After the first dates were known, there were other European dates added and unfortunately, Amsterdam didn’t have the premier anymore. But that’s ok. I got to witness a 2 and half hour show from an artists I have always loved. His music, his vibe. And after a struggle, he came back, better than ever. Sure he still needs to lose a couple of pounds but that did not have any impact on his voice or his show.

There was absolutely NO flaw in his show. The band was amazing, his voice was on point, the old songs AND the new songs definitely moved me like his music did in the earlier days of his career. I made it a point to film as much as possible, but my arms got tired in the end (2,5 hours!) so unfortunately I didn’t film the new songs.

Nonetheless, for those who couldn’t witness his amazing “come back”, here’s a compilation of roughly 45 minutes that I have managed to put together. Welcome back D’Angelo! Enjoy!

God has blessed me with so much in 2011. I used to count all my blessings and sum them up by month but because 2011 was just a great year all round, I’m just gonna mention my biggest ones, that have made the biggest impact on me. In no particular order.

First of all, my new job. Some may think “it’s just a new job” but for me it was more than just a new job. I heard that I got the job in March and I started May 1st. I was so unhappy and miserable in my previous job that it affected my whole life. So can you imagine that getting a new, wonderful, challenging, inspiring, motivating, stimulating new job, affected my life entirely? In a positive way! Here I am, 8 months later and I still LOVE my job and everything that comes with it. I am happy and get to do more for me, despite working a lot more. I am progressing mentally and learning a lot. Oh how grateful I am for this job.

Second, my sisters. Fyza & Rabéa. The two best friends I could ever have and who I love with everything in my heart ♡. I have had the chance to spend time with both of them this year and will make it a point to always have time for them, no matter the distance, the time zones or our schedules. I can’t even express how much these two women mean to me. They give me so incredibly much love and energy. With friends like them I feel like I am on top of the world and nothing can touch me. Although I have known them for quite some years now, this year we grew closer and I am truly grateful and blessed to have such beautiful people in my life, who I can genuinely call my sisters.

Third, my family. My dear Uncle Fried passed away in September of last year. My parents were with him in his last days and God called upon him in peace. It was a beautiful funeral with a lot of my family members who I either hadn’t seen in years, since I was a kid, or had never met at all. This sad occasion led to a beautiful blessing though. I reconnected with some of my cousins again and that feels amazing. My cousin Steve, his wife Daphne and their daughter Alecia became so dear to me. My heart is truly filled with love & joy having these family members in my life now. I’ve spent a few days with them for Christmas and it was absolutely great!

The last blessing, definitely not the least, that I want to mention, is my reconnecting with God. Its been a long and tough journey but He has definitely shown me that there is no other way than His way. The past months I have been praying a lot and building my relationship with God. He answers all my prayers and there is no doubt in my mind that He is responsible for everything amazing, wonderful and great in my life. Whenever I feel confused, sad, frustrated or upset about something, I put it in His hands and everything is how it should be. No worries, no stress. Just Love. Because God is Love.

I can’t express how grateful I am for everything that has come my way the past year. All the blessings that I have received are still working through me. Those who have known me for a while, know I have been dealing with a lot of health issues over the past 10 years. I can happily say that I have not been sick ONCE the whole year. I have not seen the doctor’s office or the hospital. For that I am also grateful to God. Nothing but good things for those who have faith in Him.

In the end, the blessings that I have mentioned is what it’s all about. Doing something you love to do, friendship, family and faith. Those are the things in life that make life wonderful. Now 2012 is upon us and like I said, I expect it to be even better than last year. His word is Truth. If He says it will happen, it WILL.

Blessings & Love. Always.

We are living in the internet era. People download music or buy their music from iTunes. Nine out of ten times, the producer’s credits are not as well mentioned through this channel, as they are in the booklets that came with the physical product. I like reading booklets. Seeing out of what components a song is built. Seeing who added value to a song, production-wise, vocally, instrumentally, all that.

