BIG WEAZY INTERVIEW

by Mpendulo Mabindisa - 25 March 2014

I had a convo with Big Weazy and he chopped it all down for us, his plans hopes and dreams. Check it out:

Yo Weazy, How are you fam?

All good fam, God's keeping me alive.

First of all, uBig Weazy yini? Are you just a beatmaker/producer?

I'm a music producer (Hip Hop/RnB/Dancehall), I'm a founder of One Le Familia Music Group which is a recording label I co-own with my girl friend who runs our administration work and a close friend R-Warra aka Mr West coast who's my assistance engineer and a beatmaker. Big Weazy's Classics is a businessman.

Take us through your beat making process?

Well it all depends on what I'm producing, first I run FL Studio 9 for my all my beats with a lotta VST's and drumkits from the world's proclaimed producers. I'll run you through how I produced my latest single "Legendary".

I sampled a record by Rose Royce - Love Don't Live here Anymore... I chopped it, turned up the tempo by few percentage and pitch shifted it by +700 (Stretching Method: Auto). I needed to take care of some few frequencies, which a lot where on the low band. I used an REQ6 which is wave equalizer: reduced my low frequency at 60Hz by -17, reduced at 334Hz by -9.4, reduced at 1610Hz by -1.3, boost at 6124Hz by +1. I applied another EQ, SSLEQ which is my favorite when it comes to boosting specifically on the high shelf: I turned the filter button on around 20Hz with the analog on and there was a bit of muddiness at the low mid frequency so I just reduced it by -1.88 at 500Hz, gave a boost at 3500Hz by +2.27 and gave another boost of +1.16 at 8000Hz. Since there high got a lil bit sharp on the ear after this I had to apply a C1 compressor with -22.1 Threshold, ratio 3.12:1, very slow attack and high release. I also felt that I didn't need to play a lot of instruments on this sample so I needed an fx that will accommodate the dry spaces so I added an Rverb Stereo with medium room size, high predelay, and a lil bit of wet/dry mix which was 9. The last fx was the Wave S1 Imager Stereo, this worked very well and made the sample wider and accommodating the space I heard.

I went to work on my favorite part of that beat which is my drum pattern, the tempo being 84BPM. I need this to sound as if it was being played by a real live drummer and percussionist with rolling drums to create the excitement to the listeners. It was hard to accomplish but with patients it did. You will realise that it the drum changes on the hook, I did that after the vocals were recorded to give it the rnb feel...

I also played a a finger Jazz Bass from Hypersonic with low tone and EQ... On the bass I applied an REQ4, boosted by +8 at 60Hz (Bell), reduced by -3 at 350, at 850 I gave it a boost of +9 and lastly gave another boost at 5000Hz by 10.1... I know this may sound weired but I needed the bass to be smooth. I then used RCompressor which is also a wave plugin, Threshold -6.0, ratio 6.1:1, Gain 3.1, attack at 0.50 and a release at 660. The last instrument played there is a Orchestra and Choir which is from my personal synth, Nexus 2: I ddnt need to do too much on this as Nexus have built in knobs to use (which also save CPU), I only applied an REQ6 to cut the low band and hard compressed it hard with a ratio of 7.13:1 and threshold of -24.3.

Arrangement and mixing plays a big part when working on a beat, never settle for less or get lazy...

Man, you arrived in Cape Town few years back and things just started happening for you. So besides making dope beats, what is it that you doing and other producers in Cape Town are not doing?

I relocated to Cape Town in October 2012 (big thanks to Slash who introduced me to Matic whom introduced me to Vegita and Ntsikane who gave me a place to stay for 3 months)... I had a plan, the plan was to make sure that beatmakers seize to exist and I did just that coz it's time for real producers and the only way to do that is putting your business affairs before friendship and work hard: study.

I heard you produced one of the joints on Driemanskap's upcoming album, How true is that?

Well, I got a call from Elnino early this year confirming that my joint made it to the album but I don't know what's going to happen to it now that I've produced a joint where Vegita disses Dla and DSO.

Not so long ago you mentioned that you in Studio with Kanyi. Take us through your sessions with her.

Ahhh man, it was a great 12 hour session which took 2days to finish recording. Unfortunately they didn't deliver financially so I got rid of the data and there's no track no more.

So what do you think is lacking in the Cape Town hip hop scene?

Artists and beatmakers here is lazy, they talk too much but work less...I ain't saying the rest of em ain't doing nothing but making music in your lab is not enough, get it out there and build connections coz Cape Town is gifted.

Is it the reason why you moving to Jozi?

Plenty of em, I make peanuts in Cape Town... I'm limited coz of spaza. You see, in Cape Town you get to a point where you feel stuck and can't move anywhere and that's exactly what's happening to me right now. I mean I need to sell more trap/rnb/crunk beats like I sell fast my boombap beats.

Okay, give us more info about your move to Jozi. Any big names you will be working with soon there?

A lot but I aint gon share that right now, all I can say is Jozi will be invaded and vandalized.

You once mentioned that your family has been supportive ever since you have started making beats. How important is that to you?

It's very important and a blessing, I remember when I had to tell my folks I don't wanna go to varsity no more... They were like "are you sure?" And they accepted that and been supportive since day 1. You can get love anywhere but you can never get the love your mom and pop's give you, I'm blessed

Name one Cape Town artist you enjoy having a studio session with?

All of those I've worked with, I respect all my clients and in order for them to keep coming back and pay for my service they have to enjoy themselves too... It's always a two way thing, One Le Familia Music Group value every paying and non paying client the same way.

There were a couple of words thrown at you for your involvement on the BJ/I.V beef, well I think its only because you produced "Isigwebo" by Vegita which surprised a number of people and you were open with your views regarding the beef. Any message to the people you might have offended?

Well my involvement was to prove loyalty over money, I'm not going to apologize... This game don't need soft hearted people that cry over lost battles and disses.

The #SueMe term, tell us a bit about it. Is there a meaning behind it or you just being cool lol?

Hahaha, I gots 4 trademarks... The french, "This is another Big Weazy's Classics", "Big Weazy let em know Classics are better than Hits, Sue Me" and "And now for my next number I'd like to return to the Classics". Sue Me is taken from the other trademark which means exactly that, Sue Me for being dope I just don't care coz I can handle whatever you bring on me coz I aint gon fade out over negative words.

V.I.G, when is his project dropping? And what plans do you have for him? He's really dope by the way, and a good performer.

VIG got fired from the label, we had big plans but the kid forgot what he came to do in Cape Town and started lazing around. Being dope don't get you fans these days, working hard and respecting your art does that.

So Weazy, any message to Cape Town producers? Share the special recipe man lol

I'm leaving soon, y'all will shine again #Respect to Mananz though (Beast)... Recipe? Hahahaha I can't even explain how come up with these crazy ideas.

Where can people get hold of you?

Like my page:

-Big Weazy's Classics on facebook - http://soundcloud.com/leclassics - weazythabosz@gmail.com -onelefamiliamusicgroup@gmail.com - onelefamiliamusicgroup.blogspot.com - OneLeFamilia BigWeazy's Classics on facebook

And yo, I heard your latest joint titled "Legendary" featuring various artists, how did that one come about?

Im an opportunist, I saw a lot of guys don't appreciate the love they get from the sisters who support the art we claim to love so someone needed to stand up but I needed guys who can deliver and everyone did.

Since its about the sisters in Hip Hop, any last words to them?

Keep supporting, ignore idiots who call you bad names.