Jon Phonics Treats - Jonathan's Beats & Pieces +Crazy Ill Mad Rowdy

Myke and Raul arent the only ones getting busy over the holiday season, Louis Dens own Jon Phonics aka Ill Clinton has served up some treats in the form of Jonathan's Beats & Pieces, a free download which is mostly a collection of his Novemeber and December blaps..

Check it aaaaaaaaaaaaaat!.



Download Jonathans Beats & Pieces Here
+Bonus Free Download, Crazy Ill Mad Rowdy, Sonnyjim over Jon Phonics Production
Follow @JonPhonics on Twitter

LDBB Fam Xmas Treats

What up people, Kos reporting in for a couple festive treats. First off I hope all you guys had a safe and peaceful xmas/holiday break (I know we're still in the midst of it) but yeah, hopefully most of you would have got a break of some sort from the the grind and got to chill/spend some time with family!.

A few LDBB fam have been up to mischeif in the lab over the last few days so I thought id drop some links and let you guys know whats up...more blogs on the way also.

Myke Forte - Zodiac Beat Tape Series (ARIES)
This dropped a couple weeks back but we didnt get the chance to blog it, lab regular MYKE FORTE has launched his new beat tape series entitled ZODIAC in which he'll be travelling through the star signs dropping a beat tape for each one, I've been told through these (and where possible) Myke will make the beats match the characteristics of the star signs or at least have links to each one within the music, and with Myke being an aries he started with his own sign first (big up lol aries in the house!)





01 April (Freewill)
02 Chocolatesauce (Generously)
03 The ComeUp (Hunger)
04 Turkishdelight (Mystical Future)
05 Streetfighterchronicles (Quiet Rage)
06 Spectrum FM (Scientific)
07 Jayfunkismsoulistickal (Funkisocial)
08 Simmerdale (Impatient)
09 Nineteeneighty (Stargazing)
10 Layitdown (Passion)
11 LabtimeLDBB (Dedication)
12 Elevate Beneath (Courage)
13 Victory (Triumph)
14 Dramology (Fire Nature)
15 Takeitbakeit (Positivity)
16 Crystalmistics (Optimism)
17 Ginsengpsyche (Insightful)
18 Caughtontape (Curious)
19 Butkissfakers (Extrovirtuos)
20 Baptisewater (Moody)
21 Zodiachocolate (Dreamy)


LINK:http://www.megaupload.com/?d=SRA9WX4L
Follow @MykeForte on Twitter


Next up we got a fresh new blap from LDBB FAM "Raul Supreme", busy in the lab over the holidays he's dropped us a new joint entitled TOKYO MOON, be sure to hit him up with feedback I hear a new project is underway with Raul so 2010 should be an interesting year for him!.

Raul Supreme - Tokyo Moon
Follow @RaulSupreme on Twitter

Louis Den Beat Cypher 08 Spotlight - Budgie

Ahhh man what a day...some behind the scenes MADNESS going on with the beat cypher tonight (pretty much had to sort a backup plan for travel for the London people only to abandon it last minute..props to the postman on the late time phew!!!)

AITE!! Last up with the spotlights we got BUDGIE...the man with the smoothest beats and swagger off the meter!!



1) Hey!!, please introduce yourself to everybody; let us know who you are what you do and how long you've been doing it!.
What up! my name's budgie, i make beats, dj, collect records, work in a record store and do anything i can that's music related.. I've been doing beats for about 7 or 8 years.

2) Was there a defining moment (event / hearing a record etc) that led you into making beats / becoming a producer?.
Theres not one defining moment, it's mix of different music, people and events. My Dad has a record shop (www.honestjons.com) so he always played me alot of Jazz, Soul, Reggae and Hip-Hop as a little kid. My favorite track when I was really young was Masta Ace 'Me & the Biz', mainly because of the record cover and the crazy Biz voice,but I think it left a lasting impression. I also did piano lessons as a kid (hated it, just wanted a synth to make 'cool music'), then a few years later my music teacher at school recognised I had an ear for music and got me out of my maths lessons to do cubase lessons and I learned how to program drums and lay down chords. Around the same time I got some turntables and started collecting records when I was 13, and I actually thought this was all I needed to start sampling, so I had to wait til the next year to get my first sampler.

3) What was your first peice of equipment and what were those beats like?, any interesting stories about things were doing to begin with / finding your feet?
My first sampler was the Boss SP505, kinda similar to the SP303 that Madlib uses, except my one has a little LCD screen. The beats I made on that were alright, but I was just learning and had no idea about how to get my beats to sound in reality, the way I heard them in my head. I'd basically pick a random record from my dads collection and chop it up. Eventually I had used up all 99 user save slots and didn't wanna delete any of the beats I had made so I got Reason, started doing all my stuff on there and I've never looked back.

4) Whats the one bit of advice youd give to anyone starting out today?
Keep workin on it, don't get frustrated if you make a wack beat, just make another one and eventually you will make something worth listening to..

5) What can heads expect from you at LOUIS DEN BEAT CYPHER?
Some smooth, hard, funky music..

Budge Loadables

Follow @budgiefirebeats on Twitter

Watch Budgie vs Jon Phonics from Beat Cypher 05 @AB0181 Youtube

Watch Budgie vs Jaisu from Beat Cypher 05 @AB0181 Youtube

Budgies 2009 LouisDen League Beats

and we out!!! for now!...stay tuned to the @LouisDen Twitter for news on streaming BEAT CYPHER 08....better yet turn up for it in the flesh!! details here - http://bit.ly/5Qb9TC

Louis Den Beat Cypher 08 Spotlight - Wizard

BEAT CYPHER TONIIIIGHT!, get excited...for those who cant make it I got word from the venue that theres wi-fi up in the spot! so we may get our blogTV channel goin for those overseas who cant get in on the action...hell we might even give up a couple open beats slots to the heads tuned in!!.

Annyway we got the last 2 spotlight blogs to drop so lets get on with it; reppin Hastings we've got Louis Dens own WIZARD up next.



1) Hey!!, please introduce yourself to everybody; let us know who you are what you do and how long you've been doing it!.
Wadup wizard aka big wiz beatmaker/rapper/part time dj for money i can't scratch. i been making beats for about 5 years come along way since day one gota new album 'ear to the beat' out that features verb-t, micall parknsun, lil e, verbal kent, ramson badbonez and many more please support and cop it off i-tunes, suspect-packages.com, cdbaby.com

2) Was there a defining moment (event / hearing a record etc) that led you into making beats / becoming a producer?.
My brother got me into it and i always just liked hiphop/gangster shit so i wanted to do it and pull groupies


3) What was your first peice of equipment and what were those beats like?, any interesting stories about things were doing to begin with / finding your feet?
I started using Ejay like alot of people did I'm sure? I hope! then I found Reason and thought this is fucking complicated but then learned and stuck with it I still use only reason I dont have any other equipment really.


4) Whats the one bit of advice youd give to anyone starting out today?
Stick at it takes a while to get your name around and just make shit you actually like yourself also telling females your a producer usually works!


5) What can heads expect from you at LOUIS DEN BEAT CYPHER?
Nothing but bangers. at the min im on some screwface gangsta beats i duno why must be the weather but hopefully theyll like the h-town style.

WIZARD DOWNLOADS/LINKS

Wizards MySpace

Follow @WizardBeats on Twitter

Wizards LouisDen League 2009 Beats

Wizards latest instrumental project "Massage Palour Music" composed from Japanese samples...click to DL.

Louis Den Beat Cypher 08 Spotlight - Chemo

Beat Cypher countdown starts now!! I know a lot of the Den fam are going to be making the trip up and down the country for whats become our every other month geek out!!, looking mad forward to it!