I come across so many producers, struggling to get value for their music. Not so much “respect” or “love” or even “compliments”. But when it comes down to it, a lot of artists want the music for free or as cheap as possible, not really valuing the addition to their own art enough, to gladly pay for it. After all, when your song becomes a success, it’s not just because of your part. Not just because you are a dope songwriter. The music speaks for itself. If you loved it enough to get inspired to write to it, why not appreciate the producer? Maybe because in this digital era, it’s a lot easier for people to “become a producer”, therefore causing over-saturation of the market, thus lowering prices for production?

J. Rawls (Lone Catalysts) points out his concern about this, yet doesn’t necessarily think it’s a bad thing:  “Nowadays everyone seems to be putting out music, which makes it tough to get your music heard. Even someone with my experience can get drowned out because the market is so saturated. However, it is a good thing that people are creative and the ease of making beats now has made it so that everybody can produce. It’s not a bad thing, but it does make it harder for the public to be able to keep up.”

Domino (Hieroglyphics) agrees with it not necessarily being a bad thing as he states: “I believe it’s good that more people have easier access to recording devices in the digital age. Certainly it gives a platform for many who may not be ready or deserve it, but it also forges opportunities for some who have the talent but previously wouldn’t have had the tools to be heard. In my book exposing these gems is a worthwhile exchange.”

I definitely agree with Domino on the gems. With these tools, its more likely to discover a talent you may not have known about otherwise and discovering creative talent in an art form such as producing, is “music to my ears” (literally in this case as well). But it also appears that good music is now becoming some sort of fast moving consumer good, as 14KT (producer) adds the relevance and time aspect when it comes to putting music out, in regards to the value of the product. “Many fans and consumers are multimedia consumers, so when they cop an album, it seems more like a preference at the moment. Some buy vinyl and buy CD’s, but most of them download, listen, and check for new music digitally. The digital era has sped up the demand and quantity of music from artists. For artists to feel they are staying “relevant”, they have to consistently release material, so their listeners won’t forget them.”

Creativity also seems to become more of a struggle with the above mentioned over-saturation, as J.Rawls admits that “keeping it fresh” is one of his biggest struggles as well, especially if you have been doing this for years. Posdnuos (De La Soul) approaches the lack of creativity from a more technical point of view, as well as pointing out the talent-factor. “Production can appear very empty soundwise, because the modern producer makes music that works on headphones opposed to large speakers and since there are always updates to the tools we use, as well as just new programs, a lot of producers don’t master the one program they have due to moving on to the next. Everyone having tools to produce still doesn’t outweigh the fact you need talent and a large level of creativity to make these tools do something the other person with the same tools can’t or won’t do but it has made it easier for someone to just upload their work to the world at large opposed to certain filtering that existed back then.”

The “empty sound” that Pos is speaking of, is something that I hear more often myself as well. Like I said before, I am a production gal. I also love live music, bands, instruments. With certain digital tools and music maker software, none of that comes into play anymore. It makes it easier for people to press a button, instead of actually recording playing a live instrument, for the production. “Making (or creating) Music” gets a whole different definition when we think about this.

Domino (Hieroglyphics): “The main issue I have with the relative ease of recording via digital means is, too many artists are satisfied with you emailing a track and recording their parts without you ever being present. This takes away the value of a true producer, someone who you can add and exchange ideas with and who can bring the best out of your performance. I’ve always felt my strength was not just in making a track but adding to the concept and idea of a song. Not being a participant in half of the creative process certainly reduces that value.”

Rakaa Iriscience (Dilated Peoples) says the same thing and puts into perspective the difference between a producer and a beat maker. “I’ve come across quite a few beat makers, some very talented at that art and craft, but I’ve only met a handful of actual Producers. In most styles of music (outside of Hip Hop and the different flavors of electronic), there is a trusted and / or respected person that comes in as an objective ear and voice to make sure that the band is in sync with one another and with the vocalist. I am not saying that we need that exact approach, but I feel that we need to respect the role of a Producer as something independent of making the beat if we want the music of this culture to continue to evolve. Beat makers should learn to produce or be willing to bring in someone else for that purpose. MC’s and record labels know this too, which is why certain people are repeatedly called to resurrect careers or build bridges to new markets. These are people that do make dope beats, but the fact that they have the vision to see the potential in something and the technical and communication skills to make it happen is much more valuable right now.”

