!llmind: “Love Yourz” was probably the
biggest moment in my life.
Five years later, I have a ton of songs out.
You know, Grammy winning…
Worked with Jay-Z, Beyonce, Drake, Kendrick…
I mean, everybody.
“Love Yourz” is still the most important
song I’ve ever produced.
I believe that it always will be.
!llmind, "Love Yourz," take one, mark.
!llmind: One of the first things I think about
when I sit and make music is, how can I explore
something I haven’t explored before?
It's really this process of trying stuff and
having fun.
We got the track to J. Cole through my man,
MoneyMakinMatt.
He just hit me up one day like, “Yo, I'm
in the studio with Cole.
What do you have?”
I sent them 15 beats and that was one of them.
I flew out to LA and I had Matt up and I was
like, “Yo, what are you doing?”
He's like, “Yo, I'm in LA with Cole.”
So I pulled up and we’re talking about the
track and he’s like, “Yo !ll, this track
is super special.
I want to play you a snippet.”
After he played it, I was blown away.
That song sort of turned into the theme for
the album.
This beat started with the pianos.
The pianos were done by Cardiak and CritaCal.
The part that they sent me is the actual emotion.
My job as a producer is to extract that emotion
and make it into reality.
That’s why it’s so important to collaborate.
CritaCal: Well, what happened with that track,
me and Cardiak, we were working on a sound
kit for producers.
All pianos and strings and that day, we did
like 20 different tracks.
We sent it to !llmind so he could hear the
kit and he picked that one out.
Like a month later, he hit back and said,
“Yo J. Cole is on this record.”
It sounded dope.
It was a positive message.
I’m a positive person so it feels good to
actually come out with records that can touch
people in certain ways.
!llmind: Those guys are just super talented.
If you know !llmind, you know me, I’m really
big on collaborating with other producers.
Those guys were some of the first producers
that I was able to collaborate with and create
a special song with Cole.
!llmind: With a piano loop like that, you
can go in a multitude of different directions.
I really wanted the melody to sort of be the
star of the show.
Everything about it was just so emotional
and so deep.
And so, just to add on to the human element,
we have this string section.
The strings were from Cardiak and CritaCal.
So there’s this like… tension with that
string.
It’s like very dark but still very sort
of bright at the same time, and hopeful.
So when you combine the two…
It just creates this like, really crazy emotion.
There’s one more part that I know I have
to add on this.
It’s such a small part by itself but when
you play it with everything else, it’s just
so significant.
It’s really just one piano stab.
It’s this very like, dissonant resting note
but when you hear it on the one...
It sort of completes the thought.
Another small detail that just makes all the
difference.
I had went to the studio after I heard the
track, and I mic’d up a grand piano, and
I just recorded that one note.
!llmind: The next part that I added here was
this little drum fill that I really wanted
to put in there to sort of walk the beat in.
I heard that drum fill and knew it’d be
perfect so I really just chopped it in half
and time stretched it.
So if you hear it, it’s on the grid.
The transition with the rest of the beat.
I wanted to create a drum loop that can sound
like someone was playing it live, and you
know when Cole performs this song, he has
a live band.
!llmind: The first part of the drums was actually
this little drum loop here that I got from
my man Jake One.
So I basically took that, time stretched it,
and I took this little piece here that I labeled,
“Air” to fill in those gaps.
There’s just something special about the
dirtiness of that that if you were to clean
that up, the track wouldn’t sound the way
it does.
When you listen to the drum loop and you play
along with it, it kind of sort of makes sense.
!llmind: The beat at this point was really
basically done.
My process after this point was really just
mostly ear candy.
This little vocal hit here.
That happens basically in the beginning of
every four bars.
I knew I wanted to build the beat up a little
more so I added another…
You know, it sort of elevates the track even
more.
So this grunt doesn’t necessarily fall exactly
on the grid but it’s those little human
details that set this track apart and sort
of give it that feel.
We’re moving into the hook, the strings
come back in, but then you also hear this
cool bassline.
It’s really just three notes.
I still use this like really old school vintage
filter for the bass.
Turn down the resonance a little bit and the
cut off.
When you hear those chords with that bass,
all of it just sort of makes sense.
And then this sound here, this is just like
a little sweep sound that I also took from
my man Jake One.
Shout out to Jake One.
Like if a drummer were to hit a crash on the
one, but in a more textured kind of way.
And then the third portion of the hook are
these hi-hats.
The whole idea of programming off the grid
is something I learned from this producer
J Dilla.
Rest in Peace.
When you program drums on keys or pads, you’re
giving the listener the true sort of feel
of your rhythm.
I wanted to keep that going with these hi-hats
and so when I programmed them, it was really
just a feeling.
And one of my favorite parts of the song,
verse number two.
I took the drum loop out and just kept the
programmed drums in there and that perfectly
set up verse two.
!llmind: I knew that this track would be emotional.
I didn’t want to overdo it.
There’s a beauty in the simplicity.
If I were to overproduce this, I don’t know
if J. Cole would have been as inspired to
write the song that he did and so it was sort
of this perfect storm.
One of the proudest moments in my career.
This song changed my life too.
It was a huge turning point for not only me,
and I’m sure for Cole, but for millions
of people.
There’s multiple people that I’ve read
about that have reached out saying like, “Yo
this song changed my life.”
I’ve made it through some tough times with
this record and it has more emotional value
to me than any other song.
The track is meaningful to me because it refreshes
your memory that whatever you might lack or
fall short of, there’s always someone out
there with less.
“Love Yourz” is just about being appreciative
of everything that you have and just knowing
that timing is everything for the things that
you want.
“Love Yourz” by J. Cole is one of the
realest songs I’ve ever heard.
I’ve seen Cole perform the track on several
occasions now and it always makes me very
emotional.
Thank you Cole.
!llmind: If that were to happen to one person,
I would have been content with that but the
fact that it’s happened to millions of people
potentially is just something I don’t have
the words for.
Deconstructed.
!llmind. "Love Yourz"
Take two.
Mark.