We've got another Spotlight blog to drop, this time on Chemo, man of many aliases and many a dope beat...read and digest below and check out the links for more info and free music!.



1) Hey!!, please introduce yourself to everybody; let us know who you are what you do and how long you've been doing it!.
My name is David Webb | Young Dave | Chemo | Papa Chemo | Telemachus | Mick Tape | Cheembo Slice | DJ Bum Hands, and i paint with sound.


2) Was there a defining moment (event / hearing a record etc) that led you into making beats / becoming a producer?.
Medina Green - Crosstown Beef, Jehst - 1979 (dont tell him that though)


3) What was your first peice of equipment and what were those beats like?, any interesting stories about things were doing to begin with / finding your feet?
My first foray was when i used a mixer to play sped up drum breaks over classic fm and record them to tape, I'm sure you can imagine the results were somewhat erratic yet i was so impressed with myself at the time.

Then i started using Acid Pro 1 briefly and progressed to the MPC2000 which i used for 2-3 years, becoming quite proficient (even teaching a few people some MPC tips along the way!). I subsequently moved back to Acid Pro which i have been using ever since which has really shaped how I work. I have a real love-hate relationship with the MPC, I seem to buy one every year and sell it again after 6 months... I currently have a 2500 at home which im still undecided about... I need someone like Jaisu to show me the light!

4) Whats the one bit of advice youd give to anyone starting out today?
Your arms are too short to box with gods.

AND

Stay away from THE BELLTREE. Please. Please.

5) What can heads expect from you at LOUIS DEN BEAT CYPHER?
Long legs, bad jokes and a shit beard.

Bandcamp page for Kilamanjaro Music

Chemo's Myspace

Follow Chemo on twitter @chemouk

And of course it goes without saying, CHEMO along with GHOSTTOWN, BUDGIE and WIZARD will be providing the beats at LOUIS DEN BEAT CYPHER 08 which is TOMORROW (10th Dec '09) at Soundbar, Birmingham UK, more details here - http://bit.ly/5Qb9TC.

Louis Den Beat Cypher 08 Spotlight - GhostTown

Beat Cypher week!! and you know what that means right...SPOTLIGHT BLOGS!, uh huuuh. First up we've got the production powerhouse that is GHOSTTOWN (sometimes 1, sometimes the other, sometimes both), now based in London the team have got credits with names such as OH NO, FOREIGN BEGGARS, GUILTY SIMPSON, PHAT KAT and more; check for a fat slab of their production scattered throughout the new Foreign Beggars album "United Colours Of Beggatron".

Anyway heres the Q&A


1) Hey!!, please introduce yourself to everybody; let us know who you are what you do and how long you've been doing it!.
I'm GhostTown i've been making beats on and off since about 2003


2) Was there a defining moment (event / hearing a record etc) that led you into making beats / becoming a producer?.
I think 90's hiphop and going to music college

3) What was your first peice of equipment and what were those beats like?, any interesting stories about things were doing to begin with / finding your feet?
Personal Computer with Cubase. I still use it now. The first beats were shit! haha! To be honest I only just Started to like my own beats about one year ago!

4) Whats the one bit of advice you'd give to anyone starting out today?
Don't let people tell you that you need to buy expensive shit to make good beats. All you need is ideas. Just because Pete Rock or whoever uses a certain drum machine doesn't mean your beats are gonna sound good as soon as you buy that machine.

5) What can heads expect from you at LOUIS DEN BEAT CYPHER?
HEAVY BEATS!


Bonus Tracks (GhostTown produced joints form Foreign Beggars - United Colours Of Beggatron LP)
The stomping PROVE IT by features Detroits GUILTY SIMPSON (zshare)
Safedrain (STINK FACE enducing outro from the LP) (zshare)

Holla at GhostTown online

GhostTown's Myspace

and of course, LOUIS DEN BEAT CYPHER is THIS THURSDAY @SOUNDBAR BIRMINGHAM details in my previous blog or for a direct link check here - http://bit.ly/5Qb9TC

Louis Den Beat Cypher 08 - December 10th 2009

In October we had APATIGHT, DOCKMINI, KNOX BROWN and NAIVE down to smash to cypher, was a lively event with plenty of banging beats!! some saying the best cypher yet...video evidence is here courtesy of LouisDen's AB0181.

BEATCYPHER 07 - ROUND ONE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAOmnHRDnzs&feature=channel

BEATCYPHER 07 - ROUND TWO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAohgHflA5A&feature=channel






Now (and a dropping the news a little later than we would have liked) we are BACK!! for the Xmas beatcypher and at a new home after going back to the Sunflower Lounge to secure Decembers date we were told they had changed the music policy and werent too keen on the "Smoking" that went on outisde...not sure what the whole mess was down to im guessing (as the owner was there that night of beat cypher 07) they didnt like the fact we overran slightly and maybe our little "car beats" session outside, so umm yeah we are now at the BIRMINGHAM SOUND BAR which is a much sicker venue (but comes at a price)...so please smoker squad, go for a little wander before you do what you do, dont want to bait up this joint too! and doooo come out and support, plenty more overheads this time so we gotta keep this one going (bring a mate and tell them bring a mate, and tell em both to bring beats!!)...also theres drinks offers at this new venue so do dig in those pockets and enjoy a few to some ill beats!!.


ON THE BOARDS
BUDGIE
Louis Den's own BUDGE is reppin on the boards for this one..you've heard the range from the screw face bangers to the smooth jam mack soundtracks, Budgie is a sick producer and sought after DJ...he's bound to impress!!

WIZARD
Hastings based producer and one half of the OZB'z Wiz is a LDBB vet reppin since homework #4 back in 2007!!, he's been waiting patiently to get on the bill and now its his turn..you know the beats, the boombap bounce to the chilled out headnodders and the endless free releases he churns out!...wiz is a total package and one of the hardest working beatmakers in the UK!

GHOST TOWN
Sick production team originally from Leeds now based in london (and mostly just a 1 man operation). Ghosttown have credits for Foreign Beggars, Mystro, Guilty Simpson, Phat Kat and more...check the thread I posted earlier in this week for look into their new london based "squat" lab..expect sick beats!

CHEMO
Badboy producer (no not for diddy..you know what I mean). Chemo's put the work in behind the boards for years now and has the credits to prove it JOE BUDDEN, KYZA, TRIPLE DARKNESS, VAKILL, SEAN PRICE (do we need to continue??!). Fresh out the Killamonjaro labs Chemo's out to bless the den with BANGERS!.

and on the mic we have Birminghams own JUICE ALEEM (big dadda/shadowless) fresh off his release JERUSALAAM COME.

VERB T blessing us for the second (but 1st official time hopefully) after not being able to show for what was the second beat cypher (with S-TYPE, JAISU, DARREN PAUL & ROEG DU CASQ)..Verbs was unable to make it due to family commitments but he's back with a vengance to finally rep for the beat cypher!.

and finally SLEAZE DA DON aka Hermes Trismegistus from the south coast (originally West Bromwich) Sleaze is a dope emcee with a unique delivery and style...teaming up with Eat Good's SONNYJIM for a joint EP (coming soon on eatgood/greasy vinyl) sleaze is here is here to show brum what he's all about. Sleaze recently dropped his LP THEOLOVISION on his own imprint "GREASY VINYL" which features producers WIZARD, BEAT BUTCHA, GHOST, ENDEMIC and more!.

Plus of course the usual!.

