(Photo By Dat Piff)
Brew CIty’s homegrown producer Monsta Mynd is new to The Illixer and to a lot of ears. The 28 year-old beat-smith has been crafting instrumentals for a couple of years now and he is looking to take that next step by letting people know that …. well, he’s got a few bangers! With influences from Kanye West to Jim Jonsin, he is definitely off to a good start sound wise. In that same model of artistic exploration like the greats before him, Monsta Mynd took an interesting approach to his new Dope Beats Vol. 1 beat tape. For this snack-sized 10 track project, Monsta sampled OVER 100 songs (that’s 10 plus unique samples PER completed record). Let’s take a closer look at this ambitious project.
“Memphis”
Serving as the intro track, it kicks things off right. It has a spiritual undertone from the different church organs and piano samples he chops up. The kicks bump and the 808s add that heavy feel. The rest of the percussions are eq’ed so right that the claps/snare layers smacked (I love a good snare). The coolest part was hearing the Martin Luther King Jr. sample from his last speech in Memphis. Add that with the gospel choir vocals and the essence of the track is cemented.
“Patron”
Bouncer and a head nodder from the jump with this record. The first four bars lead in with four to five separate guitar chops and hand claps. Then he layers light Caribbean like percussion on top of it along with perfectly toned 808s and dope snare/claps yet again. Even in a short amount of time he picks out the right transitions, drop and all. My only issue with this track is the “Hey” vocal sample that gets repetitive real quick, but still it’s fire as a whole.
“Cuban Cigar”
This was a nice close out to the tape. The record starts with warped horn samples and transitions into big anthem sounding stabs for a really smooth yet epic sound. The drums are easy on this last track which made it all the more better for winding down the beat tape. As it falls on the shorter side, there wasn’t much change throughout the track. But I like its calculated placement.
**Final Thoughts: Overall I have to say, as someone who produces from time to time, this is impressive to me. You can hear the heavily layered sounds on every cut, but never does it sound like notes clash or loops are forced. The records are well thought out and gel something ridiculous. I only wish I knew what was sampled and where because it would be interesting to examine. Monsta Mynd is raw and has some raw talent, kudos. -Real McCoy
