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 Breaking
Hip Hop In Hawaii
A
Producers Profile:
Lael
Clement
By
HuiMusic.com
If you ask anybody “what’s the hardest
type of act to break in
Hawaii
?”
it’s going to be the
R&B/Hip Hop acts. This
is no surprise to me. As
it took some time for the
Hawaii
music industry to embrace
the local
Contemporary/Reggae, it
seems to be the same for
the R&B/Hip Hop scene.
But one thing you can’t deny is that
there is a powerful
onslaught of young record
companies, producers and
artists that have been
taking pop culture into
their own hands and
blowing it up in Hawaii.
With the recent national
exposure with such artists
as EMIRC, Teeze and Sean
Jay,
Hawaii
has staked a claim in
being a serious contender
in the Hip Hop market.
One such producer/writer who is breaking
the royal bread of local
Hip Hop is Lael Clement. I
was cruising MySpace for
local bands and was blown
away at how much talent
there is in 808. But it
was the production of the
project “”
that cut straight and
tight to the bone.
Utilizing home-baked beats and total
overall musicianship,
Lyrisize brings a sound
that reps
Hawaii
in the next rush of 808
Hip Hop artists. It’s
one thing to bite samples
and assemble tracks, but
to play all the
instruments as cleanly as
Lael with strong melodic
arrangements and vocals
sets him in stone as a
power player.
Raised in
Hawaii
,
Lael didn’t even
consider producing until
about a year-and-a-half
ago. Lael is a total
“hands-on” musician
and producer. Never
formally trained, Lael got
his chops from other
musicians and producers.
It was his then-roommate DJ BassX (Paul
Dean) that turned Lael
onto all the tools he was
using to create. From
there was the
Bat
Cave
for Lael. He buried
himself for about a year
in books and anything he
could find in order to get
the best equipment he
could to start producing
his own work.
As anybody who falls in
love with music producing,
it becomes your life and
you dedicate all you have
to creating the best music
you can. It wasn’t too
soon before Lael had
before him a working
studio comprised of Reason
2.5, Cubass, Logic, Waves,
Soundforge, a midi
keyboard, piano and
guitar.
Influences are the stepping stone for any
producer/writer. Some of
his influences are Bill
Whithers, War, Dre, Jill
Scott, and Bob Marley and
the Wailers. But it
actually started way back
as a kid, because his
father was a classical
guitar player. If the
music is in the house, it
stays in the soul!
Shortly after producing some instrumental
tracks, he bumped into his
cousin MC Lyrisize at
Sandy
’s
Beach, where he soon
started to rap on Lael’s
tracks. From there he
turned Lael onto Sophia. He, as well
as I, regard her voice as
magic!
From there he turned his focus on
producing and completing a
full CD. Usually, one
might have to write many
tracks just to get a
handful of gems. In this
case, Lael says he wrote
about 50 tracks before he
cut it to about 15.
As Lael focused on
the musical aspect of the
tracks, it was MC Lrisize
that wrote all the lyrics
as well as knocked out a bullet performance.
But without a doubt,
Sophia is by far one of
the most talented R&B
singers I've heard in da
808 for a while!
After working the basic tracks on his rig,
it was off to monster
recording studio Avex
Honolulu Studios. At the
technical helm as the
engineer was Troy Yen
Gonzales. From there the
arduous task at hand
started to take shape and
it was soon apparent they
had a strong-sounding CD.
The crew involved in the project include
Russ Fry, Sophia, DJ
Little Kia, Try Yen
Gonzales and Lael. But
it’s Lael that played
ALL the instruments --
AMAZING! The arrangements,
vocals, rapping and total
engineering dynamics of the CD “Beyond Belief”
by Lyrisize is all-time.
So now it’s off to the gig ... but
where? Well, I’m stoked
to say that more and more
venues are opening their
doors to local Hip Hop
acts. Places like
Pipeline, Studio One,
Mercury Lounge and Detox
are setting the stage for
Hawaii
’s
Hip Hop scene. The stigma
of violence escorting Hip
Hop is fading with the
rise of stronger talent
that reaches beyond the
street to achieve the end
game. So, in turn, more
venues are supporting the
movement. But it still
going to be a bit of work
before it’s fully
accepted and ALL the doors
open.
Now that there are about five different
types of Hip Hop, one
doesn’t have to
constantly use played-out
verbs to get the point
across. There’s room for
Gansta, Dirty South and
all the others now. It’s
great to have the 808 Hip
Hop scene so diverse, as
it offers up a style of
Hip Hop that can only be
found in
Hawaii
.
Many around the world are
starting to take notice.
As for Lael and the CD “Beyond Belief”
by Lyrisize, the CD will
be released October 22 at
Tower Records and other
808 Hip Hop stores. Their
also going to be pump'n da
beats at Pipeline on Halloween
Night as well as scheduled
to open up for Black Eyed
Peas in mid
November.
You NEED to sample
some of this CD. This crew
is going to make moves --
you watch! Check out some
samples and don't miss
there up-coming shows!
www.myspace.com/laelzbeatz
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