By Ajay Rose
Da Beatfreakz are helping to turn the tables in favour of producers
Rap music in 2020 is heavily driven by the quality of the instrumental in place. Lyricism has taken a backseat in favour of hard-hitting beats, but those responsible for making the instrumentals don’t always get their flowers.
We’re way past the point where listeners spend time reading album credits tucked inside a CD case, as they would’ve 15 years ago. Unless a producer tells you they made the beat, a lot of people probably wouldn’t know. Consisting of brothers U1 and 01, Da Beatfreakz have been in the game for over a decade and continue to stack up an ever-growing catalogue of hits, which you will recognise from their ‘Beatfreakz’ sound tag at the start of every track they produce.
Their first major placement came in the form of ‘Secrets’ from N Dubz’ double-platinum selling album Uncle B, back in 2008. Da Beatfreakz have since honed their craft in various cities around the world, which includes a four-year stint working in St Louis, Missouri. Here they teamed up with producers, who at the time, were responsible for what are now considered iconic singles, such as Cool & Dre, who made ‘Hate It Or Love It’, ‘My Life’ and ‘New York’, as well as production group Trackstarz. Those earlier days spent working with other production giants have helped shape Da Beatfreakz’ own blueprint, which is coming to fruition many years later.
They have now established themselves as producers who don’t just produce for others but also release their own music too. With collaborations with Giggs, Skepta, Chip, D Block Europe, Krept & Konan, Sneakbo, Young T & Bugsey, Cadet, Swarmz, Nadia Rose, Mr Eazi, Shakka, Amelia Monet and Deno, to name a few, under their belt, U1 and O1 continue to grow and don’t plan to stop there.
Culture Mag caught up with Da Beatfreakz to discuss their musical background, how to brand yourself as a producer and plans to drop a debut project later this year.
When did you first start making music?
We first started rapping around 15 years ago when we were in secondary school. We were rapping first, MC’ing, then I remember one day I had detention at school. All my friends had left and my dad came late to pick me up. And the only thing open was the music room and I saw some boys making some beats. That was the only place I could be at the time until my dad could pick me up. Then some other boys in the music room taught me how to use Logic and then I produced my first beat, burned it onto a CD, brought it to my brother and he listened to it and was like ‘yo, this is hard’. And at that time, we couldn’t afford to buy beats. So from then, we started to invest in our own studio equipment but was this was a long time ago.
How did you manage to get a track on N Dubz’ double-platinum ‘Uncle B’ album early on in your career back in 2008?
Organically. We were just making beats in our bedroom, then one of our friends had a link to somebody from their camp, to Uncle B, Dappy’s dad. So they gave us a number and we started contacting them and sending them over tracks. Then Uncle B went down to pick one of the beats and meet us and we just clicked straight away. Then we made the song ‘Secrets’. And we’ve always worked with them ever since, then many years later, obviously we did a song with Dappy on ‘Motorola’. So we kept that relationship going for years and years. From teenagers to grown men. And we got a lot more music coming with Dappy, too.
You were approached by Cool & Dre to work in America. How did your time in St Louis shape your musical abilities?
When we got signed in St Louis, that was with Trackstarz, who are from St Louis. Cool and Dre are from Miami. It’s all from the MySpace days. We were sending messages to them and we never expected them to reply back. Then Cool & Dre replied back, listened to our MySpace music and flew us over. Then the exact same thing happened with Trackstarz. We were just on MySpace 24/7 contacting different people to listen to our music, and obviously it worked. And he flew us over there and we spent four years over there working back to back. We understood that the work ethic they have in America was on a whole other level from what it was over here, especially back in those days. We learned how they treat the business side of things and the level of music you need to make.
What makes an instrumental, a Beatfreakz instrumental?
That’s a good question. I think it’s a number of things. Definitely the base, we have a distinctive bass sound that everyone loves. All of our tracks are nitty-gritty, drum-driven kind of sounds. It’s about the groove and the base, that’s what makes a distinctive Beatfreakz hit. We’re very hands-on. A lot of producers are not that hands-on, but we like to be hands-on with the music we make and help the artists as much as we can to build great songs that can hopefully last for a long time. Because we’re all out here, in the studio, working together.
How important do you think your ‘Beatfreakz’ sound tag which plays at the start of songs is in helping your sound spread?
For us man it’s very important, because that’s the only way we can brand ourselves and that’s the only way people will know us as producers. When music is released to Apple Music or Spotify, no one is really taking that time to check out a song’s credits. I think Spotify just added credits, but Apple Music doesn’t have that. So the only way for a producer in this day and age to brand themselves is by putting that tag on the track. That’s one of the most important things.
‘Motorola’ was your first top 40 single. Did you know the track would go on to have the success it did?
We were just in the studio vibing with Swarmz and Deno. Then they started to work on a hook together, then they laid their verses down, then we were thinking ‘yo who could we could it get on this to finish the track?’ Then we said ‘Dappy would be perfect’, so we called him down and it was perfect timing. He came down and dropped his verse then the rest was history. Then we put a preview of it on socials and everyone went crazy for it and we knew had a hit there. And by God’s grace, it worked.
‘Pumpy’ with the Rated Legend that is Cadet was another big release. I feel like that single helped showcase another side to Cadet, who at that point was known mainly for his storytelling and deeper-hitting raps…
That was the actual aim for that song. When we started working with Cadet, may he rest in peace, and the other artists, we knew that this had to be a song that allowed us to a show a different side to everybody. Swarmz had done ‘Lyca’, Deno had a couple of big songs like ‘London’ and Cadet only had deeper songs out at this point. So ‘Pumpy’ showed a different side to everybody on this song. Cadet came and he shined on it for sure.
