what somebody might think about what it is we're doing. So a lot of times we might not do that out front. So for a long time that was me, but it was COVID and us being locked down and not being able to move. So I'm making beats in the crib and during the quarantine and had one of my homies come over to the crib because I'm a barber as well.

39:10
And so, you know, I had to shut, you know, all the shops and everything was shut down during the quarantine. So, you know, I have, you know, certain clients, I would let them come to the house to get service. And this one particular client of mine is also a friend of mine, a brother, his name is DJ Soulfingers. He's from London, New Jersey. And growing up, you know, Soul was always one of them DJs who he was a hip hop DJ first before anything. So, you know, just growing up as a kid, going over to Soulfingers house, he always had mad vinyls or whatever.

39:36
the latest and current hip hop records was. So he's always been in my life. But anyway, he was over at the crib and I'm playing him some beats while I'm cutting his hair. And he like, yo, what are you doing with these beats? And I'm like, bro, I'm trying to, you know, sending them out to people, but you know, ain't nobody really biting on them. And he was like, well, maybe they don't know how to rap on the joints. Maybe they don't know how to write song. He's like, you the one that's producing them, you know, you should start doing it yourself. I'm like, you know, I'm like, so you serious at the time? I'm like, I think I was 47.

40:04
And I'm like, I said, so I was like 47. He's like, so what? You know, he was like, you dope, bro. He's like, I know you. He was like, yo, I'm telling you. He's like, yo, if you start writing the rhymes to your songs, if you put it out there, he's like, bro, I'm telling you, people gonna mess with it, man. He's like, people like you, man. They gonna tap in and see what you're doing. And I said, you know what? I said, I give it a shot. And when he left, I wrote something. I recorded it. And then I just kept on recording songs. I kept on recording stuff.

40:32
and started making connections with people on IG. And I dropped my first album, what was that, in 2021. I think I put my first album out independently. I dropped it on Bandcamp. And again, we was all in quarantine, so everybody was very supportive of it online, on Facebook and everything. And they bought it up. I was like, okay, we got something here. So that's when I got serious about me really being on the artist side of it. Okay.

40:59
So I guess with that being said, could you kind of walk us through your creation process? Like what type of vibe do you have to get in either for, you know, whether it's you writing or just making beats? Like what's your typical process look like? So, as far as songwriting, I'd say 99% of the time I have to hear the music first.

41:24
And, you know, that's my process. I know it's a lot of artists process as well. You know, the music will tell us what to say. You know, the music could tell us what to say. It'll tell us what to sing. The music talks to us and tells us what direction it wants to go in. And then we have to follow the music and now we have the task in front of us. It's like, OK, now I've got the assignment. You know, how are we going to navigate this assignment of this writing project? So that's what it is for me when it comes to me.

41:52
actually writing a song, I've got to hear the music first. When it comes to beats, I'll look for the sample first. I'll look for samples first and then I'll start chopping. I'll start chopping, I'll loop and listen, I'll chop some more. I'll move some stuff around. I'll start playing with pitches, pitch controls and, you know, start messing with some automation, you know, start messing with sliders and just, just playing with the effects. You know, once I got a good groove going, then I'll go ahead and, and

42:21
I like messing with breakbeats. I like reformatting the drums on those break beats and just bringing new life to those break beats. And so that's my process as far as production. But yeah, yeah, and then sometimes it, like I said, with what's been going on over the past few years, sometimes it might just be a loop. It might just be a jazzy loop and I might be like, all right.

42:48
We just gonna borrow up on this and we ain't put no drums on it. You know, so different ways. Also like to work with people who play live instruments too. There's a, there's a brother that I met down here in Georgia. Since I've been back here, his name is Mike Jarrell and Mike Jarrell is a super dope artist, super dope, plays multi different instruments. And we've been, we've been building on some stuff too. So now I got somebody that I could say, Mike, I need some horns on this.

43:15
And Mike can play me live horns. I could be like, Mike, I need some organ and he can play organ and piano and different keys. He just brings a whole lot to the table that I'm just excited about tapping into that. You know, we've only done a little bit, but you know, I do like to do that sometimes too, if I can. Um, and that goes back to my, you know, the Dr. Dre influence. Okay. So it sounds like you basically all about catching the vibe. Is that kind of how you choose? You're good. I'm sorry. Go ahead.

