MixedByAli, Sounwave and Tae Beast

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

Let’s talk about “All The Stars,” off the Black Panther soundtrack. How does that happen?

Sounwave

I literally, I want to say we had that record, the idea of the record, for about two years. And to get to where it was at, I didn’t even expect that. Me and Kendrick were just messing around. We caught a vibe in Jamaica with my guy Al Shux and he just kind of had like the top liner – the brunt of the ideas of it – but he never had no words in it. Then my guy Ryan Coogler – the director of Black Panther – he came. He was just like, “Yo, I got this movie. I want you guys to check it out. See if you guys can do anything for it.” Paint it. Instantly, once we first saw it, it was like, “Yo, we don’t want to do just one song. We want to do the whole soundtrack.” We didn’t even tell him that. We were just gonna secretly sneak in and do the whole soundtrack and just if they take it, they take it. If not, we’ve got tracks for ourselves.

But yeah, so that song was, it kind of summed up the whole movie to us. It’s like, as soon as we saw the movie we knew that that was the direction it was gonna go.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

You mentioned Al Shux. What did he provide to the track that…

Sounwave

Al Shux is a melodic genius. So the little, crazy worm sounds that you hear in there. That’s that guy. His brain is crazy when it comes to melodies.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

What was your thoughts when you got, heard that you were nominated? ’Cause it’s like you’re nominated for every award under the sun right now. Grammy awards.

Tae Beast

Golden Globe.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

A Golden Globe. Oscar.

MixedByAli

That’s right.

Sounwave

Bruh, I’m still… To this day, it hasn’t fully hit me. It always hits me when I’m at the award show. It’s like, “Yo, I’m walking right next to all of these superstars,” and it’s just like, I’m just a kid from Compton. So I don’t know. Words can’t describe it really.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

Are you upset when you don’t win or do you feel like you’re already validated when you are nominated?

Sounwave

Just to be there. Just to be nominated it was like come on, bro! Like I said, I’m from Compton. Graduated from Compton High and to be Oscar nominated? Golden Globe nominated? Grammy nominated?

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

Yeah make some noise for that. [applause] What soundtracks did you guys listen to in preparing for it? Was it like inspirations, or?

Sounwave

I always say this and people say I’m cheesy for it, but my two favorites are Coming To America [laughter] and The Last Dragon. The Last Dragon has to me, the greatest soundtrack. I know all those songs by heart.

MixedByAli

Nah, New Jack City. New Jack City is the best soundtrack.

Sounwave

New Jack City. Above The Rim. Waiting To Exhale. Nutty Professor. These are all classic soundtracks. [audience member reacts]

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

Nutty Professor has some joints, Case!

MixedByAli

For sure. That had some joints.

Sounwave

[speaking to audience] The Jay-Z joint? Come on, man.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

What about you, Tae? What’s your favorites?

Tae Beast

Above The Rim, man.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

Above The Rim?

Tae Beast

Yeah, man. Pac’s “Pain.”

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

“Pain!” The best Pac record ever.

Tae Beast

Yeah it’s one of my favorite records.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

I’m probably getting in trouble for that, but putting it out there.

Tae Beast

Nah, I agree.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

What about you Ali? Man, like I said, congratulations, ’cause you hit the stage this past Sunday. You accepted the Grammy for the Record of The Year. For “This is America.” Were you expecting to win? Let’s be honest.

MixedByAli

Not really.

Sounwave

He was going against me. He kept on saying, “It’s going to be me or you.”

MixedByAli

I’m sitting next to Wave punching this n---- in the chest, like, “What are we doing?” I really wasn’t expecting to win. I’m grateful that we did win. I was kind of, you know I’m always rooting for home team first. I’m just always grateful to be in this situation where that was the competition. It’s good to compete with homies that are in categories like that. So.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

Right. But how does that song even come across your desk?

MixedByAli

Man, that was Tunji [Balogun]. You know, Tunji at RCA has been a friend of ours since way, way, way, way, way, way back. He’s really family and during that time we were just wrapping up the DAMN. stuff and there was a few projects that we were working on. He just called me and said, “Hey, Childish has a record. I think you can kill it.” They just sent me the files. We went back and forth a few times and at first when I heard it, I didn’t kind of understand it because of how it was broken down. When he said it was a single I was kind of confused ’cause I couldn’t hear it on the radio at first. So we mixed it. We spent a few times mixing it. Maybe about two weeks going back and forth with the doubles and all the effects that we added to it. Even getting some of the background vocals. We had to wait a few days for the background vocals to come through.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

Oh it came out afterward?

MixedByAli

There were, things were coming on the fly every now and then. So I had to piece it up. Just imagine like a Lego puzzle, having to piece it together once you get files.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

Oh wow.

MixedByAli

So yeah. So we was going back and forth on that, but yeah you know. They just gave me the creative idea to just go and do my thing. They just told me to just do you. Do MixedByAli and that’s what happened.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

Because I know your sessions take a long time. Was this one of those long MixedByAli sessions?

MixedByAli

This one was more different because I was more comfortable with the record. I like mixes like that. Things that are more complex, have different elements, have different patterns, different transitions. So just off of doing the old Section.80, the old records, I was almost familiar with how that stuff was kind of supposed to be formatted. So it was more fun putting it together. At the end of the day it was more fun, but you have to go back and forth with the artist and go back and forth with the label to get it to their likings and stuff, so that was the only thing that kind of took a little bit of time.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

But even like Ali, like as decorated and accomplished as you are, are there still challenges you face as an engineer?

MixedByAli

I mean, all the time. How I approach engineering and just anything in life is like you’re only as good as your last mix. So you have to constantly find something in your creative process that’s gonna constantly inspire you. If you’re in a time, which personally, for me it’s not really a super inspiring time in music, what’s going to keep you wanting to stay doing those 10-hour sessions, those 15-hour sessions? You got to compete with yourself. So I always talk about, you’re not as good as your last mix. So yeah, you’re not as good as your last mix, basically yeah.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

What problems do you think a lot of up and coming engineers and producers face? I guess this is to all three of you guys.

