An Interview with Jay-Z Producer and Music Teacher, Ski Beatz

“With this music thing, you never know where you’re going to land” – An interview with Ski Beatz

From his early days of rapping to producing for Jay-Z, cutting his teeth on the E-mu SP-1200 to modular synthesis, Ski Beatz shares his journey so far.

Not only is he a well-respected music producer, he’s also a dedicated music teacher, tutor, and community leader, as we discuss in this interview. We also talk about his love of the famed Akai MPC sampler, E-mu SP-1200, modular synthesis, and much more.

Please could you introduce yourself?

My name is Ski Beatz. I’m a Hip-Hop music producer, educator, father, all round good guy. Let’s go!

Would you mind sharing some of your earliest musical influences?

Oh, man. One of the earliest influences was probably Marley Marl. He was the first “Hip-Hop producer” to be recognized in the 80s for being a serious music producer. He really put a battery in my back. Me and a couple of other guys had a group called The Bizzie Boyz, based out of North Carolina, Baltimore. Marley Marl was a super big influence for us.

We used to open shows for people like Biz Markie and Big Daddy Kane when they came to North Carolina. They would share things that Marley Marl did with his beats, or what equipment he was using, which really helped to elevate us.

New York was the Mecca of Hip-Hop, but we were from North Carolina, so we were kind of these little country guys. We didn’t know too much about how to get started with the whole Hip-Hop thing, but these guys came and helped us up.

And how did you get into playing or performing music?

I was rapping at first. I had a producer in the group called Fanatic, who was producing for me. He was making all the beats for us, and I used to go to his house and watch him use the E-mu SP-1200. Eventually, he’d start showing me things on the SP, then I’d start messing around and making my own beats when he wasn’t home. That’s how I really got into the production side of things.

But I started as an MC, then when I moved to New York, I was making my own beats. I didn’t even know that was called producing at the time, I just thought every rapper had to make their own beats. Later on, rest in peace, DJ Clark Kent, he introduced me to the whole production game and taught me the business. He taught me how to get into it and give it a go.

The SP-1200 was my first piece of equipment that got me started in the game, then as time progressed, I got more into other instruments, messing around with keyboards and things like that. Lately, I’ve been learning the bass guitar and it’s been an amazing journey. My mom teaches piano, my brothers and sister play, but I never really gravitated towards instruments, so I was like the black sheep of the family until later in life. Until then, I was more interested in samplers and things like that.

Speaking of samplers, we watched your episode of Rhythm Roulette, and it’s clear from how quickly you move the needle that you know exactly what you’re looking for in a sample. Is that pure intuition, or are you listening for something specific?

It’s just intuition. I’m listening for anything that strikes a creative chord with me when I drop the needle. If it catches my ear, then that’s what I’m running with. Sometimes you just need to be quick and not think about it too much, especially on Rhythm Roulette as you’re under pressure. I had to make something fast!

It’s funny, in that video I didn’t even know how to play the bass guitar, but I picked it up. It’s crazy how the universe works—I just had to pick it up and mess around with some notes. Now, when I look back I think “boy I wish I could do it over because I would knock that s**t out of the park.”

That video was a decade ago, but we watched an even older video you made with Ableton. Are you still using Ableton Live, and are there any other tools or programs that are a core part of your creative process?

I’ve tried all the main DAWs, but Ableton Live just works, so I’ve stuck with it. I’ve been on Ableton since version five, and I can’t see myself using anything but Ableton when it comes to getting ideas down and arranging them. I can just do it so quickly in Ableton.

I definitely got into the whole plugin thing when that took off, but then I kind of moved back to hardware. I went back to my SP-1200 and MPC, going straight into my Neve console, and went back to that sound. I still use the Valhalla and FabFilter stuff, but I like analog and I like going right in, you know?

You touched on it there, but how important is it to you to have physical equipment in your studio?

It’s kinetic—if I’m touching a button or a control, it’s really me doing that. Clicking a mouse is cool, and some people can make masterpieces doing that, but for me, I have to feel it, you know? Everything comes from a feeling, and I think that comes from learning how to make music on the SP-1200.

When you’re sampling, you’re hitting the pad and trimming the sample, you can feel it. I can’t explain it, but you can feel when it’s right and you go “Boom, that’s it”, and I like that feeling. Same thing with keys, same thing with bass guitar, it’s all feeling and it’s all kinetic.

