Built in Tampa, Heard Everywhere: A Conversation with GittFai

Meet GittFai — Tampa-born producer, rapper, and the man behind one of the biggest records in the country right now. From making beats at 11 years old to landing a song on 200,000 TikToks and charting at #45 on the Billboard Hot 100 with BossMan Dlow's Motion Party, GittFai has been quietly putting Tampa on the map — and the city is finally getting its flowers.

In this episode, we dive deep into:

• Starting to make beats at age 7 and getting a regional radio hit in high school
• The obsession with figuring out how to replicate a hit — and how that obsession became his superpower
• Staying a student of the craft and why staying current kept him from becoming obsolete
• The Tampa sound, the cowbell, and why skroll music is the culture
• How Motion Party went viral on TikTok before it even officially dropped
• What actually moved him during the Billboard moment — and it wasn't the chart
• Being homeless and starting over — and why his story is proof that it can happen
• His unexpected new love for country music and why it makes total sense
• Favorite producers: Kanye West, Pharrell, No I.D. and what he learned from each
• Street Kanye — his upcoming trilogy of EPs dropping soon
• Skroll or Die — his compilation project and the vision behind it
• Making a beat live in the studio — and giving Melissa her own Hard Wig Soft Life intro

Connect with GittFai: 🎵 Stream Motion Party feat. BossMan Dlow wherever you listen to music 📱 Instagram: @gittfai

GittFai keeps it real about the grind, the come up, the city, and what it means to build something from nothing in Tampa, Florida. This is what happens when talent meets time.

#HardWigSoftLife #GittFai #MotionParty #BossManDlow #BillboardHot100 #TampaBay #TampaMusic #SkrollMusic #BlackPodcast #HipHop #MusicProducer #TampaProducer #IndependentArtist #StreetKanye #FloridaMusic #PodcastInterview #MusicBusiness #BeatMaking #FLStudio #TampaBorn

Keywords: GittFai, Motion Party, BossMan Dlow, Billboard Hot 100, Tampa music producer, skroll music, Tampa Bay hip hop, beat making, FL Studio, Street Kanye, Skroll or Die, Tampa sound, independent music, Black podcast, Hard Wig Soft Life

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hey everybody, what's going on? It's your girl, Melissa L. Atkinson, and it is another episode of Hardwake's Half-Life, the podcast. I am so elated to be in the studio with the person I'm in the studio with today. This is someone who's been a personal friend of mine for 15 years plus, someone who I remember at the beginning of their journey was building towards something great. And time is a true testament because now we're in the studio. Not only does he have placements with people like NBA Youngboy or like Rod uh Wave, he also has a song right now that's out on 200,000 different TikToks and it's charted at number 45 on the Billboard Hot 100. I'm so amped to introduce my friend Jet Fey. What's going on, Jit Faye? What's up?

SPEAKER_04 0:45

That's a good intro. That was a hell of an intro.

SPEAKER_01 0:48

Thank you. You know, I'm starting to like tell people that I'm gonna put that on my resume, that I'm the introduction queen. Because I always give a long intro, and then I'm like, okay, so tell me about yourself. Yeah, that was it.

SPEAKER_04 1:01

You kind of laid it out. I may use that clip. I like that intro.

SPEAKER_01 1:04

Oh, okay. Um, so listen, I'm super proud of you. First of all, let's start off with that. We gotta give you your flowers. Thank you. Um, because I remember when you first started making beats when you were learning to make beats.

SPEAKER_04 1:16

Yeah. Well, I I was going for a while then, but that's why when I first started getting good at it. Okay. That's when I first started to turn that corner to a this sounded like something. Like that was that was around here.

SPEAKER_01 1:27

So that was when, like what year did you start, if you can remember?

SPEAKER_04 1:31

I don't know. I was like eight years old, seven or eight years old. Okay. And I started making beats for real when I was like 11.

SPEAKER_01 1:39

Really? Yeah. So I thought that when I met you before like after high school, that that's when you started making beats.

SPEAKER_04 1:44

No, that's when I started recording for real, like taking it serious for real. Like before it was like a uh somewhat of a passion, but like kind of in the back because I was playing sports and doing other things, trying to be a kid, but and it was no like outlets to like I didn't know about anybody who was an artist or a producer or you know, anything like that. So I didn't know to take it as serious as I should have. But once um, I had like a song in high school that started playing on the radio and I was getting booked for shows and stuff like that. What song? It was called Don't Mean Shit.

unknown 2:16

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 2:16

It was a song for the women. It was like, it might be women on the side, but that don't that don't mean shit. Okay. Don't worry about that. Think about other shit, don't think about it.

SPEAKER_01 2:24

They said I'm gonna always come home. Screaming.

SPEAKER_04 2:26

Think about other shit, don't even think about that.

SPEAKER_01 2:28

But can we find that song anywhere now?

SPEAKER_04 2:30

Yeah, it's it's it's out there. It's on YouTube.

SPEAKER_01 2:32

Okay. It's on YouTube. We're gonna have to find it and link that, but yeah.

SPEAKER_04 2:36

It's out there. But um, and it's cool because it's kind of the same type of vibe. I've been on the same type of club vibe with some type of little messaging in it. But um, yeah, so it went from that to then that's probably like 2010, like when when I I met you for real. And that was like me trying to figure out how to do what I did then, but like consistently. Like and and make good beats consistently. That's what that was that time.

SPEAKER_01 3:04

I think that's kind of hard for most artists, right? Like they stumble upon something that it's like, okay, boom, like this is a hit or this is like my my masterpiece. But then get kind of in their head about replicating it, right? Right. Did you feel any pressure like that? Definitely.

