<Hey everyone¡

I just wanted to give you some good news!  Over the weekend, C4 participated in New Industry Canada’s Producer Challenge featuring 16 of Canada’s top up and coming Hip Hop producers. The event was judged by none other then signed artist Mic Boogie, The super talented Richh Kidd ( Who also performed that night) as well as Toronto’s own D-Sisive and London representative, Shad K.

Here are my personal thoughts on the event :

Judging system 

Instead of numbers, judges had mics so that they could give their feedback properly and interact with the crowd. I think that numbers are stupid. No beat is a 10 and no beat is a 1.  It might be good for hurting someone’s ego and getting them to work even harder but it doesn’t say much about the work. I think this system was made by producers who know that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. 

Audience:

The london crowd was pretty hype and respectful even if they didn’t like your beat. Everyone was there for hip hop and the growing interest in production. Last but not least, I am so happy that the crowd included ladies for once! I’ve been to a few battles now and the girls usually look like they were beaten and dragged there. Thank you to the ladies who were in attendance and made the crowd just a little less intimidating to look at. 

Competitors:

Overall, I think that the competitors were well picked. There were some crowd favorites who hailed from London but in the end Toronto took the cake as Big Pops faced C4 in a 3 beat final battle for the title. Like all battles, there were some bruised egos, some questionable calls and some upsets. I have to say big up to Mr Magic who got upset in the first round against Neena. Both had crazy beats. I’d also like to send a shout out to Vokab who held it down even though he lost in the first round. He’s dope and could’ve made it  further. You never really know what can happen at these battles and that’s why I keep going back wether I win or lose. 

Here are the videos which have been released so far.

Thanks to Tony Tsvardaris for his support and abundance of technological toys.

C4 VS. VOKAB 

C4 VS. NEENA 

C4 vs J STAFFZ 

FINALS AGAINST BIG POPS COMING SOON!!

Congrats to Big Pops, HNF and all of the competitors, performers and judges. Big shout to Ruggedone from New Industry Canada who organized the events .

I’d like to say a huge “kiss my ass” to the sound guy who kept messing around with my volume. Once during the Neena battle and the next ( and worst time) in the finals again Big Pops. I heard he was trying to get more money from the promoters because of the night’s success. Gross.

Yours truly,

Jimmy Sweatpants

The life of a producer has many challenges. 

It’s fueled by powerful dreams and driven by the determination to succeed. There are many characteristics which define a producer, but none which is more common then the will to create something publicly known as amazing.

 1  To be a producer is to use the same amount of agility in coordinating a feature length film as you do making yourself the ultimate dinner. To be a producer is to love the struggle so much that you work even harder knowing that you’ll never really be content enough to quit. To be a producer, you have to hate things that suck and recognize things that make our life better rule. 

  If you are a producer, chances are you that you feel you could probably do a better job of producing this essay. It’s what we do. We analyze, we understand and come up with ways to create a superior product. To say that producing is all about competition would only be telling part of the story. Although there is a clear line between the good and the bad, a real producer knows that the most influential critic lives inside of him. His creations differ from the rest because they were brought into the world by his ability to make them happen and is the only one who can dissect them with as much accuracy.

  A producer’s strength depends on his sensibility and understanding of how the world works. It’s safe to say that most producers are on an ongoing quest to figure out what they can do with the skills they have developed. As every new idea surfaces, the producer’s mission is to figure out the best way to apply them using the resources which he can tap.

  To be a producer is to declare that you are ready for opportunity because of the amount of preparation and trial you have endured. You take on projects expecting issues to arise, which could demand all of your capabilities at the worst possible time. You may be committed to many causes knowing that none would ever become stronger then your will to accomplish something once you’ve agreed to.

 In the heat of a battle, a producer knows that being fierce is wiser then being reserved as he has he has learnt that weakness is the strongest odor.

A smart producer will recognize how elements compliment each other, whereas a less skillful producer will force elements to blend.

