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Home | Arts | Music

There's No Magic Pill To Make Your Own Beats

By: Mello Melanin

In this Hiphop "Matrix" there is no shortcut to being successful. In other words, Neo, there is no blue pill! There is nothing magical about making your own beats. There is nothing magical about being successful.

However there is a formula for luck and here it is:

Luck = Opportunity + Preparation

Let's break that down really quick. You've heard of people being in the right place at the right time. We'll they were lucky. An opportunity presented itself and they were prepared when it happened. No magic necessary.

So the question is how can you be prepared when an opportunity presents itself?

I like to relate my lessons by using my own experiences so here is a perfect example of how I was lucky. At my church, our youth ministry was working on events for planning their youth week. The director of the youth ministry was a friend of mine by the name of Server. Server had seen my group Prophetix perform several times before and he and several other people asked me if we would perform during youth week. I was a bit hesitant at first but I eventually said yes.

About a week later, I was told that KRS-ONE would be performing for our youth week as well. I thought that would be cool because I knew we would be opening up for him. Well, the show went better than I expected and KRS was very impressed with our show. I knew he was giving a lecture to the kids the following day so I went to it because I had heard him speak many times before. He did a History of Hiphop speech that was great!

Later that day, the church had a fish fry and all the kids took pictures with KRS. As we were leaving, I got a "gut feeling" that I should ask him for a contact number. I followed my instinct and asked. He gave me his number but stated it would best if I called him when he got back in 2 weeks from touring in California.

This is were the "luck" comes in...

I asked him if I could come on the tour with him and he looked at me real serious and replied "Word! Are you serious?" My response of course was "YES". He said the he could work it out but he'd have to check on the logistics. I was to call the number he had given me on Sunday evening and you bet I did.

I called the other members of Prophetix and let them know what was going on and they couldn't believe it but I could. Lo and behold, I get a phone call back from KRS and he told me that he wouldn't pay for our trip out to California but he would pay for our trip back, pay for our hotel, pay us $500.00 a piece, and pay us a per diem which is money for every day we were out there in Cali. Sounded fair to me. The total time from me asking him could I go to actually being on a plane to Los Angeles was less than a week!

My "luck" got even better though...

When we got settled in Los Angeles, we had a meeting with KRS where we were debrief on how the shows would go. He explained that he didn't want us to open up for him but he wanted us to actually be on stage with him during his set. No joke. Talk about a trill. Imagine being on stage with KRS-ONE while you perform his classic joints with him in front of packed audiences. It was great! And we got to perform in so many other cities in Cali from San Fransisco to San Diego in the process so that made the 2 weeks even better.

So yes, I do consider myself lucky but I was prepared when the opportunity presented itself. That is the point I'm making.

Are you prepared if someone comes to you right now and asks you for a CD full of beats or a full demo package? What have you done up to this point in your career to say that you are ready for a life changing opportunity? You should always be prepared for an opportunity. You'll never know if it will be the lucky one that changes your life.

Article Source: http://bytepowered.org/articles

Mello Melanin is the force behind www.RapBeatCreator.com - A site specializing in teaching new producers how to get started making your own beats. He is the CEO of What's Hot Media, Inc. Some of his greatest accomplishments include, performing at the world famous Apollo Theatre in Harlem, New York and performing with Grammy Award winners The Roots and Hiphop legends like KRS-ONE. For more information about how to make your own beats, check out his site at www.RapBeatCreator.com

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