MixedByAli

What, personally? Or just creativity-wise?

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

Both.

MixedByAli

Personally, I feel like everyone’s trying to compete with each other. It’s just too much false shit going on. It’s too much fake shit that you see, so people are competing with the fake. It’s like everyone wants to be somebody they’re not. Everybody wants to follow a sound that’s not theirs. One thing that I took from everything that we do is be yourself. We look at Section.80 and how different that was compared to everything in that time and just how critically acclaimed and the love that we got from it and how successful it was. It just showed me – if you just be yourself and stay true and loyal to yourself, then there’s nothing you can’t do, and there’s nowhere you can’t go.

So that’s one thing that I do see a lot of engineers and producers doing is trying to just have a face without the work to show for it. You gotta put the work in first and then you can have the name and the face after that. You gotta spend time, put your 10,000 hours in. Sit back and become a master at your craft and then go out and go do what you got to do, but you can’t go out and be a super producer or super engineer and spend your whole paycheck on this and that first. You got to put the work in and all that will come later. By the time you do put the work in, you get all that shit, you might not even want all the chains and all the jewelry and all of that shit no more. You don’t got to prove nothin’ no more. You got to prove it in the music.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

How about you Sounwave, what you think? You can make some noise for that. [applause] Now I’m inspired.

Sounwave

Nah, I second everything he said. My whole thing is I see a lot of producers that are up and coming now and instead of pushing the boundaries, they’re basically trying to follow what’s the quickest way to get out there. So my whole thing is basically take your time to figure out your own sound. Figure out your own ways to just change the culture, basically.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

What you think, Tae?

Tae Beast

I mean, outside of what Sounwave said, maybe overthinking. You know, some people tend to overproduce. There is no such thing as overproducing. Sometimes… dumbing down might be the wrong term to use, but I’ve been with other producers that have 97 different sounds all over a record. That don’t make any sense. Somebody still needs to put lyrics to it. A song still needs to be made to it. At times you just got to really sit back, get the vibe, don’t overthink it and then don’t make beats catered to someone. I get a lot of people who call me and say, “Hey man, I made this beat for Kendrick,” and they send it to me because they want me to quote, unquote, play it. “That sounds like something off DAMN. He’s moved on from that, bro. ” It’s like everybody’s on to the next thing. Like he said man, just trying to develop your own sound. Try not to be like anybody else.

MixedByAli

Real quick, just to touch on that, man. I second that, because again a lot of engineers have asked me, “How do I become, how do I get where you’re at as an engineer?” It’s tough for an engineer or a producer that’s not kind of tied to an artist to get to certain heights ’cause they’re constantly chasing placement. They’re constantly chasing artists to work with, trying to get placements and you’re sending Future-type beats or you’re sending Kendrick-type beats. Sometimes it’s better both ways, to kind of find an upcoming artist that you believe in, that you mess with, that you like and kind of build a sound together with them. That way you know for one if the artist does get to a point where he can shine a light on you, why wouldn’t he put shine on his producer or his engineer that he’s already in bed with. So to kind of create a sound with somebody, create a sound together is really more important and I think it’s one of the easiest ways to kind of just get to where you want to go as a musician because you’re working with the trifecta: The artist, engineer and producer.

Sounwave

My whole thing is where people are thoroughly shocked that I made a beat, that’s an accomplishment for me. I don’t know, it’s weird. It’s like, “Oh Sounwave made that, for real?” Like even if I can go to a St. Vincent where like a lot of people don’t even know I did production on her album, and the fact that...

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

Yeah, make some noise for that. Yeah. [applause]

Sounwave

Like the fact that they come to me for that and I can actually go into that world no problems. To me, that’s kind of what my goals be.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

Right, and I know that you love adding strings to your productions. So? He loves adding them strings.

Sounwave

Strings.

MixedByAli

Bro, let me tell you something about this n----. I hate this dude for that.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

Why?

MixedByAli

We’ll be done with an album. We’ll be done mixing a 15-track album, I’m walking into mastering…

Sounwave

I come in with a 15-piece orchestra at the end.

MixedByAli

Yeah, out of nowhere I get a call from Sounwave, “Tell me where you at.” I’m like, “I’m walking into mastering.” “Oh for sure. I just sent you a hundred tracks of strings real quick. Mix it in real quick. Mix it in real quick.” I’m like, what?

Sounwave

True story.

MixedByAli

I’m like at mastering, bro. Just trying to put a hundred tracks of strings over a two-track mix. This fucking guy.

Sounwave

If it was up to me I would put strings on every single record but…

MixedByAli

I’m gonna beat him with a violin next time. That’s what’s gonna happen.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

Those tracks sound expensive. Those Stradivari violins ain’t cheap, man.

Sounwave

Ooh, trust me. Them To Pimp A Butterfly sessions? The most expensive session we ever done did, ’cause of them string sections, so yeah, we know.

MixedByAli

For sure. Hey man, I remember seeing Wave getting cussed out ’cause sessions is the motherfuckin’…

Sounwave

Who me? I didn’t know it was that expensive. Top [Dawg] like, “Oh hold on.”

MixedByAli

He’s like a kid in a candy store. Wave he’s like, “I got access to all of this?” I come in to the studio, it’s like a hundred-piece orchestra and Wave is standing there not looking like… He don’t know what the fuck he doing. He just standing there in front of a hundred-piece orchestra.

Sounwave

Acting like I know.

MixedByAli

Yeah he’s doing it all for the Instagram [mimics conducting an orchestra]. He doing all this for the Instagram, man.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

But I read somewhere that you said you wanted classical training at one point. That you wanted to pursue it.

