Beat Studies

Picture yourself at a modern day speakeasy in the bowels of the city. All the cool cats and kitties have found their way to that particular evening’s hot spot and are primed for a sizzlin’ night. The band is working hard to keep the crowd moving. The drinks are flowing and so are the emcee’s. Inhibitions start to dissipate as the electricity takes hold and the room becomes alive.

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Beat Studies and Binkis Recs “Don’t Mean A Thing”

The conception of this musical brainchild occurred over 2 years ago in the lab when SIMP suggested blending the genres of hip hop with swing. I was intrigued by the idea. The next morning I immediately went to the local record shop, Wax-N-Facts, and asked the vinyl head behind the counter, “Who is the epitome of swing?” Without any acknowledgment of my question, he stood up and began walking toward the B’s. He pulled out 3 records; All of which bared the name… Count Basie. I thought what better way to get acquainted with a legend than a “best of” album. Luckily for me, Roulette Birdland had put one out some 50 years ago that was a fine summation of recordings from Basie and his orchestra. I took it home, isolated a solid bass loop and some horn hits and sampled them to my MPC. I then loaded some bangin’ hip-hop drum sounds from a disc a bought from mpcsounds.com. By the end of that day the song had completed its first phase of gestation as the instrumental track took shape.

It took SIMP no time at all to come up with a hook… “Don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that. Doo wop doo wop doo wop doo wop, now…” inspired by a jazz standard of identical title written in 1931 by Duke Ellington, with words by Irving Mills. It was a beautiful culmination of lyrics and music. We immediately knew we were on to something. I was intrigued. I then began arranging the song around those timeless words.

Now that the arrangement was complete it was time to track verses. SIMP set a solid tone with his nostalgic, yet relevant, lyrics… but we knew we needed to get some additional voices on the song. I had recently worked with Flux the Wonder Bat of Binkis Recs, and thought that his flair would build upon the fun loving nature of this track. I brought him back into the lab and played him the beat. “That’s some hot shit!” he said. He wrote a verse and we recorded it. The song went from intriguing to inspiring in a single session. I then brought Q-San in to record his verse. By then the tone had been set. He picked up the baton and masterfully finished the race with his intellectual grace and style.

While the verses had all been written and recorded, the song still lacked a certain continuity. I invited all 3 emcees back into the lab on the same night to re-record all the vocal tracks. Now they were able to feed off of each other’s energy, adding a certain chemistry and breathing yet a new life into the song. With the addition of a few cuts from DJ Mafioso, “Don’t Mean a Thing” as we know it, had been born.

Now that song was a wrap, it was time to put the full vision into action… a music video. I started to brainstorm with my friends at Studio 8 and the ideas began to flow pretty quickly. I asked director, Mike Moore, what he envisioned. “I want to capture that old school ‘juke-joint’ feel with a modern twist,” he said. We envisioned B-boys and swing dancers working together in the video since the song combined these 2 fundamental styles so seamlessly. Mike and I had a series of meetings leading up to our May 22 shoot date.  We knew the band had to be soulful, the dancers energetic, and the rappers really had to shine. Atlanta’s Burn Unit, Down South Swing, Rozzi Dame, and G.P.W.F.L.Y among many other fantastic performers were brought on set.  I could feel us getting closer to something GREAT.

Thanks to J Thurman, here is a behind the scenes look of the May 22, 2010 video shoot at Engine 11 Downtown Atlanta.

“DON’T MEAN A THING” – BEHIND THE SCENES

The footage is currently in post-production. Lalo Alvarez of Unique Films is editing it.

Stay tuned for Beat Studies’ summer release of “Don’t Mean a Thing” featuring Binkis Recs.

Tags: Binkis, dont mean a thing, FLUX, mike moore, music video, production, Q-San, Simp, Studio 8

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