Scrapdirty (manager of producer Young RJ) also addresses the difference between a producer and a beat maker. He also points out that the same has been happening to DJ’s, with the coming of Serato. “Managing one of the top underground producers, it seems like the past 8 years established producers are underrated & the simple producer is overrated. You have a producer & then you have a beat maker. A producer makes his own sounds & may call in someone to play strings or drums on a record. A beat maker will throw a few sounds on a track keep it moving without a thought. That’s the way the production game is watered down now.”

DJ SoulClap (producer) agrees with Rakaa on the working together aspect. As Rakaa stated that one should be willing to bring other people in, in order to create the valuable sound, SoulClap feels that producers should help each other more in every way, instead of sticking to self because of fear of competition.

On top of that, not only is there the aspect of adding value to the music-making process as mentioned before by Domino and Rakaa, there is also the study of music that adds to the value of the producer himself/herself. 14KT: “It’s crazy because many don’t have any type of musical background, they just stumbled upon a software program and launched a career. What bothers me is the fact that now everyone thinks it’s so EASY to make music. I am a firm believer that studying music theory, being able to play or understand instrumentation, and developing expertise on recording, mixing, and engineering is VITAL to success as a producer. Regardless of how “easy” it is to create music, those are the ones that will have longevity, evoke change, and have a lasting effect on their generation of music.”

As a producer, being a creative person, you don’t want to put out your hard work, your creativity and originality, just to get robbed from it. It’s easy nowadays to connect through the internet and put beats online, hoping your name will get out there or you will sell your beats through the internet because its easier for them to be heard that way. This points out another danger for producers when it comes to their art as Dae One (producer) says that its great to be accessible and be heard by many through the internet, you have to beware of getting robbed from your art through music-ripping programs for YouTube and such.

As one of the solutions of not getting snowed under by millions of “home-producers” due to the music maker software and tools that are out now, Erick Sermon (EPMD) points out the importance of having your own crew and support system. “As we know the music industry has changed a lot. Some would say for the worst. Its true that producers come a dime a dozen now cuz its so easy to make a beat due to the technology that is available for anyone to become a producer. Artist no longer have to call for a brand name producer cuz so many people make beats so they can get hot shit online for cheap and own it. Plus a lot of crews are click-ish now so they stay within the camp. This makes it hard for producers who really know their craft to get any work. All I can say is if wanna succeed in this new era find your own group so you can put your sound through and promote hard on the web so that people hear u make sure its dope and new and that might give u lite over all the fake shit that’s out that’s what worked for me. I had my own crew so I didn’t have to go looking for work. I was hot so work came to me.”

Most producers and industry people that gave me their thoughts on the digital age in regards to their art, are not so much against the easy beat makers with the coming of software and tools, but moreso against the loss of value of the music itself. The fact that producing is no longer seen as a true form of art that requires the proper knowledge, study of music and creating of real music. They all admitted that this age brings a particular type of struggle for them, but they are confident enough in their own talent and creativity, to know they are the ones that have longevity. Because that is really what it is about in the end (as 14KT also pointed out). Same goes for rappers and singers. A quick buck for a one hit wonder, is just that. Real music however, is known forever. Producers stand equally with talented artists in this digital age. As long as both of them are respected and valued, there will always be appreciation for their art. At least by genuine music lovers, such as myself.

Note: Thanks to everyone that gave me their thoughts and feedback on the subject.

When the European Union was founded, its purpose was to strengthen the economical position of Europe and its countries. When the euro was introduced, 10 years ago, this was also the case. I remember very well having to change all our currency into the euro. Ever since the introduction of the new currency, I have been “broke” and struggling. Not just me, most people.