Sounwave

Yeah, it never happened. I mean, eventually, I’m going to. I taught myself everything through YouTube.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

Really?

Sounwave

Just type in “Piano 101” and they teach you everything you need to know.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

Wow.

Sounwave

I really learned how to play piano through YouTube. MTV music generator. Love that thing.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

Especially coming from LA; LA has a rich history in hip-hop, that goes without saying and with [Top Dawg Entertainment’s] success, how does it feel carrying on that tradition and that legacy?

MixedByAli

I can touch on a little bit, we’ve got the producers, but I mean I don’t want to say, it’s not passing the torch, but it’s recognizing where you’re coming from, almost. In a lot of our music, listen to “King Kunta:” A lot of old school, DJ Quik, ‘turnt up’ shit mixed with new age funky shit. That’s a lot of stuff that we do. We like to blend new with the old and create this sound, create the human music that everyone across the world can kind of understand. But that just comes from our influences and what we listened to growing up.

Sounwave

Real talk.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

And Tae, I know that you kind of groomed for this business ‘cause you learned from your dad, right?

Tae Beast

Yeah, my pops and my uncle, and Sir Jinx actually too.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

Oh really?

Tae Beast

Yeah.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

Wow, I didn’t know that. But he put you on to MC Eiht, and…?

Tae Beast

Yeah, MC Eiht.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

Eazy-E, DJ Quik.

Tae Beast

Eazy-E, bought me an MPC60. I hate it to this day. I still have it, but I hate it. I don’t use it. I don’t touch it. All them damn floppy disks. It helped develop a sound that I have now. It helped develop a lot of things mentally as well. So much easier now with everything just being in the computer than where it was when I first started learning, but some of them beats was trash though. I ain’t gonna lie.

Sounwave

My first beats were terrible. I used to sample everything.

MixedByAli

How’d your first rap go?

Sounwave

What?

MixedByAli

Like your first rap bars go?

Sounwave

Wow, just kick me right now. I won’t kick my first raps right now, dawg.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

You used to rap too, Sounwave?

Sounwave

Yeah, I’ll tell y’all this story. He was actually there too. I was, first time I rapped in front of Kendrick, him and I think probably Ab-Soul. I thought I was hard. This was probably like 2006.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

Were you still going by Sounwave at this time?

Sounwave

I was going by Sounwave. I’ve been going by Sounwave since I was 13. I go in a booth and for some reason I get nervous, so when I got nervous, this random London accent came out [laughter]. So when I’m rapping, I’m rapping in a London accent and as soon as I walk out Kendrick, Ali, Soul is on the ground dying laughing like, “Bro, what the hell was that?”

MixedByAli

We looking at each other like, “What the fuck?” I think somebody even cut the light on to see if that was even Sounwave and that motherfucker he was like, that shit was so terrible.

Sounwave

Ever since then I never went back in the booth. So you can blame Kendrick for my album never coming out.

MixedByAli

I never seen nervous jitters turn in to a whole another accent.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

But is there a pressure with you Tae, to carry on this legacy? You guys are TDE coming from the Death Row days and just carry on that tradition of West Coast hip-hop.

Tae Beast

Oh definitely. Most definitely, man.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

OK, what about you Sound? Do you feel like there’s a pressure behind it?

Sounwave

Of course there’s a pressure. I mean, we got the GOATs. My whole thing is that I don’t know if y’all remember but one of my proudest moments was when Kendrick performed out in LA and Snoop...

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

Oh the torch?

Sounwave

Yeah, The Game, all of them, Kurupt, came on the stage and passed him the torch and those tears that he had. That was tears that all of us had, ’cause we wasn’t expecting that. So for that to happen, show that brotherhood of the West Coast is like, “Yo, we got your back.” Bruh, that was one of my top moments in the whole history of this.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

How has the city played a role in your creative process and what you do?

MixedByAli

It keeps you grounded. Especially me, being able to go back home and kick it with my day one people, kick it with my family. These people are not going to let you be Hollywood around them. They gonna smack you in the back of the head, you look crazy. So it’s just like, it keeps you level headed. It makes it so you’re not too Hollywood. It doesn’t get you outside of what the other people want you to look at. They just, it just keeps you grounded and that’s [why] I think we got to where we’re at. And I think that’s a big reason why we moved the way we move. It’s because we have people in our lives that are telling us, “Sit down, you’re doing too much,” or letting you know who you are, rather than having a bunch of yes men around you that’s just gonna pump you up for failure. That’s why as I said, you got to keep people around you that’s going to sit you down when you’re doing wrong no matter how big you are or no matter what accolades you have. I think that’s what LA is about in general. Keeping it real.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

Anything you wanted to add on to that, Tae.

Tae Beast

Nah man. What he said, we’re still accessible, man. I don’t think my number ever changed.

MixedByAli

Since high school.

Tae Beast

I know he has the same number, for real. The roots are still here. We all got families now that we started on our own too, so it’s pretty great.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

How has TDE been able to monopolize the game because it’s like you guys are literally competing for the same awards, same shows. It’s not fair. What’s the cheat code?

Sounwave

To me, my whole thing is we’re not thinking about it. It’s like, we’re just going out and doing it and when you don’t over think it and you just put in the hard work, it’s gonna speak for itself. We never just like, “Oh yeah, that’s gonna get us a Grammy. Oh yeah, that’s gonna get us a Oscar.” We just focus, work hard and let the accolades happen.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

Like you, Ali. You working with Nipsey Hussle, you working with Cardi B. You working with a little bit of everybody. How does that work? How do you still manage to prioritize what you need to do?

