Planet Ill: You are a versatile producer in terms of sound, what equipment and/or instruments do you use to produce a record?
Kane Beatz: I’m heavy on the keyboard and I use the fanthom a lot. I mix-up different instruments and Pro Tools.
Planet Ill: It’s no surprise that you specialize in making club hits, but do you plan on crafting beats that are introspective for more insightful artists, other than Nas and Lupe Fiasco?
Kane Beatz: I’m trying to get on everyone’s project, so I’m branching out, but I don’t want to branch out too much, because my main focus is Hip-Hop. I’m crafting different sounds for artists, because I’m not trying to typecast myself. My goal is to show people that I’m bigger than that. If I don’t change my sound then not only will I not survive in the game, I’ll become bored. So I’m always going to vary my style.
Planet Ill: Rappers like Dr. Dre and Timbaland are real serious with perfection tracks, are you somewhat of a perfectionist?
Kane Beatz: Oh, I’m a perfectionist 100 percent. I never make five beats a day, because that is not my style. I usually experiment with different sounds all-day and I’ll come-up with 2 that I like, but it’s such a long process. I’m always blending and mixing beats that I thought my already be finished. So it takes a lot of time capturing a certain sound.
Planet Ill: Florida has been holding down the South for a minute now. What is it about Florida that has had the game in check for that long?
Kane Beatz: Man, I can’t even tell you. It’s just work [ethic] and grind. Florida is grinding. So much of the production out here is influenced from Florida and so many rappers are influenced from Florida. If you look back in history, we’ve been doing it for a longtime and we’ve been waiting to get to this moment. So we good and we going keep grinding.
Planet Ill: Rumor is T.I. is a free man. Are there plans for laying track down for Tip?
Kane Beatz: Yeah, I did a couple of records on his last album and I’m definitely planning to book some time with him in the studio. I already got beats ready for him.
Planet Ill: Lil’ Wayne has been chewed out by different producers for unpaid royalties. Are you in that same boat since you produced mad records for Weezy?
Kane Beatz: Nah man, I ain’t in that boat. Me and Wayne are really good and we don’t have any problems.
Planet Ill: Do you have any artists of your own that you’re ready to put on?
Kane Beatz: I got a couple of artists that I’m going to put out. I got an artist named J.R. He from Atlanta and he’s crazy talented. He’s was on “Show Goes On” and he’s great performer and he has good head on his shoulders, so look out for him.
Planet Ill: If you can make-up a dream team line-up 3 rappers and one R&B artist on a track, who would the team be?
Kane Beatz: I definitely have to Pac in there. Eminem and I would put in Wayne. As far as R&B it’s tough, but I’ll probably put Drake, because his R&B shit is crazy, but he’s more of rapper so he doesn’t count. Straight R&B though ? Well, my favorite R&B artist is Avant, but I can’t put him on there, because what he is doing right now? I would say R&B is a toss-up. R&B is so tough to choose, because you have great artists like Avant, Joe, Ginuwine; it’s not easy. Matter of fact, I would put Ginuwine over Avant, because he has more hits, but the ol’ school Ginuwine not the new one.
Planet Ill: Who, as far as producers, influence your sound?
Kane Beatz: Mannie Fresh is big, Lil’ Jon, Kanye [West], Timbaland, Pharrell. I listen to everyone, but my main influence is Manny Fresh. When I first started, I tried to build beats off his style, but at the same time make it my own.
Planet Ill: Have you ever thought about branching outside of Hip-Hop genre to something maybe like Electronic music?
Kane Beatz: I respect the people that are doing that, but that’s not really my style. I don’t want to cross all the way over. Electronic DJs are way better than me in that field and they’ve been doing that type of music their entire lives, doing the Dubstep [other electronic music subsets.] I’ve borrowed some elements from [electronica.] I’m proud of a record I did with the New Boyz and I did some more; so I’m like sort of doing it, but I’m bringing my own style.
Planet Ill: Any tracks that we should be on the lookout for?
KB-I have a crazy record on [Rick] Ross’s new album coming out soon and I got a record with Plies. So be on the lookout for those records.
Planet Ill: Do you craft songs in order to accommodate certain rappers’ style or do you just produce a bunch of records and hope artists buy them?
Kane Beatz: Right now shits dope, because people are coming to me asking for beats, because they like my style or whatever. But it depends, sometimes I might have a beat already and they want to jump on it; other times I start from scratch for an artist, but it all depends on the vibe in the studio.
Planet Ill: Any last words for the fans?
Kane Beatz: I appreciate everyone rocking with me and I appreciate everything I have been given. Anyone can do it. It’s all about working and staying focused on what you’re doing and you don’t need a big support system, just do you.