SPEAKER_04 3:18

Because I didn't do it again. Like at that moment, like I the whole situation I had was like a teen sensation type thing locally. Like, and I had like a regional hit, but even when it was at its peak, I was trying to figure out like how do I do this again? Like it was it just happened organically.

SPEAKER_05 3:33

Right.

SPEAKER_04 3:33

So I didn't know how to like recreate that moment or that vibe or that anything, and I kind of stressed out about it a while. Like I obsessed about it like for years, and that kind of ended up being, like, now I play the role of the person who knows how to get music out now. Like from that, all that craziness that went through that, me going through that. Now, if somebody needs music to pop out of temple, like I'm the person to go to because all I fucking went crazy about doing that.

SPEAKER_01 4:00

How crazy is that to like know, okay, something that was so challenging for me is now like, I don't want to say wash, rinse, and repeat, but it's like, okay, cool, like I got the formula down, and now you're the go-to guy. How crazy is that for you?

SPEAKER_04 4:13

It's it's weird, honestly. It's like the thing about like, cause I I I wouldn't even, like months ago, I wouldn't even be even been able to put that together in words because I didn't understand it, but now it's like, yeah, it's kind of weird. Cause yeah, it was that was like the main thing in my life at one point. I remember that. Like it being like, how do I do this again? Like every day I'm researching, reading books. Like, I had the Donald Passman, All You Need to Know About the Music Business. Like, he had another edition every year, and I kept reading it, but like, Who is this that you said? Donald Passman.

SPEAKER_01 4:42

Donald Passman. And what is that person? Who's that person?

SPEAKER_04 4:45

He's an author. He wrote a book, um, All You Need to Know About the Music Business. Business. I think that's the title of it. And the way he wrote is like, it's easy to follow. And like he made newer each time like something new happens in the industry, he'll put out a new edition with more information and more. And I just kept up with that over the years. And that, along with, you know, just researching as much as I could along the way, that's all that went into trying to figure it out. And figuring it out actually, is like, damn, it's crazy.

SPEAKER_01 5:14

I think that that's smart though that you continue to be a student of life, and it's funny because um Naj, who's behind the camera, uh, for all of you guys who are watching, listening, uh, and I were talking about not being obsolete in your field, right? There, when we're younger, we're in a zeitgeist, right? And I don't want to say we're old, but we are a little seasoned at this point in life. We're getting older. We're getting up there. When you're younger, you're in the zeitgeist of what is current and what is popular. And so it's easier, I think, to produce something that is popular and that is for the moment. And I think that the older you get, it's easier to get out of touch. And if you don't remain a student at your craft, then you will become obsolete.

SPEAKER_04 5:55

Yeah, you're lost in the sauce. Yeah. I I hear a lot of people who, you know, are active around that same time, like, and some of them try to release music now and it's not connecting with the people, it's not hitting. It's like, eh, I'm glad I kept going.

SPEAKER_01 6:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 6:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:10

I'm glad you did too. So I have a I have a question that I've been thinking about since we decided we were gonna start this interview. Um so I'm curious about like obviously we know that you rap, we know that you produce music for, you know, hip-hop, you know, kind of genre and rap. Is there any like genre that you listen to that has nothing to do with rap? Like an unexpected, like, musical taste that you might like.

SPEAKER_04 6:39

Well, it's a new one, country. But it's like new, new, like Ella Laneley.

SPEAKER_01 6:44

Okay, yes, yes. Is she the one that sings a song about Texas?

SPEAKER_04 6:47

Yes, choosing Texas. I love that song.

SPEAKER_01 6:50

It's a great song.

SPEAKER_04 6:51

I really love that song. But I the only read that the only reason I listened to it is because it was like the number one song, like it was Killing Motion Party. And I'm like, what is this song like that's keeping us from the number one spot? And I went to go listen like on like with biased ears too. I was hating the whole time. What is this? Like, come on now. Next thing no, in a jamming tour, she hold on. It took me into her album, and then I listened to a couple other artists that were, you know, similar, you know, as it happened on the mu uh the DSP, the streaming platform, yeah. Like similar artists, and just let it roll. And I'm like, okay, I like some of this new country.

SPEAKER_01 7:29

You know what's funny is I've always had this theory about country music versus rap, and it's funny because, you know, obviously, or like just black music as a whole, right? So obviously black people originated country music. Like that's just how it is. And then um now there's like you cannot, if you're from one world, you can't you can't intermingle, right? Like that's a whole thing.

SPEAKER_04 7:50

To like shabuzi.

SPEAKER_01 7:52

Exactly, right? So I've always said though that it's so contradictory because if you think about it, both genres of music are backed by a culture. Yep. Both genres of music have their own channel, even. Both genres of music are sharing stories, um, sometimes of sorrow, just of life experiences.

SPEAKER_04 8:10

That's what I noticed. Like it's the same. It's like I could hear Mary J. Blige saying. Exactly. It might have been like Brooklyn, choosing Brooklyn or something like that.

SPEAKER_01 8:21

Choosing Brooklyn is insane. But no, it's true. Like, um, you know you could even directly translate one versus the other one, but it is so funny, so Ella Langley.

SPEAKER_04 8:32

I think that's why the mesh of the two, like, that's why it works.

SPEAKER_01 8:36

You remember back in the day when Nellie did that song with um Tim McGraw? Was it?

SPEAKER_04 8:40

Over and over again. Over again?

SPEAKER_01 8:42

That was a bop. Though it's still a bop.

