WRITTEN, PERFORMED, RECORDED, AND PRODUCED BY ME.
What if every time you played your song for someone and they asked "Who made the beat?", the answer was "Me!"? Arguably the most important variable to becoming a successful rapper in today's day and age is the instrumentals. Some of the most successful musical acts are defined by the chemistry and sound that they've developed with a specific producer. Whether it be 21 Savage and Metro Boomin, Kenny Beats and Rico Nasty, or Playboi Carti and Pi'erre Bourne; the contribution of the producers in these duos has sculpted the sound that these rappers are known for. Even more noteworthy are rappers that produce their own music. Becoming comfortable with both aspects of the music process allows the artist to really hone in on their sound and differentiate themselves from the rest.
Zymoonofmerkury (Hip-Hop artist name) also known as Lunarpanels (Hip-Hop producer name) is a self produced rapper from Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, now based in Philadelphia. Since he first began releasing music in 2015 his sound has remained unique and concise. As artists start off in their musical journey and begin to grow, we often notice stark changes in their cadence, flow, or overall genre of music. It can take time before they settle on the sound that satisfies them. A large part of this journey is being able to find the people, whether it be a producer or an engineer that can help bring their desired sound to life. However, from the listeners point of view, Zymoonofmerkury has remained consistent in his sound and style of music. His hard hitting 808's paired with etherial melodies and his nonchalant delivery has been representative of his music since he got his start in 2015. The contrast between his identity as a rapper and style of production is extremely concise in the best way possible. It shows that he is very aware of his sound and always able to deliver on that. We see this artistic awareness in other self-produced rappers such as Pi'erre Bourne, whose beats transition so smoothly its hard to pinpoint the start of a new song. Another example is JPEGMAFIA, whose beats are so ridiculous that only he can rap over them.
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If you follow Zymoon's music it is clear that his array of musical abilities are a large source of artistic pride and confidence. Go to the "About" section of his Spotify and all it reads is "Lunarpanels | Engineer | Producer | Vocalist | Songwriter". In a day and age of ghost writers and youtube beats it's refreshing to find an artist that is responsible for everything you hear from them down to the mix.
Although the learning curve for softwares such as Ableton Live, Logic Pro, and FL Studios is no easy task, the rewards are worth the challenge. Being able to engineer a studio session on a song that you produced and wrote is not only a liberating skill but it's quite the flex. Additionally, outside of flexing on your peers, an artist with these skills will have an easier time navigating a music industry that is evolving to favor artists that are independent and self sufficient in their process.
