Young Gentleman is a Hip Hop music producer and music marketing consultant, currently located in Willingboro, New Jersey. Working with artists from the ground up, he is hand-on in the process from producing their music to developing their brand and online identity. Also known as the Eastside King, he has always been inspired by creative production values and influenced by the impetus of artists and musicians who let nothing stand in the way of delivering their music to the fans. He believes that hip hop is an outlet with more potential influence than any other genre, and his passion for music is 24/7…#THATSNICE
- How long have you been in the music business and how did you get started in the first place?
Young Gentleman: What’s up Jamsphere it’s an honor. Majority of my life l’ve had an interest in creating music, having family that play drums, bass guitar, and the keys were a huge influence when I started songwriting as a preteen. In highschool I started making beats from my parents desktop computer, so its been well over 10yrs perfecting my craft.
- Who were your first musical influences that you can remember?
Young Gentleman: My family influence me still to this day, R.i.p. to my grandfather L.C. Grier as an artist and musician he paved a way for his children, who in line past that torch down generations, growing up I learned a lot from them as musicians and business professionals. My parent’s passion for amazing music from their era also shaped my style off of what I was brought up listening to, from rhythm and blues to contemporary.
- Which artists are you currently listening to? And is there anyone of these that you’d like to collaborate with?
Young Gentleman: Me n my G’z ride to true lyricists like Fab, Kendrick , and Joe Buddens. I would enjoy working with any and all of these Kings of course but to answer your question I would like to collaborate with Buddens…JERSEY!
- Do you generally work with all kinds of artists, including independent ones?
Young Gentleman: Yes I appreciate the opportunity to work with anyone that vibes with my music enough to write to. I would not be where I am today if it was not for the relationships I’ve built over the years with both independent and industry…this profession, strives off word of mouth but I enjoy it .
5. How and where would an independent artist typically find your beats?
Young Gentleman: Mainly online of course, my soundcloud showcases some my Instrumentals between that and mixtape authority Datpiff I have released over fifteen beat tapes being on featured on major industry outlets like ThisIs50.com, Desert Storm Radio, and Coast2Coast Instrumentals . My new mobile app “Young Gentleman Instrumentals” will be released this fall and will be the main headquarters for accessing everything from my press kit to this Jamsphere interview .
6. Do you also make custom instrumentals on request?
Young Gentleman: Yes some artists have requested I sample specific things, If I have the “Free Time” ( I occasionally have some) I may finesse it but if we talking change I’m on it immediately, especially if your someone I network with often!
- Which styles of Hiphop and Rap do you generally prefer working with and are you open to any style?
Young Gentleman: I’ve worked with all genres of artists from rap to jazz, all of my beats tell a story already and I name all them so it’s easy to understand the concept I created the beat around ,if the artist/writers style mixes with mine Its A Wrap!
8. Which piece of hardware or software would you consider the most essential in your setup, and that you would feel lost without?
Young Gentleman: I’ve used FL Studio since it was first created in 1997, when it was called fruity loops, I happen to live by it and recommend it to any skill level musician as the ability to manipulating sounds is unlimited. I would also advise to learn how to add other daws or FL studio as a rewire for tons more sounds.
- Which ingredient do you think makes you special and unique as a Producer in a genre thriving with newcomers and wannabes?
Young Gentleman: One of my mentors describes the way I take sounds and morph them into they stimulate all positive oshiras.
- If you were forced to choose keywords describing your sound., which would they be?
Young Gentleman: My beats have been described as Energetic , Futuristic, and Awaking to name a few.
- Which aspect of being an independent music producer and the music making process excites you most and which aspect discourages you most?
Young Gentleman: The access to supplying your fans with promotional music is a plus because you have no one controlling the creativity of the music. Downfall of that we have to make sure somehow we’re making a profit which is hard due to the money needed to invest in the project itself.
12. How do you market and manage your craft? Do you have a management team or do you control everything by yourself?
Young Gentleman: I have over 1k beats so I’m just working on the capital to setup shop. Everything comes at a cost but if I have it I know exactly how to invest it to make more, and fund the ideas foe the brand.
- What would you say has been the highest point of your career so far?
Young Gentleman: I would say im currently at my highest, the feedback I have received is always heaven sent, the support JAMSPHERE, Thisis50, and coast2coast has given me has made it an amazing #summer16.
14. The best piece of advice in this business you actually followed so far, and one you didn’t follow, but now know for sure that you should have?
Young Gentleman: Staying genuine to the music I want to make has helped set me aside from the normal, one that I did not listen to until later in my career was investing in a good entertainment lawyer.
- Give your personal shortlist of hip hop’s 3 greatest producers – living or dead?
Young Gentleman: Wow…three of the greatest would have to be Just Blaze for his creativity, Kanye for his quality of Production, and Timbo for incorporating his personality into his style of music effectively.
- Do you consider Internet and all the social media websites, as fundamental to your career, and what is relationship with the new technology at hand?
Young Gentleman: Yes because they all play a key role in my brand, I have five businesses currently and not all of them pertain to music but all of them manage to fit my brand because they fit who I am and what I am passionate about, the internet has really provided a platform for “Business professionals” in any niche including independent artists and musicians.
- If you could change one thing about the current music industry what would that be?
Young Gentleman: Not sure what could be done but one thing I think could change is the money revenue for mixtapes..I do not think people understand what all is invested when creating a mixtape, between Recording sessions, engineering, distribution, and marketing it is still only looked at as “Promotional”.
18. You have various compilation series doing the surrounds one is “So InstruMENTAL” and another is “Kush & Red Kool-aid beats” could you tell us something about them?
Young Gentleman: Throughout my career I have annually dropped beat-tapes that consist of 10 or more instrumentals. Kush & Red Kool-aid beats contains ten volumes, while So Instrumental only has five. I recently released part 5 on my 30th birthday, which was July 4th making it a memorable milestone. Next compilation will be PMS (Play My Sht) Instrumentals and will showcase a network of producers, featuring one per mixtape.
- I keep reading that you were the first producer to bring hip hop beats to iTunes/Googleplay market, how did that come about and is it still available for smartphones & tablets?
Young Gentleman: There are not a lot of platforms as music producers when it comes to showcasing our instrumentals, so I began creating a mobile app which featured over 50+ beats giving artists access to a minimal yet effective portion of my beats 24/7. Being the first to take this approach back then made myself stand out at beat battles, music conferences, as well as everyday interactions with music professionals. My second app “prod by the young gentleman” which will be released this Fall is more refined, more of a main headquarters to my full body of work (EPK) datpiff and all links to social media sites….view my instagram or soundcloud without leaving the app.
20. Straight off the top of your head, how would you describe the current state of Hip-hop?
Young Gentleman: Drunk! Best way to answer that, as far as me and the professionals like JAMSPHERE in my network, I appreciate the opportunities. We have a message and are very efficient at getting that across…ITSAWRAP!
OFFICIAL LINKS: SOUNDCLOUD – FACEBOOK
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