MixedByAli

For one, I just hustle like we broke. That’s what Top Dawg instilled in us. We just got an opportunity to create a great lifestyle for our families and to hopefully inspire our homies. We always have our priorities. Of course, a home team is always going to come first without a doubt and in my free time I’m not sitting at the house playing video games. In my free time I’m mixing other people’s projects. So it’s just like I said, hustle like you broke. You just put your head down and keep working. That’s why you see us at the Grammys every year competing for categories. It’s because on our spare time we not bullshitting. We still about our business ’cause that’s what drives us. That’s what we wake up for every day is to create.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

Right, but even for you, Sounwave and Tae, how do you guys, do you feel guilty when you give someone else a banger? And it’s not…

Sounwave

Imma tell you straight up, if I make a beat and I accidentally play it for anybody in TDE, it would never make it outside. That’s probably the main reason why you don’t see me on a lot of other stuff outside of TDE, because we have a big roster. If I’m playing something, I actually want to make this for somebody else, and then Isaiah [Rashad] hear it, he goes, “Aw, let me get that.” I’m not going to tell him no. It’s home team.

MixedByAli

You catch n----- sneaking on Wizzle’s [Sounwave’s] computer, just going through his beat folders. Wizzle walk in the studio, it’s Schoolboy [Q], just that motherfucker just going through his folders. Wizzle can’t get nothing off.

Sounwave

Yeah. It comes with the territory, and I love it though, so I’m definitely not complaining.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

What about you, Tae? How’s your process? You gotta sneak?

Tae Beast

Ironically I send a lot of stuff to Punch [Terrence Henderson], man, to just check out. Punch has a really good ear. As far as placements outside of TDE, I’ll try to make stuff on the spot sometimes. Again, like he said, if you make something, somebody hear it, it’s a wrap. Kendrick’s like the beat hoarder too, man. He has…

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

He’s a hoarder?

Tae Beast

97,000 gigs of beats from everybody. It gets to Kendrick’s hands, it probably ain’t never gonna leave.

Sounwave

You can give him a beat for Good Kid, M.A.A.D City and it’ll end up on DAMN. He’s a beat hoarder like that.

MixedByAli

But his Rolodex is always working. He could hear some shit now, but, you know, “I got something,” and go back through his emails from like 2010 and pull…

Sounwave

Yeah, his brain works like that. I can’t explain it.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

That’s crazy. All three of you guys were with Mac [Miller]. He was also nominated for best rap album for Swimming. What are some of your memories of Mac?

Sounwave

Mac, for real for real... That’s family.

MixedByAli

He the sixth Black Hippie.

Sounwave

No, real talk, whenever you think about going to a Mac session, it’s like going to your favorite cousin’s session, like a favorite cousin house. It’s always gonna be a good time. I have nothing but praises. RIP to my brother.

Tae Beast

For real.

MixedByAli

It’s a good time, because he’s like the little cousin you used to crack jokes with, put him in a noogie, put him in a headlock, you know what I’m sayin’? I love Mac, man. I mixed his Divine Feminine album. Man, that was, in my opinion, some of his best work.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

What about you Tae because I know you worked on the Swimming album?

Tae Beast

Yeah, Swimming and Divine Feminine, actually.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

Right. “Small Worlds?”

Tae Beast

Yeah.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

What was that whole session like, that whole process?

Tae Beast

“Small Worlds” actually started off as a record called “Don’t Try This At Home.” It was a lot faster than what it turned out as the final product, but I kept hearing it different. It had a lot of stuff on it, too. It was just a lot of sounds. I took a lot of stuff out, slowed it down, played it for him, and then he recorded a new record, which was “Small Worlds,” changed some of the verses or whatever. He sat on it for a while. We did another record with Jon Brion, and then he called me and said, “Hey, John Mayer is gonna play on “Small World.” Are you cool with that?” I’m like, “What type of question is that?” He’s John Mayer, bro. It’s nuts. But man, we worked a lot actually, towards the end of the project. We did another record a couple of weeks prior to his passing, with Young Thug, called “Game Four.” But he was a real cool dude, man, just really chill, really polite.

MixedByAli

Really polite, yeah.

Tae Beast

He kept you in tune on what was going on, you know what I mean? If he changed something on the record, he’ll call you and say, “Hey, I changed this. You cool with it?” So I respected him a lot for that.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

Right. Let’s get into that record real quick. Let’s play “Small Worlds.” Rest in peace, Mac Miller.

(music: Mac Miller – “Small Worlds”)

What strengths do you think that Tae has that he brings to Digi+Phonics?

Sounwave

Say that again?

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

What strengths do you feel like Tae has when it comes to…

Sounwave

Bruh... Y’all don’t know, to this day, Tae is still my favorite producer. His ear of picking samples, flipping samples, his drum selection, everything... His drum bank. I still to this day am trying to steal drums from him. He’s smart though. He will send me just what I need. He won’t send me anything extra. I get it. Yeah, his brain, how he hears things is like nobody I’ve ever dealt with before.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

And Tae, what do you think about Sounwave? What’s his strength?

Tae Beast

Man, everything.

Sounwave

Respect.

Tae Beast

He always hears stuff that you don’t hear, for one, for starters. I think around the time... I can’t remember what we was working on, but he might tell you, “Oh, pitch this,” or, “Change that snare to something else,” or, “Do this.” It’s kind of like what people say about Dre... Not to compare the two, because I know Dre is Dr. Dre. he’s a legend, and he’s out there. I don’t want nobody writing something saying, “Oh, you know, Tae compares Sounwave to legendary Dr. Dre.” So don’t misconstrue the words.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

A little click bait didn’t hurt nobody.

Sounwave

About to send me to hell. Everyone gonna hate me now.

Tae Beast

But no, man, he’s a genius, dude, you know what I mean? He really has a great ear for everything. Him too [Points to Ali]. Like, the Mac Miller record. That’s one of my regrets, is I wish I would have sent him the beats to mix it, because I tried to mix the beat myself before I sent it to him, and it’s real gritty, but I think Ali could have made it sound a lot different than what it is. I do that a lot, actually. After something that I didn’t send to him, I’m like, “Damn, I should have got Ali involved with this.”

