Artist Of The Week - Mr. Beatz

Mr. Beatz has always been inspired by the greats. Whether it was the lyrical skills of Big Daddy Kane, Rakim and Kool G Rap, the DJing prowess of DJ Jazzy Jeff and Red Alert, or the production mastery of DJ Premier, Pete Rock and The Bomb Squad, he recognized the best of the best and wanted to do something to rank right up there with them. Now a proficient emcee, DJ and producer, Mr. Beatz says the most important thing people should know about his work is the initial reason it all began. “I always have to mention that I'm a fan first,” he explains, “because that always keeps my love strong for the culture and all of its elements and characteristics.” After a short hiatus from making music Mr. Beatz returned to the booth and the boards a little over two years ago and this week I caught up with the New York native, whose latest video can be seen on Video Music Box, to find out what he’s been up to.

Adam Bernard: Start everyone off by letting people know a little bit about who you are musically. Describe a Mr. Beatz song for those that may not have heard one yet.
Mr. Beatz: When you hear a Mr. Beatz song you're gonna hear lyricism, boom-bap style production, and scratching in a lot of the hooks. I'm just about raw Hip-Hop, plain and simple. Also, the music is a huge reflection of who I am as an individual, so you're never gonna hear anything from me that follows what everyone else is doing, or talking about, in their music. If there's some serious stuff going on in my life I'll record about it. No swagger or gunplay, though. {laughs} I focus on making music that's creative and raw while trying to raise the bar with everything I do. Anytime I step in the booth, or on a stage, I try to bring a different level of lyricism that stands out. There's no way I'm ever gonna try to spit a mediocre rhyme when I know that there are cats out there like G Rap, Pharoahe Monch, Kweli, etc., who are walking the planet and would not appreciate such a lack of effort. Cats like that always make me want to raise the bar with what I do. I always try to push myself to the point where it’s not even questionable as to as whether or not I have skills. The same goes with the production and every other aspect of the music I create. Even with any video of mine you'll definitely see quality and creativity and it won't look like someone ran around with a camera phone behind me. {laughs}

Adam Bernard: When you started rhyming did you ever consider changing your name?
Mr. Beatz: The funny thing with that is that I was actually an emcee first before ever making beats. I first got into making beats because when I was coming up in Westchester, NY there weren't too many cats around my way who made beats. You were always able to find emcees on every block, but beat makers were really hard to find. I came across a couple that I was supposed to connect with, but it never ended up really happening due to a lack of dedication on their part, so I started looking into buying some beat making equipment myself and just took it from there. Then, since there weren't too many cats around my way making beats, word started spreading around my way that I was making beats and soon I started gaining a rep as "that dude with the beats." I've thought about changing the name a couple of times, but I figured why bother since beat making is a big part of who I am anyway. It can definitely be deceiving, though, because a lot of times I'll meet, or network, with people and right away they might think that I only make beats.

Adam Bernard: Your video for “Plain and Simple” was recently placed in rotation on Video Music Box, which, incidentally, was the first music video show I ever watched. What does this accomplishment represent for you?
Mr. Beatz: I've watched Video Music Box for so many years, and that was always the place where you would get a chance to see the dope Hip-Hop videos that you would never see anywhere else, and also see those artists just hanging out with Ralph McDaniels, so you had a chance to see them as people instead of just that person who recorded the song you liked. Having a video of my own played on Video Music Box was always a dream of mine, but I had no clue that this dream would ever become a reality. To me, Video Music Box is like the Grammys in a way. Like, when someone is nominated on the Grammys, from that point on in their career they're announced as a Grammy nominated artist. So for me I feel like I'm a Video Music Box-aired artist now because I feel like Ralph McDaniels made my video official by airing it.

Adam Bernard: Is an album on the way?
Mr. Beatz: It's actually in the works at the moment. It will be an album called Spit Therapy. I gave it that title because I'm actually doing a lot of venting on this album. In my opinion, music is a great gateway for stress or frustration and I can get into the booth and easily just let go whenever I'm going through a situation. There are also a bunch of other joints that Hip-Hop heads can relate to as far as culture related topics, humorous stuff, etc. I got a few collabs in the works for it, too, but I’m restricting those to a small few because I wouldn't want to be like a guest on my own album. {laughs} Another thing about the collabs for my project is that I'm also working with a few other producers so it won't be just my production on the project. I'm producing some of the joints, of course, but the rest will be from other cats who I think are extremely dope with beats. I chose to do this because I want to feature different styles of beats for the songs I have and also get a chance to focus a lot more on lyricism. In fact, the song that I put out the video for was produced by The Avid Record Collector. Shout out to him! I'm also doing collabs with a few of my other peeps in the underground as far as spitting on a few of their songs and even doing some production for a few of their joints. So hopefully from the way things are going, you'll continue hearing a lot more about me.

Adam Bernard: Talk to me about your blog. What goes up there and what are your plans for it?
Mr. Beatz: My blog is a place where I want to build with people, debate on different Hip-Hop-related topics, and share important Hip-Hop news that I come across. I’ve always been into the historical details of Hip-Hop culture and I also like to debate and build with people on topics that you never really hear too much about in Hip-Hop publications, or the media period. The blog is very different from my music website because my music site is specifically for my own personal music promotion while the blog is a place for Hip-Hop heads to interact and share info.

Adam Bernard: What else should people know about Mr. Beatz and his work?
Mr. Beatz: I want people to know that my music is love driven. By that I mean that the reason I do this music is because I want to be creative and try different things with it in order to keep bringing something different to the table. I'm basically making music so that I have more music to listen to. If big money starts coming in from it, cool, but if not I'm content with making great music, developing a following of those who appreciate the music I do, and rocking live as much as possible for them.

Related Links

Website: mrbeatz.com
Blog: themcblog.mrbeatz.com
MySpace: myspace.com/mrbeatznyc
YouTube: Mr. Beatz - "Plain and Simple"