One of the first records I did that set things off was Puff Daddy's "Big Homie."Īs you started to work with artists from outside that circle, like The Weeknd and Belly, how have they perceived you? But I started getting placements here and there on Khaled's albums. Because they knew me as an engineer, at first, most people didn't really want to hear the beats. I would be on the road with Khaled in the hotel, making beats on my laptop. It was like, "Maybe I'm doing this wrong." I started getting frustrated.Īt some point, I was just mad and stopped making excuses. But I was making my engineering fee and everyone else was buying Range Rovers. As I got further in, everybody I was working with, luckily, was winning. But there was no time to put towards making my own music. I ended up working on pretty much every album he ever put out.ĭid your producing get put to the side as you were getting deeper into the engineering work?įor a couple years, I was working seven days a week, 12 hours a day as an engineer. When Khaled got his own studio, I left Circle House to go do all the engineering, some A&R work, and supervise the albums over there. When I was around, good shit was happening - I don't know. Khaled used to think I was like his lucky charm. I was working as an engineer at Circle House when Khaled was working on his first album, and they ended up leaving me at the studio one day to finish up all the mixes for the album. I'd charge my lil' $500 for a mix and keep it moving. Anybody that wanted a song mixed would come to Circle House. When Ross came out, every dope boy in the city wanted to put out music. It was really perfect timing because the scene was just starting to pop. I didn't even know who DJ Khaled was at the time, but I remember turning on the radio and hearing him play "Hustlin'" for an hour and half straight on the radio. The week I got down there "Hustlin'" came out. What was happening with rap in Miami at the time? I ended up doing an internship with them and started connecting the dots. I met some people that were also doing music and they put me on to Circle House.
#RICK ROSS HUSTLIN PRODUCER FULL#
I got lucky when I was going to school at Full Sail.
Let's make this move and see what it is." She kind of talked me into it like, "What's up with that school you were talking about?" I had enough money to get down there and go to school, so I was like, "Fuck it. One day, people came into my house and robbed me at gunpoint while my girl was there. I was really at a standstill as far as what I was gonna do with music. What made you decide to move to down Florida and pursue a degree in audio engineering? I taught myself, and I think for years I was teaching myself somewhat wrong, but I figured it out with what was there at the time. I saved up my money, sold a bunch of weed, and bought an MPC and some synthesizers. One of my friends introduced me to the MPC. I got a couple of bullshit beat machines and samplers. We liked to think we were more city folks, but we weren't. Delaware almost has a Southern vibe, even though it's north of the Mason-Dixon line.
When the West Coast era happened, and even when the South started happening, everything trickled in. Everybody that rapped, they rapped about rapping. In my younger years, it was Biggie and a whole bunch of New York shit. We grew up on East Coast hip-hop for the most part. What music was important to you back then?