OPEN BEATS / BEAT BATTLE / DJ CRO
we've got the usual OPEN BEATS where producers of all levels are encouraged to bring some material to test the crowd reaction (3 beats max) and those feeling like they want to take something home can compete in the legendary BUCKS FIZZ BEAT BATTLE where names dawn out of a hat can compete for a bottle of bubbly and bragging rites as the Louis Den Bucks Fizz Beat Battle Winner!!, finally it wouldn't be a beat cypher with our very own DJ CRO providing the backdrop of hip-hop beats, breaks and treats inbetween the nights action.

*ARRIVE EARLY TO SIGN UP FOR OPEN BEATS, ONLY 3 BEATS MAX PER PRODUCER AND WE MAY HAVE TO REDUCE THAT NUMBER IF THERES A HUGE AMOUNT OF SIGN UPS (prefence is given to newer names)

* NO MP3 PLAYERS/PHONES/ DATA CD's FOR OPEN BEATS/BATTLE, sorry but its an ache to get all this sorted and the cables/pc's are for the showcased producers only...bring an audio CD or most likely its not happening!!.


NEW VENUE
Reason for the promo train on this LDBC being a bit late was because we were venuless!!, after going back to the Sunflower Lounge to secure Decembers date I was told they have changed the music policy and werent too keen on the "Smoking" that went on outisde...not sure what the whole mess was down to im guessing (as the owner was there that night of beat cypher 07) they didnt like the fact we overran slightly and maybe our little "car beats" session outside, so umm yeah we are now at the BIRMINGHAM SOUND BAR which is a much sicker venue (but comes at a price)...so please smoker squad, go for a little wander before you do what you do, dont want to bait up this joint too! and doooo come out and support, plenty more overheads this time so we gotta keep this one going (bring a mate and tell them bring a mate, and tell em both to bring beats!!)

aite then...book them tickets!!! lets see the year out with some illy blaps


Ok Now you know all the details we'll see you there!!
-------------------------------------------------------------------
LouisDen BeatCypher 08
Live Hiphop Production Showcase & Beat Jam
BUDGIE | CHEMO | GHOSTTOWN | WIZARD
JUICE ALEEM | VERB T | SLEAZE DA DON
+open beats/beat battle/DJ CRO


10th December
Soundbar Birmingham
250 Corporation St
Birmingham
B4 6SE
9PM - LATE
£4.00 ENTRY BEFORE 10PM £5.00 AFTER

DJ IQ ..FLASHING LIGHTS

DJ IQ hit us up back in April for Beat Cypher 04...seeing as Louis Den is like the mafia; once you're in the family we keep tabs on you lol well we've got some news on IQ as he's set to drop his new mixtape "Flashing Lights" next week (30th Nov to be exact) Featuring Sonnyjim, Ramson Badbonez, Hey Zeus, Kashmere, Jehst, Stac, Joker Starr, Micall Parknsun, Professor Green, Gen, Pride, TB, Asaviour, Eva Lazurus and Beats by DJ IQ, The Mighty Hoax, Joker, Hudson Mo, Samiyam, Kid Sublime, check the illy promo animation for the mixtape.





It sure looks like one to keep an eye on!, hit these sites for more info!

www.DJIQ.co.uk
www.twitter.com/iamDJIQ
www.myspace.com/mancanmusic

BEHIND CLOSED DOORS VOL.2

Behind Closed Doors Hip Hop Production DVD Magazine Vol.2 (to give it it's proper title) is almost here... and myself and Kosyne are maaad busy putting the final touches on it.
Filming for vol.2 started in July 2009 and concludes next week... after that we are ready to unleash the beast! So stay tuned for another teaser and a brand new BCD website. Enjoy the trailer peoples...1
Andy.

Round and Round we go

Shouts to AB0181 (get subscribing to his Youtube channel) for the sterling camera and editing work, if you missed Louis Den Beat Cypher 07 you missed what was for me the best one yet, proving that alot of the under the radar cats are bringing serious heat that should be worrying the bigger names

Round 1 (Apatight, Naive, Dock Mini & Knox Brown)

Round 2 (Apatight, Naive, Dock Mini & Knox Brown)

Bonus - Open Beats with S-type and Jaisu

Beat Cypher 07 Pictures and a Brief History

A few pictures from Louis Den on Thursday night, all the producers were so on point. Massive thanks to all the people who traveled long distances for it, unheard of for a mid week hip-hop night! (Too many people to name but you know who you are) Enjoy the pics and if you missed it, it was definitely the best one yet, next live night will be December, line up is already looking strong but keeping it secret squirrel for the moment...

L-R Apatight, Naive, Dockmini and Knox Brown

Rtillery performing

Apatight and Naive
Kosyne
Jimmy Raygun (The rest of Tactical Thinking were stuck on the motorway)
Crowd hypeness
Air keyboard with AB0181 and Jon Phonics

AB0181 also put together a brief history of Louis Den

Louis Den Beat Cypher 07 Spotlight - Knox Brown

Next up we have Jamaican born Birmingham based Knox Brown, I got hip to Knox through Kelz, first heard him through a joint he produced on the dope Malik (of MD7) mixtape "Rappers Rapper". We did the whole "scoping out a new producer" thing and hit up dude on Myspace, we eventually linked and even got him into the lab for a couple sessions (Street Fighter 2 / Middle Eastern Beats) and as we're trying to showcase beats from Birmingham, Louis Den family and bigger names alike Knox was perfect to get involved.

Read about him below!.




1) Hey!!, please introduce yourself to everybody; let us know who you are what you do and how long you've been doing it!.
I’m Knox Brown; I am a Producer/Singer/Songwriter. I work part time as a sound engineer for an indie rock/jazz record company. I am also a student at University. I’ve been producing since um....when did music 2000 for Playstation come out? lol


2) Was there a defining moment (event / hearing a record etc) that led you into making beats / becoming a producer?.
I got into Hip Hop when I first heard Busta Rhymes’ “Dangerous”. My favourite rapper by the way but, I prefer the early-late 90’s Busta. I think I fell in love with Just Blaze’s beats when I heard Jay-Z’s Incredible (Produced by Just Blaze). I used to love JD’s Beats aswell but didn’t know it was him lol.


3) What was your first piece of equipment and what were those beats like?, any interesting stories about things were doing to begin with / finding your feet?
Tascam 4 Track connected to a Casio keyboard and an old dynamic microphone. I then moved on to Music 2000 for Playstation, Music Generator, and aswell as Ejay from a Kellogg’s cereal packet lol. I tried using fruity loops at one point liked it but, I went to college and found “REASON 2.5” (choir of angels) lol. And i have stuck with it ever since I’m now on Reason 4.


4) Whats the one bit of advice youd give to anyone starting out today?
Work with what you have. Master your equipment. Enjoy Music, Listen to different genres inspiration can come from anywhere.



Get At Knox On Myspace
Knox Brown Myspace

Louis Den Beat Cypher 07 Spotlight - Apatight

Tonight's the night!!, Louis Den Beat Cypher 07 lands at the Sunflower Lounge Birmingham 21:00 till late featuring beat showcases from Apatight | Dockmini | Knox Brown and Naive, gonna hit you off with the remaining spotlight blogs to get you more familiar with the nights line up, and now...Hudds finest, APATIGHT!.

I found out about Apz a long long time ago, always heard his name mentioned in producer circles but finally got round to hearing a sick beat mix on his myspace back in like '06 (stanned that off too...recording it off and bumping it in the whip lol). Apz ended up hitting up the odd Louis Den challenge and the 2008 league and its been on since!.



Hey!!, please introduce yourself to everybody; let us know who you are what you do and how long you've been doing it!.
Whats good peoples?

I go by the name of Apatight aka ayepee producer,beatmaker,crate digga think there is still an mc inside me somewhere ive been been making beats for about 10 years hmmm I dont think id call em beats before that im trying to be more of a producer these days.


Was there a defining moment (event / hearing a record etc) that led you into making beats / becoming a producer?.
Erm I think ive always been interested in the music and liked songs more for the beat I guess but I was just a young mc trying to put some tracks together with my spar from arround my way in deighton dint even have a computer myself but he made the beats dope but less sample based and I asked him how what is it that makes dj premier pete rock sound so different and he said they sample ...me I didnt really know what was so he explained and I was thats what im gonna do so I started making beats er cough cough, trying to make beats.

What was your first peice of equipment and what were those beats like?, any interesting stories about things were doing to begin with / finding your feet?
First things that got me going was a bunch of records and cds from various family members who had bits of old soul and rock lying around, cubasis not even vst soundforge.

I think it was vienna soundfont studio and with that I could sample bits and put them on keys using soundfonts I think those beats was like a new born deer or somethin taking its first steps the right idea just abit all over the gaff lmao we dint have the latest tech in a one speed cd burner so I use to go out the pc into the mic input on little stereo and do some hissy beats tapes.

Whats the one bit of advice youd give to anyone starting out today?
Advice if I even qualify to give it..

Try things, think different, learn from your idols with so many people making beats today everyone raps and everyone makes beats try and stand out and have your own signature

What can heads expect from you at LOUIS DEN BEAT CYPHER?
Heads can expect me to bring a taste of things to come in the near future, thanks for inviting me down im a fan and its a privilege to take part to what looks to be another dope louisden beatcypher!


Get At Apatight Online!
On Twitter (@Apatight)
On Myspace

Louis Den Beat Cypher 07 Spotlight - Naive

Okaay you know the deal with these, we usually try to do some "Spotlight" blogs when a beat cypher is approaching, so heres the first of our 4 spotlight blogs on Naive producer from all over the UK reppin the Tactical Thinking camp!!, read enjoy, digest and bag the free "produced by Naive" snippet reel joint typea jump off!.




Hey!!, please introduce yourself to everybody; let us know who you are what you do and how long you've been doing it!.
Yes Yes I’m Naïve – Dave to some! Did music Tech at college and Uni, been producing tunes since I was 14, but only getting any good till I was really 19! Really been making real hiphop for 8 years now I’m 26, always been into raw synths and vinyl, having built up nice collection over the years!

Was there a defining moment (event / hearing a record etc) that led you into making beats / becoming a producer?.
Couldn’t really point out any one thing that lead me to producing – just a love of music in general!

What was your first peice of equipment and what were those beats like?, any interesting stories about things were doing to begin with / finding your feet?
Used to make tunes on a crap pc with a freeware tracker program – had to enter each value of every thing you did, long winded stuff – but it did have sampler and synths built in for some craziness! Most tunes were pretty naf listening back now, but I was 14!

Whats the one bit of advice youd give to anyone starting out today?
Don’t worry if its shit to start with, practice makes perfect and you can’t write a banger every day! Get a cheap analouge synth as they’re loads of fun! And get in to record collecting and sampling its well worth the habit!

What can heads expect from you at LOUIS DEN BEAT CYPHER?
Slamming synthed out and sampled badness!


Free Naive Music!
Produced by Naive Mashup (mediafire)

Louis Den Beat Cypher 07 - 22nd Oct - Sunflower Lounge Birmingham

We're back again and in less than a week!!, time to get the promo train rolling!.





In August we had our second international guests in form of FS GREEN, SIR OJ and FULL CRATE (sharing DJ duties with CRO) SHEARS and URBAN MONK. We're bringing the Beat Cypher back home with this installment giving you the same quality fresh beats but a little closer to home!.

ON THE BOARDS
This time round the Louis Den fam come in the form of APATIGHT and DOCKMINI, Apatight is part of the up north collective "Groundwurq" and has production work for JEHST, MICALL PARKNSUN, JACK FLASH, PROFESSOR GREEN and more, expect nothing but heat from the huddersfield native!!. Also reppin louisden and Birmingham we have DOCKMINI the youngest in charge!!..at 19 he's one of the youngest members of the team to rep the beats; although based in Cardiff for studies now he's been a mainstay in the Louis Den lab for the past year or so for our Sunday sessions and has already taken part in showcases Louis Den has done for Blaporama (as part of Redbeards single launch earlier last month), he also already has a handful of credits to his name for local acts and has worked with LOWKEY Dock is putting in the work to become a name to watch on the production circuit.

We also have The Black Market's own KNOX BROWN, sick Jamaican producer based in Birmingham Knox has got a stack of heaters in the stash, with a real versatile sound and passion for production that spans many genres Knox is all about music as an all around artist in his own right too!! Seeking him out after a couple of name drops from mutual heads we got Knox down to the lab a few months back and he's took part in a couple of our weekly challenges..jumping at the chance to get down on the Beat Cypher; his style is perfect for it so expect to be entertained.

Finally reppin the Tactical Thinking crew we have NAIVE, a beast behind the boards we've known about Naive for sometime from Brum export DEADLINE and Louis Den legend MR DICK aka PETE CANNON, with Dick having repped a beat cypher previously and his crew now coming for a PA it only made sense to get some shine on this London based Hiphop/Electro producer..heads may not be hip to him (but we are) and with the iminent TACTICAL THINKING release (Too Broke To Go Solo) you will soon!.

ON THE MIC
We've got PA's from the hiphop collective TACTICAL THINKING..the crew consists of emcees Kid Genius, Deadline, Assa, Jimmy Raygun and Derogatory with help from Jay madden and Mic Dyson plus L.Lyracist and B.V.A and musical backdrops provided by NAIVE and MR DICK (aka PETE CANNON). The TT collective is actually formed from smaller groups Surreal Knowledge, The Three Amigos, Me and Him, Deadline & Mr Dick, under the banner of TACTICAL THINKING they've just dropped their new album TOO BROKE TO GO SOLO which serves a perfect introduction to the crew's talent.

Seeing as TT is bringing so much noise we figure theres only enough room for 1 more PA which will come in the form of Birminghams own PROFESSOR D & R.TILLERY. These two versatile emcees have been tearing up the Birmingham circuit for the last few years with an unrivalled performance energy being able to encorporate elements from HIPHOP, DUBSTEP, 4x4, ELECTRO and more..resident artists of the music agency PUNCH RECORDS these two have torn up stages up and down the country having performed with the likes of SKINNYMAN, DURTY GOODZ, SONNYJIM and even performed in hiphop/grime theatre colloborating with names like CHARLIE DARK and MARK DE CLIVE LOW, no doubt Pro D and Tizzy will tear it up!!!.

OPEN BEATS / BEAT BATTLE / DJ CRO
we've got the usual OPEN BEATS where producers of all levels are encouraged to bring some material to test the crowd reaction (3 beats max) and those feeling like they want to take something home can compete in the legendary BUCKS FIZZ BEAT BATTLE where names dawn out of a hat can compete for a bottle of bubbly and bragging rites as the Louis Den Bucks Fizz Beat Battle Winner!!...this time round prizes kindly come courtesy of BASEMENT SESSIONS and KING APPAREL, finally it wouldn't be a beat cypher with our very own DJ CRO providing the backdrop of hip-hop beats, breaks and treats inbetween the nights action.

*ARRIVE EARLY TO SIGN UP FOR OPEN BEATS, ONLY 3 BEATS MAX PER PRODUCER AND WE MAY HAVE TO REDUCE THAT NUMBER IF THERES A HUGE AMOUNT OF SIGN UPS (prefence is given to newer names)

* NO MP3 PLAYERS/PHONES/ DATA CD's FOR OPEN BEATS/BATTLE, sorry but its an ache to get all this sorted and the cables/pc's are for the showcased producers only...bring an audio CD or most likely its not happening!!.