Of course we had no choice but to go along with the decision of the EU, and our prices got doubled and our salaries cut in half. (1 euro = 2,23 guilders) Can you imagine how that is? All consumer prices going up twice as much, but you make half as much money. We had no choice but to accept it as a nation. I am sure other European nations had the same situation.

Now, 10 years later, Europe is in a severe economic crisis. The stocks went down, the value of the euro went down and countries in Europe are in crisis. (Greece, Portugal, Spain, Hungary) They have actually been considering letting the euro go and going back to the guilder. Are you kidding me? Do we have to go through another situation like that again? Not to mention, how realistic is that really? And we all know that we, the people, will be the victims again of all of this shit. We will be screwed over again.

In the end, WE are the ones paying for stabilizing the situation. I pay hundreds of euros on taxes every year. Now the idea is that we all have to save Greece. Hungary also asked the EU for financial aid. I am all for helping eachother, not a problem. But when we, as the working class, are also struggling to make a living, when we are victimized by our own system (paying more taxes, more health care, more things ourselves), without having the equal opportunity of earning more, how are we supposed to help others?

The critical condition of Europe’s financial and economical situation has now spread to the more healthy and strong countries, such as Germany, France and The Netherlands. Yep, that would be me, I live in that last one. I can’t complain. I found a great job earlier this year and I love it. I make a decent living and I get by. But, I am seriously planning on a strategy for emigration within the next few years. I’ve always wanted to move, but that was more for personal reasons. Now I have added economical and living conditions to those reasons.

The United States hasn’t really been an option anymore for me for the past few years. I would only take a huge step back moving there, unless I would find an equally good job over there, before I move, securing my personal situation. But that’s not likely to happen, seeing the economical situation over there. A few months ago, I was asked to be a part of a business project involving China, its a great opportunity so I said yes and have been working on that since. China wasn’t my first thought for emigration, but it has a more healthy economical environment with a lot of potential. Not to mention that the business we are doing will be booming in 2012. So I am not ruling that option out at all. Let’s see what happens in the next year.

Who knows, I may end up chilling on an island somewhere in the tropics. Right now, I am getting my strategy together, which will not be a 10 year plan, trust me. Aside from everything I wrote, I love Amsterdam. I really do. I love this city and it’s my home. It’s just such a shame that political & economical war (not even physical war) can drive a person to freely (!) leave the place they call home.

Blessings & Love.

Here’s the European Crisis, mapped out in one chart.

You have to understand that I been wanting, longing for a new couch the past 5 years. Its as long as I have lived in this apartment so far. There was a little one-person sofa in this place when I got here. Great thing, except not comfortable enough to be laying out on it, relaxing on it, let alone sleeping on it. Whenever I have a visitor over, we could sit both on the little sofa, but one would already be uncomfortable. So after 5 years, I finally got myself a big, soft, comfortable couch. I love it!

This couch is a sleep-inducing couch. Even after a long night of sleep, when I lay on my new couch, I am guaranteed to at least take a good nap on it. And wake up without my back being hurt, which would be the case if I could already fall out on the little sofa I had before. This couch can fit 4 people sitting on it and 2 people stretching out on it. Seeing that I live by myself, I am ALL over this couch. I love my new couch!

“So Pay, really, is it THAT good of a couch?” Yes it is! This couch makes me never wanna leave my house again. Not sure if that’s a good thing, but hey, at least I am at peace and comfortable in my own spot and that’s very important to me. Winter is coming, we just had the clock set back an hour so its dark already by the time I go home from the office and there he is, my new couch, waiting on me, waiting to embrace me with his soft, comfortable pillows.

One of my friends was laughing when I was telling him about my new couch on the phone. I told him my new couch has made me happier than many a person have the past year. He laughed loud and said “Are you serious Pay? I need to find you a man, if you are talking about your couch like that!” I told him “What can a man do for me that my couch does already? My couch is always there for me, waits for me, never complains, keeps me warm, lets me sleep, and comforts me.” He laughed again and said “That’s sad!” I said “Why? Do you hear me complaining or whining or crying that I am lonely or need a man? No! I am HAPPY! You should be happy that I am this happy! Hahaha!”

