Please Listen to My Demo

Fenway Park, Aerosmith, Tea Parties, Baked Beans, stranglers. The city of Boston conjures up many idea's. Sadly Hip Hop is not one of them. Okay, okay, there's Mr. Lif (who was recently named an Okayplayer Artist.), Akrobatik, and DJ Fakts one who make up indie darlings The Perceptionists. There's Guru, who mostly claims NY and then there's ... Benzito. Anyone living outside the cities walls would be scratching their head to think of anyone else. So I asked Boston beat maker Demo to put me up on the hip hop of his hometown. "The Boston music scene oddly enough is starting to make sense. Before we had a serious identity crisis and we had people who made self inflicted exiles to reach their goals. Now people are staying in Boston to reach their goals. We're starting to band together. This city has so much talent and obviously we all can't make it "big" but we are starting to push each other to make it big. We are using the same winning formula that put NY, down south, and west coast on the map. Boston is the new expansion team to the game... Its gonna be real serious real soon!"

Demo started producing about 5 years ago while he was attending the Art Institute of Boston. "At that point I decided if I'm going to pay for these classes... I might as well be absolutely serious about my music, my craft, and my career. Prior to that I was making beats for a group I was in but that was only cause we were sick of industry beats, so I took the initiative to get on the keys and bang. I was never really serious about producing until then."

Since then he's worked with Baltimore emcee Wordsmith, West cost emcee Rasco (on a song that features Boston legend Reks), and the aforementioned emcee Akrobatik of the Perceptionists. He's scored for a web broadcast called www.thebreakdown.tv, mixed and produced a song or two for the lovely Making the Band finalist Martii Garcia and it doesn't stop there. He writes too. He's written articles for hiphopgame.com, hiphopsite.com and Floss magazine.

He's also the lead producer for Groundwork records who has recently signed
with music powerhouse Interscope records. "The first artist to be released on the label is R.E.K.S. Its a beautiful place to be. The people within Groundwork records are all into the music heavy. They all love music and they all want to succeed for all the same reasons."

Asked about his influences he names top notch artist like DJ Hitek, DJ Honda, Jay Dilla (R. I. P.) , and Timbaland but his number one influences are his mother and Mother Nature. "My mother is one of the strongest people I know. She's been through so much and had so little but she gave us so much and tried to keep us from all the horrible things she had to see. She's taught me things that not only helped me in life but helped me in music but I think the most over looked influence is the world. I find music in everything. The city makes beats, my stove makes beats, nature makes beats."

In his relatively short time in the game he's gained quite a bit of knowledge. "I've learned 2 things that makes sense to me. 1. You are always by yourself. This place isn't for the lazy, the needy, or the bewildered. You have to work, you have to hustle, you have to be self sufficient to a certain extent and you need to be focused. If you're not you'll be hard pressed to create a niche for yourself and to be happy with your position in the game. The second thing I learned is that evolution is rapid and constant. The game is so fickle you have to be "up to the
times". Me as a producer I'm expected to make "hot music" but "hot" is relative as much as it is trendy. Being hot isn't what it was 2 months ago. The industry is a present day operation, it hardly looks ahead. My take on music today is that it's music. I am not a fan of all of the music coming out. I actually think 70% of it is "quick money" music and is really just not hitting me like the music I grew up on. And maybe that's a generation thing, or it could be because I didn't produce it (laughs). But I spoke to Buckshot one day and he told me "it could be worse, hip hop could be dead right now. If people don't think hip hop can die you just need to look at disco music" after that I began to realize how right he was. I will never hate on music. I'll simple just say it ain't for me unless its clearly garbage and sub par for whatever reason. "

Asked his goals in the industry he replies simply: "My goal is as simple as simple is. To be the BEST. As general as that may seem its intentionally like that. I want to produce obviously but if I can successfully pull off an imprint label and make a great home for artists, or manage a platinum group, or be the best CEO money can buy then that would make me happy. In anything I do I want to conquer, leaving no prisoners. [In the future] I see myself working. I see myself in the lab working harder that I've ever worked. I see myself on a desk armed with a pen. I see myself looking at a trophy case full of accolades. I see myself happy but hungry. I just think I'll smile more and breathe easier." Enough said.

To hear more of Demo's work, including and exclusive remix of Lupe Fiasco's "Kick Push" check out his website

Lee H. Tillman is a Los Angeles based MC/writer. For more information go to calogerodean.com

Post your thoughts.