SPEAKER_04 8:44

But yeah, that's that's that's probably one that people wouldn't think I listened to. But that's new, that's new. Everything else I probably listened to, I incorporated, like whether it's reggae or EDM or anything, house music, I've heard I've I've incorporated it into like whether I sampled it or you know, replayed or just inspired by it, it made its way to music, but not that country yet.

SPEAKER_01 9:06

No, I think that that's awesome though, that you're um you're going into different genres because I feel like that helps a lot. You can't just be one-sided. And so as a Florida producer, as a Tampa producer, particularly, um, I know that you incorporate the Tampa sound because I hear the cowbell all the time. You have to have the cowbell. Um it's so funny because as a Hispanic person, too, there's a cowbell in all subsun music, and if you don't have the cowbell, it's just not.

SPEAKER_04 9:32

You gotta move. Yeah. Make you move. There's something about that cowbell make you move.

SPEAKER_01 9:36

How do you feel knowing that you're a person that's been evolving that Tampa sound?

SPEAKER_04 9:40

Because we obviously grew up with Tampa music, but like I love it because um just for that reason. I grew up on it. I remember like the feeling it gave me growing up, like when I heard Tampa music, like and when I was younger, I thought these songs were big in the whole entire world. Like I didn't know they were just like local music. So I kind of wanted to get a kid, like the people coming up here and you know, even people going out to party or whatever, give them something to vibe to the same way we did. Cause a lot of the music at the time where I kind of got going for real, like what, 2017, 2018, like in the local market where it started to really connect. It was a lot of killing music, drill music going on here. Like, so even the young artists here were making a lot of drill music, so I'm like, damn, like, that's different. Like, we ain't getting the same vibes, like it's block party going on, there's no new music being played. Right. So I seen a void there. So I love it. And then I'm seeing like young producers who was producing drill music and stuff, like my producer homie. They asking me, hey, how you get that? How how I make that type of beat or how I do that? So I've seen it start to spread. Yeah, I love it, I love it.

SPEAKER_01 10:46

No, same. Like, I it's so funny because so my husband is from Virginia.

SPEAKER_04 10:49

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_01 10:50

Right? And so he has no idea about Tampa anything. And all my cousins are from New York, and although I was born in New York, I'm raised here. So I'm a very, you know, Tampa girl, right? And so I'll show them this music and they'll be like, I've never heard of that in my whole life. Well, so what is that? And um, do you crank?

SPEAKER_04 11:10

Uh I used to. I got a little something. I just cranking fate for a little while. I was really a little while. A summer.

SPEAKER_01 11:19

Is there a video where we can find this? You can't find them. I can't do it. You can't find it.

SPEAKER_04 11:22

I can't find none of the freestyle video. That was MySpace time. So they got lost with MySpace.

SPEAKER_01 11:26

I'm over here, R.I.P. MySpace. I'm over here like wondering how I can find all the archives of you and everything.

SPEAKER_04 11:33

Um I got a couple videos, but not them.

SPEAKER_01 11:35

You know? Nope.

unknown 11:36

Damn.

SPEAKER_04 11:37

Somebody may have them. If you got no videos, hey, my Pashu Pierre, you. If you watch this, if you see this, come home. You got some videos.

SPEAKER_01 11:46

We want them. If we got them. We want them for when we make a documentary about you, honestly.

SPEAKER_04 11:50

Like that's what I'm trying to get them. I've been trying to get all of them, but I can't find him. But if you watch this.

SPEAKER_01 11:59

Like locally, or just in general, right? Who are some people that you really look to as like a mentor when it comes to this music thing?

SPEAKER_04 12:07

Um Crazy Legs.

SPEAKER_01 12:09

Crazy Legs?

SPEAKER_04 12:10

Crazy Legs. Okay. Why did they? Okay, first I need to know. Oh, okay. Oh my god, I'm so sorry for laughing. If you met him, no. Okay, okay. Okay. He uh he's uh one of the people who run the studio. Okay. Uh the main person who runs the studio, actually. But the um that's probably the only mentor. Him and probably um tracks. Um as somebody who worked on a lot of Tom G's music. Okay. That's everybody. He played it. Yeah. I like that way. But um, but if you listen, you hear the similarities. Like, he kind of coached me the the the I was already making the sound, but he showed me how to make it a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 12:52

You know, I'm obsessed with um like producers, right? And like, I know it sounds crazy to say, but because obviously I grew up singing, right? You listen to music a certain way. And so there were a lot of producers that I knew I liked before I even knew that it was their body of music, and then you go, oh my gosh, that makes so much sense, right? Like Pharrell was one of those people growing up from the time I'm like 9, 10, 11, 12, I'm liking Pharrell's music, right? Not knowing that it's Pharrell's production until much later.

SPEAKER_04 13:20

Neptunes.

SPEAKER_01 13:21

Neptunes, yeah, yeah, because yeah, we gotta make sure we give uh Is a Chad his his uh flowers too. Is there an artist that you like grew up listening to that you were like, oh, I really like this production style? And maybe didn't even realize you did until you reached a certain point in the music.

SPEAKER_04 13:36

Yeah, Kanye.

SPEAKER_01 13:37

Kanye.

SPEAKER_04 13:38

Kanye.

SPEAKER_01 13:38

I'm a Kanye for now.