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

When was the last time TDE got together? Was it at a BBQ, or a cookout or something?

Sounwave

We do that all the time. That’s…

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

I mean everybody.

Sounwave

All the time. That’s a normal thing for us. Either we go to Top house, just chill, relax. It’s a big family. It’s not what you think it is. We just a label, this is a family. We been together since ‘04, ‘05.

MixedByAli

Everybody bring their kids and shit, throw their kids in the entire pool, big-ass pool and shit.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

You mentioned Top Dawg a lot. He’s the president, founder, CEO of Top Dawg Entertainment. Talk about what he means to you guys, because it seems as if your relationships with Top as an individual as they are, it seems like they’re all intertwined in some capacity. Someone probably lived across the street from Top, or Dave [Free] tried to fix his computer at one time.

Sounwave

Real talk.

MixedByAli

That just goes back to, my whole basic shit is everything happens for a reason, you know what I’m sayin’? Top always... He had the studio at his house back in the day. We all just came from different parts of LA and just found a home there. That’s why I think we’re all supposed to be here for a bigger reason, because it’s all meant to be through how we got here. If you sit back and really study and put like a fuckin’ timeline on how everything came together, it’s like it all started at Top house. If it wasn’t for Top, we wouldn’t have a house to connect. We wouldn’t have a house to record at. I wouldn’t have four artists and a crazy producer to mix and record it. I wouldn’t be me. He wouldn’t have crazy artists to give beats to, to push him. The artists wouldn’t have each other, to compete with each other to sharpen up their skills. So it was a real collective thing that really happened that kind of catapulted all of us into our respective careers.

Sounwave

Right. Real talk. And Top’s energy draws you to him. Before we even knew who Top Dawg was... When you first meet him, it’s like, I don’t know, something about this guy, I just, I want to be a part of whatever he has. Then beyond that, it just became a family. We all have different stories on how we came to TDE. My story is…

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

What is your story?

Sounwave

Well, Punch... We were just a friend of the family. We used to play basketball all the time. He stuck his head in my room one day. I was making beats off the MTV Music Generator. He was like, “Yo, you make beats?” I was like, “Yeah. Why, what’s going on? You got some more ideas?” He was like, “Yeah, my cousin Top Dawg, you know.” I didn’t know who he was at the time. It was like, “Yeah, he’s got a little label he’s trying to start up.” I was like, “Alright.” Went over there, I played him a few beats. Some beats were trash. He even said... It was like, “This ain’t it, but since Punch is co-signing you, I’m gonna give you a chance. Take these a cappellas, see what you do.” I took that as a challenge. I took my time, and the next day I brought it back to him, and he was like, “Yo, these is better than the original. I’ll mess with you.” Then literally at the same time... Well, I don’t want to get into the whole story of everybody. I’ll let them tell it. But yeah, that’s kind of how I got into it. That was about ’05, I want to say, and I’ve just been rocking ever since.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

Wow. What about you, Tae? How did you get affiliated?

Tae Beast

Ab-Soul.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

Ab-Soul?

Tae Beast

Yeah, I met Soul at a session. It was Curtiss King, actually. He invited me to a session he was recording with Ab-Soul. I didn’t have no laptop on me, no nothing. Luckily I had a flash drive in the car, played him some beats. The next day, Dave Free called me. I went out to meet with Top and everybody else. It’s been a team ever since.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

Oh, wow. See, it’s just like that. And Top just has this father figure presence to him.

Tae Beast

Big time. Big time.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

Right. I think at one point, I think Schoolboy Q said that you guys were all living together in the same house?

MixedByAli

In that studio, he built a little backhouse out of the place he was living in. Shit was me, Wave... Well, Wave lived over the wall. Wave was like the cousin we never wanted to come over because he would never share his food and shit. We was all hungry, Wave would go home, have lunch and then come back. Nah, I’m fuckin’ with you. Nah we all just camped up, me, Wave, Dot, Soul and Q, just on the floor, just camping out 24/7. We used to go to the gym, pull pranks on each other, all types of shit.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

I always wanted to know, was there ever friction? Because, you know, in LA, people come from different areas and different territories. Is there ever conflict?

MixedByAli

No, because the house studio was the way to get away from all that. Hell, we had Top, you know what I’m sayin’? You don’t want to bring no shit to Top’s house, you know what I’m sayin’? There’s the respect that we have for him because of the opportunity he was giving us. It was all us ran away from the streets to find somewhere else to kind of call home, and he had that for us. So why bring bullshit to this man’s house and fuck up our opportunity?

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

Right. Now switching gears a little bit. Let’s talk about the guy you mentioned, Kendrick Lamar. How does it work with him? Because it feels like everyone has their own Kendrick chemistry when it comes to working with that guy.

MixedByAli

Man, it’s like working with your big brother, your big little brother. The thing with him is he’s so open creatively where, as the engineer, talking from the engineer point of view, there’s no time that can affect his creativeness, you know what I’m sayin’? If he feels like me mixing a song three, four, five different ways, no matter the deadline, we’re gonna do it three, four, five different ways to try to get three, four, five different outcomes. It’s all for the greater good of the record. That’s why I feel like he’s where he’s at. Of course, that’s one of the reasons why he’s where he’s at, for sure, is just that attention to detail that he has on all his music, and just the way he... He’s like the team captain, you know what I’m sayin’? He just inspires everyone to pull the best out of everyone around him. That’s why all the energy is always shifted towards these crazy-ass projects, because we’ve got somebody like him that’s pulling the best up out of you, you know what I’m sayin’? Shit that you never knew you had in you. I never knew I could stay up for five days straight, but he for sure pulled it out of me. Bullshit aside, that’s one thing about the squad, is everybody challenges each other to be great. That’s why we’re going to continue this greatness.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

Is everyone that hands-on as he is in the camp?

