Focus is someone whose skill is only matched by heart and passion for the music he makes. He proved his chops by producing for the likes of Snoop Dogg, Jennifer Lopez, Lil Wayne, Christina Aguilera, not to mention his father was the renowned bassist and co-founder of the funk band “Chic”. Focus eventually signed to work with Dr.Dre as a producer among others like Hi-tek & Mr.Porter. He shares stories about the downtimes too and how he made lemons into lemonade, when he first came to...

There are some who are lucky enough to grow up in a city that has a musical revolution, Nascent was one of the few in Chicago that had enough smarts, skills and humility to actually rise with that revolution. Surprisingly though, his first big break didn’t come from Chicago but rather a trip he made to New York. After building a relationship with Kay Slay, he flew to New York only to not get the meeting he was promised but instead of getting down he paid G Unit’s office a visit. That visit...

Tiffany Miranda is someone who has always taken matters into her own hands, learned the ropes of the business and given everything back to help those coming after her. She got her start in music in her late teens, she even had a meeting with the Miami legend Uncle Luke’s record label. A few years in she realized she wanted more control of her destiny in music and began to learn everything about production and engineering. She was able to achieve success working with everyone from French...

This show is all about turning lemons into lemonade, taking a bad situation and flipping it so it works for you. Few have done this better than our next guest, Chi Town’s own Vic Spencer. In middle school Vic entered the group home system and when his schedule was restricted so he couldn’t play basketball anymore, he picked up the pen. The staff running the group homes took notice and decided to sponsor Vic to make music and tour other group homes, foster care events and the like sharing his...

There was a time not too long ago where people weren’t checking for Buffalo when it came to hip hop. Still, our next guest DJ Shay was grinding his way through and is the man that is responsible for helping put it on the map. He started DJ’ing when he was just 10 years old and played gigs all throughout his childhood. After he came of age he started making beats as well and dove into that world along with DJ’ing. Eventually, he founded Buff City Records and became in every aspect of the...

The internet has completely changed the music industry and as a producer you have to create your own path and not rely on gatekeepers. Our next guest, BankRollGotIt did exactly that. The producer group is comprised of brothers Joel and Taylor Banks (hence their producer name) and created their own path to making a living off of music. Joel had been producing since he was in school and after his old producer group fell apart him and his brother decided to create a group together. After all,...

Decap cut his teeth in the rap game joining a 9-person rap group, he was the only producer and had a make the beats for all their tracks. That was in junior high, by the time he got to his school he had built some buzz for himself and started selling beats. He eventually left to make it in New York but ended up hitting a wall and getting into debt, he decided to study spirituality and meditation instead. That cleared his mind and helped him become conscious of what he really wanted and he...

Creating a beat with a sample can be hard enough, today’s guest would recreate samples from scratch ever since he started making music. Our guest this episode, Antman Wonder, hails from Philly and when he started making beats he didn’t even realize sampling existed so he would remake them from scratch which built his beat making chops quickly. He caught a big break after being interviewed by DJ Premier from a project called “An Ode to Reasonable Doubt”, he started working with Premier and...

When Charity entered her first beat battle ever she made an ultimatum, if I don’t do well in this beat battle I won’t pursue music as a career. Thankfully, she got 3rd place and that gave her the confidence to keep going. She started producing more around Houston (her hometown) and worked closely with people like Nate Coupe to develop her sound and brand. She eventually founded her own production company, GOD LVL to continue building her career in music. She kept networking and listening to...

In today’s world, we producers often have many creative skills they learn that helps fulfill them and pay the bills. That is definitely the case for our next guest, Billy Martin who is a guitarist and keyboardist for the punk rock band, “Good Charlotte”. He shared his journey joining “Good Charlotte” as a senior in High School then having the commercial success of a platinum record a few years after Billy joined. He eventually decided to get back into another love of his, illustration, and...

Please find ways to support here: https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/ In light of the tragic murder of George Floyd we wanted to have an open discussion on the podcast about what we can do to help and how we can heal ourselves and help others heal around us. To help us do that we had Christopher Scott, M.S.W., C.S.W.A. (aka Hip Hop Social Worker) on the show. Chris shared about his work in Portland as a social worker, working with youth and how he is growing his brand as Hip Hop Social...

Today’s guest doesn’t hail from the usual hip hop mecca’s like New York, LA or Chicago… she’s from Estonia. Our next guest Ms.Madli came to the US without much of a plan other than to make it in the music industry. She was classically trained on piano but knew the reading music wasn’t her passion, hip hop was. She made beats on the side for 7 years and entered in a beat battle one fateful day in 2014 where she placed third. She came back the next year and won. That got people to start taking...

Every producer has to make this decision, do I go all in or keep doing it making music on the side? Our next guest’s decision ultimately led to his placement with Kanye West. Today’s guest, Cameone, was forced to make that decision after he got fired from his job at a sneaker store and had to decide if he should get a full-time job or go full time into his own work. He decided to bet on himself. Making music isn’t his only passion, he’s also a designer. He shares his story doing little logo...

Not every producer finds success and creative fulfillment after they decide to give up on making it in the music industry. Our next guest, MTK, did. MTK started making beats during a graveyard shift then while he traveled around Europe, his big break came at a Seattle beat battle where he met Macklemore, Eric G, Jake One, and others. While he definitely had success, he wasn’t where he hoped to be after a discussion with his wife decided to leave the music business. After that, he just...

Most producers are lucky to make a record considered a classic in their career, our next guest’s second beat he ever sold became the cult classic “Thieves in the Night” by Black Star (Talib Kweli & Mos Def). 88-keys has 20+ years in the game and has produced for Kanye West, Jay Z, Big Sean and more. He got his start cleaning records for John Carerro where he rubbed shoulders with people like Q-Tip, Pete Rock, Busta Rhymes, Funk Master Flex and more. He used his deep record collection...

Mr.Porter grew up in a musical family, his grandfather was in “The Original 5 Blind Boys of Alabama” and his father who started off as their driver and Popular gospel singer himself, he spent much of his childhood on the road and surrounded by music. His life changed when at the age of 15 he was shot in his hometown of Detriot and wasn’t able to pursue sports the way he was before. He later turned to producing and after only 3 months he linked up with Eminem and helped produce his first...

Beat The Block will be releasing our first 3 episodes on May 14th at 8AM EST. Our first episode is with legendary Detroit producer and right-hand man for Eminem, Mr.Porter. He will share his incredible journey diving into music after he was shot and producing Eminem’s first album to now, we’ll talk about the albums, records and films he’s worked on as well as his best advice for producers from his time in the game. Our guests for episodes 2 and 3 are a surprise, tune in to find out who they...

We're thrilled to announce the Beat The Block Podcast! This is a show where we go way deeper than the surface and talk to the best producers and artists in the game about not just their success but the dark times and how they bounced back (so you can too). Since we are making this for the Beatstars community we wanted to include you in the process! You have the chance to have your beat featured on the show, to enter submit at beatstars.world/btbcontest by April 29th to enter.