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Independent hip hop artist, REL!G!ON, is a producer from Vancouver, Canada. Here’s a single from his album, “Revelationz I”. It’s called ‘Pyramids’ feat. Planet Asia and Jasiri X.

www.urbnet.com/religion
www.religionbeats.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijHo4DC-XbI

Xcel Beats is one of the music industry’s most sought after music producers. He’s produced hits for DTP’s Shawnna, Ludacris, Bun B, Yung Berg, and many others. In this interview with IndieHipHop.net, he gives advice on what artists and producers should be doing to make their way towards a successful music career.

www.myspace.com/xceltracks

Producer, d.C. hails from southern California and is trying to make the world a more beautiful place with his music, and when you hear what he’s bangin out, it’s obvious that he’s accomplishing his goal.  NYOIL, Fokis, Sahtyre, Darkim Be Allah, Wordsmith, Jus Mic, and Vice are among some of the artists that he’s worked with. He recentetly ranked top 3 for the Dynamic Producer x Common Remix competition.

www.soulplusmind.com
www.myspace.com/soulplusmindmusic
www.twitter.com/dcsoulplusmind

Ritchcraft, Qwest, and Jansport J., met over Twitter and discovered that they all made remixes. They decided to mesh those remixes into an album. The album is a collection of remixes of some new and old hip hop gems. They named the album “Frootloops” because they all produce their music on the music software program, Fruityloops (FL Studio).

This is a dope project. The music production is great and the choice of songs are too. Definitely loaded this into my mp3 player. You can get the whole project for free. Download it here.

Contact:
Ritchraft
www.myspace.com/ritchcraft
Qwest
www.myspace.com/qwestmj1
Jansport J.
www.myspace.com/jansportj

Here’s one of the singles off the project.
(A Tribe Called Quest)- Once Again

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Finding the right music to go with your flow is essential to leaving lasting impression as an artist. A debate I recently had with some producer partners of mine started with my belief that the artists who made the biggest impacts in hip hop, used only one or very few producers. My feeling is that the music created with these unions, defined them as artists and sometimes defined an entire era.

When the producer is like a part of the group, somehow a unique sound is created that can’t be duplicated without that original unit. This sometimes creates musical movements. Some legendary examples of this have been:
Public Enemy, N.W.A, Mobb Deep, A Tribe Called Quest, Wu Tang, The Death Row Movement, The Cash Money Movement, Eric B and Rakim, Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth, Gangstar…etc
These are just a few of great artist(s), producer combos that were monumental in hip hop music. The albums produced by these groups had a linear feel from the 1st track to the last. They flowed together in the same way a book would. Now you have projects where there can literally be a different producer on every track. It’s like that same book having a different writer for each chapter.

As the industry started to rely more on having a huge hit single, they believed that they could increase they’re chances by hiring these producers to separately create music for album projects. This was not only very costly for the project but it didn’t give the artists a sound of their own. That’s not to say that there haven’t been some great projects made by the right collection of producers (see Illmatic, and the Blueprint). Concept albums are still the way to go. I think that this is what makes Kanye very successful. The tracks are connected. You should never pass up on a hot beat, but remember, if you do decide to get music from a variety of different sources, that you make sure to make yourself the thread that connects them together.

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Hip Hop and R&B Producer, Bryan Micheal Cox discusses the importance of maintaining good relationships and how most times this can be more of an asset than actually having good music!

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DJ Stupac hails from Denver, Colorado and is the first DJ to be profiled on Indiehiphop.net. Every DJ profiled on the this blog plays indie hip hop artists and openly accepts submissions for their mixtapes and projects. Get at them!! Exposure is what its all about and I don’t waste time with people that are not serious about their game.

Currently Dj StuPac is working on a new mixtape with Denver, Colorado artist Hypnautic called “The Movement” that also features many other Denver heavy hitters, such as Julox and Fat Lee. Dj StuPac is also working on a mixtape hosted by Denver native DJ KTONE THE TURF DJ called “WHITE MEN CAN’T DJ” and “A GANGSTA RESUME HOSTED BY CTE’s ROCCETT as well as “SLEPT ON SLAP VOLUME: OUTKAST hosted by DJ BIG SPADE aka DR. XCLUSIVE. Just recently dropped are “SOUTHLAND TALES VOLUME 4 and BEDROOM BOOM BLENDS. Dj StuPac is a 2009 SEA nominee for mixtape rookie of the year, a Crunk Energy Drink Dj (www.crunkenergydrink.com) and runs his own production company Down Rite Durtay Productionz.

DJ STUPAC INFO:

www.myspace.com/djstupac
email: djstupac@gmail.com
www.twitter.com/djstupac

I’ve been producing music professionally for most of my adult life, and it’s been my only source of income for a long time. It hasn’t all been lavish and high profile, but I consider myself very fortunate to be able to make a living doing something I love to do. I’ve placed music in films, produced for many artists, TV programs and made a lot of commercial jingles for big companies.

I get occasional emails from producers asking me “how can I be a successful producer in the industry?” Truth is, success is only defined by your individual goals. You can aspire to be a Timbaland, Dr. Dre or some little known music production manager for a TV show, who makes a very comfortable living. The better you are at your craft and producing different styles of music, the more opportunities will be available to you.

Sometimes you have to create your own opportunity if there doesn’t seem to be any. For example, I started Quickbeats.net because, in my travels, I was meeting a lot of hip hop artists who were gifted but couldn’t afford to pay the cost for professional studio production. So, I decided I’d make quality hip hop beats available, on the internet, to independent hip hop artists at an affordable price.

The first thing i did was look to see if anyone else was providing the same service and if there was a sizable demand for it. I discovered that there were a few others providing the same service but most of the music I heard, in my opinion, wasn’t quality enough to truly help independent artists compete on a major level. After more researching for about 3 months, I started putting together a plan. I think it is very important to plan out how you’re going to promote and deliver your product even before you create it. I’ve heard a lot of great music from artists who had no idea what to do with it once it was done.

I knew nothing about internet marketing when I started, but I decided I would learn everything I could about it so I’d have the knowledge I needed to spread awareness about the site. I didn’t expect the site to grow as fast as it did nor create the many opportunities to produce for hip hop artists internationally. Quick Beats eventually became not only a great service for artists, but also a huge business card for my production service.

Making a living as a producer is unpredictable and has it’s highs and lows just like any small business. It takes hard work and grind but, anything worth obtaining in life is not without difficulties. If it were easy then everyone would be doing it, right? Keep perfecting your craft and equally important, go out and meet new people that can take you to that next level. Most of the time, the only thing that separates you from someone who becomes successful is the difference in how you spend your time.

Abstrakt Soundz is a independent hip hop producer born and raised in Los Angeles, California. He and artist Element joined forces for the first time to create the cleverly crafted album, Great Expectations. Indie Hip Hop and Ab got together to discuss the emerging underground hip hop scene in Cali and what this talented producer is focused on for the future.
Here is that interview…

The second track on Great Expectations Before I Wake

Abstract Soundz Myspace page…www.myspace.com/abstraktsoundz