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.
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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 so much for tuning in to Instrumental Intel. I am your host, music producer, Achickwitbeatz. And I'm glad that you've joined me. Today's episode is special for International Podcast Day, which is September 30th. I'm going to highlight some conversations that I've had with podcast creators, Ultramag7, and Tigmatic. So it's going to be a great time. I'm excited to be bringing this episode to you. And before I go ahead and drop that first beat, I got to give a shout out to my home station, Grander Radio out of Grand Rapids, Michigan. And with that,

00:30
Let's go!

03:47
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, vlogs, 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.

04:17
Thank you so much for tuning in to Instrumental Intel. I am your host, music producer, Achickwitbeatz. And I'm very, very excited to say that I have in the virtual building with me today, Ultramag7. I mean, we've been connected on Instagram for a while, but you know, it's really great to be able to have this conversation, uh semi, face to face. But if you could, you know, maybe just tell the people a little bit about, you know, who is Ultramag7 and how you got into it

04:46
doing what you do? uh Ultramag7, I guess I would be a Instagram content creator. And what I do, I like to call culture clips. So I like to take uh songs that have Hip Hop culture in them. And I like to take clips of pop culture. So culture clips. So movies, cartoons. uh

05:14
commercials, anything nostalgic, know, uh something from yesteryear. Try to put it together to see if it makes sense. I mean, I guess a lot of times it makes sense to me. I don't know if it makes sense to anybody else, but uh you know, I guess what some people would call mashup, but I like to make it my own. So I like to call it culture clips. um I got started at, during the lockdowns,

05:44
when the pandemic happened and it's two things. was boredom and jealousy. o boredom being locked down and there's this 24 hour cycle and you know, I'm gonna sit around and watch TV. uh I don't wanna read this book that I read 72 times. And so even though creative juices started flowing and then I would go on Instagram and

06:13
My page was kind of curated for Hip Hop. You know, I liked a lot of Hip Hop pages. And I would see all these people coming out with cassettes and records and tapes and t-shirts. And that's where the jealousy comes in. Cause I'm like, I got some of that stuff. So how do I, I guess what I envisioned was this, you know, online Hip Hop space. And I was jealous and I wanted to be a part of it.

06:43
And how do I do that in my own unique way? And as I said, I had, you know, a lot of these, you know, tapes, cassettes, but I didn't want to do that. I come from the age of not biting. So I was like, I don't want to do what you do. And so first, when I first started, took two songs that had maybe like a bridge, something that connected them, but they both had videos and I would cut the video right in the middle of one.

07:12
and then would sink into the other. So it seemed like seamless. And then I soon realized a lot of these songs that I wanted to do didn't have videos and I was going to run out of material. So I recall a friend saying to me, know, Hip Hop has a lot of pop culture and references. And when I heard that, said, ah, well, let me make my own videos. So that's where me doing my own thing, grabbing, you know, material from all these places started.

07:43
Okay, I mean, that's a really dope way to get started. think I kind of want to talk a little bit about something you just said there. It came from boredom and jealousy, but so many people have those emotions and they do nothing with it. the fact that you're like, okay, no, I'm going to get in this space. How do I fit instead of, like you said, biting? Cause you know, we see a lot of that these days and I missed that yesteryear era where, know, that was frowned upon.

08:13
But yeah, I just want to commend you for that. Cause like I said, a lot of people just sit in those feelings and don't actually get active about it. So one, thank you for getting active about it because what you do is so entertaining. And I think for me as a Hip Hop enthusiast and also as a producer, it feels like the same thing that we do with sampling. So like you take pieces here and there to create something totally new. So I love.

08:41
you know, anytime I'm just kind of mindlessly scrolling. And then when you come across and like, man, I would never make that connection. Like, it just makes so much sense when I see it, but it never would have occurred to me. And so, yeah, how do you kind of get in the zone for that? Because, I mean, it's really, it's masterful. Like it's artful. Yeah, it's weird. um like, actually, all right, I walk you through one I just did, I think.

09:11
I just did recently. So it was the uh Beastie Boys song. It's called Professor Booty. And I was, I think I saw on Instagram or somewhere on social media, there was this old cartoon, Sherman and Professor Peabody. And I'm like, oh, I haven't seen it for while. I'm like, oh, okay. But I remembered that, you know, the dog is the professor, you know, it's a cartoon and Sherman's this little boy.

09:40
And so I saw that and I'm like, oh, that's Professor Peabody. So my mind goes, Professor, Professor, Professor, Professor. I'm like, oh, Professor Saboodi. Then I'm like, wait, can I make a video out of this? So I went and grabbed like just one of the cartoons. I looked at a few, but just grabbed something. And as I'm doing it, I always listen to the lyrics. So I try to make the lyrics take me somewhere. So I started doing it, lip syncing it up. And then there's a part.