A producer lives, eats and breathes his job because life and mind are the only requirement needed for him to work. He might let all of the harmful side effects of high expectations eat away at his soul, but every producer knows that what keeps him coming back stronger then any high, is his will undoable will to say: “ I did that”.

–Best of luck to everyone who is trying to make their mark in this world.

Didier Tovel 

It seems like most conversations I have with artists are about how nobody buys music anymore. The fact is that album sales are at an all time low and it doesn’t look like it’s getting any better. It also doesn’t help that downloading full albums for free is way simpler then going out and buying a record in a store.

“Canada is currently the sixth largest market for the sale of legitimately produced sound recordings in the world. In 2003, the total retail value of all legitimate sound recording sales exceeded $940 million CDN. Based on industry statistics and international comparisons CRIA estimates that sales of pirated sound recordings drains an additional $23.5 million CDN from the legitimate Canadian market.” ( Canadian Recording industry association: antipiracy)

Do you know what that means for all you artists out there trying to get signed by a major label?

Pack your lunch. Labels don’t make as much money as they used to and they aren’t looking for any risky business. The Canadian Recording industry association claims that only 1 out of 10 new canadian releases actually generates revenue. This is how labels raise money to invest in your dreams. The more money they lose, the less money they have to invest in new talent.

Welcome to the music business. Labels might say that they only look for groundbreaking talent but the bottom line is that they would give Shamu a 50 cent deal if whale music suddenly came into style. They are just looking for what works and what’s going to bring in the most profit.

Here’s a scary statistic:

William Hung’s album sold about 30-50 000 copies it’s first week.(MTV.com). His label was able to release CDs, DVDs and make a killing. What’s really sad is that most Canadian artist could only hope to sell that many albums this country after working their asses off for years. Unless you’re NickelBack or Avril lavigne, who make most of their album sales out of the country, you’re chances at selling millions of records in Canada are extremely slim.

It’s been said time and time again: Canada does not have a lot of love for Hip Hop. There are tons of fans but not enough funds generated to support the whole infrastructure. We’re the downloading generation. We go through music like underwear and it really ends up killing production budgets and focusing most of the efforts on promotion while offering a lousy product in return.
Most of our artists need to go south of the border if they want to “make it” but nobody has yet to really bridge that gap.

“You know what my boys in Brooklyn tell me? ‘Americans don’t want you to win,’” says Saukrates, the Toronto MC and producer who, along with long-time friend Kardinal Offishall, leads Can-hop’s latest crop of ace MCs. “And they don’t. A lot of the artists will suck up all the energy at their labels because they don’t want nobody to come and take their position, especially not a Canadian who can do it better than them. You gotta fight for your shine.”(Saukrates)

Too many Americans think Canada is a french winter wonderland somewhere near the north pole so labels aren’t really that interested in us.
When A&Rs look to sign a new rap artist, they usually look for a hard luck ghetto story that symbolizes the American Dream( Eminem, Jay Z, 50 Cent, Kanye West). The new era of rappers don’t even need to have that credibility.

(The Game was once on a dating show called change of heart )
“I can’t get no love in public”
“I want to be with my girlfriend all day every day”

THE GAME ON CHANGE OF HEART
American artists can pretend to be gangster in their songs but Canadian rappers are just not believable for the mass public. So many artists have gotten close to breaking into the states like Maestro Fresh Wes ( Let your backbone slide) Michiee Me, Choclair, Saukrates but nobody has truly been able to blow up. Kardinal is now signed to Convict music which is a giant step for Hip Hop in Canada. If his album sells worldwide, people might actually start looking at Canada in a new light.

So this brings me to my last point:

What is Canadian Hip Hop?

Hip hop is a culture and a genre of music that has now exploded into the mainstream on a worldwide level. By calling what we do Canadian hip hop, we’re setting ourselves apart based on our geographical location. If we had our own style like the Brit invasion it would make sense but the truth is that what we do is not that different then what’s going on in the rest of the world of Hip Hop. I understand that we need to create an identity for ourselves in the world but if we are so concerned with promoting our own artists, why does the number of featurings you have on your mixtape or album way heavier then the content or merit of your art?