If you are still reading this, by now you probably do think I am pathetic lol. But for real though, its these things that can make me extremely happy. The fact that I wanted a good comfortable new couch for so long and finally was able to get it, is just great. The fact that I can now relax when I come home is wonderful. Even after days of hard work, when I am barely home, when I do get home, my comfortable couch is there. I love my new couch. I wish more people would appreciate these things in life more. All I know is, I work hard for all the things I want in life. Just like this couch. So now that I have it, I am enjoying it to the fullest. I believe there is nothing more important than having absolute peace & comfort in your own home. My couch is a huge contributor to that. And yes, I typed this while laying stretched out on my new couch.

Peace & Comfort,

-Pay

If you have read my previous blog, you already know this is sort of a follow up on my outlook in life. On my need for change. It’s the end of April. Come May, a new chapter in my life starts. After almost 9 years of working at the same company, I decided to leave and do something else. I am actually going to be doing something that I have studied for and have a degree in; Marketing. Still IT related though. No more tech-stuff, but it’s a hosting company so my technical knowledge comes in handy here as well. It’s another regular day job but with a lot more challenges and perspective on progress for myself. Although I got spoiled working only 3 days for a boss, I am excited working fulltime again, doing something where I can actually see direct results, the fruits of my hard labor lol.

Some people may think, oh, it’s just a new job. But for me it’s not just that. For the past 9 years, it was my conscious decision to work the job I had, because it was easy to combine with the music and writing stuff that I love to do. Working less and literally just making enough to pay the bills, gave me enough time to put into all the other things I love in life. But, the time has come that neither of those things (not my job and not the music/writing stuff) is giving me enough satisfaction anymore to keep going the way I have been going these years. Something had to give.

In life, I believe there always has to be something that inspires and fulfills your spirit, gives satisfaction and mental growth. Progress is necessary in life to fulfill your purpose as a human being. For everyone, that progress is different, but we all know from ourselves, what we need in life, in order to be fulfilled and feel the growth as a person.

For me, I had to make a decision. Everyone that knows me, knows I love music like it’s my better half. Yet, sometimes you have to let something go. If it’s meant to be, we will be again. I’m not saying I am letting it ALL go. No, I just have to re-arrange my time, energy and focus. And for the next 6 months it will definitely be mainly the new job. The fact I chose to make this change for myself already, has been great for me. I feel so much better, no more sitting around feeling like life is passing me by. I feel like I matter again, not to others, but to myself mostly. I feel like I am gaining knowledge, skills and as mentioned before, growth. I haven’t even started yet.

It will be tough the first few weeks but I have all faith in this being such a huge step forward. I love my new office, I love the new challenge, I love the new paycheck, I love the new people there. I love everything and I can finally get my shit together again. I have never been a materialistic person but oh how it feels good to be able to get my apartment together 5 years after I moved in here. Oh how it feels good to be able to buy stuff for myself, travel more (and more luxurious) and help friends where needed. Oh how I love to be able to -eat- more, get more food, go out to eat, try more restaurants and all that good stuff.

Yes! I am very excited. I am proud of myself for making this change. You only live once. If you’re not happy about the way things are in life, make a change. Don’t sit around and complain (I am no saint, I complain as well lol), but take control. I’m not saying it is easy. I didn’t just got up one day, looked for a new job and got it. It took me a good amount of months as well. But I kept going and now I am closing one chapter of my life and about to enter a new one. Full of energy.

Thanks to everyone that supported me in this change and thanks for everyone that will keep supporting me in this change. Please know that I may have less time to dive into this music business and therefore maybe not keep up to date with everyone’s new work, but at this point, I am just really looking out for Pay and putting her first. I will still keep doing what I do when time and energy allow me to, just not as much for now. Once I get settled in my new lifestyle and schedule, I will probably be more comfortable in getting around again. No love is ever lost, I can only hope for understanding.

