If you have not heard of this up and coming and talented producer 10Fifty, you're truly missing out. From insight on his career in music so far, to how he started working with Lil Gotit, to his advice for aspiring producers, this interview is a must-read.
Where are you from?
I am from Woodland Hills, California. It's in the valley in LA, and close to Calabasas.
When did you start making music?
I started actually recording and learning how to make beats my sophomore year of college which was five years ago. So yeah, about five or six years ago I would just freestyle for the longest. I was just rapping and killing time, and then eventually I wanted to start recording and making music.
Was it hard to learn how to make beats when you first started, and how did you learn?
I learned a lot from my friends at that time. My friends were making beats just for fun, and they kind of showed me how. And it's funny because none of them are really making music as a career anymore. But yeah, it was really just a lot of my close friends had Ableton, which is a software I use, and they just kind of showed me how to do the basic stuff. I also did learn a lot from mainly watching Nick Mira YouTube tutorials, even though he used different software, he made it really easy to transfer the knowledge from software to software. So, definitely a lot of Nick Mira tutorials.
What was the first song you did that truly sounded good, and who was the first artist you worked with that left you in awe?
It was the first song I did with Lil Gotit called "All Season", which I don't even think it's on the internet anymore, and it was from like two years ago. But the first artist that I worked with that I was kind of like "Holy shit, I'm working with this big of an artist" was actually Soulja Boy. I'm Jewish so at the Bat Mitzvahs they would play all of his old songs, so he's still like relevant in some regards, so it was cool. But yeah, "All Season" was dope because it was just the first time I had ever heard Gotit on one of my beats and Keed was on the song too and I didn't know who he was at the time because it was a long time ago.
How did you meet Gotit and how did that team come about?
My best friend started working at Alamo Records where Gotit is signed to, she started working there about two and a half years ago, around the same time I sent that beat over and we got the song done, because around the time she started working there she immediately just kind of stumbled across Gotit's music on YouTube and she signed him and eventually started managing him. But when she signed Gotit, I was working for my dad. I was just working a marketing job, I couldn't get a job in the industry and it was tough. But yeah, I had nothing to lose and my friend was a believer in Gotit, especially with Keed by his side, they're like brothers, you know? They're going to go crazy. So yeah that's how I got connected with him in a musical aspect, but then we developed a really close bond by just being with each other. Whenever we're in the same city we just always stay with each other and we just spend a lot of time with each other regardless.
Who were your musical influences?
They change so much over time, but I'd say the biggest influences in terms of the producer stuff are Pharrel, Dr. Dre, and even some newer producers like Metro and the 808Mafia team.
Who would be your dream artist to work with?
Dead or alive?
Dead or alive, let's have fun with it.
Honestly, it's crazy because it happened so recently, but I'd say Juice WRLD. Aside from him just being an incredible artist in my opinion, I felt like the only other artist that I was making a lot of beats for besides Gotit was Juice WRLD. Like, I would always realize "Oh Juice WRLD would sound good on this".
What would you say to someone who wants to start producing? What would you tell them about persistence and the mindset they need in order to make it in the music industry?
Ok, so I can just say a common mistake that I've seen a lot. And, it's not always a mistake because somehow it actually could work out for some people. But, I've seen a good amount of people just decide to go all in 100 percent into the music stuff a little too early and then finding themselves being brought down by not succeeding how they wanted off the bat. So what I'm trying to say is if you have a job already like, when I started making music I was still working and when I took the music stuff 100 percent seriously as a career, I had made sure that it was actually making sense. I meet people who are trying the music thing and they're super talented but like the lack of resources or whatever it may be kind of breaks them down. So, like persistence is so key, and you have to keep grinding and devoting yourself to making beats every single day to get better. But, at the same time, you really have to know when the time is right. Timing is the most important thing in this, and you have to just make sure it really makes sense at the time. When you realize that you want to take making beats seriously, I would utilize more of your free time from work to start getting better and learning how to work the programs better because over time you're just going to get better. It's like similar to someone who is about to drop out of school, you better have a plan. If you are about to leave your temporary situation like school or working and getting paid, just make sure the music stuff is happening and that you will be able to sustain your lifestyle. But with all of that being said, I don't mean to deter anyone from trying anything or doing what they want to do. Like I made sure that with Gotit he knew that I was about to quit my job so we were in this for real, and he was like "Hell yeah" and I was like alright I'll quit my job.
Listen to some of his music below.
10Fifty's Social Media:
Instagram: @10Fiftyy