The Borderland Bi-National Battle of the Beats brought together producers from across America’s southwest region in a competitive showcase of music and talent this past March. Producers dug through crates and their own back catalogs of material to throw down their own unique take on what happens when “boom” meets “bap”. Severe, the 26 year-old El Paso native, took the grand prize at the end of it all, representing the traditions of what he considers “real hip-hop.” Fusion caught up with the up-and-coming producer to get to know him and see how winning’s been treating him.
Hip-hop production isn’t like picking up a guitar and learning to play. How did you start out in it?
I was maybe like 12. I used to be in a rap group with my cousin and he took me to a friend who made beats. At first I didn’t believe him. I thought you had to be in a studio to make music. So he took me to his house, I saw his set up. He had a mixer, a computer and he used a software program called eJay and that was it. I went online, looked for that software program and bought it. I just started making music after that. But I couldn’t do so much with it because it was just a cheap program. It was only good enough to make your own drums. You couldn’t chop up samples or look at the wav files. After that, I got tired of looking at a screen, so I bought myself a music production center (MPC). It’s traditional hip-hop to have that. It’s an Akai. Basically, it’s a sampler and drum machine.
What kind of preparation did you take leading up to the competition?
I already had lots of beats that nobody’s heard. I went back to my Akai and my memory card and loaded up things that I knew people would appreciate and wanted to hear. I made a list of 32 beats that I had and also made five more extra beats, just in case. So, my preparation was to sample good music, flip that good music and make it real hip-hop. Just giving back to the community what’s been missing from the radio.
Have you ever competed in similar beat competitions before?
Actually, I have. It was an online thing. What they did online is they give you a sample and all these producers flip it. So, I flipped one sample and I got a lot of people respecting my sound. They never heard the way I chopped my samples. It was a Stones Throw [Records] beat battle which they have every Wednesday. Whoever wins that battle gets to upload a sample and then that gets flipped. Sometimes I do it. But I also have on Facebook a group called “Beat Flip Tuesday.” I have a lot of producers in that group. What I do is I upload a sample and I let producers go ahead and flip it themselves. But it’s not competition; it’s just a place to display your ideas and what you bring to the table.
Do you model your style after any particular producer or do get compared to any?
I don’t model it after anyone’s style, but everyone always tells me that I have that Wu-Tang sound which I don’t try to aim for. So, I’m thinking I sound like RZA. But I love DJ Premier, Pete Rock, Large Professor, Marco Polo. The list could go on forever. I look up to a lot of people and I try to take a little bit from everybody and create my own sound.
Earlier you mentioned “real hip-hop” with a sense of reverence. How do you define “real hip-hop?”
It’s basically knowledge and self-understanding. It’s trying to better your life and the situation around you. It’s not putting low-lifes down, just being respectful. It probably may seem like they’re teaching violence because there’s violence in the lyrics, but, in reality, they’re trying to avoid all that. Hip-hop, to me, is life. It’s the everyday. It’s love. It’s the whole culture.
Aside from producing, do you perform DJ sets?
I don’t, but everyone’s been wanting me to do that for some reason. I’ve been wanting to also do it because sometimes I play music where people go, ‘I haven’t heard that in a long time!’ I’ve been wanting to do that, but I don’t want to step in it because that’s another realm. For the for-real DJs, I’m gonna leave that up to them who really take that to heart. I take producing to heart and I’d rather stay inside for a while and maybe learn a little bit and maybe start DJing in the near future.
Is there a rapper or rappers who you’d love to have rap over your beats?
That’s a good question! I’ve never really thought of that. Usually when I make beats, I really have nobody in mind. But, I would have to say Skyzoo, an underground rapper. He’s out of New York, signed to Duck Down Music.
You’re heavy on sampling. Is there a piece of vinyl that you own and cherish more than the others in your collection?
Yeah, my first vinyl that I bought. It was “Roberta y Los Angeles Negros.” It has some great stuff in it. I cherish it, even though it cost me maybe five bucks, but it was some of the best five bucks I could’ve ever spent. It was the first I bought with my money. I knew who Los Angeles Negros were, and I think Roberta was some Brazilian chick. I just fell in love with the cover. It’s kind of pink and there’s a girl on it. It just attracted me and there was some dope shit on it. There’s other records that I got that are classic, but I’ll always cherish that one.
How did you spend your winnings?
Bills and fixing my car, man. I’m not going to go and spend it on nothing else but fixing my life. I was going to go buy some new pads for my drum machine because those are worn out! But, I had to take care of my well-being first so I could live properly.
TXT: JOHN DEL ROSARIO | PHOTO: ALEX DURAN