43:41
No, I was just saying definitely, definitely. That's so like, is that the same way you go about choosing who you collaborate with? Um, I just like to work, you know, um, I really, really just like working, you know, so, you know, when I, when I dropped my first project, you know, I was just like stuck on that, like, okay, I'm just going to rock over the stuff that I produce. And then I did my second album. First album is called Lazaretto. Um,

44:06
by the way, because you know, we was in quarantine and that's, you know, that's what Lazretto means. Lazretto is a hospital or quarantine. So I named it that. The second project is called, um, uh, Flowzark. And I, and so, and so I kind of took it, you know, took a, a, a page from Ozark because I'm a huge Ozark fan. And I just wanted to call it Flowzark because, you know, the way I was, you know, I was messing with different flow patterns and stuff like that, but, you know, I wanted, you know, I was also, I think I was rewatching

44:34
Ozark at that time too. So I was just playing off of that. I was added on earlier today. Listen, listen, I can't, at some point in time I will rewatch all of it again. That's, that's it. But, um, yeah, so, so, so, so with, with that, you know, I was, I was pretty much just only rocking on my own beats, but, um, I had a friend of mine, uh, low-badget out of Harrisburg, PA, and he would tease me about that. He like, yo, Scott, man, you don't want to rock on nobody else beats, man. I'm sending you stuff. You ain't feeling it. I'm like, it ain't that. I'm like, I'm just.

45:03
I'm just in a pocket right now. But then I had to take in consideration what he was saying and I started reaching out to different producers. Like, yo, what you, I'm hearing what you're doing, what's going on over there. And then start coming to find out that some of these people I was reaching out to, they was also fans of my work too. So yeah, so I'm just a fan of the work. If I hear something that somebody's doing and I think I can add on to it, I'll go ahead and.

45:29
I'll go ahead and ask for, you know, to see if we can collaborate on some stuff. You know, you know, I've been digging into some of your tunes as well. And so, you know, I see like that you're mad versatile. And I know I see you like to play with them house vibes, too. So, you know, me being Jersey, you know, I know all about that. You know what I mean? So I definitely I know you and I definitely could can put something together, you know, so. But yes, it's all about the vibe. Like you said, it's about what I hear and.

45:55
If it moves me, then we can work. I feel like I have enough experiences in different genres of music that I can jump in several different lanes, excuse me, and still maintain who I am as an artist, without veering off too far from what people normally would hear from me and stuff like that. Yeah. Okay. And so I'm glad you said that about working together because now I got you on record. It's going to be on all the podcast platforms, so I'm going to hold you to that. Absolutely. Let's get it.

46:25
Let's, let's get it. All right. So yeah. Okay. I want to kind of backtrack a little bit. Sure. So you said that you decided to just take this wholeheartedly, completely seriously during the whole quarantine period and considering that's when you decided to take it serious and like your skill level now, what do you do to just, I mean, I mean, you sound like you've been taking this serious your entire life.

46:53
So what exactly was going on in those few years to just, you know, like. So, so, you know, in, in those, in those, like I said, I've always been, you know, I'm the same age as hip hop. So it's in my DNA. It's, it's just part of who I am. And so I've always been in the culture, you know, whether it was me trying to feed ER, but I still was trying to rap or if I was beatboxing, I still was trying to rap, you know, low key to myself, though, I was writing stuff, you know.

47:22
Um, if, if we was breakdancing, you know what I'm saying? I still was trying to rap, you know, and then, and then as we got older and now it's starting to get more progressive and we starting to learn that this is, this is going to be something that's going to be here and it's going to become dominant, you know, and now we're getting into the, you know, those early days, like I mentioned of, you know, uh, Redman and, and, and full G's and, and, you know, our early Nas and Jay, you know, and, and, um, Helter Skelter and that whole bootcamp era, you know what I'm saying? Now you starting to see the submerging people just come.

47:51
having cyphers and people jumping up in cyphers. And so that I was, now I wasn't scared to do that. I wasn't scared to jump in a cypher, but I had that fear of actually trying to be an artist, being a rap artist, because I just had so much respect for rappers, and I don't take that as a joke. I see what goes into it, for you to be able to write something.

48:16
you know, that that's going to have that kind of long lasting effect on somebody. And for you to get in front of people and perform that takes a lot of heart to do that. And like I said, I always have so much respect for that artist. You know, I just, you know, I didn't, I didn't ever forward it, but it's always been in me to do it, you know, and people that know me personally, they, they've been knew that what, what I was, what I was capable of doing, it was just about me getting out of my own way and, and going ahead and doing it. So yeah. Okay. I mean, that's.

48:45
That's heavy right there. And I feel like, well, first of all, most of the listeners of the podcast are independent artists. So anybody that's listening out there, what kind of advice do you have for them to go ahead and step out of their show? You know, for something that they've been kind of passionate about, but maybe they're afraid to do it. Yeah, just, just do it and don't worry about what anybody has to say. Don't worry about what anybody thinks. Um, do what you do, what you love to do, do what feels right to you and just put it out there.

49:14
You know, you just don't never know who's gonna like it. And if they don't like it, so what? You know, it's your art, it's your expression. It's therapeutic for the individual as well. And it's expression, you know? There might be things that you are holding in that you might not know how to express or deal with, but you know, music is an outlet, you know?