Sounwave

Very hands-on. Another beautiful thing about Kendrick is he listens. I don’t care if he’s Pulitzer Prize, Oscar-nominated. If you come up with an idea that’s good, he’s gonna try it. If it didn’t work, he’s like, “Alright, it didn’t work,” but he still tries it. He listens to anybody who has an idea. I think that’s another thing that puts him up there, to me.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

Right. Speaking of collaboration, that song “King’s Dead” featuring Jay Rock and Future. Whose idea was that, you know, the la-li-la-li-la?

Sounwave

That was Future’s genius. Honestly, the way we had the song originally was Future did his whole verse, and at the end it was that part. When we first heard it, we instantly stopped. It was like, “Yo!” Like, what was he thinking right here? This is probably the most genius nonchalant thing I’ve ever heard in my life. So we gave that his own moment. We took the beat out. We stopped everything. Like, “la-di-da-di-da.”" Now that’s like the crowd’s favorite, right there, because we understood where he was trying to go with it. We don’t know if he was just like, “Uh, see if they like this or not,” or if this is like, “This is my genius moment,” but we understood everything from that, and we just made that as much of a moment as we could.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

What did you think about it, Ali, when you first heard that?

MixedByAli

That shit funny as hell to me. I’ll fuck with it. Shit. Everyone making memes and shit, but I love it.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

What about you, Tae? Did you fuck with it?

Tae Beast

Yeah, man. Future’s great, dude.

MixedByAli

Future is great.

Tae Beast

Yeah, just hearing him on that record was nuts. Him and Jay Rock together, that’s a great pair, dude.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

Man, Jay Rock, man, how proud are you guys? That guy won a Grammy award.

MixedByAli

He brought a Grammy to the projects.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

Make some noise for Jay Rock. [applause]

MixedByAli

That shit’s crazy.

Sounwave

People don’t understand. We did a lot of trial and error with Jay Rock. He was the first person out of TDE, so a lot of our mistakes happened, unfortunately, on Jay Rock, so for him to overcome all of that and to this day to get a Grammy...

MixedByAli

That’s crazy.

Sounwave

I’m shedding tears for him. When he’s up there... A tear literally just snuck out my eye. I can’t control it. But, bruh, that moment right there, yeah.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

Sounwave, I saw you said something about the early days of when you guys were working. You said the Section.80 days were some of the happiest. Why was those moments the best for you?

Sounwave

It was just us not knowing what was going to happen, really. It’s like us trying to discover ourselves, and at the same time a sound. So if you listen to Section.80, it’s like us being very strategic, to the point of, like, we don’t want to get boxed in, so we’re going to make every sound that we love into this one project so in the future you could never say, “He can’t do that,” or “He sounds weird on this,” because we gave you “Spiteful Chant,” we gave you “Keisha’s Song.” We gave you all of these elements…

MixedByAli

“ADHD.”

Sounwave

“ADHD.” All of these elements. So to this day, he can do whatever the hell he wants to do. It’s strategic moves like that, and just the brotherhood of us being in that small little room forever.

MixedByAli

Yeah, I think I was like 17... 16, 17. I just got kicked out my grandma’s house. Oh yeah, I was doing bad. But just having something that you could be a part of, something that had a real... You know, I’m 17, wet behind the ears, still stumbling over my left foot. I get handed this responsibility to cultivate the sound for this album. It felt good. It kind of almost straightened me up to just understand who I’m going to eventually one day be. It just gave me my first little bit of responsibility, and it was a big confidence boost, working alone, sitting with the homies. It was just a real big confidence boost, personally.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

Do you feel like Section.80 was the turning point in TDE, or was it maybe the Kendrick Lamar EP?

Sounwave

That was definitely the stamp, I want to say, where everyone was like, “Oh, OK, I see what y’all are doing.”

MixedByAli

I think OD [Overly Dedicated] was like the one that, it kind of got everyone’s attention. EP and OD got everyone’s attention. I think when Section.80 came out it was like the overkill, like, “Yo, this shit is some shit.” Then we did the world tour off that project, just being there with a whole bunch of young n----- going around the world.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

You talk about things that never came out, man. I read somewhere that you said there’s so many songs that you guys record that just don’t fit the sequence and you don’t release them. What the fuck is that about?

Sounwave

We take our sequencing serious. A lot of people I guess today, it’s more of a playlist world, but we grew up on classic albums, which tells a story or has a sequence that flow. If that song does not fit the sequence, that song, I don’t care how great it is, I don’t care if the greatest person of all time is on the song, if it don’t fit, it don’t fit. We take that very serious.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

How many songs are we not hearing?

Sounwave

We have albums on albums. It can be literally two albums for each album that we put out.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

Wow. So they don’t necessarily get discarded. They don’t get thrown in the…

Sounwave

Some of them get reworked. If it fits another situation, it’ll get reworked. The beat will switch up, lyrics will change, but you know for the most part, it’s just lost. It’s stuck on a hard drive that we probably will never hear.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

You got some of those records too, Ali?

MixedByAli

Some of what?

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

Some of the stashed records that we can’t hear.

MixedByAli

Oh, yeah. I got all of them, what do you mean?

Sounwave

He got all of them.

MixedByAli

I got the archives, like I mean, I got a drive at home of just TDE albums. I got all the albums, all the music we ever did, I keep a copy of everything.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

Do you ever listen to some of those records?

Sounwave

Yeah, he do. Just the other day, he sent me a record that I forgot completely about, and then I was like, man, I’m about to get this Kendrick right now because this song is too hard. But yeah, he gets the privilege of just listening to all of those.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

I also heard that Kendrick sometimes shows up to your house unannounced with a melody in his head?

Sounwave

Oh, man, you going back to them old interviews.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

I had to do my Google, Sounwave.

