Is It Important To Know Names of Artists?

Email question received:

Aiight… my lil brother right he listens to alot of music and shit.. he knows his stuff, ya feel me… He heard some of my new beatz and he was like that it’s good and shit.. but, that I need to listen more to rap and shit.. since my beatz are more towards rap.. ya know.. i was wonderin if this is true or not.. I know that if I listen to it more… I know that I would get influenced, of course.. it’s only natural.. but, if i’m tryna be unique.. wouldn’t listening to them only make me unconsciously duplicate their work.. if you understand what i mean… with most of the shit that they play on the radio.. I hate…some of them… not al of them.. like shit like walk it out, and other shit like that.. ya know.. and my brother is like I don’t like the whole rap industry.. I don’t know where he got that from if I only hate like a few songs… ya know.. now if I don’t listen to rap and can make ill rap beatz.. is that wrong.. if I was to produce my stuff. would I be to some inadvantage because I don’t know the names of other rappers.. and stuff like that.. i mean.. i’m open to suggestions.. ya know.. cuz.. I might be gettin serious into the beat makn and shit ya know.. hopefully to produce.. but, if I can bring somethin fresh and new.. ya know.. without listenin to other peoples stuff.. where is the problem in that.. If I know how much work I put into a beat, and sell it for what it’s worth.. after doin my financial homework.. then what is the problem? If I have someone who.. might just be fresh and new, and can sing or rap on my shit.. and is good.. and I get someone.. to open us to the world.. ya know.. then what is the problem.. the problem with the world is that.. they get all high off the stuff that’s played on the radio.. and that’s not all the music in the world.. ya know.. on myspace.. you have alot of fresh artists.. i mean fresh.. my only problem is that I can’t name them because that’s just me.. I don’t be studiien them ya know.. same thing with rap.. I hear music.. I like the beat.. but, I don’t go findin out the name of the rapper and stuff.. cuz.. I don’t c the need.. if I know is name wow.. how does that help me.. ya know.. but, I should know the producer.. right?

that’s basically my dilemma.. can you help me?

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REPLY TO EMAIL

Your wording is just a tad verbose, but it’s actually a very good question. I THINK your two questions are:

1. For me to be successful producing a certain genre, is it important for me to listen to that genre?
2. Is it important for me to know the specific names of artists and producers that I am studying?

Yes and No to both.

When people first approach a new style of music, they usually think it’s very easy and they have it nailed. The reason is that they don’t listen to it very much, so they don’t realize how far off they are. I can’t tell you how many times a new client came to the recording studio all excited about their new country song – To me, someone who listens to a lot of country music, it was NEVER what “real” country was all about. It was very obvious it was a songwriter THINKING they were country.

Same with hip hop – have you ever heard a rap performed by someone who doesn’t listen to rap or hip hop? It’s a hideous thing to listen to.

The bigger concept here to grasp is that people usually only can see what they don’t know as it sits on the outskirts of what they DO know. Imagine a circle that represents your knowledge. Let’s say it’s Calculus. You just started studying Calculus so your circle of knowledge is small – and so is your knowledge of what you don’t know about Calculus. It seems like you’ve almost mastered it. But someone who has studied for twenty years has a much larger circle of knowledge – and with more knowledge also comes more knowledge of what you do NOT understand. The body of unknown knowledge sits on the outskirts of knowledge.

Short read: If you just started learning something it may feel like you’ve already mastered it. Don’t delude yourself. You haven’t mastered it yet.

On the flip side of all this – often times great strides in artistic changes to genres come from people outside the genres. They don’t know all the rules yet, so they break them without even knowing it. A good example of this in country music was Garth Brooks. He just came out of left field and updated that entire genre single handedly. There are many examples in every genre of music.

Is it important to know names of artists and producers. I don’t think so. BUT, if you are really into a certain sound then you’ll probably want to make a note of their names so you can track other projects they’ve done. For instance, my favorite composers and arrangers are Howard, Besterman, Jones, Dre, Morricone, Bach and Elfman. These are all people I’ve tracked to get as much as I can out of their work. If you are really studying them – you’ll just automatically know their names.

More important than knowing names is to understand the elements of the groove and arrangement – on two levels. The first is to understand the theory and technical aspect of the work. The second is to understand what hits you in the gut and makes you say “I LOVE THAT”. The two are seperate entities. When you can produce both technical and emotional response yourself from scratch and other people are also saying I LOVE THAT! – I’d say that’s the point you become a master artist. It will happen so slow you won’t even notice it (unless you’re Sean Combs!).

Tip: When I am working on a project – it’s normal for me to totally immerse myself in that style and listen to ONLY that around the clock. Especially when I work on shows, I listen to the soundtrack exclusively. For me, that’s what I need to get uber-focused.

Let the other people memorize names – you just tear into that groove aiight.

Conrad