Ok Now you know all the details we'll see you there!!
-------------------------------------------------------------------
LouisDen BeatCypher 07
Live Hiphop Production Showcase & Beat Jam
APATIGHT | DOCKMINI | KNOX BROWN | NAIVE
TACTICAL THINKING | PROFESSOR D & R.TILLERY
+open beats/beat battle/DJ CRO


22nd October 2009
Sunflower Lounge
76 Smallbrook Queensway
Birmingham
B5 4EG
9PM - LATE
£4.00 ENTRY BEFORE 10PM £5.00 AFTER
------------------------------------------------------------------


Spotlight blogs coming soon!.

Louis Den @ Jazz Cafe this Friday!

Redbeards launch was dope last night, shouts to Beard, Kos, Raul, Kela, Myke, Docmini, SK, Sonny, Sammy Stealth, Percy, Malicious, Bambino, Bass6, Lewis, Taharka, Spatz, Mr FX and everyone who came out, Beards voice was gone by the end of the night.

Any London heads who've been slacking and not made it to a Louis Den Beat Cypher yet have no excuses as we make the trip down for the Orphans Of Cush Launch. The 4 selected producers are all going to be playing beats straight out of their chosen equipment and the line up is sick....Mr Thing, Apollo, Jaisu and Kela with performances from Orphans of Cush and DJ's Sarah Love, Konny Kon and Roast hosted by Jehst it's going to be a big night! See you there

League Week 3 Rollover

Okay, currently uploading samples/beats and stuff so we can make a week 3 rollover happen for Tuesday morning, this is your last chance to vote/submit.

PRODUCERS WHO STILL HAVENT SUBMITTED BEATS FOR WEEK 2
Phenomz, *Hannibal King, *Villa, Radd, MDOTDASUPAPRODUCER, Ayem, Mazzie, Jaisu, Figaro, *Mr Boss, Bles

* denotes they'll be OUT of the league if no beat is received by rollover

PRODUCERS WHO STILL NEED TO VOTE ON WEEK 1
JJ Malone, Mazzie, Ayem, Jehfree, Villa, Phenomz, Radd, Eccentric, Taharka, Hannibal King, Mr Boss

alright get on it..dont long up the rollover now!

Louis Den League Underway!!

Yes people, been a minute just a quick heads up to let you know the Louis Den League poppin with the week 1 beats. If youd like to vote on proceedings or just check/bump the beats from a distance then head over to the league site located at http://www.louisden.com/league2009 we currently have Week 1 beats (60+ entrants) out in the open for you to bump be sure to check em out!.

If youd like a voting key then holla at us on the LDBB forum http://www.louisden.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl and request one in the LEAGUE 2009 subforum, it'll grant you access to the logged in features of the site that'll allow you to message producers and post comments on battles and obviously vote on the battles which will contribute to the leaderboard and wins/losses of each beatmaker!.





Anyway, producer entry is closed so please dont ask to get in! you had months to show interest!!, we may fill up spaces of producers who flop and duck out, so far the following producers are on 1 strike.

JJ Malone, Mr Boss, Villa

But if they're back on the beats their spaces are safe.





^ Alright im out, quick one tho any Louisden heads in the US with the Fuze channel could do me an amazing favour and DVD-R the Red Bull Big Tune joint thats on tonight 10pm/Central hoo that would be amazing..hit me up kosyne@louisden.com.


KOS.

WARNING!! RESUBMIT HOMEWORK NOW! - League bug report

Whoops looks like a bug slipped through the net and as no-one managed to twig I was unaware until some random testing today.
Ok listen up this is important..IF YOU SUBMITTED YOUR BEAT YOU MAY HAVE OVERWRITTEN YOUR OPPONENTS LINK and VICE VERSA, you need to check ALL your links NOW and resubmit if you have to..click the UPLOAD MY BEAT link in the dashboard and make sure your link is correct many apologies for this....eek my bad..I'll make sure that all of the beats get played and no one gets mistakenly marked as flopping!.



damn!

KOS.

Louis Den League 2009 Business!

Alright people so if you didnt know the Louis Den League 2009 launched last week and producers have been busy prepping their week 1 beats!, to get in on the action check it all out at http://www.louisden.com/league2009 we currently have 70+ producers competing and is gonna be a hot 3 months of banging blaps!.

If you've been hiding under a rock for the past month or so heres a quick recap, We're back with the the league for 2009 following on from last years season which S-TYPE won! he's back to defend the title this year with a new and improved league which is now division based based on the pre-league homework "Dope Ass Beat 2" which producers scored to figure out placings, this time round the site (which I developed!!) has more of a social networking feel allowing voters/producers to interact with each other and the battles outside of just simply voting.



We're not accepting new producers in the league as its been a long drawn out process getting everything together and ready BUT voters are allowed at any stage to get down on the weekly beat action and decide the fate of the producers!, so for now the beat battles are gonna be on hold until the season finishes but the Sunday sessions are still very much alive!! each week we'll still be linking up to play the beats received and give you guys a sneak peek into what will become the forthcoming week's voting!!.

Some hot battles are due as these are the week 1 matchups, as you can see from the entrants we've got a mix of Louis Den regulars and some new names so its great having a mix of producers of all abilities gettin down and geekin/competing!


Division 1 Matches
Kelakovski vs Jeekay
Sivey vs Mr Dick
Kosyne vs Myke Forte
JJ Malone vs magOwl
BoomBaptist vs Figaro
Dockmini vs Pushing Buttons
S-TYPE vs Hal 9000
Jaisu vs Evil Needle
Ed Strong vs Raul Supreme
Apatight vs Budgie
Shears vs Ratatoulle Da Recept


Division 2 Matches
Wizard vs Ayem
MYKEE vs Smith
EvB vs Itchy Digits
Jehfree vs Mazzie
Purpose vs Clay Davis
Zircon vs abstraKt Beats
Levi vs Cyril Snare
Terror vs BiLL Breaks
JIGSAWSOUL vs Vila
DJ Kyrptonite vs bhardbeatz
MDOTDASUPAPRODUCER vs Bert Digits

Division 3 Matches
Eyebs vs Thorn
Radd vs Ill Clinton
See Money vs Wizard At Will
Mr Boss vs First Aid
Potencia Incisive vs JUT
ABCENTS vs Unknown
The Strange Neighbour vs Archaeologist
SnapS vs Vice
Eccentric vs MISTA MOZART
Phenom vs Skipperbeat
J-Trees vs Yeah Right
Prolifik vs Peaks
BUG vs Hannibal King


So LEAGUE PRODUCERS!, your first beats are due tomorrow! dont forget to submit them using the producer dashboard on the homepage by 17:30 GMT!!, dont leave it till the last minute as the little ol league site probably cant take a hammering of ALL of you guys trying to submit at the same time and we wont have time to chase forum pms/emails/myspace messages if you are trying to use those as a fallback!.

LEAGUE VOTERS, hold tight!, voting will open up at the beginning of next week to grade the beats and get some blap discussion underway.

LOUIS DEN/BEAT HEADS if you wanna get in on the voting/interacting with the site..all you have to do is request a login from us at the louisden forum, see the link below..hit the League2009 sub forum and post in the thread (with your email addy and name) and we'll hook it up as soon as we can.

and finally, hungry producers wanting in??..NAHHHHHHHHHHH sorry your time has passed...we did a final search for producers even after the division standings had been drawn up as there were some legitmate late commers but if you hollered before the forum went down and didnt get in touch via the blog posts I made you were either too late because we were full or missed the deadline...THAT IS IT.

