I am a fan of this dude Depakote. He is one of the few beat making musicians that uses soul samples that i like. He does it with care, he handles the beats like a pro. His songs stand out when it comes to producing good mid tempo mid-90’s type goodness. I interviewed him, here it is… enjoy!
Who are you? What do you do? Where do you stay?
Well my name is Erik Lopez. I go to school next semester at Cal State Fullerton University to complete my B.A in Music composition. I’m From Orange County California. My cities name is Garden Grove, and no it’s not like the TV show. It’s much different from what you see. I’ve been making soulful hip hop beats for like 7 years now.
You seem to have a very positive outlook on music, being diagnosed with bi-polar disorder, does music seem to help you? Is music your Depakote, so to say?
Very Much. Going through my Bi-polar disorder was and still is hard. When I make music I escape from my problems. It feels good expressing myself and to have people relate to what I make.
What do you want to get out of making the music you make?
I want to make people feel. I want to connect with people on a spiritual level. Like when they listen to my music I want them to feel what I felt when I made it. When I listen to music it brings me so many feelings. It makes me feel Sad, happy, mad, horny, routy, crazy .lol etc. Music is an ultimate soul connecter. I want my music to have meaning. That’s why music now a days is crap cause it’s not made from the heart.
Do you tour? Are you planning to tour ever?
No I don’t tour. Lol. I’m a broke artist. haha. It would be a dream of mine to tour. I want to go overseas so bad. They appreciate music so much there.
I have noticed a recent jump in interest in instrumental music, i feel it is because of lack of substance in the lyrics that are wrote, do you have any opinion on why more and more folks would be feeling instrumental songs lately?
I agree man. It’s sad because I see so much dope emcees getting slept on. I make my music for emcees to flow on. I don’t make so many crazy drum patterns on my beats because I want some dope emcees to spit on them like bring it back 94 style.lol. I feel that the instrumental game is going up because it is so versatile now. The producer doesn’t need the emcee anymore. A lot of emcees out there are stuck up and hard to work with. I use to listen to Hip Hop for the producers when I grew up. I have a feeling that with the new beat generation there is gonna be some dope emcees that can have enough skill to follow the abstract patterns. It’s gonna be sick!
Who got you into this instrumental thing? You used to write lyrics, why did you stop?
Um I always wanted to be a part of something with hip hop. When I grew up we didn’t have Fl studio and reason and acid. Hardware was a shit load. So all I could do was flow over instrumentals. When I got to college I had a couple of buddies , and we would freestyle together. We started a fuck around crew called welfare recipients. Lol. We would just do weird shapeshifters type music. My friend ran across a program called fruity loops and started fucking with it. I would write my rhymes then sit and watch him do it. I said yo I need this. So I had to save my money to buy a computer with enough ram to use it on.LOL. It was hard to use.lol. I have so many crappy starter beats. I then heard about reason. That was even harder. fuck! I wanted to make beats so bad. I sat there and learned the basics of the program.
How do you feel about mainstream music these days? do you have an opinion on Corporate music compared to underground music?
I hate Coporate music. I believe in the illuminati. So I think it is set up.lol. I believe music can change minds and people and as long as someone or something can control that there will be no change for the better. Just sheep. Don’t get me wrong I like a lot of club bangers.lol there is just no balance in the industry. It’s sad that some underground artist have to change their music to compete with the majors, but I understand why it happens. I have faith because I don’t want to be a baller. I just want to have a small fan base, so I can keep the water on and make more music.lol
You see all this 80’s revival shit, i am sure, how do you feel about it? Do you rock skinny jeans? LOL
It’s a phase .lololol. Hell no I can’t rock skinny jeans I weigh 340 pounds. hahaha. I think it looks corny though.hahahahaha
When making your music do you have any specific routines?
Um. Not really. I don’t’ drink or smoke ,but I can eat. Oh yeah I prefer doing it alone. I don’t know why.
What equipment do you use to make your music?
I use reason 3.0 and Recycle2.0, Cool Edit to chop samples and transfer them. I mostly mess With Fruity loops 6. I use my Midi oxygen 8 on Reason like an mpc too. Oh yeah and Abelton 7 for live beat sets.
It seems like you use quite a lot of OLDIES in your samples, a lot of folks i have turned on to your music really like that fact…especially my Mexican friends… do you have a connection with oldies? I love them personally. Do you have any genre of music you prefer to dig through to find samples?
Damn oldies just hit my soul man. Something about the sound. Like with they use to make it back then it had this thickness and grit. Like oldies music had so much feeling in it. Dude I live next to Santa Ana man. Latinos love Oldies. The Chicano culture man. We love us some Art laboe. U member.lol
What do you have out so that people can hear your music?