10:09
where they go looking good like that. that's from uh rest of peace, Freddie Prince. uh You know, I think he died in the late seventies. People may know his son, Freddie Prinze Jr. But he had a show, Chico and the Man, and that was his catchphrase. So then there's a part in the cartoon where the professor has a book and he opens it up. So I was like, you know, let me superimpose, you know, oh something of Freddie Prinze saying, “looking good” and

10:39
then there was a part at the song, what did they say? Don't touch me because I'm electric and if you touch me, you'll get shot. And it just so happened in the same cartoon that I think, who was it? Um This is horrible because I'm near Philadelphia. Benjamin Franklin, sorry. Sorry, my Philadelphia people.

11:04
Benjamin Franklin is sitting there and you can obviously, know, with the key and the lightning, so he gets shocked. So it just happened to fall into place and I could use all of these pieces. the inspiration comes from something as simple as that. Like it's just something I'm not even thinking about, but I guess, I guess because I've listened to Hip Hop so long and I know a lot of different songs that'll just make me think of titles and oh, this will work for this or, you know, like I'll watch a movie

11:33
and see a sequence and say, hey, that kind of sounds like this song or I hear a song and be like, you know, vice versa. And then I'm like, oh, that could be, you know, moved into this. So there's loads of different inspiration. It's not the same every time, basically. OK, so yeah, you can get inspiration from one or the other at any given moment. Wow. Absolutely. That's really cool. So, OK, now.

12:01
I've noticed that it's typically a lot of old school Hip Hop. Are there any greats that kind of drew you to the culture? Like to begin with that you can think of off hand, I should say. I know there's many. Yeah, well, number one, you know, the name is Ultramag7. So my favorite Hip Hop group is Ultramagnetic. So my name comes from that group name and then, you know, my favorite number seven. So, you know, when you get on Instagram, you got to come up with a tag and

12:32
That was just something I put together. If I had to go back, I guess, you know, when I started or knew that this thing might take off, I wouldn't have chosen that thing. I'm stuck with what it is, what it is, but I don't know, Ultramagnetic. I'm a little bit older, so I like, you know, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Cold Crush, Crash Crew. There's so many, Beastie Boys, obviously, with that song. Yeah, there's so many groups. Like, I could go on for...

13:01
Okay. So with some of those pioneers as, uh, you know, your favorites that you mentioned from that timeframe to now, how do you think technology, uh, well, should say specifically the internet has kind of changed things as far as music goes.

13:21
Well, you know, I talk about this with friends. Think the Internet, especially now, if you see what's going on. I know you always talk about what's going on in the industry and I love hearing that is uh right now. I think the Internet and everything is taken away the middleman and people don't really need labels anymore. It used to be, you know, you make a record and it might not come out for another year, you know.

13:49
you can make a record in your bedroom and then 10 minutes from now you upload it and if you have the following or you people, oh they're here your new songs. So I think it's really taken out the middle man. I think there's a lot of independent artists now that have a greater voice because they don't have to get behind that machine anymore. yeah. Yeah, absolutely. You know, you mentioned a lot of the stuff that you work with.

14:17
is out of the nostalgia. So what would you say would be like maybe the greatest thing out of the era, you know, where the golden era, when everything started taking off from what, 70s to like mid 90s. What do you think kind of defined that era? I think the diversity. There were so many different groups and style, know, so we had female MCs, a plethora.

14:46
and they didn't have to take off their clothes and shake the boot. You got, you know, Salt and Pepper who were super sexy, but didn't have to show their body. You have ultra magnetic, or on some scientific outer space stuff. Public Enemy, Pro Black, know, KRS-One. He's teaching, he's the teacher. So he's explaining all these things that we didn't, maybe didn't dive into or didn't even know about. So.

15:15
I guess it's really the diversity and I think on the top level of Hip Hop that you hear on radio or what people might call Hip Hop, I feel we don't have that. Like, best of going back to biting. Now it's, oh, you did that? I'm going to do that too. I'm going to do that. Then there's 50 people doing that and, you know, who's doing this? We don't need you to do that. Let Drake do that. You don't have to sing and rap.

15:43
Let, let, you know, let somebody else do that and just do what you do. Be the best you, can be. Yeah. Um, I wholeheartedly agree with everything that you just said. Um, I feel like that's part of the reason why we're seeing so many of the changes, uh, within the music industry. Like all these companies are letting so many top people go. They're dropping artists. And I think it's just because so many are just regurgitating the same thing over and over again. And it's rare.

