88-keys: Friendship w/ Kanye, Formula for Music Success & How Cleaning Vinyls Helped Launch His Career

Most producers are lucky to make a record considered a classic in their career, our next guest’s second beat he ever sold became the cult classic “Thieves in the Night” by Black Star (Talib Kweli & Mos Def). 88-keys has 20+ years in the game and has produced for Kanye West, Jay Z, Big Sean and more. He got his start cleaning records for John Carerro where he rubbed shoulders with people like Q-Tip, Pete Rock, Busta Rhymes, Funk Master Flex and more. He used his deep record collection and developed a formula for making records that allowed him to get the placements he has. Later he made his own album “The Death of Adam” which was executive produced by Kanye West. 88 shares the story of filming the “Stay Up!” music video with Kanye where they dressed up as old men and tore up the town. Listen to these stories and more on this episode of Beat The Block, powered by BeatStars. If you’re a producer trying to make a living doing what you love, head over to BeatStars.com and start making money, for free.