WHY?

I’m getting tired of this whole XXL – Interscope thing. Where is Lupe’s Cover? N.E.R.D? hell I’d rather see Lil Boosie on the cover than these fall off’s.

Interview from ‘06 with Three-One-Zero

Before ya’ll thought bloging was cool (word to Live Journal) I got the 1st! Online interview with Three-One-Zero. Now some of this stuff is dated so keep that in mind.

 

 Interview with LA’s Own: 3-1-0

I interviewed Inglewood’s own, Charles Kidd AKA “Three-1-Zero” to see what young producers out of the I-N-G are up to. Check it out and see why this man is the future of hip-hop.

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Your named Three-1-Zero, is that for obvious reasons?

“That’s the only area code of my city, Inglewood, California“ 

Not affiliated with the Motoring Company right [laughs]?

“Naw, hell naw!!! I will never be affiliated with ‘Hurricane Games’ shoes” 

Aight so what type of equipment do you use to make beats?
Dell Inspiron 6000 Laptop
Fruity Loops XXL V.6
Cool Edit Pro 2.1
ESO HIP MK II Mixer
Gemini XL 300 Turntable
M-AUDIO Keystation MIDI Board
A cheap ass mic A whole grip of Vinyl I stole from my pops        

Who is/are your favorite producer(s)?
9th Wonder, DJ Premiere, Pete Rock, Just Blaze, Kanye West, DJ QUIK, MF DOOM, Pharrell, SYL and Me 

Give me your thoughts about the current hip-hop production game. I think that its pretty cool right now, it’s where it should be. A lot of people [are] experimenting with different styles trying to find themselves. I just pray above that the producers don’t get saturated with nonsense like the way rappers are. But overall I think we are at the point where we are all about to fall off and not grow or take to another level and rep for our era. A lot of people hate on this era of producers because we have so many digital advantages that our idols didn’t have, but at the same time you can’t hate because that’s just the way times have changed. Get used to it. I mean why spend 2 g’s on a MPC or some crazy ass keyboard when I can download software and do the same shit on my computer, it only makes sense. I mean no disrespect to the people that do cop those expensive ass pieces of equipment but just know anything you can do I can do better…and I didn’t spend a dime. 

That’s a lot of equipment, did it hit the wallet hard?

Man Honestly it didn’t cost much at all , I’d say around  $2,000 at the most, but most of it was but separately, like I bought my turntables and my mixer like 3 years ago cuz I was tryin’ to be a DJ, [laughs] that didn’t work out, and I bought my laptop for college I never really got the laptop for music, the only thing I bought to solely make beats is my Keyboard which I got for like $80, the software (FL Studio and Cool Edit ) I downloaded, I hate to say it but I did, I saved a good $500 by doin’ that, and the vinyl I stole from my pops, [laughs], he let’s me use ‘em, he has about 6,000 albums in his collection.  

Is there anything else that you are trying to get?I all I really want now, are some dope ass speakers so I can get that perfect sound that I want, and have yet to reach, other than that i nice Pro Tools sound card would be nice. 

 

 

Now as I understand you are on the Fresh 2 Def label, how did that come about?

“Met up with my manager Julien Edwards at Cal State Northridge, at the time I was lookin’ for someone or a group to help me progress and gain more exposure, and they seemed to be a cool fit, so I got on…” 

What is your position there are you their main producer or what?

Naw not even there is no “main” producer you know, I don’t look at it that way, basically I look at as if I’m an artist, you know… Like Yadi isn’t gonna spit all his songs on my beats, you know, he still pretty much got priority or everyone else because he’s in my camp but  I’m  still fuckin’ with people outside of F2D there’s no restraints on me you know, I mess with who ever I wanna mess with… 

So you like Just Blaze with Roc-a-Fella?

Basically! 

Now do you have or plan on owning a production company?

Yeah that would be nice, I mean its not the number one priority on my list, but its possible…I know a few cats that have the same musical taste as me, and we can be a strong squad but as of now, I’m just tryin’ to get heard, get some cash, then expand 

I always thought that production companies were where producers could get their checks and royalties sent, specking of which, and this is rarely talked about, how do producers determine the price of their beats?

 Basically I think it’s based off three things: 1. Who’s buyin’ your beat and what’s your status.  Like if you are tryin’ to be heard and you got an artist who has a slight buzz and you know that you are gonna get more clients after they hear your track then you take a lil off the price, like it would be dumb to charge lets say  a popular  rapper that has a buzz and is on the come up, a whole shit load of money for a beat because once you everyone hears that beat with ______ on it they gonna want that sound and they gonna be knockin down your door. And at the same time, if you know an artist that’s whack and the track isn’t gonna get heard, etc, etc. you better charge up the ass…as a producer you know who’s hot and who’s not, I put it like this the hotter than not the harder I charge… 2.  Is yo shit dope…Like man if you got a beat that’s your favorite and one that everyone likes you better make sure that it goes to a dope artist and you charge a good sum for it. Like I ‘m with a rapper that’s whack I have beats that I don’t even play for them cuz I know they will be [wack] on it, and I don’t even wanna think about them trying to convince me to get it. At the same time if you got some garbage ass beats, [I] just let ‘em go for whatever, 50 bucks, at the most you know it doesn’t matter… 3. And number 3, how much the artist is willing to spend…

Like if a dude comes up to me and is like I’ll give you $300 for one of my throwaway beats I’m not gonna say “Naw man I’ll charge you $50″ you gotta judge wisely, If you gotta a baller tryna buy some beats charge em high, especially if he weak, but then again if you got a cat who has skills and just ain’t got the dough, you gotta be willin to work with him. Always be willing to work with peoples budgets…

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