16:12
uh now that I can actually listen to radio music and be able to tell who it is. Like there's a handful of artists where I can actually recognize their voice, but so many others sound the same. So like that individuality piece, think is kind of imploding from the inside right now, what we're seeing. Cause I mean, these labels, yeah, I think we're about to go from the big three to probably like the big two. And it's going to be,

16:42
It's pretty soon to be a big one. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. again, you know, with that originality, could you talk a little bit more about how you're able to, I guess, maybe put yourself into what you do? Because I've seen people do different things. Like maybe where they're trying to do what you do, it is that quite there. So like, how do you make sure that you put yourself into everything that you do?

17:11
I think one of, well, something I like to do is in the little time that I'm allotted, you know, to make the videos, I like to tell a story. So I'm going back to like school and you have, you know, the intro, you know, the middle, conclusion. You know, I always go back to those days. So I try to make it have some type of an arc or tell some type of story. And then just for me,

17:41
I'm African American. try to put as many, I try to find as many things with black people in it as I can, you know? And a lot of it is if the character fits, but if the character fits and it could be a black character or if it's to, you know, a show that I grew up with, I'm gonna do that. So that's one of the things I always like to have, you know, show black people in a light and also let people know that we've always, you know, sometimes we think, oh, we're not on TV or this.

18:10
A lot of the stuff I showed them, like we were here. It might not be as prominent as other people, but we've been here. So I always, I always like to do that. Yeah, that's powerful. Um, so yeah, through everything that you've been doing, I noticed that, you know, you've got some greats that appreciate you and shout you out frequently. Can you talk a little bit about that and how that feels to be recognized for what you do?

18:37
Man, listen, uh so let me just, real quick. So uh shout out to my friends over at It's CDOC again. So that's a show that we're on every Tuesday and we talk with Hip Hop greats, but it's overseen by Chuck D, a public enemy. So when I got brought onto the show, I'm in the presence of Chuck D and he knows who I am.

19:05
I'm like, this is crazy. I'm the kid that would, you know, I remember being in high school and leaving six period lunch and going to the local record store and getting Fear of a Black Planet and coming back to school and showing it to everybody. Like, how did you get it? We didn't get out of school yet. know, being able to talk to Chuck D and him giving me props and, you know, I've gotten calls from like

19:34
Fab 5 Freddie wanted to do something. He's calling me up and we're talking on the phone and Fab 5 Freddie explained to me who he is. I'm like, sir, I know who you are. I remember change the beat and Freddie, I know who you are. it really, for me being the Hip Hop fan that I am, it's amazing. Cause it's these people are larger than life to me. So for them to give me these accolades, I'm like,

20:04
Really? So yeah, it feels great. it's, I don't know, I just love it. And I love talking to all the artists. Like, you when I get a chance to talk to artists, I love it. Wow. Yeah. I mean, that's gotta feel incredible, especially to think that Fab, Brian, Freddie is like, oh yeah, this is, yeah. Do you know who I am? Just a case, you know, also some major shows. So yeah, I mean, I think that it's awesome that,

20:33
you're being acknowledged for what you do. Cause a lot of times, you know, it's a labor of love. Sometimes you don't get the things that you necessarily deserve. So yeah, that's so awesome. So if you could, you mentioned the show that you do every Tuesday. You can talk a little bit about that and let people know like where they can find it and subscribe, whatever they need to do. Okay. So the show is called it's C-Doc again. so C-Doc,

21:00
You know, he's the host of the show and he produces for Public Enemy. uh He's a filmmaker. uh He makes beats. uh He raps. it's his show and uh it's him, myself, a friend, Jennifer O'Jenny, who used to work at K-Day in uh LA. this was like the first 24 hour Hip Hop station. So she worked there.

21:29
Yeah, she worked there back in the day. she has her, you know, the LA OGs come on the show and, ah yeah, we know Jennifer, that type of thing. um And then Flatline, so he works the music division of what Chuck does. he's uh actually on Instagram, he's Hip Hop gods. So he does that and people have new songs. He plays all the freshest Hip Hop, the newest stuff. And, uh you know, we just get on every week. Every Tuesday we have a new guest.

21:58
and we talk with a plethora of MCs, DJs, uh whatever is part of the Hip Hop culture, graffiti artists, dancers, know, whatever it is, we talk with them every week. And it's on channel zero, uh channel zero on YouTube. So it's Public Enemy's channel. So you go to channel zero and you'll see the line up and you'll see it's C-DAC again.

22:25
Awesome. So yeah, y'all make sure that y'all check that out. Um, you know, I've caught some of the clips from Instagram and yeah, it's, funny. You know, it's, they say that our attention spans are getting shorter and shorter, but every time like when your videos pops up in my feed, I always got to slow down like, okay, let me see what's going on here. So yeah, it's really great to tap in. Thank you because you're feeding the algorithm. I thank you. Absolutely. Yep.