We also read that you’re into modular gear too, which is a perfect example of having tactile instruments that you can feel. Modular synthesis is generally considered to be more of a thing in electronic music circles. Does your use of modular synthesis set you apart from other Hip-Hop producers?

Oh yeah, the rabbit hole got me baby. It gives me a different sound for sure. I put an album out a couple years ago, called Switched On Bap. That was done with my MPC and my modular, and that was it.

I like the modular sound because it’s so unpredictable. I might have an idea of what I want to do, but you can push one button and it does some crazy s**t, and you need to capture that moment man. I think it’s meditation, like painting or something. I could do it for hours and not even check the time or anything, I love it.

You just mentioned the MPC, a device you’re clearly very experienced with. What was the first MPC you used, and what are you using today?

I’ve used the MPC forever. The 3000 was my first MPC, now I have the MPC One, MPC Live, and MPC 37 Key. There are a lot of MPCs in here right now! I’ve even got an MPC 2000 back here somewhere.

I mostly keep the MPC Live or MPC One on my desk. The workflow is so fast, especially if you’ve been using it since the 80s like me. It’s basically the same language, you know? Obviously the new technology they’ve added to it since then is amazing, but the way you can sequence and put things together makes it quicker than anything else in terms of workflow.

I use a lot of stuff, I use a lot of different samplers and drum machines because I like to get a fresh outlook on how to create s**t. But if someone says they need a beat, I’ve got to get on the MPC because I know I can just get it done.

What are some of the more modern MPC features that you’re using today?

Lazy Chop is amazing. Chopping samples now takes me less than a minute instead of 20 minutes, like it used to on older MPCs. There are a lot of dope effects from AIR Music Technology that come with MPCs now, which is cool. I like that you can color the pads however you like. They’re just amazing and so quick, they’re the future.

I do some stem separation too, but not in the way that you would think. I use stem separation to transcribe music that I want to learn. If I’m learning a bassline, I’ll throw it into MPC to isolate the bass, then I can play along to practice. Sometimes I use it in production, too. I might hear some crazy drums that I want to use, so I’ll use stem separation to grab the break from the track.

Aside from your production work, you’ve built up something of a beat community called Smack Pack. What was the motive behind creating this community, and how has it become so popular?

Before the pandemic, I was on the road, DJing for Mobb Deep and Curren$y. Then during the pandemic, we all had to sit down. I had all of these drum sounds on my computer, and I was wondering if I should make a little sample pack and put it out as a beatmaking contest. I knew everybody was home, and I thought, “Let’s do something for the community, this will be fun.”

I called the first one the Ten Second Challenge because I was livestreaming myself making a beat with my SP-1200. I realised on-stream how liberating it was to make a beat with only 10 seconds of sampler time, and I said to the audience, “I bet you guys couldn’t do it!” When I woke up the next morning, I had hundreds of DMs from kids making beats with less than 10 seconds of sampler time.

So I found an older MPC that I wasn’t using and said, “You know what? Whoever makes the best beat using these sounds in this sample pack, wins this machine”. Everybody tapped in, and Smack Pack just took off. As it progressed, we started adding vocals from different artists, samples from the sound design community, and all kinds of other cool stuff.

Do you find you can still learn things from these up-and-coming beatmakers and producers?

These kids are beasts. These guys run circles around what we used to do, and I love it. You have to see the next level in order to get to the next level. So I’m watching these kids, and when I see that special guy, that’s the guy I’m focusing on and studying from.

What else are you working on currently that you can share with us?

I’m working on Switched On Bap 2, which is almost finished. I’m also working with an artist called Sean Stunna. We just released a new signal last week called The Vision. I’m trying to heat him up, you know? Get him out there. It’s going to be a slow roll, but I think when people start to understand what he’s talking about, he’s going to be well accepted in the underground Hip-Hop community.

Aside from that, I do the Dojo classes where I teach kids how to make beats. We just did something with Teenage Engineering, which was cool. I’ve got a couple of curricula in the North Carolina school system that are doing really well. It’s been an interesting journey, going from rapper to producer to musician to teacher. It’s kind of wild.

With this music thing, you never know where you’re going to land. My intention was to be a famous rapper, I wanted to come out and do my thing. And I ended up being a school teacher!

Thanks to Ski Beatz for taking the time to speak to us. You can keep up to date with Ski Beatz on Instagram, YouTube, Soundcloud, and Spotify.