There are amazing projects produced every year which get overlooked because magazine rather cover yet another rapper trying to make it with a big named American rapper on a hook , hoping that a couple of gs will make you famous by referal. We need to earn our own stripes, make our own moves and stop calling our music Canadian if it’s meant for the whole hip hop market. Let’s concentrate on the quality of the work and make it marketable by innovating instead of doing the same old thing.

Yours truly,

Jimmy Sweatpants

True Hip Hop

The Roots:

The way you sounded connecting to my modem. The way you teased me as you slowly loading each single picture. I get teary eyed when I think of what we’ve been through together. You showed me what Pamela’s boobs looked like, you taught me to make bombs from household products and you even managed to land me some of the freakiest sexcapades I could ever imagine. Oh, you might have gotten me in trouble with the wifey a few times or kept me away from work, but if it wasn’t for you, I’d probably be homeless.

I was 14 when I convinced my mom to “buy” internet. After months of begging and cleaning just about every piece of that house, I finally won the battle and was allowed to use the computer 2 hours a day which became more like 6. Like most curious boys, I went straight for the porn. We were like kids in a candystore that only sells sexual chocolate. Most of the models which I daydreamed about had naked pictures online and that was reason enough for my best friend ( let’s call him Beavis) and I to spend hours scouring what seemed to be the motherload of booty. But soon enough, we realized that we did not yet own all the keys to the poonie kingdom. Just when we thought we had seen every picture there was of Pam , the infamous sex tape came out on paying sites and we just had to get it.

Although we exceeded the horniness requirements by a landslide, I didn’t exactly come from a home where I had the freedom of using my mom’s credit card to buy porn. So I did what any horny teenager would do. I started looking for a way to beat the system.

Soon enough, I stumbled upon a site called “xxxpasswords.com”. It was like I had found the exact point where all hell broke loose and I quickly realized that hackers are the coolest people you’ll never meet. As I dug deeper into the land of free shit, i came across just about anything I’d want, from music to movies and eventually programs. That is the precise time where my life changed.

I always considered myself to be a pretty creative person but I only had the opportunity to display it by drawing and finding new original ways of pissing off my family and friends thus far. I started off by downloading photoshop and then some basic sound and video programs. Before you knew it, I was spending most of my free time learning and experimenting on my own. No youtube tutorials. No todaysbeats.com. I sucked! But I was determined to learn more. Besides, I was still the only one of my friends who could cut your face off a picture, place it in a gay porn film with an original score I created by sampling your mother’s voice. Classsiiiicccccc.

At the time, mp3’s were a brand new thing and I was so happy when I found a way to record them to tape. Soon enough I got a crappy radio shack microphone and me and my jewcrew started recording over loops. We were terrible but had a blast and I knew I had found myself a new hobby. My mom would hear us and barge in, embarassing me right in the middle of my verse. Oh, the same. Don’t get me wrong, she was supportive. In fact, she became so supportive that she insisted I show her how to download all her old records which somehow disappeared.

That was exactly 10 years ago and I now work as a music producer for commercials, films and TV and I know that piracy is a phenomenon that influenced my career path.
As for Cegep, you can still kiss it. ( Big Up to Thomas Fisher who called me the backstreet boy and told me that nobody gets anywhere by someone telling them they did a good job when they didn’t) Audio recording school too. The only institution I’ll give props to is University where I met tons of very interesting people in the Communications program. Aside from that, everything I learnt to be able to produce on computers is thanks to those wonderful people who spend hours cracking programs so that I could learn how to use them for free. They allowed me to find my direction in life and teach myself skills which would’ve been too costly for me to undertake at such a young age .

I am sure that many people have a similar story to mine. Everytime I wake up and walk over to the computer to go to work ,I think about how lucky I am to have a job like that. That is the sole reason that I work so many hours . It’s all-time job for me and it’s been made possible by hackers from around the world.

Let me know if you ever need some beats!