From Dust To Dough

Posted by Ra Hanna on Jul 31, 2009

So I was playing pool like I usually do, and I hear the familiar tone of my cell go off as I was about to shoot… I missed it like a Shaq free throw because it was the ring. AZ's ring, the CSI AZ. The “change your life with one phone call” AZ. You get my drift? So after my embarrassing miss and subsequent pay out to a now-smiling opponent, I quickly called back and got into business mode: “Yo AZ! What's popping?” “Hey Ra, would you like to submit some tracks for the end credits for Level 26?” Nah, AZ I would just hate to be on your groundbreaking project and have my joints heard around the world… I would absolutely hate that. But I kept it cool and said, “Hell yea coach I’m down with that. I think I can make that work.” So he goes on to say, “Yea I know you got that hip hop vibe going, but let’s see if you can get the AZ Level 26 Sqweegel madness vibe.” So after some more Dark Arts talk and notes about the direction of the track, I put away my pool cue and raced the whole four blocks home. I fired up the Mac Pro and checked out the trailer for Level 26. The music and undertones were straight-fire in an Emo/slit-your-wrist type way and I thought, what the hell have I gotten myself into? So I cracked open Recycle and jacked some hot loops and proceeded to get down to business. After a vibeless four hours I thought, damn Hanna what the hell have you gotten yourself into? AZ has asked you to produce something for him and the soon-to-blowup Level 26 and you bullshitting around without a vibe… Hell to the Naw. I had to get on my grown-man shit and quick. So I poured myself a glass of milk, busted out the Lorna Doones and attacked that sucker again… Boom Bap Boom Boom Bap. Kicks and snares cracked thru my earphones—damn the neighbors—until the track began to breathe. One ghetto ass guitar chord and some spitfire sporadic drums and Sqweegel started to talk to me. I thought ok, now we are crackin’. Something was still missing, though. It wasn't until I put the actual samples of Sqweegel's voice into effect that it began to take a life of its own. Of course by then it was time to go to work. Manager by day, head bouncer by night… no rest for the broke and famous. I popped what I did onto my trusty iTouch and headed to work… “ID please.” “Nah man this is beer only.” “No you can’t get in with your CSUN ID.” “Take the ID out of your coach wallet please”—the normal valley bouncer shit. But all night Sqweegel kept talking to me. I had the rest of that beat done in my head before 2am. Recharged, I bolted back home, fired up the MPC-60 and quickly came up with three versions… that I thought my man Sqweegel had whispered in my head all night. Edgy but with enough balls to stay hip-hop. Cuz you know I had to keep it real. I mean, can’t sell out my craft to Corporate America and make something that I could actually pay some bills with. Why the Hell would I do that? That’s a whole ‘nother story there folks…. So the next day I burned them joints to CD and headed to a pool party to meet up with my peeps… my boys Nate and Saif were there. After the obligatory black man dap, I told them let’s bounce to the whip and check out the Sqweegel heat. After the first two go-rounds, we had a unanimous winner: track two. We were hyped that we thought we had the winner. I told them that I had two more ideas to flesh out but the crew said, “Bump that shit son... hit him up now.” The rest is history. The next day, I met with a crazy-busy AZ for about 15 minutes and caught a glimpse into the life of the hardest working man I know…. We go into his office and popped the CD into AZ's Mac Pro. Showtime? No, gingerbread time… of course the dam CD didn't work. My heart skipped a beat. Did I format it right? Was the sample rate correct? Mp3, Aiff or Wave file? 44.1 khz, 128 kbps or 48…? Did the CD actually burn? Stop bitching Ra and think! Confident in my process I thought there must be something wrong with AZ's drive. He said, “Let’s try this one,” and popped it into his all-in-one Sony joint and proceeded to play my Sqweegel funk thru the TV speakers…. Oh boy was I thrilled about that one. Gone were my lush stereo panning and funky subbasss… all that remained was stripped down Sqweegel funk. After a few moments AZ turned to me and simply said, “Number one is the one, let’s work with that.” I said, “Ok, AZ” and got my pen out and ready to take notes on what to improve and or change. To my surprise he said, “Just turn the vocals up and add this sample for me.” Then he said the words artistic people hate to hear: “Fantastic job, Ra. Good work” and gave me a pound. Real talk… one of the defining moments of my life. When I got outside I did the Tiger fist pump said a quick thank you to the creator and took Ventura Blvd. instead of the 101 home. I wanted to take this moment in and honor it, as I blasted track number 1 all the way home.... I guess like my man Sqweegel I had been practicing for this moment and it has finally arrived. The nightmare is about to begin. Death to autotune. The return of real hip-hop has arrived… my name is Ultraman Ra Hanna Xclan DJ/Producer and I’m a Mac. Check the track:

Sqweegel Mix
Produced by Ultraman for RaceTeam Productions