Base & Quick are the ones that provide the music for North Carolina artist Young Swift.

They aren’t too heavy with sampling, but yet and still they provide some ill beats.

They've been in the studio with 9th Wonder and have learned some valuable lessons

I had the chance to talk to the young fellas and get an idea on how they come up with the music they produce and where they are headed in 2008.

Enjoy the read!!

What motivated you guys to start producing tracks?

Base: Me and my boy Firas, we started off in a band, we started making beats in band (drum) competitions and then we carried it over to making beats on programs.

Quick: All my life I’ve been involved in music. I did the drumline in high school and that made me wanna do beats.

Did you have any major influences in the industry that made you really want to be a producer?

Base: From the beginning, it was Timbaland. I have always been a Timbaland fan. As far as producers that are out right now, I am liking Polow Da Don, and The Runners. I’m really liking their style right now.

Quick: Timbaland influenced me the most. Pharrell influenced me too cause I like how he has the different styles. I also like Polow Da Don cause he be doing different things too. I like Just Blaze too.

What do you do to keep things fresh?

Base: Me and Quick, we try to focus on not having a set style. We try to do all types of beats like Pop, even Reggae. We do practice doing samples, even though we try not to do too many samples.

Quick: I listen to all different types of music. I don’t just listen to hip-hop and R&B. I listen to pop, Rock, Country, etc. I pick up on the different melodies and patterns and pick up new ideas. I like to fool around with different stuff.

What programs are you using?

Base: Reason 3.0, FruityLoops and for recording, we use Adobe Audition.

Do you feel you get the recognition you deserve?

Base: Every time Young Swift gets publicity, we get publicity too because people always want to know who does his tracks. We don’t really focus on not getting enough shine because producers are behind the scene and the artist is on the scene.

Quick: We get enough recognition for what we do, we really don’t promote ourselves like that. We are behind Young Swift right now and we want to bring him out first.

What other artists do you work with?

Base: We are working with a few artists. We are working with Young Swift, Gwap, Headshot Rastas, and a female artist name Baby Shan.

How big a role does 9th Wonder play with you all being from North Carolina?

Base: He’s a real big role in what we are doing right now. A lot of the beat competitions we were in, he was the judge. We go into the studio session and watch how he does his beats. A lot of his beats are sample based and with us trying to perfect sampling, he teaches us a lot of things.

Quick: He plays a big role because he opens up the studio so people can see how he does his work. Sometimes he hosts beat battles for producers to go at it. I guess he’s trying to have North Carolina come up. He’s a pretty down to earth dude.


Are you intimidated when in the studio with 9th Wonder?

Base: Nah not really. With us still learning from him, it’s a good experience and I think that we can hold our own when it comes to the beat making.

Quick: He’s not an intimidating person. He’s a friendly dude. He has an old original hip hop sound. We like to sit there and learn from him more than anything.


It’s 2008, what direction is B&Q headed in?

Base: We want to get more recognition. Not for just making beats, but we want to get Young Swift out more than he his. We want to promote more and get our publishing together. We are still trying to shop around with the labels, but we will see how that goes.

Quick: For the most part we decided that we need to promote ourselves a little bit more. This year we are going to focus on promotion and trying to come up.

How big of a role has Myspace played?

Base: Myspace has helped out a lot. We get a lot of people asking us to make beats for their mixtapes and other tracks. Once you network through [beat] competitions, that’s how everyone finds you, through Myspace.

Any information, any last words?

Base: You can locate us at bqmusic@yahoo.com, http://www.myspace.com/4youngswift and http://www.myspace.com/bqmusic1.

Quick: Lookout for us, we gon come and we gon come hard. We gon try to be on top. If you want a beat get at us!

Check out some sample beats from BQ Music: