RESPECT. Interview: Swiff D’s Musical Ideology

Arguably most of a song’s quality is dependent on the instrumentation. Lyrics can make a painting, but the ambiance leans on the non-vocal contributions to a record. A love ballad would be incomplete should the background noise not have enough romantic sentiment laced within it. With the spotlight in the industry being shifted over to producers, it’s not surprising that the artist behind ScHoolboy Q‘s “Studio,” Swiff D, would be garnering the attention that he’s getting.

In his conversation with RESPECT., he talks of the authenticity of post-release additions to albums, as well as the extinction of certain individual’s popularity lowering to a point of no return.

RESPECT.: What are you afraid of?

Swiff D: To fall off, honestly. There’s a lot of people who I grew up liking and idolizing and I always wonder what it is that they did that got them to fall off. And I just don’t want that for myself. I’d rather just walk away from the scene than to fall off.

RESPECT.: What’s the most obscure place you’ve gotten a sample from?

Probably this phone conversation. Years ago, from my boy; he used to record himself talking to girls randomly. I think he had a Nextel phone back in the day and you used to be able to tape the phone convos or whatever, and he played it back for me and I put it into the beat. It was something sexual.

RESPECT.: As a producer you’re music taste has to range across all genres to maintain an original sound. So who are artists you listen to outside the Hip-Hop/R&B genre?

I listen to Banks a lot. One of my favorite artists. I listen to a lot of Gospel music as well- I grew up all around it. They just play from the love of God and stuff but sometimes you hear something so crazy you’re like damn.

RESPECT.: What would you be doing if you weren’t producing?

College graduate for sure. Something with computers. I feel like, well, most guys like myself- producers- are nerds. I grew up playing ball and all, but I was still a nerd.

RESPECT.: Were you a Computer Science Major?

Nah, surprisingly it was Business Administration. Took me my second year in college to decide what it was that I wanted to do though.

RESPECT.: What’s your biggest regret in life?

Not sitting down and figuring out a career plan earlier in life. There were so many things I wanted to do, so many things, but I knew that I had a calling in music because I grew up in it. If I started earlier I always wonder what it would’ve been like.

RESPECT.: Random music question that I want your insight on: In reference to The Life of Pablo, Do you think an album can & should be altered after it’s been completed?

Yeah I mean that’s the Kanye effect for you. Definitely a perfectionist, that man. Definitely something he would do. Me personally though, I feel like you shouldn’t put anything out unless you feel like it’s great.

RESPECT.: What has been your best asset in your career?

I think I challenge myself more than the average. I’m very competitive. Even though I don’t even think it’s that much of a competition. I always challenge myself, and set these plateaus for myself.

RESPECT.: So on that last part, are setting plateaus more important than having exposure? Say you have a SoundCloud hit with 30K plays, and it’s brilliantly produced but stays there. Then you produce a more accessible beat, with less experimentation, and it’s a hit. Which is better?

The first one, just because it’s a lot more organic. And 30,000 SoundCloud plays is still a lot but it’s still not the average, you know? I get it, but for somebody to be discouraged after giving their all isn’t cool. I kinda always say you gotta wait your turn, but you always gotta make sure you’re ready for success. I can’t say for me that that would stop me. That’s 30,000 people that came around. Next time it might be another 30,000. And so on. Any grind is good so long as you keep at it.

A lot of people knew me for my hip-hop stuff and I challenged myself to try seeing if I could make it better. And I feel like sonically, it’s always tight. The producer is always ahead of the game in sounds too, so I think it’d be a little easier for them to appeal to a larger crowd.

RESPECT.: Calvin Harris once said that he likes dishing out singles more than albums, because the sound of a single would be more relevant to the time, but if he took his time to make that cohesive record, the sounds he utilized might not be relevant or poppin’ around the time of the release.

I feel like, you know, time isn’t necessarily money, but time does evolve and music changes daily. It’s kinda like, if you wait too long to come out with something, people can tell the timeframe that you were in. Making singles is actually the easiest thing other than having the whole thing. It’s definitely easier to drop song for song for song, because if it doesn’t catch on then it’s just gone in the same amount of time that it dropped. Then you can get chopping at another.

RESPECT.: What’s your worst feature as a person?

Sometimes I think I wish people have the same ears as me. With me, in general, I feel like I’m real passionate about some of my music, and I’ll show it to some people and they don’t receive it the same way and what not. Certain times, people just kinda like, have something in mind and they wanna hear that, and they may think it’s dope, or not dope, but you just kinda gotta let it be. Everyone has different ears.

RESPECT.: Well on that logic then, is there such thing as bad music?

No such thing as bad music.

Well, ok. It’s rare (laughs). There are a few acts that I insist are just god awful, but there’s something for everyone out there. It took me knowing that about music to advance my own career. Obviously people are in those situations for a reason. Out here in LA, to draw a comparison, people like Mexican food- tacos and s**t. And in NY, there’s like Chinese food and s**t. It’s all about taste.

RESPECT.: What are you currently working on?

Music wise, I’m working on a lot of things. I’m real excited about the Bryson Tiller project; I’ve been working hard on that one for sure. Uh, also I’m trying to give people an idea of where I am and where I can be in the future. Other than that there’s so many more things. Pro Tools wise, I wanna better myself at mixing. I’m just a student of the game. I just don’t wanna limit myself.

Update yourself on Swiff D via Twitter & SoundCloud.