SPEAKER_04 13:39

Because I watched the whole journey. I said this in interviews before, but um I remember like when I started making beats, it was because H to the Isle. Like, I love the song and the in the in the um, like the way they chopped the sample, like the uh Jackson 5 sample. I was like crazy about it. But one day I came to my cousin's house and she had the single. Okay. Like the, you know, the booklet and everything. I read it, and I remember we were saying Kane West. Like he wasn't even famous yet. We were saying Kane West. Like we were like, okay, so that's who made this beat. And then I remember watching his whole journey and everything. But I was loving the beats before I even knew who he was, even how to pronounce his name. So when the when it happened and it came to, okay, that's Kanye West, and watched his whole journey. Like, that's been I call myself Street Kanye.

SPEAKER_01 14:21

Honestly, like I I feel like the relationship that you have with your mentor that you said is kind of like no ID to Kanye West.

SPEAKER_04 14:29

Yeah, definitely.

SPEAKER_01 14:29

Um, and I think that it's great that someone mentored you, showed you the way, and then you're probably perfecting it and showing everyone, like, hey, this is what this sound is, and this is what this region is. Because very akin to Kanye West, um, you know, there were artists from the shy, but it was mainly, especially in that time, like people from the north, like New York or whatever. Shy Chicago wasn't really on the map like that.

SPEAKER_04 14:55

They were like more artists more than the scene. Like they had like a local thing going on, but like as far as household names and what not so much at the time.

SPEAKER_01 15:04

Do you feel like you're putting Tampa on the map?

SPEAKER_04 15:06

Yeah, I feel like it. I'm trying to, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:09

I have to say, like, from my point of view, I do feel like you are putting Tampa on the map, which is so late.

SPEAKER_04 15:14

For sure. That's the goal for real. That's been the goal the whole time, you know. Heard. Some type of way. Like, I've been working with the artists here. Like, damn near every song you hear that's playing in the club, like, that's a new, newer song, like that's that's not just the old school Tampa classes. Like, it's something I produce. And I don't say it to be cocky, it's like, no, no. I'm really trying to push that forward. Like, I'm really trying to push the whole genre, the sound, the culture forward. I really made an effort to do it.

SPEAKER_01 15:40

I think that um a lot of people are like sleep on Tampa. And I do think that um it gives you a sense of pride of like, yeah, like that's our shit. Like we, you know, before any of you guys knew about it. Um, and I feel like other places have that, but we we never have yeah, at least with music.

SPEAKER_04 15:56

Some people see it as that same thing as like a negative, but I see it as a positive. For that same reason what you said before previously. So, like, it's one thing if, like, say for instance, motion part, I could have produced a song for D Lo that didn't have that vibe. It would have been cool, but it wouldn't have been the same pride for the city when they hear it. Right. Like, for one, they they hear the tab, but then it's like, wait, this us, this our sound. Like, this is like our thing. Like, for one, that's even how the song even got going. Like, that's a whole nother story.

SPEAKER_01 16:24

But you know what's funny is, and I know I told you this, but I kept hearing it on TikTok and Instagram. I'm like scrolling. And you know, of course, it's catching my ear because it sounds like music from here, right? So I'm like, oh, this is a cool song. And I and I had that pride feeling, right? Because I know you too, on top of that, that's an added layer. But I'm like, I'm gonna go hear the actual song, I'm gonna put it on my Spotify. So I go and I'm like motion party. And I'm like hearing it, and I hear Jim Fey on the way. And I literally like screamed, you know. My husband and I were sitting, I was like, oh my god! And my husband goes, Are you okay? And I go, babe, this is my friend. This is my friend. I go, the song is cool. I go, This is my friend. Now I do have a question about the song. Why in the hell is a song so short?

SPEAKER_04 17:16

So you can replay it.

SPEAKER_01 17:17

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 17:18

That's why. But before we the touch on that, you know it's crazy, like this whole moment of everything happening, the billboard, I didn't cry. Like nothing got to me enough to like become emotional for real, except that like the people who like heard, like who who like you let me know that y'all heard the song and then when y'all heard the tag, it something clicked, like something felt something, that gets to me. Like, that's the only thing in this whole thing. Like I'm trying to I'm trying to chill right now. Right. But that that's that's the only thing in this whole situation that's like that ever, like, like I don't know, it does something. Like, I get that. It's I it and from now when I work, that's kind of the the motivation too. Like that play a big role in motivation. Like, they sending me, like, that may send me 30 artists. We need beats for everybody, but I'm like, okay, I'm gonna knock this out, I'm gonna make sure I do this great, because I don't know who's gonna hear what, and you know what I'm saying? Like, I want to make sure I'm doing a great job for when the people like you who know me hear it and is out in the world, like y'all continue to be proud of what I'm doing.

SPEAKER_01 18:22

No, absolutely. Like, I think having that as your like it's an inspiration, it's inspiring to other people who are aspiring to do the same thing coming out of this city and doing it and doing it in a positive way where you're like, hey, I'm spreading the sound, the regional sound to everyone. Um, you know, and also you're you're a great person. Like, I know you on a personal level, and you're a great person, you're a wholesome well, we're a great person.

SPEAKER_00 18:49

Like, let me not get carried away.

SPEAKER_01 18:52

No, no, you're an amazing human being. And so it's like, one, the city's behind you, and people who know you are behind you and saying, like, this person really deserves to win. Uh, two, if that person can win from here, right? So can I.

SPEAKER_04 19:05

That's that's like one of the like that's really the motivation. Cause like that's what I'm hearing too. That's like people even like what we're doing with this, the the interview, the podcast thing, it's like I've I've been letting people know, no, do what you like, follow your dreams. I've been like doing that, but now it's like people come to me like, oh, it is possible. Like, you can't can't happen. I seen what you were doing, I seen where you came from, like, I'm gonna do this and I'm gonna keep going. Yes, do it. Please do it. Like, bro, you never know.