49:38
or whatever it is that you're trying to do. It's an outlet. So, you know, I would just say, just go for it. You know, don't let the people around you keep you from becoming who you can potentially be. Just do whatever it is that you feel like doing and that you believe that you can do. Just do it. And find like-minded individuals. Find other people that's on the vibe that you want and trying to accomplish and achieve the things that you're trying to achieve too, because that'll help the progress. You just dropped some very...

50:07
dope gems. Appreciate you for that. Oh yeah. Um, yeah. Okay. So again, to backtrack a little bit more, you would mention, uh, some of your projects from flows arc, how you like those arc. And, uh, one of the things I realized is, I mean, personally, when I'm working on stuff, I like to have the TV on no matter what I'm doing, even if I got my headphones on, sometimes I'll have like the little.

50:30
Which you call like the subtitles up so I can still see what's happening. One of my favorite things, aside from Ozark being just brilliantly written, great actors, but it was the music. I love anytime Ruth was playing hip hop. Like, yes, yes, that's worth having it on in the loop in the background.

50:49
Yeah. Just for that, because she was listening to some bangers. I'd be like, okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Ruth will be listening to big, she'll be playing pop, you know. Yeah. I think she was playing subultane one time, maybe. I'm not exactly sure. Nice, yeah. Yeah, so you know, that just goes to speak about, you know, about the reach of our culture. You know, it's everywhere, you know, and it's the thing that brings all of us together, you know.

51:19
uh, times of racism and prejudiciness. Hip hop will break down all of that and everybody will come together and vibe and hug and cry and sing and rap and dance together. And when the moment, in the moment that's over, they'll all go back to, you know what I'm saying? Some of those old ways. So that just goes to show you how big and meaningful this culture of rap and hip hop is to us, you know, that we, and we are.

51:41
If we're involved in it, we all have a duty to continue it and to continue to build on it and make it expand because it can create the change that we need. 100%. I feel you there. That's funny. You said, you said, um, you like to have the TV on while you're creating it. And it might not even be no noise subtitles on it. Yo, shout out to my, uh, my, my engineer, Kreese.

52:04
That's how he, that's how he works. When we, when we were in the studio recording, he's got, you know, everything set up, but the television above him, he's always playing something and the subtitles is on, I'm like, this guy's crazy. However you, however you work, that's how you work. Yeah. Well, shout out to him. Cause I thought I might be the only one. Cause I'm like, I know this is kind of strange, but sometimes, you know, you can glance up and catch the right thing and it causes inspiration. True. You know what? That's a dope line. I'm going to take that and you know.

52:33
Make a beat, call this. So I do that a lot. A lot of my beats are named after like weird things that I've heard on TV shows or looked up and saw in subtitles. So yeah. Yeah. So, okay. Share with us some of the projects that you had out. Do you want to talk about any future projects you got coming up? You don't have to spill the beans about anything that you don't want to do. I definitely, I definitely will. So, but, but before that, I want to just ask everybody to, you know, go, go to your.

53:02
streaming platform of choice and please go pull up my, um, my album, De La Rain. Um, I named that after my mom. She's still with us, you know what I'm saying? But I wanted to give her, you know, her flowers. I always want to give my people they flowers. So I named the album De La Rain kind of playing off De La Soul, but using my mom's name too. And, um, that's her, that's her high school graduation picture you'll see on the cover for that, but I just want to encourage everybody to please go and listen to that album because this is some joints on their man. Um.

53:29
And it'll take you on a ride. You know, you've got some highs and some lows, some left and some rights. You got some pit stops on there. It's not, you know, my projects, I try to take people on a ride. I don't like to just be going in one direction the whole time. I'd like to take you on a ride and give you, you know, challenge your thoughts and give you some things to listen to, some different vibes to listen to. You know, I got a joint on there dedicated to my father because...

53:55
I was like, you know what, ain't no father's day records, you know, and if they are, they're not really known. And, you know, so I want to do one for my dad. And so, you know, I did that for him. And, you know, you got another joint on there called Girls in My City. And I'm like, you know what, nobody's really talking about paying, you know, paying respect to the females in their cities and stuff like that. So I wanted to create a record that was universal as far as that goes. I did a trap joint on there because a lot of people in my age bracket and in my era of hip hop.

54:24
you know, a lot of those guys and girls, they'll turn their ears and turn their heads away from the trap joints. But I'm like, you know what? It's not that you gotta turn your head away from it, but you have to hear it in a way that is pleasing to you. So I did the trap joint, not sounding like I was 20 or 30 years old trying to be on that type of vibe. But you know, I just jumped into that kind of cadence that those guys use, put a little autotune on, and I actually told the story. So I'm like, you know, I wanted people to hear that. You gotta...

