Back to Basics
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Bennie Lewis III
Contributing Writer

What’s up Kansas City! This is the first of many columns, that I will be blessing the town with. The name of this column is called, Back to the Basics, because I’m going to always keep the content of this column simple and blunt. I have always supported the local hip-hop scene by trying to always network with as many artists, producers, clubs, DJs, and promoters that I possibly can. Feel free to respond to this column with any questions, comments, or suggestions.

The first basic subject I’m going to touch on, for everyone reading this is; “How to record a hit record with a $1000 budget”. Since the music business is a crap shot. Nothing is guaranteed or promised. So if you are trying to get in this business, there is no time for slacking. Also, it takes money to compete in the music industry. This is a business, where the competition has a $100,000 dollar budget for one video. Yet, we still have local artists that hesitate to invest $100 for a good beat. It’s time to get pass the small-minded and selfish local mentality. Everyone that is involved in this Kansas City rap scene needs to work together, so everybody gets an opportunity to eat from this music game.

“How to record a hit record with $1000 dollars”. First you get a hot beat, not a beat that you like, but a beat that everybody likes. If the beat is some of that hard slap, I’m talking that slap that hits, even before the lyrics are wrote, you know it’s hot. It really doesn’t matter who is rapping or what you are rapping about if you have an incredible instrumental. If you don’t believe me, just ask the Ying Yang Twins or Lil Jon. In Kansas City we have a lot of producers with those neighborhood specials, $100 beats. You might even get some beats for $50 in Kansas City if you buy three or more. Those beats are cool when you just out trying hustle an album out of the trunk. But if you are trying to get radio and club play, you have to invest in your product.

In Kansas City there are a few good producers, but I feel that only three have undeniable recent hits on their resumes. Cku Ku Bird changed the local sound, with his production on “I can’t help myself” by Young Kev. Icy Roc produced the “It’s Alive” single by Tec-9, and helped that artist sell 23,000 CD’s in Kansas City in three days. Last but certainly not least, Don Juan has an extensive hitlist with local and national artists. There are other hot producers in Kansas City like Hobo Tone, I know he has some top-of-the-line production, Dalimma is sick on beats, Opie Taylormade is consistent with his heat, and Lil R is a bona fide hitmaker too. One common thing I know about all these producers is that they can make you a $50 beat, but can they can also bless you with a hit record for about $500. Dr. Dre charges $500,000 for one instrumental. Why, because he knows that his work will take any artist, to nothing less than Gold album status.

You can get a Neptune beat for $250,000 and Pharaell might even sing on your hook, because you are cool. Kanye West might hit you for $150,000 a beat. Hell, the Track Boyz in St. Louis are going to want at least $25,000 and they produced “Right Thurr” for Chingy. In Kansas City, rap artists can get an industry quality instrumental for $500. That’s better than having a direct connection to Pablo Escobar if you can’t understand the resources we have in Kansas City. Any independent record label could probably contract a whole album with one of our local producers for probably $2,500 to $3,500. That’s another subject, let’s get back to recording this hot single.

After you get with a premier producer from Kansas City, deposit 50% of the producer fee and you and the producer should sign a work-for-hire contract. This is usually a non-exclusive agreement between two parties to provide specific goods and services to each other. Once your producer has cooked you up a hot track, pay the other 50% for the instrumental and now it’s time to record. If you go to record a song and you haven’t paid your producer, trust me, you will be starting off your business with some bad karma. Criminals keep their lawyers paid, artists must make sure the producer is compensated or you might find yourself cutoff from a needed asset for future hits.

Studio time in Kansas City costs anywhere from $125 to $50 an hour at any of the better studios. Sure you can record on your computer at home, but a professional recording should always be recorded at a professional studio. Otherwise, it’s just unprofessional. Let’s average our studio time to $75 an hour. I suggest at least two hours of studio time to record your hit record. If you can’t record a four-minute song in at least two hours, you shouldn’t even be allowed in a studio. Two hours at $75, that’s $150. Now we are $650 into our budget. A song can be mastered from anywhere from $35 to $75 an hour. Let’s spend $125 on a good mix and mastering, now we are $775 into our budget. We’ve spent $500 for the hot track, invested $255 with a good studio, so that we sound as good as Jay-Z.

After spending only $775, we are now ready to press up advance copies of the hit single. This is usually an unedited version of the song to test on the public through your local club DJs. Image is everything in the entertainment world. If your product is hot, it should look like it’s hot too. I can’t even begin to tell you about all of the demos that I receive that are on CD-R with handwritten permanent ink. That’s immediately letting me know that your product isn’t hot, because I don’t see the investment. I respect the effort, but if your stuff is hot and you know it, it’s because you put the proper time and investment into your product. I see ads in the local paper that can press up 100 CDs for $100. I know I can get my CD-Rs with on-disc laser print for about $1.50 apiece. Let’s buy 50 discs at $75 from my manufacturer. Now we’ve spent $850. Budget remaining $170.

We’ve bought a hot track, recorded the song, and pressed up 50 demo discs. We still have $150 left to use at our discretion. Use the extra $150 to invest in some flyers or you might want to buy a drink or two for your favorite club DJ, when he plays your hit song while you are in the club. It’s how the players play. We all want our hard work to eventually, pay off.

Now that we’ve compensated our producer, studio, manufacturer, and DJ, everyone involved in the production of the hit single can take credit and capitalize when the artists gets recognition and the record label achieves success. Next issue, I’m going to bless you with some marketing and promoting strategies for your new hit record.