Sounwave

Yeah, he’s the most hands-on person I’ve ever, ever dealt with. So back then, in the Section.80 days, before there was like, you know, easy access, cellphones, and all that other stuff, we was right on a corner. So it’s like, if he come up with an idea, he just knocks on the door, and my mom knows and lets him in. I can be in the bathroom, on the toilet or something, and he just knock. “Yo, I got this melody. Can you do this for me real fast?” [beatboxes] I’m like, “Alright, let me try it.” I try it and it comes out genius, and that’s kind of how “ADHD” was made, to be honest with you.

MixedByAli

“Spiteful Chant.”

Sounwave

“Spiteful Chant,” another one, yeah. Like, he comes with these samples and he’s like, “Yo, can you do this like this, this, this.” Like, “Alright, I’ll try it.” It’s like sometimes he comes up with the weirdest ideas and I’ll say I’ll try it, and then it be genius at the end, so I never question him after that though.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

But what about when you guys were working on DAMN.? Like, did the record “FEEL.,” like, how does that record come about, man?

Sounwave

That was literally probably the last record that we did. He had so much to get off, but he never had the beat for it. And I remember I was on a flight, I had an emergency to go to Atlanta for my family, and I literally made that beat on the plane ride back. Sent it to him as soon as I landed and he was like, “This is exactly what I was missing.” And within that same day, he just came up with that song. He just went into his mode, shut down, cut everything off, and that song was born. And there was a lot of strings on that song, too. [laughter] But for some reason, Ali felt that they didn’t need to be on the song, so they’re not on the song. But, yeah.

MixedByAli

What happened? Next question. [laughs]

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

Matter of fact, let’s hear it. Let’s get into “FEEL.” right now.

(music: Kendrick Lamar – “FEEL.” / applause)

Great record man, damn. It’s a classic.

Sounwave

Shout out to my boy, Thundercat, too. He’s on the bass on that.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

Absolutely. Shout to Thundercat, man. West Coast legend. The other record you guys kind of collaborated on is “Element,” man. How does that one happen, Tae? You can answer that too, Soun.

Tae Beast

“Element” started with him, actually.

Sounwave

Yeah, “Element” went through, I want to say, five different changes. That was probably another one of the last records we did. It just... We couldn’t get it right until that last day we had to turn it in. It went from being a super jazzy song to a super hard song to a super...Like, we were just... we didn’t know what we wanted to do with the record. And it just, we felt like it needed a bounce for it to be serious, the way we used to have it. It’s like, let’s try a bounce with it. And my boy, Ricky, came in. Ricky is another genius producer, like he has these drums that can hypnotize you in a very bouncy way. And he put his twist on it, along with James Blake sending the sampling that fits perfectly at the same time. Along with all of these breakdowns and all of these different things, and it’s just... It just happened organically at the last moment. It was like a buzzer beater.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

Putting together the right sounds for the projects. You talk about how you eliminate songs and you know, left and right. But one song in particular that I’m still holding onto is the joint from “All Right.” Like, the beginning of the “All Right” video, remember that song before the song drops?

Sounwave

Oh, yeah.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

Yeah, remember? What’s going on? Where’s that?

Sounwave

It’s gonna come out eventually.

MixedByAli

Liar.

Sounwave

No, no, no, no. I’m gonna keep it real with you. I don’t know what project it’ll be on, but I haven’t forgotten about that song. Like, literally, that’s all my comments say. They don’t care about anything; I can post about my son, and they gonna be like, “That’s cool, but what about the song at the beginning of “All Right?”” So I don’t know.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

He said, “Turn that shit up, Sounwave.”

Sounwave

I mean, who knows? My album I’m working on too, it may be on that. We don’t know.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

But this is definite Sounwave, you just talked about your album. What can we expect from a Sounwave album?

Sounwave

I honestly don’t know right now. I’m trying to figure it out as we speak. I have a lot of records that I work and I save for myself, but then like I said, the artists hear it and they take it. So I start all over. But I definitely want to do a project. I don’t want it to be a traditional project of just, you know, rap, produce, sing, song, produce. I’m trying to think outside the box, but I haven’t put my stamp on it completely yet to figure out what I want to do. But it’s coming. I’ve been working, so it’s coming.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

Right. And obviously, you have some of the best talent in the business, so it’s easy just to…

Sounwave

That’s another thing, I wouldn’t want it just to be a TDE compilation. Like, I want a TDE compilation to be a TDE compilation. So I try to just bend that curve, and I don’t want it to be predictable. Kendrick, Schoolboy Q, and Tae and Ali mix it. Of course we gonna have these two on it, but I just don’t want it to be that predictable though.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

I remember I saw in an interview previously that you talked about, during the To Pimp A Butterfly sessions, you were going for mastering and Kendrick was already on his third album.

Sounwave

That’s Kendrick. He was on his fourth album, skip the third album. His brain is... I can’t explain it, but we literally just finished mastering How To Pimp to Butterfly and he was like, “Alright, that’s cool. So for this next album.” I’m like, “Bro no, it’s not even out yet. Let it get out first and then we’ll start talking about it,” And he was like, “No, no, don’t worry about it. They gonna get that. For this next album… For this next album, we gonna do this, we gonna do that. I want to bring this back.” And it’s like, you just gotta go with it because he’s a genius.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

Right. Is it always like that, even to this day?

Sounwave

Always. To this day. No matter what, his brain never stops working, his brain always comes with crazy ideas.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

But do you guys even have a wishlist? Because it seems like as if you’ve worked with everybody.

Sounwave

Oh yeah, definitely. My number one on my wishlist is always going to be Sade, until that happens. [applause]

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

What do you think you could bring for Sade that she hasn’t done already?

MixedByAli

All smiles. That’s how Wizzle’s gonna be starting. [laughter]

Sounwave

No, my pops was the biggest Sade fan, so me naturally being around my pops all the time, I just was drawn to Sade and her sonics. Everything about her, her aesthetic, everything was just the perfect artist to me. So I’m throwing it out in the air, hopefully it happens soon. We’ll see.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

What about you, Tae?