SPEAKER_01 19:33

I actually like I resonate with that so deeply. Um, just because so not everywhere I go, but there are a lot of places that people will recognize my voice, you know, and they'll go, Oh my god, you're hardwaking softly, you're Melissa. And I'm like, Yeah, that's me. And I know that obviously we've known each other for a long period of time, but in my life, I had a lot of hardships. Um, you know, the whole, you know, multiple arrests. Um, I ended up homeless at some point. Um, you know, and then coming back from that, and nothing hits me harder, like than when people say, you know, I heard your story, and it kind of made me feel like if she can fix her life, I can do mine. So I think I resonate with that deep.

SPEAKER_04 20:18

It makes you want to keep going. Like I want to keep being the example that you can get through whatever you were going through. Because I went through the well, I don't know, the same thing, but I went, I was homeless. I been evicted a few times. Like, I really have had to start over and start over and start over and start from the bottom. Like, I remember after we graduated high school, a lot of people went to college. I was I had to go to the projects. I was I was sleeping on a mattress on the floor. Like, so if I could get through that and get to where I was trying to go this whole time, like, man, you can too, but you gotta stay on it. Stay on it, stay on it.

SPEAKER_01 20:49

No, for sure. So, question. Um, I heard in your song, the Molly Toonchi song.

SPEAKER_04 20:54

Is that a new song? Somewhat, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:57

Okay, so I like it.

SPEAKER_04 20:58

It's just not being released, but I it's been floating around the city for like.

SPEAKER_01 21:01

First of all, I love all the samples in it, because it's multi-layered with samples. You've got Lil Wayne.

SPEAKER_04 21:05

It's no, it it's it's it's um a James Brown sample, but it's a lot of songs that sample that song. Like even Um So Tample, like. Yes, that's what I like the root sample from even the Chubb Rock song and Treat Them Right, like they sample the James Brown. Okay, oh I went and got the sample of the sample, the root sample. And then, so it sounds like three different samples, but it's just one. But I also added um Priceless Scott. Ain't what you want, baby. Is what I'm gonna have to hear it again. Yeah, I added that from um I'm so temple.

SPEAKER_01 21:40

What was the so I hear a lot about um I hear a lot of like California type um references in it.

SPEAKER_04 21:48

Um is that like a place that you really like to travel to or Well no that when I recorded the song, I had just came back from LA. Okay. I love LA, so. Yeah. So that was uh Yeah, so I I don't know how many times I referred to it, but I know the one line, uh, Rodale Drive, burning bushes like it's biblical. No shad rack, me, shack, and a bendigo. Just me, L V, Stitks, and the Finny stove.

SPEAKER_01 22:11

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 22:11

That's just a cool way to say we smoke a weed before we walked in the city.

SPEAKER_01 22:14

I heard that. You went to Calabasas. So I get a shout out in the next newscase.

SPEAKER_04 22:18

No, Calabasas actually the song I produced for Rod Wave. Okay. Half a mil on Calabasas can't believe the numbers. Like we eligible. We should have a plaque of hair soon for that.

SPEAKER_01 22:29

Congratulations.

SPEAKER_04 22:30

Motion for the Eligible for Gold Status 2.

SPEAKER_01 22:32

Oh my god, it's so.

SPEAKER_04 22:34

By the time this comes out, it will be.

SPEAKER_01 22:35

So are you coming out with an album soon for yourself?

SPEAKER_04 22:37

Definitely. Uh Street Kanye.

SPEAKER_01 22:39

Street Kanye, okay. Street Kanye, that's uh Should we cut that out so nobody knows the name of it? No. No, okay.

SPEAKER_04 22:44

It's coming out very soon. Oh, it's already okay. It's done. It's done already. Oh my god, I'm so excited. Ready to get the posters and everything. But what I'm doing, I'm dropping uh three EPs. It'd be Street Kanye one, two, or three. I'm taking probably five to six songs on each one, and then the fourth, the actual Street Kanye album will have all of them together. Okay. So I want to like kind of It's a trilogy. Yeah, bring people alone. I don't want to just drop all of it on you at one time. No, for sure. Some people may not catch on to like the third tape, but by time I'm gonna go.

SPEAKER_01 23:12

No, but then they go back. And I think that that's a much better way to do it.

SPEAKER_04 23:17

Yeah. And I'm saying that because I know artists watch my interviews and they try to pick up little games, so that's that's something I want. I've been trying to tell artists, but this is the way I could tell more people at one time.

SPEAKER_01 23:26

Heard that.

SPEAKER_04 23:27

This little method. I learned that from Youngboy. I didn't I don't just make this up myself. I watched Youngboy do it at a time. And I'm like, oh, that makes a lot of sense.

SPEAKER_01 23:34

You know what's so funny is so I was telling Naj this. Um I have a hard time with keeping up with because I'm such a hip-hop head, right? So I do have a hard time with some of the newer stuff. But there is one song that I like by NBA Youngboy. There's one song that it is heavy in my rotation. Which one is this? Pistol packing. Oh wow.

SPEAKER_04 23:56

Out of all the Youngboy songs, pistol packing? Oh wow.

SPEAKER_01 23:59

I love that song.

SPEAKER_04 24:05

Pistol packing. I I couldn't even imagine you listening to the song.

