The hottest producer of 2014 reveals the science behind Jeremih’s “Don’t Tell ‘Em” and other massive tunes
DJ Mustard’s sound is a feeling, a slow-tempo strut if you will. And while people have taken to calling the 24-year-old’s signature concoctions “ratchet”—all plinking keyboards, slower BPM, repetitious handclaps—in 2014 whatever association that term once had with the underground began to fade away.
The South Central Los Angeles-raised DJ-producer, born Dijon McFarlane (hence the name), rose to prominence in 2012 with Tyga’s infectious “Rack City.” In 2014, he fully thrust himself into mainstream hip-hop, R&B and pop circles, infiltrating Top 40 radio, with hits like Kid Ink’s “Show Me” and Jeremiah’s burning “Don’t Tell ‘Em,” not to mention his groundbreaking work on fellow SoCal native YG’s momentous debut album, My Krazy Life. All helped Mustard further stake his claim as the architect of a now-ubiquitous, in-demand sound.
Kanye West. Rick Ross. Snoop Dogg. Fergie. Those are just a few of the mega-wattage artists Mustard has worked with over the past 12 months; he also released his own debut album, 10 Summers, this past fall. For a onetime child DJ, whose longtime friend and collaborator Ty Dolla Sign (for whom Mustard produced the hit singles “Paranoid” and “Or Nah”) taught him how to create beats, it’s been an undeniably fast and furious rise. “He literally started from DJ’ing in my living room,” Ty told me earlier this year. “I taught him how to do beats. And now to see him doing beats for me, it’s amazing. It’s so tight seeing his growth.”
If it all seems rather unbelievable, know that much of Mustard’s appeal lies in the cool, casual, laid-back nature of his tracks. It’s a perfect time for an artist like himself: in a bitter world encased in ever-present turmoil, it’s just easier to slip in your earbuds and nod along to a DJ Mustard beat.
But what says the man himself? Cuepoint caught up with DJ Mustard on a recent afternoon, amid his jet-setting schedule, to learn firsthand some of the science behind his technique. Read on below as DJ Mustard puts a momentous 2014 into perspective.
DJ Mustard: There’s not one way to start producing. I started off DJ’ing. My uncle was a big DJ, it was kind of a family tradition to DJ. He had his own DJ company, and me and my little cousin, we started DJ’ing with him. He actually let me DJ at a party when I was 11 and my mom and uncle showed up and they saw how good I was. So I started DJ’ing my own parties: like high school parties, stuff like that. And that introduced me to the whole idea of learning to listen to what it is that people want to hear. I just instinctively knew sounds. I just always was listening, hearing music. Once I met Ty Dolla Sign, he kind of taught me the ropes of producing. He gave me a production pack, and showed me how to use this computer program called Reason. And then I just started making beats every day until I got better and better.
Being a successful producer is about making sure the outcome of the whole record is complete.
That, after someone records a rap or sings, it sounds like exactly how you wanted it to sound. That’s what being a producer’s about. Not just about the beats, it’s moreso about the overall sound. Of course, you do make the beats and you make sure that’s right. But then also, if you’re in a session with a rapper, a big part of producing them is telling them, “Yo, this part ain’t right. I think this should go this way.” That’s really what being a producer is. It’s also about just having an ear for music. And once you prove that, the artists, they just know: “Maybe he’s right.” They have faith in what you’re saying. At first though I was kinda bad, but I just worked hard to get better at the craft. And then once I started playing stuff for YG he was like, “This is getting better!” And he just started rapping over it.
People don’t understand: when you’re producing, you can have a great beat but sonically the sound might not sound like how it’s supposed to sound. That is until someone who knows what they’re doing actually touches the beat. A lot of people don’t realize it’s a skill; it’s not just making beats all day every day and hoping they pop. It’s not like that. You gotta pick the claps, you gotta pick the right snaps. It’s like putting together a painting. Most of the time, when you’re a producer you have your set sound—you have your set kicks, you have your set snaps, you have your set claps. So it don’t take that long to create new songs after you got your set package that you do. But it’s about how you use it and tweak it. And then it’s about layering the vocals and instruments on top of that.
Growing up I looked up to Dr. Dre, Timbaland, Pharrell, Swizz Beats. They all had their own sound and they had their own taste. I liked them all for different reasons. The slower beats, the slower sounds, like 80 BPM, 90 BPM, stuff like that stuff was gone when I started. It was an open lane. Now it’s dope that people want to be doing something that I influenced. That zone, it’s not like I created it; it’s been there for a while. So I don’t think I would describe my sound in a certain way. Because you can get one slow song like Ty Dolla Sign’s “Or Nah” or you can a song like Kid Ink’s “Show Me” or you can get one like YG’s “My Nigga” or you can get Jeremih’s “Don’t Tell Em.” It’s almost like you never know what you gonna get. But it’s been flattering to see people doing a similar thing as me. Still, there’s a lot of people I haven’t worked with: Drake, Jay Z, Beyoncé. God willing, I’ll work with them all this coming year.
But every artist works differently. Fergie, who I did “L.A. Love (la la)” with, she’s just always excited. She’s very, very very into it. She’s not afraid to ask questions. When I first heard Jeremih’s “Don’t Tell ‘Em,” for example, it was halfway done. Jeremih’s producer actually produced the majority of the record. And when you’re doing a sound like that, when you’re slowing down the BPM’s, slowing down the hits and stuff like that, they naturally brought it to me. I saw if I could tweak the drums, the snaps and sequence the beat better and get more out of the song. Once I finished I was like, “Yah, this is gonna be a huge record!” So yes, me and Jeremih’s producer collaborated on it together and it took off.
I don’t know if I’d call myself a production consultant because I would never take a full beat from somebody and throw my tag on it and be like “Yo, I produced it!” I don’t like taking credit for nobody else’s record. I’m a good ear though. So If I feel like a song’s good already I’m not gonna touch it. I don’t want to take away from the record. I don’t care how big my name is. At the end of the day it’s about the music. It’s just like, if I can hear a song and I can make changes and make it better then yeah, let’s do it. But if I can’t make it better, I’mma let that producer have his shine.
I still go to the studio every day. There’s definitely not a day that goes by when I haven’t been in the studio. I’m always working.