‘Self Obsessed’ has done very well online, debuting at #26 in the charts. How did this track come together?
It’s a mad story how it all came together. We started off with Headie One on the track. We called him down a for a session, played him a few beats and this one [Self Obsessed] was the first beat he jumped on in the whole session. We ended up doing six tracks, then we called Young Adz and LB down to the studio. At that period of time, we had started to work closely with each other to basically come to the studio every day. We played him the records and said ‘yo bro, we want you on this one’. He [Adz] works quick. He heard Headie One’s verse then he was like ‘okay, cool’, then he jumped in the booth and started humming the chorus. Then within five to ten minutes, that whole chorus was done. Then LB walked in and we told him this could be our potential next single, then he said he wants to get on this, then he laid his verse and Adz laid his verse. Then the next time we were with D Block Europe, Krept and Konan called us and we told him we had a track he might want to jump on. Then we sent to him on WhatsApp and he was like ‘yo this is crazy’. Then he came down that same day. That same day Krept and Konan came down to record ‘Self Obsessed’, we also created ‘Tell Me’ in that exact same session, which went on to do very well too. Top 20 song. Then we finished this song and ‘Thoughts’ from D Block Europe’s mixtape PTSD. Krept and Konan took ‘Tell Me’ for their single, D Block took ‘Thoughts’ and we had this one for us. Then during that whole period of time, sadly, a track got leaked…
Which track got leaked?
‘Self Obsessed’, but the version with Headie One. This was around four or five months ago. Everyone was going crazy for it. Then we were like ‘okay what do we do?’. We still believed in it but we said had to switch it up. When it got leaked, it felt like we had to switch it up a little bit, but we got some big things coming in the future with Headie, by God’s grace. Then we got Deno on it and by God’s grace, it’s our highest charting single so far, even though it got leaked five months ago. In the first week, it charted at #26 and it’s in the top 40 again this week. It’s mad.
You’ve worked closely with Deno on multiple releases. Talk about the importance of producers building chemistry with artists in order to create good music
We always try to build real friendships with the artists we work with. We’re at a place now where we’re blessed to be in a position to dictate who we want to work with. We don’t just want to work with any old person for quick money or whatever. We want to work with people long-term and find artists who we can build a sound. So we first saw Deno when he was like 14 on the internet and we reached out to him and was like ‘yo, this guy is talented but he just needs a hit song’. And that’s when we made ‘London’, in the first session we did with AJ and Deno. And that song has got around 40 million streams or something. Then we built off that and built a relationship with Deno, and with AJ. It’s the same thing with D Block. We built a relationship with them where we can keep on working with them for years to come because we have that actual friendship. When we make a beat, we know straight away, ‘let’s keep this for D Block or let’s keep this for Deno, or this beat could be for Swarmz’, because he’s part of our team too. We want to work with people we can build with a long-term, who are not just here for short-term gains.
You signed a record deal with Columbia. What made you want to sign with this label instead of remaining independent?
We were independent for quite a few of our records before that, like ‘More Money’, ‘Quavo’ and ‘Left Right’ (C Biz x Young T Bugsey). When we released ‘Pumpy’, the first day views were crazy and every label hit us up. It was at a period of time where AJ and Deno we’re over there and Amelia Monet was over at Columbia too. And for us, I think it just made sense, and everything we’ve released with them has done really well. Every record has got bigger and bigger, got better in the charts, more and more streams. And it’s easy for us too because myself and my brother are entrepreneurs. We are very hands-on with everything that we do. So it’s good to find an actual partner like Columbia, who let us be in charge of our own ship.
Can we expect an album or project coming soon?
We’ve got the whole thing now laid out. Our aim is to take over this whole game. Bigger records, bigger features. It’s gonna be mad. We’re excited. We’re aiming to drop something before the end of the year, but there will be a few more big singles coming. And no more leaking!
You opened up your own barbershop – DBF Cuts – talk about why you wanted to launch this venture
We’ve always wanted to do it since we’ve been kids, to be honest. In our community, Charlton/Woolwich sides, we’ve never had one in our community, so we knew it would be a great opportunity business-wise but also a great chance to give back. We’re doing courses there for young people where people can learn barbering and business management, for free. We pay for it.
What’s the difference between a beat-maker and a producer?
A beat-maker is somebody who creates a beat at home and emails it to somebody or even goes to the studio to play beats and you just let the artist do the their thing, you have no input whatsoever. But a producer is somebody who’s involved in the creation of a track at all levels, helping with the lyrics, helping with the direction, bringing out the best of an artist, somebody that’s very hands-on every step of the way. That’s what a producer is.
Growing up, for me, lyricism was a big part of rap/hip hop. Now it’s more about the instrumentals, do you think producers are credited enough for this?
Not yet. I think it will get there, hopefully. It’s picking up because now we’re able to do our own projects, our own albums, mixtapes. When there’s more Murda Beatz and DJ Mustard and Steel Banglez and hopefully us, it will just open more doors for producers to give us more credit. But it will take time, hopefully with our help and other producers help, it will be the new thing.
Got any tips for musicians and producers currently in self-isolation because of the coronavirus crisis?
Just keep working! If you’re smart, use this as a time to try and connect with artists because they’re all at home sitting down. Back in the day, I noticed the times when we would hit up artists would be Christmas breaks and stuff like that, because everyone is at home. Everywhere in the world, wherever you may be, everyone is at home. When it comes to Christmas, everyone is at home and using social media more. So utilise this time to connect with people online, and you never know what could happen.
Stay up to date with the Da Beatfreaks :
Insta: @dabeatfreakz1
Twitter: @dabeatfreakz