SPEAKER_01 24:08

Listen, I get into my car. So my car is red, by the way, you guys. It's a red Volkswagen EOS. Her name is Ruby. And me and Ruby, in my mind, I'm on my way to interview someone for a podcast. I'm on my way to uh show someone a house or on my way to like whatever. And yeah, like I'm I'm a drug dealer rapper in my mind. Like, yeah, like we listening to, we listen, we listening to Jay-Z, we listen to Kanye produce music, we listen to the Neptunes in my car, we are listening to, we're listening to, I don't know, that FBA, yeah, pistol packing, you know, um Moneybag Yo, like, um, yeah, what are you listening to in your car?

SPEAKER_04 24:50

Uh what I'm listening to, I listen to a lot of Florida music, honestly. Um I listen to Trigger 500k, uh Will's Having, uh Lil Tyler.

SPEAKER_01 25:01

Oh, little, I know that one. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 25:06

Uh Bobby Fish scale, uh Big 290 from Tampa. I listened to him. I was just listening to Extra before I came in here. Uh he got a song with Polo Blees I really like. That I produce. I'm kind of biased. But um, yeah, that's mostly it.

SPEAKER_01 25:23

I have a huge favor to ask of you. Like, huge. I've never heard of any people for that you've just listed. Any of these people in my life. I'm gonna drop. Just share me, share some music.

SPEAKER_04 25:33

You know, because you big 290 first.

SPEAKER_01 25:35

Your big, you're like, your good sis is stuck in like 2017 musically.

SPEAKER_04 25:41

Gotcha. Um I mean, with some of this stuff, man. I went to Rolling Live recently. I was like, bro, I don't know none of these people. I knew the main people, I knew D Lou.

SPEAKER_01 25:54

Like, I'm with the band.

SPEAKER_04 25:55

Like, so question, right?

SPEAKER_01 25:58

So we already know, like, honestly, the trajectory you're on, it's very evident. Like, it's like a rocket ship just moving, right? Whether it comes to your production, whether it comes to your own projects as a rapper. Um, what is a project that you have in your mind that you're like, not is that it's out of left field, but like that you feel like you want to do like in the future? Like, what's a dream project you have?

SPEAKER_04 26:19

A dream project? Uh a collab project with Kanye. That'll probably be a dream project. But a dream, like uh a project I got hands on right now that I would love to come out the best way possible besides uh street Kanye. I'm working on a compilation called Scroll or Dice. You know, scroll music is the the genre, but um it's a compilation, but the so many moving parts with the different artists, it's like it's it's hard to do. I have a question. I've been working on it for a while, but I I really would like that to come out on 813. What is scrolling music? Scroll music. Scroll music is what we name the music here in Tampa. Like the that's what we're doing now. It ain't joke music, it's not Trigger City, is scroll music. I got the name from Tom G's mixtape series.

SPEAKER_01 27:06

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 27:06

He had scroll music one through like 35. I don't know where he's at now. Okay. But he had a perfect balance of the club music, the real music, and like like stuff you could dance to, like, you know, it was like a balance of it. So that's the formula we own, so why not name it after? Scroll music.

SPEAKER_01 27:23

Okay. No, it's lit. It's lit. This year I curated my first event uh called the Intersection. Did you see it? I did not. You did not. I did not. Okay, so Truist Bank was a sponsor for uh this event, and uh we had the CDC of Tampa uh be a sponsor as well. And it's like panel focused, and we talk about entrepreneurs, but not just entrepreneurs, we talk about the creative entrepreneurs as well, because I go to a lot of entrepreneur events, and I feel like they're very, they're very stuffy sometimes, and I feel like as a creative as well, like maybe I don't fully fit, and especially as a multi-hyphenate, right? That's the whole thing. It's like I do more than one thing. So when people are like, oh well, what do you do? I'm like, well, I I have a podcast, I got this, I got that, I I sell houses, you know, whatever. Um, and it's very puzzling to people. So I do have an ask. Like, I'm doing one, I'm doing two in 2027. One here in Tampa, and then I'm also taking it to Atlanta.

SPEAKER_05 28:25

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 28:25

Um, I'd love to have more Tampa elements in this thing. Okay. So I'm down. I'd love to have you be part of it in some capacity. And so obviously, I'm doing this on camera. I'm down with it.

SPEAKER_04 28:38

I'm down, I'm down. You got my word, I'm down. I got you.

SPEAKER_00 28:42

Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_04 28:44

Um just let me know ahead of time so I can block whatever I was making shine and got down.

SPEAKER_01 28:48

Oh, you know me. I'm gonna tell you ahead of time.

SPEAKER_04 28:50

Yeah, I know you. You're gonna make sure. Time date, be there, time.

SPEAKER_01 28:55

Because I'm a psychopath. When I came out with the first one, I was asking people in October. I was like, hey, what are you doing in March? And they're like, whoa. I don't know. Everyone was like, can you wait till the new? No, no, no, like I need to, I gotta know. What do you think about it?

SPEAKER_04 29:10

2027. Uh yeah, I mean, uh, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:15

I'm dad.

SPEAKER_04 29:16

Yeah, I'm there.

SPEAKER_01 29:18

So did you ever think like 15, 20 years ago, that you'd be in the position you're in right now?

SPEAKER_04 29:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:26

You did.

SPEAKER_04 29:28

That was the goal. I mean, I didn't think it would look the way it would happen the way it did or look the way it does, but yeah. In some capacity, I knew I'd be producing for a living. And yeah, I knew I would be producing for a living. Uh outside of that, I thought it would be another way. I thought it would be probably living somewhere else or doing something else. I don't know what I thought, but I knew I would I would be making a living making beats.