22:54
I'll definitely signal, yeah, you got to push this out to more people. OK, you know, you're a storyteller. Do you have like any favorite storytellers? Like, for instance, I'll just say Slick Rick's Children's Story is the thing that kind of grabbed me into Hip Hop. So like, do you have any top notch lists of storytellers? Well, you said it right there. Slick Rick is probably my top

23:25
Yeah, Slick Rick is that guy. Everybody loves his one album, The Great Adventures of Slick Rick, but my favorite album is uh his second album. What's it called? Is it the one with the behind bars on it? No, no, that's the third one. It's something about the king or something. I don't know, I forget what the title is. I got too many Hip Hop songs. But that album, really love.

23:55
because he told, like his stories were great. He tells a story from, you know, the vantage point of a cat. know, he, you know, even going back to the first time he's Kit from Knight Rider. But like Slick Rick, just think he is so great. I think there's a song on a later album. He was like, you know, a slave in Pharaoh's times. Like he just sets you in.

24:22
Yeah, I love that stuff. He just sets you in that mode, but it's still like this b-boy everything like, all right, I'm back then, I'm going to use these slick words, but he sets you in that mode. I'm with you. Slick Rick, he's my number one storyteller. Okay. Yeah. mean, I think that that's an art form that I wish kind of had more exposure in present day. oh We got a lot of the greats.

24:52
legends, the veterans still doing it. But like from some of the newer artists, I would love to be able to see more of that. I mean, a storytelling is just, it's nice to be able to listen to something and just be transported and kind of get, you know, what they're seeing from that viewpoint. Like you said, the cat's view, but yeah. Yeah. And that's, it's genius. like, you know, I mean, that it's like, how do you think of that? then the thing is you can think of it, but you have to make it.

25:21
creative and slick and, you know, for people to want to listen. Like, if you just told the average person, yeah, he's going to be a cat and he's going to run out and you're like, what? So yeah, I appreciate, you know, appreciate the storytelling. Yeah. Well, you know, it's obvious in what you do that you are one for sure. So do you have, I mean, I know you say it just kind of comes to you, but do you have any like,

25:48
Concrete plans that you might want to share that people can be looking out for from you. I get hit up from some artists nowadays and so uh They hit me up and want videos so Things like that happen. So there'll be videos coming up and actually I used to

26:18
But I had retired. since, you know, getting in cahoots with uh C-Doc, uh I guess at the top of the year, there'll be an album by Enemy Radio, which is an offshoot of Public Enemy. And I'll be doing a song with Chuck D. So people, you know, you'll see Ultramax 7 trying to rhyme against Chuck D. Not rhyme against, rhyme with Chuck D. So that'll be coming and

26:47
I think, I don't know, I may come out of retirement if uh that's favorable, people like that. Maybe I'll continue doing that. um things like that, I'm thinking of trying to come out with some merch I just don't want to do. Not to say it's just regular, I don't want to just have t-shirts. I want things that are specific to what I do, that brands things towards me.

27:15
brainstorming with ideas for that, just, you know, just creating, actually, you know, I got into podcasting also through, you know, not just it's C-Doc, you know, I have a podcast called People's Distinctive Travels that I do and talk to Hip Hop artists. So it's so many things that just came out of doing these videos that I would have never imagined. Okay. Yeah. You know, cause I kept thinking,

27:43
Especially as we were talking, I always kind of thought just from watching your videos and seeing what you do, I'm like, man, he's got so much love for the culture. There's no way he hasn't rapped before. Like I knew it. I didn't want to put you on the spot here, but yeah. Oh, no, It's actually, used to, I used to ride with a female named Princess Superstar out of New York. And when I got with her, she had a big hit called Bad Babysitter in the UK. So.

28:13
I was on planes, was on doing festivals, buses, pre-closed TV shows. So, I got to see the life and then afterwards I'm like, I'm cool on that. it was fun when it was happening. Okay. That's so dope. Okay. Now for your podcast with the name, I'm a Tribe fan, sincerely. What made you choose that?

28:41
We were thinking, so shout out to my partner, Overload and Refresh, he's my partner in doing that. um We were both Tribe, we're both Tribe fans, and we were just trying to think of a distinctive name, well, People's Distinctive Travels, a name for us. And we were brainstorming because we were thinking of all these Hip Hop references, and it was like people's, not instinctive, distinctive travels. And then we talk with artists and they give us their kind of history. um

29:11
think the latest episode has Devine Styler and we got a lot of good feedback from that because people hadn't heard Devine in that kind of way. And, you know, he doesn't give a lot of interviews. He's kind of, you know, he's hiding, not hiding, but, you know, he's behind the scenes doing things. So, and then, you know, with us, we like to be, you know, we're knowledgeable about who we interview and talk to. So we both were huge Devine Styler fans. So we're asking him this very

29:41
intricate things and he's appreciative of it. Like, oh, you guys are really, really fans. And, you know, he appreciated that. But yeah, that's where we got it from tribe, you know, people's distinctive to switching up distinctive travels. That's so dope. Okay. So where can people check out your podcast? uh It's streaming on all platforms, you know, Spotify, Apple, wherever you would listen to podcasts, your favorite platform, it's there. Okay, dope.

