Interview with The Cratez

Interview with The Cratez

    

  Sitting in the lab cooking up beats takes time and precision for the average hip hop producer. The hip hop game has expanded its sound throughout the world. This includes Germany’s production duo, The Cratez, who made their way into the hip hop scene lacing tracks for various artists. Vans Beats and Dayweed Beats open up about their production sound, their work and working with artists such as Access Immortal, Empire Nation and Jamar.

1)            It’s been a pleasure interviewing you guys, The Cratez are in the building. Introduce yourselves and tell me how you guys meet?

Thanks for having us man, we go by the name of Dayweed Beats & Vans Beats! Together we form the production duo The Cratez from Germany. Pleasure to be here.

2)            How you guys get into production?

We were always fans of Hip Hop and since we both had computers, we started messing around with some production software on there.. The rest is history!

3)            Vans and Dayweed, you both originally from Germany. What is the hip hop scene like in Germany?

The Hip Hop scene is actually pretty big, but we prefer the US sound because Hip Hop was originated there. The artists from the US underground are crazy!

4)            Give a list of what artists you have produced for?

The first people that come to our mind right now are Sean Price, Torae, Pries, Cappadonna,& Project Pat. We produced for many more artists though.

5)            Some of your beats you don’t sample. What are the advantages for not sampling?

Well, you don't have to clear the samples if you want to use them commercially. But that's not the reason why we don't sample; it's just nice to switch things up sometimes.

6)            One of my favorite beats you guys laced up was “Bag full of Shawg” by Access Immortal featuring Verse Essential. The beat had a commercial influence but a cool underground bounce that hit every angle. How that track came about?

Thanks man! Yeah, Access Immortal has been a close artist with us for a long time. We are actually planning something together right now and since we send him beats on a regular basis, he just hopped on this beat and the track came out. Shoutout to Access!

7)            You also did beats for Empire Nation and worked with Access Immortal. How was it working with Access Immortal and Empire nation?

Working with Access was always a dope thing, since he actually hit Dayweed up back in 2009 or something and ever since then we were really cool with him. It's always nice to work with people you connect with, since there's more room for communication and everything is very relaxed.

8)            You also produced Bronx rapper Jamar’s mixtape “My Time is now”. How was it working with him?

Jamar is a very close friend to us, almost like family. We are planning a new release with him right now as well and it's always nice to connect with him over skype and to knock out new music. Shoutout to him and the fam 1st movement.

9)            Any artist that you haven’t produced yet you would like to do beats for?

Probably Rick Ross, Stalley, Kanye or A$AP Rocky. They keep it Hip Hop and really got a big movement behind them. We could definitely to something great with them.

10)         Do producers have the same problems as rappers of getting their name out?

It's a 50/50 situation. Artists don't work without the producer, and producers don't work without an artist. It's all about working hard and having good connections, so it's probably just as hard for producers as it is for rappers - you just have to work very consistent but still deliver quality music.

11)         Describe the Cratez sound.

 Versatile, melodic and soulful beats inspired by the golden era of Hip Hop music.

12)         Is there a different production style between a Vans beat and a Dayweed beat.

Well, I think that every producer kind of strives for an own sound. We are all inspired by nearly the same artists but all have a different flavor, that's why we click so well. We definitely sound different because we still try to keep it versatile, but when it's a Cratez beat, you will definitely notice.

13)         What are the advantages of working as a group production team?

It's like a movement, you can feed of each other's connections and give beats to people you wouldn't normally be in contact with. Basically a win win situation, because one hand washes the other!

14)         I’m definitely feeling the multiple production teams. What makes your beats stand out from other group production teams such as the Beatnuts, Midi Mafia, The Neptunes, and Arkatech Beats to name a few.

That's really hard to say, I wouldn't say that we stand out from others. We just try to make good music, regardless what other people do. We appreciate everyone out there just doing good music because they keep us inspired too. Producers feed of each other's creative energy.

15)         The Cratez were four producers. What happened to Mdot Da Supa and Freek Van Workum?

Well, The Cratez is only Vans & Dayweed now. Mdot & Freek left the crew, because it was too hard to keep up the communication overseas and from country to country. It was nothing personal though, we are still really cool and close business partners as well as friends.

16)         What kind of equipment do you guys use?

Logic studio and a bunch of plugins and MIDI controllers! Logic gang salute, HAHA!

17)         Take us to a Cratez beat in the studio session.

Wow, that's so hard to describe. Normally we just sit down and kick it with each other since we are room mates now. When we hear a sample or got a particular idea, we just start producing and feeding off each other's creativity. It's always a very relaxed and fun process, because most of the time we are simply clowning around!

18)         You guys are on the roc battle and soundcloud displaying your beats. I know you got crazy recognition from upcoming artists.

Yeah, we try to use any platform we can as good as possible. So far, we have been growing as far as skills and marketing goes a lot and still try to keep the music coming. A lot of new artists hit us up on a daily basis, so everything is going quite well right now. It's definitely a blessing and we hope to maintain that as long as possible.

19)         Do you see yourselves branching into other roles besides production?

We both have a backup plan, since we study besides the music. Hopefully we can keep doing this as long as possible though, since we just love this music!

20)         What’s next for the Cratez?

Hopefully some placements! We just got into submitting beats heavily, so our fingers are crossed!

21)         Are we going to see The Cratez production album in the works?

We just produced a whole album for Born Divine called "Black Diamondz", it will probably come out in October. Other than that, we got stuff in the works with Jamar, Rocko Stedy and Access Immortal right now.

22)         Any advice for any up and coming producers!

Quality over quantity! Consistency is the key to recognition!

23)         Where can artists come check your beats at?

You can check us out at http://thecratez.com - we appreciate every single supporter! Much love and respect!