SPEAKER_01 29:54

And I think right here I'm probably gonna like start closing out because and we're gonna come back to the studio, right? Correct. And we are gonna make a beat. You're gonna show me how to make a beat. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 30:03

I had the beat in mind already to make. Did you? Yes, I have the beat. No.

SPEAKER_01 30:08

So I am super excited because I'm in Fanatical Studios about to make a beat or learn how to make a beat with the greatest Mr. Jippy on the way. What's going on?

SPEAKER_04 30:16

What's happening? What's happening? I mean, we got everything pulled up. Uh, we can go right into it and see if she can keep up.

SPEAKER_01 30:22

I'm screaming internally. I'm super amped for this. Like, I've never been, so we know that I used to sing before, but I've never been behind the beats. What is this that we're using? Okay.

SPEAKER_04 30:36

Uh and this is what a lot of people use to make beats nowadays, like virtually, I guess. Back in the days, it was like the drum machine, the NPCs, the hands-on, but a lot of nowadays this is what we use.

SPEAKER_01 30:48

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 30:49

I still go back and forth with the drum machines, but I was super excited to get on my Kanye and like boom boom boom. You still can, kinda, but you'll see, you'll see.

SPEAKER_01 31:00

So, what kind of beat are we thinking about doing?

SPEAKER_04 31:03

Um, probably gonna sample some.

SPEAKER_01 31:05

We're gonna sample some. I love samples. I'm a sample fanatic, okay.

SPEAKER_04 31:09

Well, let's let's let's find something.

SPEAKER_01 31:11

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 31:15

I'm living for the trumpets. Okay. Okay, this is very funky. Who is Billy Cobbler?

SPEAKER_03 31:29

I have no idea.

SPEAKER_04 31:29

Okay, but it was a song I used to like by um Memphis Bleak and Joe Button, and a lot of people on the song, but it was uh Is it Pump It Up? No, it was produced by Clinton Sparks. Okay. It's called Rock Cafe. And what I'll do a lot of times, like it's like that song was like a it wasn't a hit. Okay. It was just like a mixtape cut that I love. So now what I do, now that I have the chance to work with like bigger artists like Adilo and you know, people, young boy, who could put songs to the masses. Right. I like to take some of the elements from those slopes that I love and throw them back out there. Okay. Give it a chance to.

SPEAKER_01 32:06

Yeah, no, it's recycled. It's it's recycled goodness.

SPEAKER_04 32:09

So it's for a reason. It'd be a method to the madness sometimes. Because some people connect with it, like, oh, I remember that. And other ones will be like, oh, that's just dope.

SPEAKER_01 32:16

I also feel like it brings the new generation to like stuff that may have been forgotten that's sweet.

SPEAKER_04 32:21

And then I don't try to hide where I got it from. Like I say the inspiration so you they could go back and listen to the song I was inspired by.

SPEAKER_01 32:27

So that song, was this the original sample for that song?

SPEAKER_04 32:30

This was the original sample for the song. So now I'm gonna go back in and see her shoulder. Building up pretty much the hook. Like this will be the hook part. So I build up everything and we'll go into the verse, but this amount of space, I'm doing it in double time. So it'll be eight bars. So 16 bars right now, hooks are usually eight bars.

SPEAKER_01 33:09

Okay. So are we doing just like a like a hook or are we doing or like a whole solid?

SPEAKER_04 33:17

What are we doing? No, we're doing I'm building, I start with the hook. Okay. The hook first. That's usually what has the most sounds and the most instruments and stuff. Okay. And then you'll drop stuff out when the birds fall.

SPEAKER_01 33:27

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 33:28

Percussion just to get the the bounce kind of going.

SPEAKER_01 33:32

Okay. Distorted. Yeah. Dumanji. Oh, this thing. That's that new thing, that distortion thing.

SPEAKER_02 33:39

Mm-hmm. Well, it's not so new. Well, for me, it's new.

SPEAKER_01 33:43

For me, it's new. So this is what people would be doing on one of those beat pad machines, right? Okay.

SPEAKER_03 33:55

Yep, very much. Right. Clothes I hat.

SPEAKER_01 34:03

Okay. So what is clothes my hat? When you hear a new beat, right? Like from a rap song or anything, can you break it apart in your mind a little bit? Okay, so you hear it more in segments.

SPEAKER_04 34:17

Yeah, I hear it, yeah. I break the beat down completely. I don't know how to listen to music without doing it. I wish I could.

SPEAKER_01 34:22

That makes sense.

SPEAKER_04 34:23

It's been like that since I was like 11.

SPEAKER_01 34:25

Heard.

SPEAKER_04 34:25

Pump it up was the first song I did that way. That's weird you mentioned that earlier.

SPEAKER_01 34:29

Yeah, I love it. Well, I think that that one's such an intricate one, too.

SPEAKER_04 34:32

Yeah. Just Blaze did his thing.

SPEAKER_01 34:35

Yes, just Blaze.

SPEAKER_04 34:37

I remember being like at the rec center or something, and I would listen to it on headphones like, okay, that's the sin, that's the drum, that's the snare. Oh shit. Like, yeah, I remember the day it happened. All right, here we got the gangster 808 powder.

SPEAKER_01 35:03

Now we're just placing those. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 35:07

Place them at the right place though. And that's pretty much what that thing was showing me.

SPEAKER_01 35:36

As a Hispanic person, right, like we hear the cowbell and salas, so I need it in my hip hop, too.

SPEAKER_03 37:58

That's my zone. Let him know if I'm having a ball.

SPEAKER_04 38:14

So if the birds are coming in, I probably would be somewhere.