30:10
Well, I want to thank you so much for taking the time to come out and talk. You you shared so much wisdom and information. I'm excited for the listeners to hear this conversation because yeah, totally dope. So yeah, before we kind of wrap things up, I just want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for showing up and sharing. yeah, is there anything that you kind of want to leave the people with, you know, where they can follow you?

30:38
Any platform you want to shout out and especially keep up with music tip. I'm excited for that. Yes. On Instagram, just Ultra Mag seven at Ultra Mag seven U L T R A M A G number seven. uh Every Tuesday, check us out on It's C-Doc Again. We'll be, you know, talking hopefully to your favorite artists and also just want to add every Sunday we play the music of the artists.

31:08
that we're going to have on Tuesday. my homeboy DJ Sobuk, he does the mix. So that's called It's C-Doc Again, the mixtape. So that's on Sundays at 8 p.m. um Again, the podcast is People's Distinctive Travels. You can find that on any streaming platform. And it's probably me and other things I do. We'll be here next week. Well, I hope this is just the first of many and I get to have you back on the show again.

31:36
So that way, yeah, if you think, man, I should have said this, you can always come back on and say it. I thank you and appreciate your platform and love everything you're doing. I've been following you. So keep it up. I love the elevation of what you're doing. Thank you so much. All right. Until next time. Appreciate you. All right. Thank you. Hey, thank you for tuning in to Instrumental Intel. I am your host, music producer, Achickwitbeatz.

32:04
And today I'm excited to say that I have in the virtual building with me Tigmatic. uh Man, he's an artist or producer, engineer, podcaster, among many things. But first of all, I want to thank you for taking the time to come and share with me, my guests. And uh if you could just kind of let people know who you are, how you got involved in everything that you're doing. Okay. Well, first of all, thank you for having me on this show.

32:33
I appreciate it. Uh, and you did awesome on my show. So thank you for giving me the same opportunity to be on yours. Hello world. My name is TIGmatic. I am a plethora of things. am a CEO of Damani brand LLC. I am

32:59
owner of the Pot Podcast with Tigmatic and starring the Pot with Tigmatic podcast. um I'm also a engineer, like you heard a chick say, and I'm producer as well. And I'm an artist as well. Yeah, so thank you for giving us the rundown as far as music goes.

33:26
Who would you say were some of your early inspirations? Oh, there's so many, but my ultimate inspirations of where it started was really Rakim. I would say Rakim.

33:46
Uh, I would say LL.

33:50
I would say Busta Rhymes. then as in times, you know, as time evolves, there are other people who are inspirational. Will Smith is a big one as well. So I'm from Philadelphia. So I had Beanie Segal as an inspiration, Eve, Meek Mills, Cassidy, Gilly.

34:16
They were a lot of people, and Freeway as well, they were all the main ones who were very instrumental with my artistry as far as a rap artist. And now as far as a producer, oh man, Timbaland, Pharrell, like you, Pete Rock, Premier, Dr. Dre, and

34:46
I would say Quincy Jones. Man, you got some heavy hitters in there. Yeah, we do share a lot of the same. Yeah. Yeah. So, okay. I kind of want to back up to what you had mentioned about who your top were for, or as an artist. If you could talk a little bit about Rakim, like was there a specific song of his that did it for you that made you a Rakim fan? Like what kind of sticks out in your mind most?

35:15
If you were to introduce, okay. You said just flat out. ain't no joke. That's the god MC right there. Yeah. Oh, seeing the interview clips like where he's talking about how he played the saxophone and he tried to use his voice like that, you know, kind of fitting in different rhythms, of like how jazz does. Right. It's like, man, that's just an insane concept to have at such an early age.

35:45
Yeah, he's a genius. Yeah, from another planet until this day, even until this day, he's uh an influence for me as far as no matter how old you get. Mm Keep going. Yeah. You know, there's like this big stigma and rant where it's like, oh, you're in your 40s or you're in your 30s. Hang it up. You know, and we're seeing throughout the Testament of time that

36:15
the biggest artists are older as far as rank are older than everyone else. So. Yeah. My husband and I caught the rock the bells during the Cool Jays The Force Tour in Detroit. And oh my gosh, I mean those shows, they had so much energy. Like it was just, I'm glad that they didn't let that stigma stop them from still rocking because man, to see some of those.

