AllHipHop.com: Any advice for up and coming producers who are shopping their beats for free just to get placements?
Dre: To be honest, Cool and I started giving out beats for free in Miami. You have to create a demand to get paid for something. If you know you have something that’s goin’ to f**k the game up, you have to get it out. A producer should rather have his beat heard on the mix show or in the strip club, than in his basement or garage because homeboy ain’t have the bread to pay for the beat. Just let the motherf****r know you need that shout out on the record. We had every n***a in Miami rappin’ over a Cool and Dre beat, and you knew because them motherf*****s said “Cool and Dre on this one!” And if the motherf****r didn’t like the rapper, he damn sure said, “Them Cool and Dre n****s can make some beats.” And then one day a n***a came knockin’ on that back door in the garage, asking if we were Cool and Dre and how much we charge for beats. That’s how it works.
Cool: We always tell up and coming producers, if you out there six or seven months and you shoppin’ your CDs with 30 or 40 beats out to all the popular, local rappers and you don’t hear one of your beats on a mixtape, or nobody’s calling you back…you gotta check your beats, because something’s wrong with them. Either you’re ahead of your time or you’re just not on time. A producer is like a diamond in the rough. If you’re beats are hot, they’re gonna shine through anything.