Ok so see you Sunday for the live stream..where we'll be playing the matches we've received so far!.

see you then

LINKS LINKS LINKS!!

Request a League Voting Key here on the LDBB forums

The LouisDen League 2009 Mini Site

Louis Den Live Stream (tune in Sunday 18:00 for the first league replays!)

Follow us on Twitter for all the latest league news!

KOS.

Free Myke Forte Beat Tapes

More work in from the Louis' Den famalam, Myke has recently been going through the vaults to put out a series of free beat tapes for heads to vibe to, I've been told this isnt just it and theres more on the way so look out for them, they will appear here so dont worry about missing them!.

If you still need an introduction into the world of Myke Forte, then check the SPOTLIGHT BLOG back from Beat Cypher 04 in April for more info on the man!, oh and for those who slept Myke's alter emcee ego Myke Leforde dropped the PAY DUES EP digitally about a month ago so zup zup pick that up! (see the links).

ok enough bigging him um I've gotta clash Myke this sunday in the league GRRRRRRRRRRRRRR GAME FACE lol..

Up To Speed Beat Tape

Back To Scratch Beat Tape

Cop the Pay Dues EP by Myke Leforde

Beat Cypher 04 Spotlight on Myke Forte

Myke Forte's Myspace

Follow Myke Forte On Twitter

Wizard LP - Ear To The Beat OUT NOW!

Mann when I get to bloggin news about our Louis Den fam I've always got loads to write when it comes round to Wizard, its a testament to how hard working dude is, well now his dope new LP "Ear To The Beat" NOW at Suspect Packages, Wiz has been putting in work on the boards for the last couple years releasing a slew of free music OZB's, Wizard & Tai, Wizard mixtapes, Sausage Factory LP the list goes on, plus production work for Weatherproof (a whole LP), Verbal Kent and more..

So yeah now its time to dig in your wallets and support his studio produced album "EAR TO THE BEAT", released independendly Wiz has been on the grind and pulled out a full LP which features Sonnyjim, Farma G of Taskforce, Tragic Allies, Micall Parknsun, J Black, Verb T, Conflix and more!.

DL the snippets to see for yourself and check the links below and support our boy!...BANGERS ALL DAY MATE.

Download album snippets!

Buy the LP now on Suspect Packages

Wizards Myspace

Follow Wizard on Twitter


oh and as a bonus heres some beat battle footage of Wizard & Scizzahz Beat Battle @ Loopclash In Brighton a couple weeks back.

Wizard & Scizzahz - South Toast Radio Podcast

Just getting my blog on before catching up with more league business, just wanted to shed some light on the very dope SOUTH TOAST RADIO PODCAST thats put together by longtime Louis Den solider Wizard and his OSB'z partner Scizzahs, each week for almost the last 2 months they been getting busy with an hours worth of banter, dope US/UK hiphop, special guests, news and "Gun punch of the week" heh, umm so yeah check them out.

Gonna step my blog game up and get each volume up here but in case you miss any links Wiz circulates or dont catch it here they also broadcast on hhbradio every Tuesday from 6-7..make sure you check em out..I slept on it at first because I could never find the time to download em but guess what genuis!! theres usually a zshare link for each one so you can play em instantly!!

Alright so cool heres the back catalog!










South Toast Radio Podcast Vol 3
South Toast Radio Podcast Vol 2
South Toast Radio Podcast Vol 1

BANNG..

KOS.

Hudson Mohawke - Butter LP Sampler

Can't lie im kinda geeked for this release, Warp released news about the album almost a month ago and leaked the ultra dope jay-z face making Rising 5 <-- click to DL, and now it being a bit closer to the release have now let a sampler go. Been a fan of Hudsons work since the Heralds Of Change ish and Hudsons Heaters (which still gets burn!) so yeah check it out..I've just bumped it and a bit stuck to explain it hahaa bump it for yourself, it's some vintage futuristic bruce lee hands steez.

Download the sampler HERE Warp's Press Release (tour dates/more artwork) Hudson Mowhawke Myspace

KOS.

LOUISDEN FORUM IS BACK ONLINE

Ok we back!!, check the banner to enter the forum.

IF YOU REGISTERED AFTER APRIL 2009 YOU WILL NEED TO RE-REGISTER, all details regarding the server crash are located there...give it a read then holla at me if you are having any problems.

lets get it.

KOS.

Need League Login? / Forums

Ok, thanks for bearing with us, the boards WILL BE BACK TODAY!, re-installed everything and found a backup from a few months back so im most likely going to just restore the members and pour a little 7up out for the lost threads no point in puttin up old news so I think its a case of destroying and rebuilding but hopefully if you registered for the boards before april your logins should be intact.

Finally if you are struggling with the league site as you cant find your password then first check your spam folders...I did send out mails to each and everyone of you during dope ass beat 2 voting week but if you still cant find it dont panic, hit me up

kosyne[at]louisden[dot]com

and I'll get back to you as soon as possible.


NEW VOTING KEY REQUEST WILL HAVE TO WAIT TILL THE BOARD IS BACK, producer entry is CLOSSSSSSSED, If I said you were in then you are fast running out of time to holla at me (those who did I chased back up) and im unsure you can actually turn a beat in for Sunday now and its plenty work doing the matchups so im leaving it here..

bang

KOS.

Back but not quite :(

Ok so we out the otherside and it turns out there was a server fault over at our hosting company, no worries for the most part the shop is back and the league images should be working as well and be accessible just like before BUT...what makes this one a bit more interesting is the fact they DONT backup any data on our particular hosting plan.

Which means we've lost the forum!!...I can get it back again and im working on it right now but we will only have up to when I last backed up (which was a minute ago!!).

Best case scenario
I can get us back running to our last backup, heads who joined the forum less than 2 months ago will have to register.

Worst case scenario
Well lets not go there just yet eh?..

hold tight..

IF YOU REQUESTED A LISTENING KEY FOR THE LEAGUE OR WAS ONE OF BATCH OF NEW HEADS WHO WANTED TO JOIN HIT ME UP ASAP! YOU NEED YOUR SAMPLE FOR THIS WEEK!

Kosyne[At]louisden[dot]com

bang..

louisden.com down!!

What up world, dont be alarmed I've been told by our webhosts FREEOLA that they are experiencing difficulty with one of their webservers and as luck would have it, its the cluser Louisden.com is hosted on.

Its a bad look as it means its taken out the shop, parts of the league, the forum and more obviously the actual louisden.com front page. I've been told they're looking into it so please remain patient and keep it locked to see when we come back up.

Till then our blog is still accessible (you're reading it now heh...)

LEAGUE NEWBIES, hold tight soon as we're back I'll get you your details so you can collect your samples!.


Kos

Louis Den Beat Showcase @ Jazz Cafe London 25th Sept 2009

WE DONT STOP!...more Louis den live events, this time its the Beat Cypher, (the next main joint is coming October so look out for it!!) but until you can catch us at 3 spots between now and then (the first being Basement Sessions Live, Redbeards Single Launch) and finally our Jazz Cafe Beat Cypher (as part of Jehsts Young N Restless night).





London heads who STIIIIIIL havent made the trip to Birmingham (we've been doing these a year now!!) make sure you come and check us, even though we're appearing as act on the YNR night we need support before we can bring a full Beat Cypher event down south (Open Beats, PA's, Beat Battles etc). So yeah get at us!!.

Fresh beats from Kelakovski, Jaisu, Apollo and Mr Thing!!.