May this step be inspiring to those who desperately need change in their lives. May this step be motivating for those who don’t know how to make change in their own lives. I encourage everyone to make a change in life in order to live it to the fullest potential of your own being.

Blessings. <3

So yes, January was a weird month for me. Not necessarily a great month either. My year started with some stupid stuff and bullshit. One of my favorite actors today, Romany Malco, said to me “Think of it as residual shit from LAST year & start fresh .” He couldn’t have said it better. A week into February and I am definitely looking at it the way he suggested me to. January was just all residual shit and its done with now. This second month started pretty good actually, I definitely feel a lot better and am focused. Back on my grind, back to sticking to the plan I have for myself in life. For a minute I sort of lost my focus and went astray from my own path and strategy, but January kicked my butt and basically said “Yo Pay, get your act together and get back with the program!” So that’s what I did.

Fresh into January I got severely ill. I was completely down for 2 weeks straight. After those two weeks I HAD to get back out into the world as I felt more cut off from everything and more alone than ever. It cost me a lot of energy to get back to myself but I survived. It was literally a trip to hell and back, I feel like the Devil gave me a peek of what’s down there. Not a fun place I can tell you. Anyway, after I got back on my feet, I have done nothing but bust my ass off at work. Every free hour went to putting in work. And it feels good. (Not to mention the Euro’s I’m looking forward to at the end of this month, ha.)

More focus, less distractions. Distractions as in; people, events and yes, social media as well. People are getting so stuck on social media sites that they forget their focus. Some still have their focus but can you imagine if you spend all the time that you put into these sites on a day, on reaching your goals? I bet you would be a lot closer to it. At least I feel like that. Not to mention that people’s definitions of friendships and relationships are now defined by social media. If you’re not on Twitter or Facebook, you basically don’t exist. Luckily I have friends who reach out to me outside of those sites. Bless y’all for being there for me during my illness.

So yes, less distractions and more focus. No more wasting time on people and things that really don’t add any value to my life. Not necessarily direct value, but also value in the long run. The value of investment is a big thing if you apply it to your -life-. Its kinda like “making fast money or investing to keep making money in the long run“. Does the attention or hi’s and bye’s on a site like Twitter give quick satisfaction or is it additional value to your real life and goals? I don’t know, but I was pretty stuck on social media myself at first, until I realized it doesn’t do anything for me at all if I post everything on there, or if I reply to everyone’s status or comments.

2011, same shit, different year. But only if you let it be like that. I’m now making it “2011, different year, different shit“. Not no new years resolutions, nah, this change was already on its way. I needed the things that happened in December and January to happen, in order to get to this point where I needed that slap in my face to get back on track. Spending time by yourself, nothing but being by yourself, no phone calls, no internet, no TV, no interactions with others, makes you think about a lot of things in your life. The questions are, “Is this the way you want to live your life? Do you feel like you are doing anything to get closer to your goal? Are you still focused on reaching your goal?” If the answers to those questions are “No”, then change the way you are going through your days right now. Take a look at your life and find out what you need to change, in order to get back on track.

Make it a different year, with different shit.

Blessings. <3

So yeah, to keep my tradition alive, I couldn’t leave 2010 without some sort of a recap of how the year has been for me. Last year I summed up my blessings by month. This year has been so full of different things, emotions, situations and people, that I thought about it and it doesn’t seem to be that easy summing up things by month this time. Despite a lot of things that made me sad, I must say that this year I have really grown as a person. I guess if you have been reading some of my personal blogs, you would know this as well.

My year started with a great blessing, my trip to Jamaica at the end of January. Again, I am forever grateful to my friend Vic for making that possible and for giving me the opportunity to have visited such a beautiful country and have met such wonderful people. Ironically, I will be spending Christmas in NYC with some of the people I have met and hung out with on that trip. Mad love to Pat, Joe and Jo. Can’t wait to see you guys for Christmas.

