a Selfie with Caleb Stone
1. How did you first get into producing rap beats?
I got into production through recording and mixing my old band. Our demo sounded soooo shittty that I started adding kicks and snares over the live drums to re enforce the mix - Around the same time i met a crew of “jerkin” rappers who were chilling in the alley behind my house and we made a song together called “ima fuck it up” which is still hilarious to me to this date - that was the first time i produced anything -  i stayed focused on my band for a few more years - when I met Matt Martians and Syd from the internet and Hal Williams (Pyramid Vritra) and his NRK crew was when I really started to take beats more seriously - They were all nonchalantly cranking out amazing music w just a laptop and midi controller -  I felt like a dinosaur in comparison , lugging all my gear and around the city, hassling my bandmates to attend practice etc - It was around that time at the end of 2011 that I started to make a shit ton of beats - I was really fortunate to be able to get put on a lot game and watch really amazing producers make shit in front of my face and I have infinite love for everyone who helped me out during that period.
2. Who are some of your favorite musical artists outside of hip-hop?
I love pop punk  - emo-  indie : Blink - Get up Kids - Built to Spill - I essentially have the same taste in music as seth from the OC lol. I also used to be in a death metal band - down for all the heavy stuff - my homie just sent me the new infant annihilator album and it’s quite nice
3. What was the process like working on the “Sex Quest” series with Speak?
Speak is a madman and is usually extremely difficult to locate / record etc. We were room mates last year though so he was significantly easier to track down - - I was running a studio out of a band rehearsal room and we would go there almost every day and just make whatever felt right at the time - there were tons of guests in the studio always - we were getting fucked up a lot - we made and forgot about some of the best sex quest songs -  were still discovering crazy b sides and there might be another one coming who knows…..
4. How would you describe your Dream Panther side project?
Dream Panther is the brainchild of Gregory Sheran - He’s an LA underground legend and we’ve been friends forever - He asked me to be the drummer for Panther’s live shows a ways back and we ended up spending a lot of time making beats together - he used to be a hardcore gear head and I got him hooked on ableton - we’re running a little label now along with our bro the Tubgod called SSB - Sheran Stone Barnett -
5. What are some similarities between the Los Angeles & Detroit hip-hop scenes?
I’m still really new to detroit and Im still learning a lot about the music scene - I’ m getting put to a lot of really dope detroit streeet music that I think ppl would really like - This guy Poppa is my favorite:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_6D9IhL73Y
Follow Caleb Stone on Soundcloud @Â https://soundcloud.com/profcalc