Redbeard Single Leaked! / Louis Den Blaporama 23rd Sept Birmingham

EATGOOD recording artist Redbeard has recently let a few tracks leak from his upcoming release "The Bearded Wonda" which is dropping Q4 on EAT GOOD RECORDS, similar to Sonnyjim's Trading Standards this is another release getting the LOUIS DEN seal of approval as it has production from LOUIS DEN contriubtors Kosyne, Kelakovski, Myke Forte, Jon Phonics, Percy Filth, Wizard, Roeg Du Casq and R2ThaBeatz!!..

Check the leaks out, the album is dropping soon!.
   

Agency Scum - Prod by Kelakovski
   

Bad Mannaz ft SK & Sam Stealth - Prod by Jon Phonics

Be sure to check Redbeards single launch if you're in the Midlands to see him perform the tracks live!! with a special one off Louis Den feature...BLAP-O-RAMA.





Redbeards single launch will be at the Yardbird Jazz Club in Birmingham (located in Paradise Place opp the Copthorne Hotel). As well as Beard performing the tracks from the single release we'll be having the first (of many hopefully) Louis Den BLAPORAMA's this one featuring Kelz, Myke Forte, Raul Supreme and Dockmini. These are Beat sets from Louis Den producers showcasing their latest material, unreleased beats, remixes and tracks. Unlike the Beat Cypher which is beat based Blaporama is more like a DJ set (not turn based) allowing the producers to set the mood better.

Make sure you come out if you're in the area its definately gonna be one to catch!.

Redbeards Myspace
Redbeards Twitter


Kos..

Louis Den @ Basement Sessions Live 12th Sept 2009

I've avoided trying to blog about this too early just so it doesnt slip away from the front page but hopefully you've noticed the entry in the live events section to the right. But heres more of a full write up about the event.

On 12th Septemeber 2009 Street Soul productions are putting together their first "Basement Sessions Live" event; a night celebrating hiphop culture and bringing together artists and performers of all elements from Birmingham and all over the country. On the bill are.

Jack Flash (Huddersfield)
Kashmere, Verb T, Dj Krooked Fingers & Cross Bone T (London)
Soweto Kinch (Birmingham)
Prose (London)
Unkle Festa (London)
Case Closed (Worcester)
Brotherman & DJ Flipz (London)

& DJ support from DJ Cro (Birmingham), Tuf Kut, J'da Kut (Sensei FM), Disorda (Suspect Packages), Iron Fingaz (Sensei FM)

Oh and us lot!!, yep at this event they'll be a LOUIS DEN BEAT CYPHER, in a similar vein to the EOW joint earlier this year in February, I'll be getting a whole load of LDBB regulars to come down and showcase a few beats in a fast moving set packed full of bangers...expect the Birmingham team of myself, Kelz, Eybs, Darren Paul, Raul Supreme, Dockmini, Myke Forte and other heads from further afield.

All this as well as the Bucks Fizz beat battle (taken from our traditional Beat Cypher) so bring beats on the night if you fancy your chances, this time they'll be prizes from Soapbox Clothing (the team who designed the ILL flyer) and King Apperal.

So yeah, If you STILL havent had a beat cypher experience then this is the perfect introductions, not to mention the rest of the dope bill.

More Info on the facebook page and Louis Den Forum


BASEMENT SESSIONS LIVE
a celebration of Hip Hop culture
12th September 2009 @ Space 2, The Custard Factory, Digbeth, Birmingham, B9 4AA

More info on the Basement Sessions live Facebook Event page

Louis Den Forum Post on Basement Sessions

Louis Den Beat Cypher 6 (FS Green, Sir OJ, Shears, Urban Monk) - Round Two

Gotta get this out there for anyone whose been sleeping!...If you havent noticed we've now changed the front page on LOUISDEN.COM (which should be your main point of entry to our sites/blog) and we've got an even more obvious button linking you to my man AB0181's Youtube channel which is the ONLY other place on the tubes you can get LouisDen content other than the ldbb one (which gets updated every now and again!).

Round 2 from the Cypher a couple weeks back which featured FS GREEN, SIR OJ, SHEARS and URBAN MONK. Crazy beats all night and in a similar fashion to Round 1, theres plenty more heaters in round 2..So yeah follow all the heads on twitter, subscribe to Pro's youtube and spread some comment love!!.

FS Green (Twitter | Web)

SIR OJ (Twitter | Web)

Shears (Twitter | Myspace)

Urban Monk (Myspace)

AB0181 on Twitter | On Youtube

Louis Den Beat Cypher 6 (FS Green, Sir OJ, Shears, Urban Monk) - Round One

Here it is the first round of beats from the beat cypher last week which featured FS Green, Sir OJ, Shears, Urban Monk. The first round of beats is always a tense one as it always sets the tone of the night Urban Monk came with a nice opener, Shears some gangsta ish, OJ with a soulful synth banger and FS finishing it off nicely, check the videos out for an exclsuive Sir OJ/FS Green intro and outro beat and always we got the best man for the job AB0181 on the cam...BANG...more videos coming.

FS Green (Twitter | Web)

SIR OJ (Twitter | Web)

Shears (Twitter | Myspace)

Urban Monk (Myspace)

AB0181 on Twitter | On Youtube

Dready Beats @ Louis Den Beat Cypher 6

Heavyweight producer and Birmingham export (dont get it twisted!!) swung by the Beat Cypher last week to judge the beat battle and play some exclusive blaps!, check the footage out below (courtesy of Louis Den badman on the cam AB0181), Dready played nothing but bangers (and some ultra exclusive stuff you had to be there to witness lol) but yeah amazing beats..peep game.

Hit up Dready on Twitter

AB0181 on Twitter | On Youtube

Louis Den League Now Boarding!

The idea of "Dope Ass Beat 2" was to get a beat from producers so that a "Week 0" of voting could take place and establish league divisions, well it seems as if some of the heads who registered for the league still havent sent one...and THIS IS YOUR LAST CALL, the voting pages will go up today (I wanted to do this on Friday but Beat Cypher runnings and a show at the weekend meant time was taken up..despite this being the aim) so you've had all that extra time and now TILL THIS EVENING to register for the league (providing your details on the boards and sending a dope beat either the to LOUIS DEN MYSPACE or to louisdenleague (at) gmail (dot) com. These are the registered league producers..

Registered League Producers.... ABCENTS , abstraKt Beats , Apatight , Archaeologist , Ayem , Bert Digits , bhardbeatz , BilL Breaks , BoomBaptist , bossthebeat , Budgie , Clay Davis , Darren Paul , DJ First Aid , DJ Kryptonite , Dockmini , Eccentric , Ed Strong , EvB , Itchy Digits , Jaisu , Jeekay , Jeh-Free , JIGSAWSOUL , JJ Malone , J-Trees , JUT , Kelakovski , Kosyne , magOwl , Mazzie , MDOTDASUPAPRODUCER , MISTA MOZART , Mr Dick , Myke Forte , MYKEE , Peaks , Phenom / Nyx , Potencia Incisive , Purpose of Tragic Allies , Pushing Buttons , Radd , Ratatouille Da Recept , Raul Supreme , SeeMoney , Shears , Sivey , Skipperbeat , Smith , SnapS , S-TYPE , Terror , The Strange Neighbour , Unknown , Vice , Villa , Wizard (uk) , Wizard At Will , Yeah Right , YOUNG ANDREZ , Zircon

if your name is NOT on this list you know what to do...
LAST CALL..DONT ACT LIKE YOU WERENT GIVEN A CHANCE!!


Louis Den Forums (Register for an account if you dont have one)
Louis Den Myspace

Beat Cypher 06 - DONE!

*PHOTO'S BY MAZZIE!!