54:54
You know, the first record on the album, the jerk that opens up the album, that's me being fully transparent and just introducing myself and just, you know, sharing some incidences in my life that occurred that, you know, could be embarrassing for somebody to talk about, but you know what? That's life and we all have those moments when we behaved in certain manners and that wasn't too pleasing, but you know, we still have to be able to look at those situations face to face.

55:21
talk about those things. But it's a lot of vibes on there. I just would like for everybody to tap into that album called De La Rain. But yeah, I got a project coming. I've been dropping singles this year. I've been dropping singles since January. I'm like, you know what? Every month I'm dropping a single. I actually dropped two EPs though, but I've been dropping mad singles and mad EPs all year, just trying to build up to this bomb that's gonna drop. So...

55:49
I got an album coming out. Um, it's fully produced by Bumpy Knuckles. Um, yeah, me and Bumpy linked up, uh, online a little over a year ago. Um, he, he saw one of my videos, um, boom, bad nation reposted it on IG. I'm going through the comments and I'm seeing it's a lot of heads in there. That's in the game. That's commenting on his video. And so I seen, I seen bump commented and I sent him a message like, yo, man, you know, appreciate the feedback. He's like, nah, he's like, nah, bro. I see what you're doing.

56:18
I see you, man. Just keep going, bro. Keep going. And so from there, fast forward, you know, some months later, and I was working on a joint and I was like, man, somebody, I was like, I need somebody to get on this record with me. And I just, I just took a shot. You know, he popped up in my head. I said, you know what? Let me hit bump and ask him. And so I hit him. I asked him, you know, what would it take for him? He and I to work together. And he was like, what you what you thinking about? And I'm like, yo, listen, I got this joint. I'm hearing us going back and forth. You know, I want to send it to you. So.

56:45
He's like, all right, cool. Send it to him. He's like, I'm not really hearing you and I going back and forth. He's like, but you go ahead and do what you do and then send it to me after that. And so that's what I did. You know, wrote my bars in a way of, you know, I left the gaps open for him to fill in. And, um, he hit me back. He's like, you know, bro, give me a week and busy on some stuff. He sent the record back the next day, you know, and, and from there we established our relationship. And then just, you know, from talking with him, he just was like, yo, man, I want, I want to produce the album for you. He's like, I want to, I want to, I want to work with you.

57:14
And we locked in, so we got an album coming out, it's 10 records on the album. There's absolutely nothing like this that you're gonna hear. I know people say that a lot, but I promise you, when you hear this album, you're gonna be like, yo, who is J. Scott da illesT? Like, what is this, like, you know what I'm saying? Like, you, it's so many different vibes on there, man. It's like, of course we got the traditional boom bap stuff on there, but you know.

57:38
We got some R&B joints on there. We got some stuff that could be played on the smooth jazz radio, but it's still got that, it's still got a rap and hip hop vibe to it. It's just really, really dope. I'm super proud of it. And like I said, it's 10 joints. He just sent me the artwork for the cover art the other day. I just approved all of that. It looks amazing. And I'm super excited. Can't wait for y'all to hear that. We don't have a date for the release yet, but that's...

58:02
That's what me dropping these singles and these little, you know, these little clips and all this stuff. That's, that's all that's being done to lead up to that. Okay. So, you know, yeah, a lot of people may say that, but I'm gonna say you're the first person I actually believe. Cause yeah, you got like this, this classic vibe with a modern sound. I feel like it's kind of hard to balance, um, you know, for most people, but you, you execute it so well. And so yeah, I'm definitely excited to hear.

58:31
And, um, you know, since time is kind of getting ready to cut us short a little bit, I want to make sure that everybody knows exactly where they can follow you. Like all your social media, website info, all that good stuff. Yeah. Um, so, so social media, um, I'm, I'm mostly active on IG, um, at J Scott the illest J S C O T T D A I L L E S T J Scott the illest. And then I have my website also, which is official J Scott.com. So you can go on there. You can find the music.

59:00
You find the music videos, you'll see some performance videos, and then I have some merch on there as well. OK, awesome. And yeah, once again, thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to share, and I'm really hoping this is just the first part of many and that I get to have you back on here again sometime soon. Listen, whenever you need me, just just holler at me. You know, we locked in now, so, you know, we definitely got to get on some music, too. Yes, most definitely. All right. Well, I appreciate you so much.

59:29
Absolutely appreciate you as well. All right, and that's a wrap for this episode of Instrumental Intel. I've been your host, music producer, Achickwitbeatz. I'd like to thank you for listening. I'd like to thank my special guest, J. Scott da illesT, for coming through, sharing his wisdom, experience, and dropping some gems. I'd like to thank my home station, Grander Radio out of Grand Rapids, Michigan. I've already got another show lined up for you with more goodies next week, so make sure you come back for that. Till next time, you know where to find me. Tune in, tell a friend. I'll see you then.

59:59
Peace.