So I was talking to Wheezy, who is Thug's
producer, asking if Thug needed some new shit
or whatever.
He was like, “Bro I just heard a crazy track
with you and Drake and Future.”
I was like, “Huh?”
I'm trying to get details about it like, what
does it sound like?
He's like, “I don't know, but it's hard.”
I was actually on daddy duty that day so I
was watching my kid.
Sitting in the living room, I just had my
laptop, not hooked up to any speakers or anything.
She's watching cartoons and I'm trying to
get work done.
So I saw Drake working with BlocBoy.
I had to put myself in his shoes.
You've been traveling all over the world.
You go to Memphis and you find new inspiration.
It's probably going to stick with you for
a while.
So I tried to keep it in Drake's element when
I gave him a pack of beats, but I included
this off of the simple fact that he had been
working with BlocBoy.
So when I started the "Blue Tint" beat, the
first thing that actually inspired the beat
was the samples that I found from !llmind.
I took a bunch of different guitar samples
out of that pack and kind of just glued them together.
So originally with that sample, I think it
was two or three semitones higher.
I pitched it down to match the piano loops
that I also found.
The next guitar I found in the !llmind pack...
I pitched that down too and I basically just
reversed it.
The third guitar, it’s basically just a
fill-in guitar.
Almost just like a leak that leads into the
beat.
Altogether those guitars sound like this.
I guess I was heavily influenced by the guitar
because it hit home for me.
Everything sounded like something I'd already
heard before.
The first impression that I got just from
hearing the guitars alone is that it was definitely
gonna be a more southern Memphis vibe, more
Mississippi vibe.
Or even where I'm from, South Carolina, where
this is the prominent sound.
So the next sound that was in this beat is
actually a sweep that I found.
What I did was I put
it right at the beginning of the beat in order
to give it more of a bright opening.
I looped it and turned the velocity down every
time it played.
Usually for me the next thing I do is add
a bassline.
That’s the bassline that carries most of
the beat, but I also went and did another
variation on a different pattern in order
to give the bass some different vibes to it.
Same bass, just a different pattern.
I took that down a whole octave, and only
used it on like the second 8 bars of the hook.
After I did the synth bass, I still kind of
wanted to add an 808 element to it.
The problem was trying to figure out how to
have an 808 sit on top of a synth bass and
not clash and mess up the frequencies.
What I did was I reversed the polarity on
the 808 so it set under the synth bass.
This is what the synth bass and the 808 sound
like together.
One of the questions I get asked most
by some of these young producers is like
"Why don't you go crazy on the hi-hats?"
"Why don't you speed up your hi-hats and stuff
all the time?"
And I'm like, "Dude, that's not always necessary
to make a dope beat."
You can really have a beat just riding if
you leave it pretty simple.
My hi-hat pattern was basically 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8.
I switched the hi-hat pattern up maybe eight
bars into the song and I kept going back and
forth between hi-hat patterns.
With this whole beat, it was a trial and error
thing.
Just finding different sounds, trying to see
what works.
I took a percussion block, a triangle and
an open hi-hat and I put it all on the same
pattern.
The last element that I added to percussion
was a BWB kick that I pretty much use on everything
that I make.
And it set really well on top on the 808 that
I was using.
So between the 808, the synth bass, and this
BWB kick, that’s like a trio there that
just works super well together.
So I also have pianos in here that I got from
Internet Money’s website.
On top of that piano, I added a random choir
sound.
Pitched that up a little bit, sent it up like
two semitones so it fits the rest of the song.
There’s also a second piano that I reversed
to layer on top of the main piano during the
bridge of the song.
I found the pianos early in the beat, and
it wasn’t until after I added drums and
a bassline that I decided to keep the piano.
I ain’t gon’ lie, halfway through the
beat I already knew I had one.
I didn’t find out I was on the project until
maybe a week before the project came out.
‘Cause I hit him.
I was like, “Yo bro, am I on it?”
He was like, “Bro, we got good songs."
"I just don’t know what’s gonna make it
yet.”
You know, I’m like at the house, probably
cutting grass or something.
And then, “Ayy yo bro, you made the album
by the way.”
And I was like, “Holy shit bro."
"Thank you.”
