Upcoming Artists: JproD

Intro/Analysis: JproD (pronounced Jeopardy), is an upcoming East Coast rapper. I must say that u[on listening to his music to write this post, I became slightly addicted. His style and maneuvers of music are just very unique. His voice is somewhat mid-pitched and has a monotonous ring, but it somehow keeps me extremely interested and it's one of my favorite things about him. His flow is relaxed and up tempo, I like it when rappers can mix things up whether than doing the 'either or' all the time. While all of that is dope, the icing on the cake however is his beat selection. Words can not explain how dope the sample was on 'Trill Shit, I Really Mean That.' Like ahh fuck,sampling Imogen Heap can make almost any beat dope, but the way the sample was flipped was godly. Notice I said the sample was flipped, instead of the the typical grab 4 bars of the intro and loop it. If he keeps picking beats such as this one his album will be more than a problem. I consider myself a fan, because he can actually rap. He's not just a nice flow with nice beats, you can tell he puts his time into writing and he's spitting on a personal level. That's always nice to hear in this age of trap music and club bangers.

Overall: He's not just a one trick pony luckily. His lyrics and beat selection are constant with several songs one that particularly stands out is 'A Million Feelings.' As I mentioned above, you can tell that he really loves his raps and he writes them on a personal level. All in all, you can either say he's a rapper of a dying breed, or a spawn of a new generation that is soon to take over. Either way, he's dope and he turned me into a fan. I was lucky enough to get an interview with him, which will be posted below. I'll also post the link to his sound cloud for you to check out. - L$G

https://soundcloud.com/jprod-2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2AI0CQMDto&feature=autoshare

1. Tell everyone who you are and what you do.

If you know me, you can call me Jordan Dias. If you are a fan of art then you can call me JproD (Jeopardy). Jep Roadie if you're a groupie. A 22 year young kid with enormous aspirations. Completely get caught up in music. I simply take what I see, hear, feel, and describe those experiences on carefully selected beats. Beat selection is a huge part of my music making process. I am often misunderstood. I am always giving advice, hardly ever taking it. My desire to win a grammy is what usually gets me up in the morning. Without my ability to create music, I really am not sure what the f*ck I would be doing honestly. Extremely passionate. Don't tell me I can't because while you are in the middle of doing that, chances are I just figured out how to do it. Holla. If it isn't that #TrifeLife then what is it? 

2. On your song ‘Trill Shit, I Really Mean That’ I heard an Imogen Heap sample, are you a fan of hers? Or are you strictly a rap fan?

I cannot say I am a huge fan of hers. I began listening to some of her music shortly after hearing the sample. I am a fan of ANY type of music. Anything that pleases my ear, I will listen to. I dont see genre. Music is simply just music to me. All music has similar messages. If people would pay attention more, they would realize that. Rap is pretty much what I am best at currently. My biggest dream is to win a grammy in every genre possible, so I can show people how stupid it is to put boundaries on art. 

3. On the song mentioned above, you said you used to feel your father was ashamed of you. Would you be willing to go a little more in depth about that?

He is way more traditional. He is way more by the books. I am a complete free spirit. I do what I want, when I want. Not to say that I am out running wild but I do things based on my happiness. He wanted me to go to college and do what he thought was the way to live. School was never for me. He is just incapable of taking my music seriously and supporting it fully. You know how it goes, "Go for it but make sure you have a back up plan!". F*ck a back up plan. This is what I do. This is what I will be doing. I could write a book about this topic.

4. Who are your influences as far as music goes?

Jeez, I never really know how to answer this question. I am influenced by anything that I hear that is real. Anything that makes me feel a certain way. All different genres, all different artists. To name a few... The Fugees, Tupac, Fiona Apple, Hootie and the Blowfish, The Fray, Linkin Park, Gorillaz, Jay-z, Kanye, Donell Jones. That could be the weirdest list of music artists ever assembled. Just a short list of random artists that came to my head. Oh, and Jodeci. 

5. Do you have any artistic interests outside of music?

For sure. Just looking outside, I can see art. I'm not a fan of reading but I am fan of great stories. I am starting to get into paintings. Going to start to dive into the wall art culture. Sculptures are dope. Cool architechture catches my eye. I love photography. I like to take pics. Not that great but I am learning by doing. Anything art related is fine by me but music is the only form of art that I would say I can excel in.

6. What are your 3 favorite TV shows and movies of all time.

Oh sh*t, never been asked this question before. Top 3 tv shows are Hey Arnold, The Famous Jett Jackson, Fresh Prince. Top 3 Movies are Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Perks of Being a Wallflower, Juice. Hard question.

7. In your email you mentioned that ‘Trill Shit’ and ‘A Million Feelings’ were singles off an upcoming project. Could you tell us a bit more about that project?

The project is called "Regal". Realizing Every Girl Aint Loyal. Realizing Every Gun Aint Licensed. The project is hosted by JoJo Simmons. It is going to be dope. Dropping it soon. Been working on it for a while. Hoping to catch a decent buzz off of it. It is a collection of feelings and thoughts from the last year of my life. Saw it all this last year. 

8. Is there a twitter or any other social networks in which fans can reach you?

Follow me on twitter @IamJproD. 