36:44
great giants in person. Like it was just beautiful. But yeah, you never hear that in any other genre. That's true. Yeah. You know, and I think that's, you know, like in our community and the black community specifically, you hear this a lot because a lot of the time people in our own community aren't consistent with the things that they do. So when they see someone being consistent, it's like, well, why are you still doing it?

37:14
Wow. And that's because we don't really see the consistency like that in our community when we shouldn't be community based pushing everyone to reach their full potential. Oh, man, that is some nuggets right there. Some serious wisdom. I never looked at it like that. Yeah. But that makes perfect sense. So I'm a big advocate for. uh

37:42
You know, seeing our people thrive and succeed. I'm also a, I'm also a activist as well for Black Lives Matter grassroots as well. So it's something that I'm passionate about seeing our people succeed and thrive and fighting justice as well. So yeah, pretty big on that. Yeah. So, okay. If you want to talk a little bit more about uh your podcast.

38:09
And, you know, activism is important and then you keep up with important topics and giving people a platform to speak. Can you talk a little bit about your shows? Sure. Okay. So the pot podcast with TIGmatic. Well, that's the show that's mental health based. And we talk about the struggles artists go through. Artists, not just artists though, artists, businessmen and women, activists or whatever.

38:39
the struggles they go through while having to entertain the world or pursuing their career. So we talk about, you know, how people got started into what whatever it is that they do and the obstacles they faced along the way and how they overcame them. So when we talk about these things, you know, we have deep discussions. uh Sometimes people share some some traumatizing stories of things that happen to them.

39:09
Others, you know, aren't as open, but they share enough, you know. So the whole goal is to serve as an inspiration to the youth and the older generation so we can have conversations between the old and young. Yeah, that's so important. So, yeah, I mean, it's one thing to kind of say that you care about these things, but the way that you put all these in motion is just really inspiring.

39:38
I appreciate that, queen. appreciate that. Yeah. So, you know, it's always refreshing to hear about when creatives give back. So, you know, yeah, if you could maybe talk a little bit about how the activities that you're involved in influence the music that you make. Well, that's where it's a little a little tricky, right? my music.

40:07
is the new music that I have about to come out now is going to reflect that. But the old discography, it does not reflect that. And I'll explain why. OK, so at one point in my life, I was in the streets, you know, and I was doing what street people do. You know, we don't need to go into deep, too deep in the detail. But, you know, I was doing what street people do, you know.

40:37
living my life and doing whatever I wanted whenever I wanted. And life changed for me drastically when I was shot in the head. So I was shot in the head and I died on the operating table. And when I was dead, you know, I guess for however long I was dead, but then that time I seen the other side, you know, and, uh,

41:06
It's nothing like people make it out to be, you know, like it's this old sweet thing and it's really not. If you weren't living a life that was crazy, you will not go up top. You will go to the bottom. Please believe me. I just wanted to throw that out there for people. but yeah, you know, ah but I was like stuck in this room in that moment.

41:33
And I saw my grandmother who was there for two years already. And she told me I didn't belong here. And when I woke up, I told my folks, everybody was around me. I told them I just saw grandma. And from that moment on, I had made a sacrifice, if you will, um because I'm also a husband and father. I said to myself that I would change my life. You know,

42:02
That was the key. Now for me, it took quite a while for me to change my life because I'll be honest, I did not change right away. I went right back to some of the things I was doing, you know, and, uh, you know, it took a while for me, but within that time, things started to gradually change. Um, it took me about seven years though, because I still wasn't over the fact that somebody tried to kill me.

42:31
Yeah, I mean, that's I can't even imagine what type of trauma that has to cause, you know? I was diagnosed with a high level PTSD and I still have it to this day. So in my music, the trauma that I was going through reflected in the music, you know, all the thoughts that I was having.

42:59
You know, all the things that I spoke on, some of it was violent, some of it wasn't, you know? But whatever mood I was in in that moment, that's how the music will reflect. Now the music now, I'm more chill. I'm more like a party type rapper or talking about, you know, activism or more about business and music. OK.

43:29
So for this new album that I'm uh planning on dropping soon called I'm Chosen.

43:38
will reflect that in the music. Now, I'm guessing based off of what you shared with us, we've got a good idea of why you called it that. Do you have anything else that you want to share about the project regarding that aspect? Well, yeah, sure. So I'm chosen. I chose the title I'm chosen because I feel like God gave me a second chance at life and he has to choose to give you that.

44:07
Absolutely. You know what I'm saying? So for me,

44:13
I died, I saw what hell looked like, I saw what purgatory looked like, and then I woke back up to earth, right? So I say I'm chosen because not only was I chosen to have a second chance at life, but I also was chosen to make an impact on other people's lives other than my own. So that's how I look at it.