2010 has brought me love. Love I could have never imagined. It has taught me so many things about myself. It has taught me that I am actually capable of loving in a way I never thought I could. This is the kind of love a person holds on to. I don’t mean holding on to “someone”, but holding on to “loving”. Giving out the positive vibes it generates from within you is such an incredible feeling. Even if the love cannot be returned in that same way, I am forever grateful for this experience and will cherish it forever.

This year has also taught me alot about friendship. True friendship. It also showed me that I used to be very selfish, within friendships as well. (See my blog: I’m Selfish.) Earlier this year I thought I “lost” two of my closest friends, but, like genuine friendship becomes, we all saw past the little things and remain close, if not closer. (I love you Efrem, I love you Kelly.) Old friendships rekindled. (I love you Nathaly.) New friendships have grown more mature and the people involved have shown me that I can see past my own trust issues. That despite the things that may have happened in the past with other people, there are wonderful people out there that I would never wanted to have missed out on. So I thank them, for opening me up and for giving me back what I give. They definitely have been my blessings this year as well. (I love you Fyza, Mimi, Charlie, Stephs.) All of my friends, whether I mention you personally in here or not, thank you for your kindness, love and positivity.

The past year has also made me put even more focus on the direction I want to go into. I now see more clear what I want to do in my life. Even with my lack of sight ha. (Thank you all for your support with the whole sight-situation.) It has been a year with ups and downs, as well personally as professionally, yet the positive rises. I guess without the whole summing up of specific blessings, the biggest Blessing is to have had great experiences, have met wonderful new people and to have received love, regardless what’s going on in the world or in life.

To everyone I’ve met in 2010, everyone I’ve hung out with, exchanged laughs and tears with, traveled with, ate with, partied with and exchanged font or sound with; Thank you for adding a piece of you to my year and making it wonderful.

Love. <3
-Pay

“Count your blessings, tell your loved ones they are appreciated and max out every day of your life. That’s truly living.” -Pay

Nine out of ten times it costs me a little focus to really understand what is being said. Especially with rappers. They use so many metaphores, slang, wordplay and however they flip things just to say it different and make it interesting. It makes it hard for me to immediately know what they’re saying in a song, being Dutch.

I recently had a phone conversation with an artist friend. We were talking about how many of the same artists always come to Amsterdam for shows. And I was telling him that at this point, as much as I love their music, I wish other artists would come over that have never had shows here before. He asked me who I would like to see. It was a bit of a hard question. I know that within 2010, the highlight of my year as far as artists is concerned, was Jake One. But he is more a producer. When I thought about the question, the only people I could think of at the moment, that I have been waiting on to come do shows here, are Khrysis and Nottz. Two producers as well. I would like to see a Beat Battle between Jake One & Nottz over here. Like the sound clash tour from Just Blaze & The Alchemist. That’s the type of stuff that I would really love to see, before a show really.

Its at that point where I figured out, I respect producer’s a lot more than most consumers probably do. I can rock to instrumentals any day. I can’t do the same to acapella stuff. But that’s just me. I just love music. I can do without vocals, I can’t do without music. I’ve always felt like producers don’t get enough credit. It’s been better the past years but still. People underestimate the influence of a particular bassline, string, drumline or chord. Like a hook can be catchy, so can one of the elements of the production be. It’s also a reason why I still buy CD’s, if not only to support the artist, the music, also for the booklet. I love reading booklets. I wanna see who did what, all the credits, the samples, the whole shabang. I wanna see the songs totally dissected so I can truly listen to it as supposed to.  If you’re not so much a music lover, I’m sure this will be un-understandable for you. I take it most of my readers know what I’m talking about though.

I grew up around instruments. My dad is a guitar player, plays the keys, writes songs and did production as well. My uncles all play instruments. A lot more people in my family are music oriented. Singing, drums, piano, guitars. I have a thing for live bands, especially for (bass)guitarists lol,  and therefore always listen to certain elements and instruments within productions, within beats. Guess I’m just “a production gal”.

Mad respect to all the producers out there, not just my favorite ones.
Keep putting out dope music.

Peace & Blessings. <3