Where can people get it? I have so many free downloads. My first album is called OLBEATCD. OLBEATCD is on that 9th wonder steez. I was listing to J-dilla donuts when I made it. My second Lp is called From My Heart to your ears. It’s kinda like olbeatcd, but just a little more upgraded. My new one is called AAA Lucha Libre Robots. I was heavily into Samiyam and Dibiase when I made that. I wanted to explore the beat scene with this one like have offbeat swing drum patterns, but I wanted to keep what I’ve been doing raw boom bap. So it’s like mix of both. I also have three collab albums. Called The Scottie pippen project, The issac hayes tribute album and the newest one Adventures of the sun-The sun ra beat tape. There are a lot of dope producers and emcees on those so I was geeked when I was on them. You can get my music for free. Here. www.myspace.com/depakote . There is links for albums on here. www.last.fm/music/Depakote . My last fm account has the tracks you can listen to first before you download them.
Most if not all of your work seems to be downloadable for free online, is that true? Why do you give your work away, instead of trying to make some cash off of this… ?
It’s because a lot of the market is flooded with people who try to make music for the money. I know you have seen it. The people that added you called “Hot Fiyah Lil mac money beats” on myspace. And they charge like 600 hundred for a beat. LOL. I want to make money too, but I have to prove that I have skill first. I have to show people what I have in order for them to like it. I want to build a fanbase. It’s is so hard on me man. I am dead broke.lol. I love what I do. I love making music. Even if I don’t get paid. I want to build a relationship with my fans so I give them free music. So when I prove that I have skill and people appreciate me. They will be willing to pay for my music because they have seen my work in the past.
How do you feel about those dudes who have “beats for sale?” Personally it lowers the value of the beat to me, if it is for sale.
Hahaha. They have to be real good. I ran across some people that sell their beats for a shitload and they were wack! I also don’t blame producers selling beats because a lot of emcees want shit for free. I have done that and a lot of them have never used them. It pisses me off.lol. so I Started selling them but they were only for 30 dollars.lol I just used it as a test for emcees. Like if they were not willing to pay 30 dollars then how much does that say he likes the beat I gave him or well he or she put it on a album to push.
Do you work a regular day job? if you do, what do you do?
I work at a movie theather.LOL. It is embarrassing. I work with people that are about 18 and younger some older. I see people that I went to high school with. I feel like shit because I’m 27 still working at the movies. lol,but it’s hard to find a job and I have a college degree!
Is there an average time it take you to compose a song?
About 3 hours.
Is there a reason you have a picture of Clyde Drexler in your Myspace profile? i am a fan of his.
I love 90’s basketball. I use to collect basketball cards. When I was a kid that’s all I use to do collect cards, watch basketball and play it. Yeah me and my homie coincidence he is an emcee on my top 40 on myspace. Love that shit. That is how the Scottie pippen project was born. We would battle on who could name the weirdest early 90’s basketball players names. We would go back and forth and say oh yeah that is some Mookie Blaylock shit for example.lol
I see you have played your music at art shows. I paint, do you have any special connection with visual arts as well as music? If I get a gallery show in southern cali, would you play it?
My homie Brickmaster pat does art and he always had art show connections. He would invite me to do music at the shows. I love anytype of art that shows expression. Dude we need to do one out here. When are you coming down? I can get us free movie passes.lol
If you could choose one rapper to be on one of your tracks, any MC you want… who would it be?
Damn that’s hard. Someone from way back. Oh yeah GHOSTFACE!
I was alive and involved during the golden years of hip hop, so were you, i am sure we could talk for days about the memories, but to you what is the most important record to come out in the golden years of hip hop?
Enter the 36 chambers. It changed the game. It was like the underground shit for the golden era. I was so different but people could relate to it. It’s like they were not scared to do what they wanted do and who they wanted to be. A lot of music now of days does not push the boundary. It’s like people just want to do music they think they can sell
What are you digging these days? producers? MCs? What have you been listening to lately?
A lot of rare soul. I go though YouTube and find random soul music. I’m also getting into a lot of electro funk like roger and Zapp type ish. I’m not feeling to many emcees. I just stick to my classic boom bap for that. Producers. I like Dibiase. He is a Humble ass cat. I met him he is cool. I like samiyam’s music A lot. He got that offbeat funk man. Onra is dope too. I just be bumping the 70’s soul though.lol
And lastly, what is your favorite food? Any body make some really good homemade something down there?
My moms makes the dope Sloppy Joes. My favorite food though is Mcdonalds Chicken Nuggets with like 4 Hot mustard packets.lol
