Xperiment just returned home from competing in the Red Bull Big Tune beat battle in Chicago, IL. For video from the battle, Xperiment’s thoughts, and a free download of his latest project ‘Precipitation: The Soundcloud Collection’, keep reading.
“The 2010 Red Bull Big Tune National Finals in Chicago was one of the most surreal experiences of my life! After the first day it became apparent that everyone in the competition deserved to be there. Every producer was on top of their game and at the same time extremely humble and willing to learn from each other. Throughout the week it became obvious that my style was different from everyone else and wasn’t sure if that would work with me or against me in the battle. In the first round I decided to play “Handle Business” and “Clap To This”. Both of those beats got me through to the finals in Denver so I figured it would work in Chicago and it did. The next round was the sample flip round. A couple days prior to leaving for Chicago, Jake One sent those in the comp an email stating we had to flip the Curtis Mayfield song, “Hard Times”. The 9 producers that get past the first round then do a round playing the sample flip where Just Blaze and Dj Premier choose the best 8 that will advance to the second round. I was the second one to play my flip and after I did Premier said I was definitely going to the next round and gave me daps. That was nuts!
In the second round I knew the guy I was up against was going to play some bangers and I felt the crowd was ready for something different. I took a risk and played “Painless” and “Currently Flow”. I guess my instinct was right and the crowd voted me in to the semi-finals. After I found out who I was up against I knew it was over for me, haha! In the semi-final round it was me and 14KT. At this point I decided to just play what I wanted to hear so I played “Rhythmic Philosophy” and “DissStance”. When it came down to it, 14KT won and I couldn’t have been happier! I felt so blessed to get as far as I did! I honestly didn’t think I was going to get past the first round. Overall I learned a lot from the experience and connected with some amazing artists and people.”
Xperiment recently moved to Portland and has been working closely with Humble Beast artists. He and Odd Thomas have been in the lab together working on tracks for the next Odd Thomas album, we will keep you updated on that as it progresses.
You can download his latest project ‘Precipitation: The Soundcloud Collection’ here.
