Producer Spotlight: Keezo Kane

G.O.O.D. Music producer Keezo Kane, a southside Chicago native, has crafted tracks for artists such as Talib Kweli (The Beast), LL Cool J (Preserve the Sexy), Consequence (Who Knew My Luck Would Change) and Estelle (More than Friends) in his short, but promising career. He also helms his own production company, Mayblok, INC. Kane is somewhat under the radar but it's a safe bet that you'll be hearing his name a lot more in 2009.

The producer is an enthusiast whose musical zeal stems from a childhood submerged in music and years of instrumental training.

“I was brought up in music. I played the trumpet for like 15 years, drum sets for like ten years, I’ve won like recitals and music competitions, I used to be in the marching band, orchestra. Pretty much my whole life I been doing the music thing,” Kane said.

Still, despite such extensive musical conditioning, being a producer wasn’t always on Kane's front burner.

“When I started producing, it was actually like a little hobby or whatever, I was actually hustlin’ at the time, [producing] was just something for me to be doin’. One of my homies—Bobby—he put me up on this program back in the day called Impulse Tracker, it was like a little BS program,” said Kane. After experimenting with Impulse, he decided to see what other programs were out there. “I came up on fruity loops. I messed with it back in the day and I still use it to this day. They need to send me a check,” he said.

Kane grew up on 87th street, “2 blocks” from local rapper GLC, a friend of the producer who is also part of the G.O.O.D. Music contingent.

“Me And [GLC] just started kickin it, he was really loving what I was doing, I was hitting him with a beat CD every week with like 15 beats for at least a good 5-6 months, this is around when Kanye was getting signed to the Roc. I was at a lot of concerts, on the scene,” recalled Kane. West flew in to Chicago one day, and Kane, GLC and Mayblok producer J-Roc, scooped him up from the airport and then the group ventured to River Oaks mall for a shopping session. According to Kane, the “Louie Vuitton Don” pulled him aside and expressed his interest, telling the producer, “I really love your sound, I really love what you’re doing, and I want to sign you to my label.”

“This is in 2002. G.O.O.D. Music wasn’t a reality at the time. In 2004 I got a call from GLC like, man I need you to take this number down,” Kane said. The number belonged to Kanye’s lawyer, who broke the good news to Kane; the superstar was ready to sign him. A few days following his June 7th birthday, Kane was an official addition to the G.O.O.D. roster.

This year, Kane has numerous projects and collaborations slated.

“Kanye and Rhymefest have a puppet show coming out sometime soon on Comedy Central called Alligator Boots and I’m doing some scoring in that series alongside Jonathan Kimmel. I got 5 tracks on GLC’s album, a few on Really Doe’s. Kel Mitchell, I actually went to grammar school with him—him and Cedric the Entertainer have a movie coming out called Chicago Pulaski Jones and I’m doing scoring in that film. The Big Screen (co-produced with Kanye West), their playing that, it’s getting a lot of radio love, we’re actually going to do the video for that in a few weeks. I’ve done something in the studio with J.Ivy and his wife Tarrey Torae. We have this joint coming out real soon called ‘Get Some’. I’m gonna drop like 3 or 4 mix tapes this year. Stat Quo—I have a joint on his album, Estelle—I got a joint on her next album too.”

He is also working on a track for Beyonce and has recently completed a beat for NaS.

“I already got paid for it, I’m just waiting for it to get placed on whatever [Nas] is gonna place it on” Kane explained. He welcomes his heavy workload with open, anxious arms. His beat addiction keeps him in the lab brewing tracks on a daily basis.

“I grind all the time, I work on tracks 95 percent of my time. I don’t do anything but sit in the crib and work on beats all day. That’s the only way you’ll make it, you have to make certain sacrifices…I have to have extra eggs to come out on top. Anybody can make a beat but what will make your beat better than anyone else’s? You have to have that extra edge, a way that you go about making your tracks that sets you aside. What sets you aside, apart from anybody else?”

Kane was a member of the Van Moody marching band, which landed him the opportunity to perform at the White House as a 6th grader. He was also was recognized as the 7th ranked trumpeter in Illinois as an 8th grader. The producer’s musical training and composition IQ is audible in his production style.

“I just get up and do whatever I feel like doing when I make beats, unless I really have to make beats for a particular artists, [but] any of my strong points that someone will hear in my tracks would probably be strings and brass. I’ve been trained to play the trumpet so I know how a trumpet is supposed to sound. I can really get in there and edit the trumpet track to where it sounds like I actually had someone come in there and play it,”

Kane had these words of advice for up-and-coming producers who are still learning to perfect their craft and trying to hit it big—

“Just grind. Shit. Grind like I do. That’s the only thing I could ever tell anyone,” he offered.

Though being a workaholic certainly has it’s benefits, one of the most crucial attributes needed by a producer is the ability to know when to quit; which isn’t always simple given the meticulous nature of orchestrating tracks.

“A lot of times you can over-do a track. A lot of times less is exactly what you need,” said Kane, who went on to give insight into his evolution as a producer. “I’m really picky about my drums. Ivan Jasper—I used to do my beats with a lot of clear drums—but he put me on with doing my drums, my percussion with what I guess you would call dirty drums, to really get a different kind of sound. Back in the day I used to just be like I’ll use this kick drum or this snare. I’m learning everyday like any musician. A lot of what I do is an experiment.”

As I was interviewing Kane he was about three weeks away from moving to Atlanta. I asked him what prompted the move and how he felt about leaving the Windy City.

“I love home. Please believe I do. But Chicago is really not a place for music if you really trying to get on. You gotta move around. Plus it’s so many haters here in Chicago. Lets say I do beats and you do beats too, and you was like ‘man, listen to my beat, tell me what you think’… [People will] just be like, oh that was cool. That was aight. But deep down they knew it was the shit, they just wanted to keep you down. These muhfuccas here is crazy. I done got into it with muhfuccas here and I don’t even go out like that!”

Be sure to check out Keezo Kane's "On Fire VOL.1 mixtape" a Fall 2008 release available for download from his Myspace page--www.myspace.com/keezokane where you can also hear several beats by the producer.