So we made it out the other side!!, Beat Cypher 06 went off with a bang as we played host to amazing beats from FS Green, Sir OJ, Shears and Urban Monk. Its dope that each one gets taken to another level in some way and this one was no exception with some real heavyweight producers we played host to not just 1 international guest but 5!! as FS, OJ also had DJ/Producer Full Crate (who shared the wheels with CRO that night), ill producer Hayzee and their photographer Patrick.

Not only this but we were also blessed enough to have Dreaddy Beats (a Birmingham native at that too) roll through to judge the beat battle and let us hear some exclusive blaps straight out the macbook!

As usual we had the PA's do their thing which came from Taharka, and Chima Anya and Serocee in the second half, as with all these joints theres a lot of analyzing and runnings to break down so hopefully next time we'll keep taking things to the next level.

So YEAH, thanks for coming out and reaching people....beat heads in the Birmingham and surrounding area need to keep supporting us and (some how lol) we'll keep on bringing you these sick producers and their amazing talents (heads travelled from all over the UK, London, Scotland, Stoke On Trent, Peterborough) so THANK YOU for making it down for supporting Louis Den..

Thanks to FS Green, Sir OJ and Full Crate for providing the beats/sounds on the night..Amazing work, safe roads!! I hope you guys enjoyed Birmingham!!.

Thanks to SHEARS for ripping up the beat cypher and only adding to the dopeness on display and props to URBAN MONK for coming through and participating...(props to the two of them especially for holding out while we could sort you guys in the lineup!!..Den heads/Beat Cypher family..WE GOT YOU...just be patient!).

BIG PROPS AND RESPECT to Dready who made time to come to the Beat Cypher, judge the beat battle and hit off all us hungry blapfiends with some exclusives..(and I mean exclusives...we got sneak peaks into some amazing material), somone messing with those sort of calibre artists blessing an underground beat jam with heads of all sorts of abilities says a lot!!...PROPS!.

Our artists on the night Taharka, Chima Anya and Serocee...YOU ALL DID THE DAMN THING..THANK YOU!, especially getting messed up for time still got it together and made it happen, apologies for the madness in the second half...hecticness!.

Thanks to NEDOS of 2nd City Productions for the sound recording and managing the door at one point!.

Thanks to DJ CRO as always..work horse who has an equal if not more stressful runnings than myself with all this Beat Cypher junk!!.

AB0181, cam fam!! travelled from London from his new work placement just to handle capturing ish *e-daps* stay tuned to the ONLY youtube outlet for louisden (other than our sporradic own lol) for footage.

REDBEARD and SONNYJIM (Eatgood fam pop pop) and my lady Kate for helping setup and keep the night going as smooth as possible.

URBAN MIDNIGHT...manning the sonics getting it from all angles (not the easiest job!!)...Thanks as always.

KELZ/MYKE FORTE on the promo tip (them posters/flyers dont get out by themselves)

and finally last but in no means least my OG LOUISDEN fam, online/forum heads for making the trip and connecting!...BAM.

Next Up On LOUIS DEN! TODAY (Sat 15th, myself, Kelakovski, Myke Forte, Raul Supreme will be playing beats at Elev8te's fashion/talent show at Birmingham Library theatre...its a free (but ticketed) event so come through and see if you can get a ticket to catch the show League voting will be open from MONDAY!! hit the forums to collect your logins/voting keys. Next month (12th Sept) we've got a massive ldbb soundclash/sign up beat battle at the Basement Sessions live night (more details on that soon). More London beat showcase action in September...shhhhh and when we roll back round BEAT CYPHER 07!!!!, lucky number 7.....

oh and before I go...updated the shop as ALL T-SHIRTS are now out of stock..they gone!! if you didnt get one sorrrry!! hey they've taken a few months to shift so you did have time, an order in the states scooped up the last 2 (fresh new design coming soon!).

PEACE

.KOS

Louis Den Beat Cypher 06 Spotlight - SIR OJ

Not sure if im gonna get one from Urban Monk *COUGH..HINT* lol, but heres the last for now!! Amsterdam/SlumGullions SIR OJ...baaang, read the gems download the goods!.



Hey!!, please introduce yourself to everybody; let us know who you are what you do and how long you've been doing it!.
My name is SirOJ a composer, beatcreator, producer and sometimes songwriter.

Was there a defining moment (event / hearing a record etc) that led you into making beats / becoming a producer?.
Eversince I was a kid I was creating music with tapedecks, piano, guitar and some percussion. When my dad bought a PC it became possible to create some grooves with a few simple software tools. After I tried a lot tools, a friend gave me a copy of Reason 1. That's when it all started!

What was your first peice of equipment and what were those beats like?, any interesting stories about things were doing to begin with / finding your feet?
The first equipment I used producing real beats we're my dad's PC and a old Yamaha keyboard, wich I used as a midi-controller.
Because I took piano classes and I played a lot of jazz and funk all my beats became 'funky' and 'jazzy'. Not realy straight up hiphop. When I discovered the sounds of the legendary producer J Dilla I got inspired because of the balance between jazz, soul music and hiphop he managed to put in his beats.

Whats the one bit of advice youd give to anyone starting out today?
Make sure you know something about music in general. Do not just copy everything you here on MTV and radio.
Just find your own way trough all the different subgenres within Hiphop.

What can heads expect from you at LOUIS DEN BEAT CYPHER?
Some typical OJ shit I guess. Some bangers, some crazy crack music and some other shits to vibe on!!!

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Louis Den Beat Cypher 06 Spotlight - SHEARS

More spotlight action, this time from Shears who'll be representing Louis Den tonight (of course we'd hope after tonight all producers are affiliated!! but for those who dont know Shears has been contributing to the movement from day one!)


Hey!!, please introduce yourself to everybody; let us know who you are what you do and how long you've been doing it!.
I'm Shears, the only beatmaker in Bristol who isn't making dubstep and i've been doing it for about 5 years. I make a bunch of styles because I get bored of doing the same thing and have an OCD need to learn everything, and have worked with Kyza, Stig of the Dump, Dubbledge, Grimlok and a bunch of others.


Was there a defining moment (event / hearing a record etc) that led you into making beats / becoming a producer?.
It started from DJing, I learnt at school then got given record collections from family and friends and realised how often I found stuff that had been used to make hip hop, that moved onto finding stuff that sounds it like it should have been used until I thought i'd have a go myself.

What was your first piece of equipment and what were those beats like?, any interesting stories about things were doing to begin with / finding your feet?
Firstly I had Music on the playstation where I churned out trance bangers on the daily and then moved into the big leagues and got Hip Hop Ejay on the PC where not only could I make stuff that sounds like the Seinfeld theme tune but I could do fake Premo scratches on top with the authentic looking turntable that came with it. The Korg Electribe ES-1 was the first proper beatmaking thing I had, and the beats I made sounded so amateur and cheap, you can only use 9 pads/sounds per beat and so none of them had proper basslines and the drums were rigid, or boombap as it's better known (just kidding).

Whats the one bit of advice you'd give to anyone starting out today?
Put some thought into your beats and aim really high...famous producers aren't on a pedestal, anyone can make something as good as them if they put some effort in. That's not supposed to sound super aspirational, it just means don't make quick stuff just so you can say 'yeah, that's alright' and move onto the next one since it's a bit of a production line ethic and often leads to average stuff. That's just me though, do whatever you enjoy I guess.


What can heads expect from you at LOUIS DEN BEAT CYPHER?
A mixture of things, i've been messing around with some synth beats lately so I might try some of those out to see what people think but will also have sampled stuff to fall back on, aiming for bangers but we'll see what people think on the 13th...

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