About Artist
Born in Brooklyn New York to Trinidadian parents, I had rhythm and music in my blood. Music was a daily thing in my house. Of course mostly being of the calypso and soca genre. I did not remain in New York as a child and my mother relocated frequently. My father remained in Queens New york after my mother and I left. Being the first child on my mother's side, I had no one but the adults to learn from. I chose not to make many friends because I knew that I would probably not be in the area long. Traveling a lot afforded me the opportunity to meet, see, and interact in different environments and cultures. Therefore I heard different types of music. As a child I also lived in the Caribbeans and Europe.
All of these learning experiences stayed tucked away somewhere in my brain until the mid 80's, when music started becoming a part of my life and expressing myself. As most urban youths of this time, I wanted to be the best break dancer. I think that having an older Brother on my father's side that dance with well respected crews in New York fueled this desire to be the best. Well as it turned out break dancing was not my thing. I began listening to rappers and found it amazing how the people could tell their story through words in a way that I could relate to. Unlike other forms of music that I had heard, these artist came from neighborhoods were I at one time or another lived. I began writing my stories down and trying to put them to beats. The other young family members around me, began saying that I was good, and began looking up to me as a rapper, so to speak. It was not until high school when I began to shine. Attending Willowridge high in Missouri city Texas, I found a group that at lunch time and breaks gathered together to battle. Among these people was a young man who later became a huge name in the southern rap culture. At this time in history he called himself dj Aktion, but later became known as Scarface. At the time I thought that he was the best in my age range that I had heard. Take it that there were others with a great deal of talent, but Mr. Scarface was the one that drove me. I wanted to be better than he was at the time in the school. I wanted his title. So I wrote and wrote and tried to battle anyone and everyone that I could, that did not go to my school. I knew that if I were to battle at my school that I would have to battle some of the courtyard icons, which could have led to my reputation downfall.
The year following high school I met a young man named Chris that was trying to make a name for himself through rapping and being a dj. I began hanging out with him learning how to mix records and how to scratch and cut. Chris and I would dj local parties to make side money. Then we would take the money that we made from djing and tried to book studio time. Chris had at one point made an arrangement for us to dj a party in Sugar land Texas, if my memory serves me right, and during this period he introduced me to another young man by the name Zuri who was a dancer.
It was clear that Zuri and I had a similar background, which in turn led to use hang out. In 1990 Zuri and I decided to take the djing business to the next level. We began calling ourselves Party Squad productions. When we were not djing parties, we were attempting to record our own music. We would sell our cassettes to anyone we could. This was the beginning of my life as a producer.
In 1991 I moved back to Los Angeles California, were I began hanging around a singing group called "4Ever". Through my association with this group I met their producers. This was my first time actually seeing the full process of making music from start to finish, and it was amazing. It was like a drug that I could not go a day without. At the time, these producers were working on a multi-racial rap project that I soon became the black part of. In this group was another guy from Guam by the name of Joey. We began hanging out and through him a met other west coast rappers. This was a different type of environment than the south, but I found the sounds and styles that were using here to be intriguing. A few years past and I learned more and more about producing the music rather than being a rapper. The rapper was still there, but the producer in me was taking over.
In 1995 after spending 8 weeks of basic training and 3 months of A.I.T training for the Army, I was sent back to Texas. For a few years the production of music was not on my mind. In 1999 I came across a game for Playstation called The Music Generator. That flicker of production flame was still smoldering in the ashes, and resurfaced with determination. After upgrading to Fruityloops, I began producing for local artist. I continued to hone my skills and years later while using fruityloops along with cubase, I met a rapper named Traffik, know these days in the underground unsigned world as Traffikman. We managed to produce an entire cd in about 2 weeks. I have heard that some of those songs are still floating around central Texas.
Now it is the year 2010, and I live in Germany. I am still very much in the music scene, producing tracks for locals and have my own website at www.trackmonk.com. My equipment has changed along with my style and knowledge. I am no longer just a hip hop producer. I create tracks of different genres. I find it amazing how one style of music can open up a whole world that you never experienced and influence the rest of your life.
Now I am a "music producer".
All of these learning experiences stayed tucked away somewhere in my brain until the mid 80's, when music started becoming a part of my life and expressing myself. As most urban youths of this time, I wanted to be the best break dancer. I think that having an older Brother on my father's side that dance with well respected crews in New York fueled this desire to be the best. Well as it turned out break dancing was not my thing. I began listening to rappers and found it amazing how the people could tell their story through words in a way that I could relate to. Unlike other forms of music that I had heard, these artist came from neighborhoods were I at one time or another lived. I began writing my stories down and trying to put them to beats. The other young family members around me, began saying that I was good, and began looking up to me as a rapper, so to speak. It was not until high school when I began to shine. Attending Willowridge high in Missouri city Texas, I found a group that at lunch time and breaks gathered together to battle. Among these people was a young man who later became a huge name in the southern rap culture. At this time in history he called himself dj Aktion, but later became known as Scarface. At the time I thought that he was the best in my age range that I had heard. Take it that there were others with a great deal of talent, but Mr. Scarface was the one that drove me. I wanted to be better than he was at the time in the school. I wanted his title. So I wrote and wrote and tried to battle anyone and everyone that I could, that did not go to my school. I knew that if I were to battle at my school that I would have to battle some of the courtyard icons, which could have led to my reputation downfall.
The year following high school I met a young man named Chris that was trying to make a name for himself through rapping and being a dj. I began hanging out with him learning how to mix records and how to scratch and cut. Chris and I would dj local parties to make side money. Then we would take the money that we made from djing and tried to book studio time. Chris had at one point made an arrangement for us to dj a party in Sugar land Texas, if my memory serves me right, and during this period he introduced me to another young man by the name Zuri who was a dancer.
It was clear that Zuri and I had a similar background, which in turn led to use hang out. In 1990 Zuri and I decided to take the djing business to the next level. We began calling ourselves Party Squad productions. When we were not djing parties, we were attempting to record our own music. We would sell our cassettes to anyone we could. This was the beginning of my life as a producer.
In 1991 I moved back to Los Angeles California, were I began hanging around a singing group called "4Ever". Through my association with this group I met their producers. This was my first time actually seeing the full process of making music from start to finish, and it was amazing. It was like a drug that I could not go a day without. At the time, these producers were working on a multi-racial rap project that I soon became the black part of. In this group was another guy from Guam by the name of Joey. We began hanging out and through him a met other west coast rappers. This was a different type of environment than the south, but I found the sounds and styles that were using here to be intriguing. A few years past and I learned more and more about producing the music rather than being a rapper. The rapper was still there, but the producer in me was taking over.
In 1995 after spending 8 weeks of basic training and 3 months of A.I.T training for the Army, I was sent back to Texas. For a few years the production of music was not on my mind. In 1999 I came across a game for Playstation called The Music Generator. That flicker of production flame was still smoldering in the ashes, and resurfaced with determination. After upgrading to Fruityloops, I began producing for local artist. I continued to hone my skills and years later while using fruityloops along with cubase, I met a rapper named Traffik, know these days in the underground unsigned world as Traffikman. We managed to produce an entire cd in about 2 weeks. I have heard that some of those songs are still floating around central Texas.
Now it is the year 2010, and I live in Germany. I am still very much in the music scene, producing tracks for locals and have my own website at www.trackmonk.com. My equipment has changed along with my style and knowledge. I am no longer just a hip hop producer. I create tracks of different genres. I find it amazing how one style of music can open up a whole world that you never experienced and influence the rest of your life.
Now I am a "music producer".
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