Tae Beast

Man, just Jay-Z dude. All the homies got Jay-Z on a record. Somehow, some way. Still ain’t got J yet.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

You got the “Bitch Don’t Kill My Vibe” remix.

Tae Beast

That’s him. [points to Sounwave] That’s this dude. I ain’t got my J record yet. I’m gonna get my J record. I’m gonna pull up to his house, when he come out, I’m gonna play it. Yep, right outside on the grass, bro. But nah, I need that, man. I need my J record.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

OK. What about you, Ali? You worked on everybody, man.

MixedByAli

I mean, I... yeah. I wanna get into different genres. I want to do like, a rock song. I want to mix a rock song with something with a lot of elements. Something opposite of hip-hop, because hip-hop, you know, your drums and all that stuff... Not to get super technical, but your drums are more dominant. But in different genres like rock, you know, you approach things differently, you know. I feel like I want to be challenged in a different way nowadays.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

Right. But what do you... Being challenged, you’re so accomplished, what is it that I guess, when you guys felt like you made it? Was there ever a moment when you felt like you’ve made it in the game?

MixedByAli

I mean, me personally, no, because it was never a belief that I could be where I am today, so if I could get to where I am now, off of no belief that I could get here, you know, I feel like the sky is the limits. You know what I’m saying? I feel like all of this is the chapter to come, you know, I’m only 28. You know, if when I’m 38, you know, I feel like I’m gonna be doing something completely different, you know? This is just the chapter of life that I’m in right now is music, and I want to challenge myself and try to push myself to do things that somebody who was once in my lane hasn’t done before, you know? I want to leave something behind that my daughter can look at and say, “Yo, that’s daddy right there.” I want to be the main example in her life to be able to know what a real male role model is supposed to be like, despite all the fucked up shit I did back in the day.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

Right. Make some noise for that. [applause] Where does that come from, that hunger of wanting to teach, of engineers and the workshops? Where does that come from?

MixedByAli

It just gives you a purpose, bro, because having accolades and money, all that shit, you know, coming up, that’s what we all wanted. Money, the Grammys, you know what I’m saying. But you know, once you kind of get there, you almost realize it’s like none of that shit... It matters, you know, it feels good to have it all, don’t get me wrong. But there’s a higher purpose for us being here. We all come from different parts of life, different environments, and I honestly truly believe that we’re put in this place to inspire and to give hope. We’re in a time where there’s no hope, and I feel like through our music and through ourselves, being an inspiration ourselves, and showing people that you can be successful and not be a fuck n-----, you can be successful and not lose your morals and all that shit, just by working hard and having good music to back it up. I want to show that that’s possible.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

Right. So I guess when you guys do those concerts in the middle of Nickerson Gardens and things like that, what does that mean for you guys?

MixedByAli

That’s Top’s whole vision, you know what I’m saying? But that just will show you what we have to aspire to, what we have to look up to, you know what I’m saying? Top’s whole dream was to get to the point to where he could bring that to the projects, and he did that. So it’s like, watching him do it, it’s like I want to get to the point where I could do something big like that for my community and do something big where I can support my youth in that way. It’s all each one, teach one. There’s not too many role models on that level nowadays, so you kind of gotta look at your peers and find inspiration from them and find out how to do some cool shit that’s un-ordinary.

Tae Beast

Yeah, I think a lot of people forget where they started. You know what I mean? And Top consistently shows, “This is where I came from,” he’s not ashamed of it.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

Embracing new producers, like, are you guys open to that? Like how you guys are with the artists?

Sounwave

Definitely. Like, to me, that’s my main focus. A lot of people send me stuff in the DMs, just to check out. And if I can critique something just a little bit, I definitely want to do that because I never had that. I didn’t have an Instagram to where I can reach out to Timbaland and people I looked up to and be like, “Yo, how’d you do that?” So if I can help, that’s like, the main thing I do.

Tae Beast

Yeah, social media is at everybody’s disposal. Send this dude beats 50 times a day if you need to.

MixedByAli

Yeah, that’s right. What’s the Gmail?

Tae Beast

Hotmail, actually. Hotmail. Sounwave@hotmail.com.

Sounwave

There’s too many hackers out there, so just shoot me a DM and we’ll go from there.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

It’s really interesting, because when we talk about producers, you guys aren’t afraid to share the wealth. A lot of people want the credit all to themselves, but when you look at the credits of these TDE projects and others, it’s like…

MixedByAli

That’s ’cause they’re really making the beats, there ain’t no ghost producers around here, that’s right n---- I said it.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

But y’all open to those type of collaborations though, right?

Sounwave

Of course.

Tae Beast

Yeah, just getting what sounds right.

Sounwave

Of course. I mean, my whole thing is, when I’m doing collaborations, I like to reach out to people who I organically bond with and people who can do things that I am trying to figure out how to do. That’s why my best friend right now is my guy, Thundercat. His brain is so genius, and it’s like I’m literally... He don’t know it, but I’m trying to figure out how to play bass by watching him and how he works. And so I just love having that kind of genius around me. So I’m definitely down for collaborating.

Brian “B.Dot” Miller

Right. Before we get out of here, like I just asked my man, Ali, when do you feel like you guys have made it? Do you feel like you’ve made it, Sounwave?

Sounwave

I don’t want to say I feel like I made it. I would say the accolades are cool, of course, don’t get me wrong. The Oscar nominations is stuff that’s supposed to make you feel like you made it. But to me, what makes me feel like I made it is when people hit me up and say things like, “Bro, you inspire me to do this. If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t be doing this.” And when I hear stuff like that, that just... Like, OK yeah, I got a Grammy, that’s cool. But those comments, I couldn’t ask for anything else. That just keeps me going.