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#007 | The Importance of Hiring Professional Musicians + Free Pack!

This week we're covering RapCaviar's new Hulu series and the importance of hiring professional musicians.

Author

Ocean 🏆
February 13, 2023

Muse-Letter 007 - February 13, 2023

Yoooooo! What's up fam! 

Welcome back to The Muse-Letter. I appreciate you having a read and being part of the Muse-Letter community. This week we're covering RapCaviar's new Hulu series and the importance of hiring professional musicians. Let's get into it.

This Week in Producer News 📰

RapCaviar presents new series to feature chart-topping hip-hop artists

Hulu is hosting a series that will feature some of today’s most challenging issues that are influencing our culture through the stories of well-known hip-hop artists. The series has seven episodes and will premiere via Hulu on March 30. It's going to be a wicked insight into some of the most prominent hip-hop artists exploring cultural topics from their perspective.

We got to see a sneak peek of the original docuseries based on the popular RapCaviar playlist on Spotify posted on Tuesday, February 7. RapCaviar Presents was named after the influential playlist on Spotify, with a fan base of more than 14 million users. The playlist was launched back in 2015 and is known to be credited for the rise of artists who were included in the playlist along with many other well-known names. There are going to be conversations with hip-hop artists such as Megan Thee Stallion, Jack Harlow, Roddy Ricch, Coi Leray, Doja Cat, Saweetie, and more.

Hulu has uploaded a two-minute clip to their YouTube channel with Tyler, The Creator and Pharrell Williams sitting down to talk about their impact on one another. Tyler talks about his meeting with legendary producer Pharrell during his Cherry Bomb European tour in 2015. He talks about the words that were spoken to him that created a light bulb moment and “switch” in the rapper’s music.

“Make something undeniable, and make it equally as infectious,” Pharrell points out in his interview. “Why are you doing music? Is it just because you just want to look cool? ‘Cause that will burn out. When it becomes purpose-oriented, it can be as cool as the flashy sh–, but it will be much more meaningful.”

Tyler responds to this with “Oh f—! OK. No more being silly. … Music first. And at that moment, I went home. I just wanted to change everything. I just wanted to switch, and the switch f—ing happened.”

It's going to be a really wicked series to tune into if you're wanting to gain an idea into the minds of some of our favourite hip-hop artists, and what they have to say in regard to today’s pressing issues.

Spotify’s head of urban music and creative director of the series says in a statement, “Spotify continues to find ways to innovate and grow the influence of our playlist brands. We’re excited to expand the RapCaviar universe through this docuseries with our partners at Hulu. Using hip-hop as a vehicle to examine society, we’re revealing stories through the lens of visionaries like Tyler, The Creator, and the City Girls. Through RapCaviar Presents, we’re hoping to entertain and educate hip-hop fans and spark meaningful conversations about music and culture.”

I'm excited to see who is featured in the series and to listen to their perspectives.

You can check out the RapCaviar playlist filled with artists mentioned in this article. You can also look at the first clip from RapCaviar Presents below.

My 2 Cents 🎵

The Importance of Hiring Professional Musicians  

If you’ve been following my YouTube channel recently, you've probably seen my series where I hire professional musicians to collab on some beats.

I love doing this because it adds much more character to the tracks.

With music technology being so advanced, technically you don’t need to use professional musicians. Pretty much every sound you could want has been turned into a VST. But whenever I’ve worked with a professional musician, magic happens whether that be an artifact through a recording, or extra ear candy they’ve added.

I love putting professional musicians on my channel, as they often come up with things that I wouldn’t think of. It's collaborative. These people have dedicated over 10,000 hours to learning their instrument. If not more. Their unique perspective is so valuable. Especially when they’ve never heard of drill or trap for example, but we manage to merge our worlds together for a crazy fusion.

In a digital world where almost any sound, voice, and instrument can be perfectly tuned to perfection, many artists still use vintage tape machines solely because they are flawed. That’s a perfect example of how flawed music may well be the most authentic. Perfection can be exciting and technically interesting, but rarely will it beat out flawed and direct music in terms of authenticity.

Every person is unique. Every musician and producer has a different way of approaching music, and that’s why different songs sound so different. The best music is the kind that comes directly from the unique and special voice and sonic fingerprint that they each have.

Check out some of my videos below where I hire professional musicians and collaborate to make authentic beats!

Free Pack 🎼

Plugin of the Week🔌⚡

Addictive Keys isn't just a collection of sampled keyboards. That's easy. Anyone can do that. Addictive Keys captures the soul and essence of great instruments from multiple angles. That's hard, but Addictive Keys instruments pull it off and make it look effortless.

Recent YouTube Video 🎬

If you haven't seen my new music studio set-up, check out my YouTube video where I give you the grand tour! 

Thanks for reading this week's newsletter. I hope you enjoyed it and look forward to providing you with more content that helps you level up throughout 2023. In the meantime, make sure to take a look at the top-quality sounds I use on my website! 👇🏿

If you have any questions, ideas, or suggestions feel free to hit me up on IG!  @prodbyocean

Appreciate you, fam.

-Ocean