SPEAKER_05 38:18

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_04 38:20

Just to let them know it's something.

SPEAKER_01 38:26

Oh, I see. And that is an indicator for a rapper for whomever's gonna just come in.

SPEAKER_03 38:36

Now do it at the end of the verse also.

SPEAKER_04 38:43

And that's a trick to not like, because a lot of times people do like this. Hold on.

SPEAKER_00 38:52

Hey.

SPEAKER_03 39:01

They'll drop the drums out for the verse. And then let them got it.

SPEAKER_01 39:05

Oh, it like that.

SPEAKER_03 39:06

It's cool, but hello.

SPEAKER_04 39:10

On some songs, you'll want the the vibe to just keep going instead of. But yeah, it's easy. It did sound good though.

SPEAKER_01 39:28

I like um, I always call it like an a cappella, right? Because that's when you just hear the person's voice. Yeah. I liked, I thought I liked that better until you showed me the other one.

SPEAKER_04 39:38

But what I'll do sometimes if that happens, because I test it out how I just did to see what sounds better. And if I just do one for the first burst, then the second burst would be different.

SPEAKER_01 39:46

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 39:47

I do, but I do do that. Like useful, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. This is what you get.

unknown 40:02

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 40:05

That's pretty much it. That's the bee. That's the bee.

SPEAKER_01 40:08

Okay, we gotta name it.

SPEAKER_03 40:10

Um it's actually very fitting.

SPEAKER_01 40:36

I won't lie. It's actually very you know what? Can I use this? I have it.

SPEAKER_02 40:41

I'm gonna ask it to you right now.

SPEAKER_01 40:42

Really?

SPEAKER_02 40:43

Airdrop it to you right now.

SPEAKER_01 40:45

I'm screaming. You know, I should use this as an intro for my broadcast.

SPEAKER_03 40:49

You can.

SPEAKER_01 40:50

I can. Now I gotta jit it on the wave B. You do that?

SPEAKER_03 40:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 41:01

See, but I it may show up somewhere else, but you can use it. It's okay. You can continue to use it. As long as you don't cut.

SPEAKER_01 41:06

Okay, it's on camera. It's on camera.

SPEAKER_03 41:09

She's good. She can use this.

SPEAKER_01 41:17

Hey. Oh, it's so lit, and it's so cool because you just made it. It's a very it's it's Tampa.

SPEAKER_04 41:24

It's Tampa.

SPEAKER_01 41:25

You know.

SPEAKER_04 41:26

Very Tampa ish.

SPEAKER_01 41:27

You know.

SPEAKER_04 41:30

And this is how I added that beat. Oh, yeah, I know.

SPEAKER_00 41:53

Oh that's definitely Benjamin. That is hilarious. Benjamin. Shout out to Benjamin.

SPEAKER_04 42:02

But what I do is I um a lot of times pitch it up so you can't even tell who it is, but Yes!

SPEAKER_01 42:11

Oh my gosh. There we go. This is so lit. Now we got our own D. We might be sharing it around.

SPEAKER_04 42:20

Um I mean, that would only help you, honestly.

SPEAKER_01 42:23

No, I love that.

SPEAKER_04 42:25

Especially when they go back episode that wait, she been here? The Drake beat?

unknown 42:28

What?

SPEAKER_04 42:29

How did she get the Drake B?

SPEAKER_01 42:33

The Drake B.

SPEAKER_04 42:35

I'm throwing it out.

SPEAKER_01 42:36

No, no, yeah, we're gonna we're gonna manifest that. Have you heard the new um The Drake album? Yes.

SPEAKER_04 42:41

Uh one 304.

SPEAKER_01 42:44

So I was determined to not listen to it at all.

SPEAKER_02 42:48

Really?

SPEAKER_01 42:49

Yes. But Di Erica, um, we met, she was listening to that shebang song. And it's been in my mind rent-free now since I heard. It's three albums, so it's like it's Oh, no people found what I'm here.

SPEAKER_04 43:03

It didn't go.

SPEAKER_01 43:04

Oh, there it is.

SPEAKER_04 43:06

Make sure you save it now.

SPEAKER_01 43:07

Okay, okay, okay.

SPEAKER_04 43:08

That's the thing. A lot of artists come back, hey, the beat you said is not on my phone.

SPEAKER_01 43:12

Uh save to files, saved. You guys watched it here on Hardwave Soft Life, J Ma on the way. Boom, boom. Made me a beat, showed me how to make a beat. I don't think I could ever replicate this process without by myself because although I may have like kind of an ear, this is crazy.

SPEAKER_04 43:33

Like, if you just whenever I was playing instruments and going all into it, it would have been a little more crazy.

SPEAKER_01 43:40

How many beats if you're like sitting and doing it in a day? Like, how many beats would you do in a day?

SPEAKER_04 43:44

Man, it's been sometimes. I sat in sat on the same beat all day, and then sometimes I made 10 in one day. I done made the most I made probably 10 in one day. 10? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 43:52

That's craziness, man. Oh my god, no, thank you so much. This is so lit. Um, I really appreciate everybody. Yes. Give me five. I mean, I have five. Okay. Well, you guys, oh, so now we have a new intro to Hard Wake Self Life. Can't wait to put it on this episode and all the episodes to follow. Um, very Tampa, very fitting. It's called Hard Wake Self Life. Thank you, Mr. Jit Fay, for your time.

SPEAKER_05 44:18

No problem.

SPEAKER_01 44:18

You have an awesome rest of your day.

SPEAKER_00 44:20

You too.

SPEAKER_01 44:20

Y'all take care.