9. Well thank you for the interview, anything else you would like to say before you go?

I would like to say thank you for interviewing me. Means a lot considering that I ain't sh*t ha. Look out for Regal dropping soon. Life is what you make it. Make it dope. JproDintheRegal.com for all upcoming info. Thank you again.

Bands To Watch: Retro Lake

Sadly, most teens that make music (especially if they're in a band) could be categorized as hipsters. It's an absolute fact that every hipster was a scene kid in their past life. So their music reflects that, it has mad post screamo elements and other disgusting shit that makes it unlistenable. But Retro Lake is a breath of fresh air, well I can't say that. While the type of music they do has been done to death they do it extremely well. I can honestly say that I enjoy it. They take indie music similar to the style of MGMT, Empire of The Sun, etc... and make it slightly more rock and roll. They swap out the electronic elements and synths with typical rock instruments. The lead singers voice is very nice, it has the high-pitched, smooth, somewhat creepy tone that is generally used in this type of music. 

Overall Opinion: While they're not doing anything groundbreaking, they're a legitimately good band. Something I do notice that they're doing different than every one else is their guitar effects. To make up for the lack of synths they flood the guitar with effects to make it sound like one. Which is a very beautiful concept, and it gives off an even more beautiful sound.

https://soundcloud.com/retro-lake

Favorite Song: I'm stuck between Caramel Girl and Goliath. Caramel Girl is a cool song because it has those indie elements that I absolutely love, then the touch of originality with the guitars. The vocals on this song are amazing, there's a lot of background elements that makes me want to listen to the song several times to hear them all.

 

Goliath is a great one because I'm a sucker for things that aren't mixed in the norm. It sounds as if the vocals are mixed in the same track as the beat whether than seperately. The result is a pretty sounding very full outer space-like sound.

To make a long story short, check this band out, since discovering them I am a regular listener.

Wan2Times x LeftHand of Bu$h League - Nappyhead Pain

Supposedly Bu$h League has 94 members, but just two of those released a music video. The title of the song is 'Nappyhead Pain' and I noticed, the video has an extremely prominent 90s vibe. You get the feel of 90s New York movies watching the video and sounds of 90s Bronx music listening to the song. There's an excerpt in the middle of the video where they were supposed to buy some dope but shorted the Hispanics and in true 90s fashion, they had to flee in their Jordans. This is definitely something that I enjoy seeing, it's a nice break from all of the GBE wanna be's. I give the video and the song a thumbs up, if you want to flashback to the 90s for 6:52 seconds, I recommend you watch this and turn the volume on your headphones all the way up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E93kPZI7yKw&feature=youtu.be&a

New Material from The ELC: Vibe $ession

The ELC has many people with many functions, the beautiful thing about them is that they are all completely different people musically. DXN is the head producer of the ELC, formerly known as Fre$h Boi Dee, he used to make typical trap beats. This album shows you his development in a relatively short amount of time. You can hear his growth from some of our early tracks. Like our first song ever made 'Band Talk' was a Fre$h Boi Dee beat that sounded like everything else put out by random FL basement producers in ghettos across America. But you could slowly hear the shift in his style in songs such as 'All I Know' while it was still somewhat a typical beat per say, you could see him experimenting with different things. He used an arpeggiator, his drum pattern wasn't what you would call regular, he used several synths and just un ordinary sounds in general. But the real change came when Lavo's Core and Oracle of Seasons EP was released. Then you could see him coming to his own as a producer. He produced Lavo's Core by himself and you could hear the Raider inspired 90s darkness reminiscent of Three Six Mafia and somewhat Esham. Oracles of Seasons was produced in part with me, but he did most of the work. All I took care of was the sampling and melodies. You could hear the different mixing of his drums and how he tried to create an atmosphere with his beats. That's what he accomplished in Vibe $ession. I can honestly say that this album sounds like nothing I have ever heard and that's the goal of the ELC. To create things better and different from everyone else. Riddled with arpeggiators, off the wall synths, irregular strange drum patterns, and extended outros. This is something that is very hard to put into words, the sounds somewhat engulf you and something that's nice is the mixing on the tracks. Often times producers don't bother with mixing, so the levels of components will be all over the place and the beat will end up sound cluttered. But DXN did beautifully with the mixing on this, all of the sounds blend together harmoniously and you get the feeling that they were all some what tailor made for each other. I would recommend this album for anyone who's trying to stray away from the normal side of producing, this is something that could evolve into a whole different genre. The way the grimy chords exploded on the intro of the title track was mind blowing. The when it faded into the candy sweet almost video gamish sound of a soft chime and built up into screams of an electronic trap lot army with a beautiful synth over lapping it. Was absolutely perfect, this is reminiscent of the whole album, it nicely builds up in structure whether than just putting together a bunch of pieces that sound nice in a row. You can tell that DXN sits down and takes his time to

Make actual songs which is nice to see in today's age of 30 minute producers. He shed the pseudonym Don Beats because apparently someone already had it. He changed it simply to 'DXN' and with his name change comes a change in his style. I think that with this album, a new era is forming. The era of originality and the rise of actual producers not just beat makers. The link will posted below.

http://soundcloud.com/theeastlandcollective/sets/vibe-ession/s-JfYSL