44:42
Man, that's incredible. Thank you so much for sharing that. oh You know, how you recognize how it was reflected in your music and then the changes now. Since you've been, I guess, doing music from the early start till now, what are some of the biggest changes that you've seen, like in the industry? Well, some of the biggest changes that I've seen and

45:12
the industry is cadence for one. Everyone is wrapping to the same cadence. Everyone, even the OGs, except like, you know, like the Rockhams. LL, he didn't switch to the cadence of today now too. So I'm being real. But LL kind of still stayed true to his roots too. He just wanted to show that he could do what they do and stay to his true core.

45:42
Um, yeah, you know, I see in the industry, everybody is, is really just following the same cadence. And, uh, there's not a lot of creativity going on. Everyone's, uh, rapping to the same BPM, which is like one 30. So, uh, there's, there's no longer, uh, that vibe of people wanting to rank to a 94 or 84 BPM or, know,

46:09
It's just this rhythmic bounce that everybody wants to have on every track. So uh I see that as a change. also see that uh there's more independence. There's more independence. A lot of people are running away from labels because, you know, they're not really getting paid the way that they should. You know, and a lot of things are digital. So streaming is a whole different

46:38
monster within itself and I would advise people to not even have a Spotify because I have one as well but I would tell people not to have a Spotify and just have your own website and build your own fan base that way because they're not going to pay you what you deserve. Absolutely not. So yeah. So I see that as a big shift and change as well. Yeah.

47:04
Yeah, those are some heavy ones that don't really get talked about that often. So, yeah, thank you for sharing those and your perspective on those. So, yeah, one of the things you mentioned is people going independent. What do you think? I guess I'm surprised at how much kind of has to get signed over these days that are just a part of the deal compared to even some of the bad deals that were made back in the day.

47:33
So like now you got the 360 deals on top of, you know, NSLs and all this other stuff. Like, could you have imagined back then that it would be as complex as it is now? No, no. um And that's because I think it really has to do with more of, oh back then the labels had more control of the artist's creativity. And today with the independent artists, they are in total control.

48:02
of their own creativity and their own fate as well. So there are pros and cons to it, but I really look at it like if you're a person who's out there trying to really push for success and take your destiny in your own hands, then you have to be able and ready to have everything that's necessary. And that's the funding you need. That's the marketing strategy, you know,

48:32
It's the know-how of the business and the consistency with work. That's a great list. Yeah. I see that as I look at the grapes. When we look at people like Jay-Z, we look at people like Nas, we look at people like Q-Tip, Killer Mike, Outkast.

49:00
If it's one thing we can say about these guys, right? They were consistent, no matter how much times changed or evolved. No matter what it is that they did, even if it wasn't rap in the moment, they stayed consistent in whatever it is that they chose to do. So I think that's key for any element, for any musician, producer or artist is consistency. Yeah, that's so important.

49:30
Yeah, how do you recommend that they stay motivated to remain consistent for anybody that might be struggling with that? Well, take care of your mental health for one. I feel as though that for us creatives, if our mind is healthy, everything else will flow. And that's one of the sharpest. That's your biggest and sharpest tool that you have when it comes to being a creative.

49:59
keeping your mind sane and well so that you can produce at a high rate. So that's one thing I would say. Another thing that I would say is, uh

50:13
you know, sharpen your tool, you know, which is your craft. You know what I'm saying? Like stay good at your craft, you know, constantly work on your craft and whatever you lack or, or whatever you're weak at, continue to work at it to get stronger. That's great advice. So yeah, what would you say, you know, out of everything that you're doing, um, may have been the most

50:42
rewarding project or moment in your career so far.

50:47
The most rewarding part of my career was when I got to meet the honorable Dr. Cornell West. Meeting Dr. Cornell West, meeting Dr. Melina Abdullah was uh a really prolific moment for me in my career, not just as a journalist or podcast host, but just as a person in general, you know.

51:14
You know, Cornel West is someone who's been around for 50 years pushing for uh civil rights, the civil rights of our black and brown people out here. And for me to meet him, to have conversations with him, to be able to call him or text him. The same for Dr. Abdullah. You know, those things, uh they are pretty special. um Also to

51:44
meet my business partners, Fabian and, and Kaia B, you know, those are prolific things to have sponsorships and build relationships with people along the way. So I would say those are the things that, that are, I highlight in my career that I think are pretty dope. Wow. Well, they are definitely, and, um, I think serve as great motivation for others as well. Absolutely. Yeah. So, um,

52:12
You know, if you want to talk about like the early days of when you were doing music, that compared to now, just as far as production, how would you say things have evolved for you? Oh, they evolved a whole lot. Oh man, listen, and we spoke about this a little bit yesterday, Queen, when you were on my show. Yeah.

52:38
When I first started, my friend Dublin the Boss of Lions Den Records, shout out to him, he had a DR-770. And for those that don't know, that's a beat machine. It's a very small uh beat machine box. you would touch the pads and make the beats. And then he would make the melodies on the keyboard. And I would come up with a melody. He actually showed me how to make beats.

53:05
And then also I had another mentor. name is smuck of no ID in Philadelphia. Um,

53:15
Back then, my engineering sucked. Even recording other artists, right? You know, I was the worst. Like, I didn't know how to level good. And you know, versus now, it's a total different thing. You know, I know how to mix, I know how to master. I can make a beat within minutes. You know, all of that stuff, it's, you know, everything that I was taught, I took and I just evolved over the years. Now,

53:43
Granted, I don't get to make beats as much as I used to, but I still do. Because I've been doing this podcast, but everything that I've learned has has honed me to be a better communicator with people. It's helped me be able to listen and not just speak because I had.

54:07
issue with that for a long period of my life. I actually do still do from time to time. We keep it all the way funky, you know. But it's helped me to learn about myself and learn, it's helped me learn how to push myself to be better as well. Wow. Yeah. Yeah, what a dope sentiment. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. As far as

54:35
working with others and approaching people for collaborations, whether it's as an artist, producer, or even with guests on your podcast. How would you say that you approach those and what do you typically look for in your collaborators? Okay. As far as music wise, you know, I'm a Philly boy, uh, born and raised. I'm from Southfield to be exact. Okay. You know, so

55:04
For me, I'm not shy when it comes to speaking to people and I know I want to work with them. So I just slide in they dim or, you know, give them a call like, yo, it's time to drop something. Let's drop something. Just like I did with you. Let's make some music. Yeah. You know what saying? Let's lay something like, like, let's put something together, you know? And, um...

55:26
I'm a firm believer in closed mouths don't get fed. Like, if you don't speak, you can't get what you're looking for, right? uh But as far as collaboration with people,

55:42
with music is that way. Now, as far as the pod, it's a little bit, it's a little bit different because I not only do I explain what my show is about, but I also explain my story as far as I go in a deeper contrast of what happened to me, how it happened to me and why the show was started. oh

56:06
Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Well, yeah, again, I just want to thank you so much for taking the time out to be on Instrumental Intel. You've shared so many gems and dropped so much wisdom. So yeah, I think before I hand over the spotlight for you to be able to drop your socials and all that good stuff, if you could, like you shared a lot of information about some of the things and stuff that you've been through.

56:36
But before we segue into that, if you could just talk a little bit about how you handle creative blocks or maybe low period of inspiration, like kind of how we talked before about staying motivated, some personal techniques that maybe you've used to help you through that. All right, all right. This is like the question I asked you yesterday. Yeah. All right. So yeah, all right. So for me, you know, like I said,

57:03
before for those that are just tuning in y'all, y'all need to go watch the interview with Achickwitbeatz. She was she was popping on the show y'all. But yeah, so for me, it's it's it varies, right? So for me, if I start a beat, sometimes I could make a beat in five minutes. Sometimes like like I said before, I might have the drums, but I don't have the melody and I get stuck there.

57:30
or it'll be the other way around. I have the melody, but I don't have the drums. And I'll get stuck. Sometimes I might leave it there, come back to it. I might go play the game or something or, you know, go create some clothing, you know, come up with some designs for the clothing that I make and stuff like that. And try to draw inspiration from there. Or I might just listen to instrumentals and rap to them just to come up with a concept as well.

58:00
Um, so those are like things that I do sometimes to, sharpen my sword as far as those things. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Well, again, thank you so much for sharing and I'll just want to make, want to make sure everybody knows where they can find you, follow you, check out your music, check out all your podcasts, everything you got going on. All right. So if you want to follow me on Instagram,

58:29
I have two Instagrams. The first Instagram is TIGmatic. T-I-G-M-A-T-I-C. The second Instagram is the underscore pot underscore with underscore TIGmatic underscore. Uh, Facebook, you can find me on Matic Whitaker, M-A-T-I-C-W-H-I-T-A-K-E-R.

58:59
Uh, you can also follow me on my Facebook group, the pot podcast with TIGmatic, starring the pot with TIGmatic. Uh, and also starting the pot is the show where we just talk music. We, we just talk music or whatever topic is booming in the moment. So, uh, you can also catch episodes there. can catch me on Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn as well. And, uh, Odyssey, Apple music.

59:28
Dollar Radio, Power 105.1, and Going In Radio, which is my station. All right, and that's a wrap for this episode of Instrumental Intel. I've been your host, music producer, Achickwitbeatz, and I want to thank you for tuning in. Once again, as always, I appreciate the guests for coming on and sharing their insights. And I'd like to thank my home station, Grander Radio out of Grand Rapids, Michigan. Make sure you come back next week. I got more goodness lined up for you. So till next time, you know where to find me.

59:57
Tune in, tell a friend and I'll see you then. Peace.