Friday, October 30, 2009

Platinum Already

   Wow!  What a great trip......  

     Such a productive work week in LA!   Monday, we were up the treehouse at Paramount Recording Studios, doing some writing for Mike Caren, who is the Executive Vice President 
of A and R, at Atlantic Records.  He teamed us up with DJ Frank E (Madonna, Jamie Foxx, 
The Dream, Lil Wayne) who did 'Right Round' for FloRida.  We cut 3 records for FloRida, including one that Mike was really diggin'.    Tuesday started of with a meeting with our Publishing team at Kobalt who have to be 3 of my favorite humans on Earth!!!  It's so great to work with a team that you LOVE as people!  I see a lifetime relationship forming.  From there we went to Chalice Studios on the invitation of Zach Katz, who, to me, is the COOLEST cat in the industry.   He played us some new Auburn records, and was explaining to us Beluga Heights vision.  I also got my song book back from him that I had left there 6 months before.  YES!!  Then, Cait La Dee and I set up in the "writers room", right next his office.  

  We cut 5 records with J.R. Rotem (Britney Spears, Leonna Lewis, Ne-Yo) in 2 days.  Chalice is my favorite spot!   There's just a really nice vibe there.....You could get lost making hits for dayzzzzzz.   After our session on Wednesday, I got a call from Baby Bash and he invited us to his show in Hollywood.  My lil sis Genevieve (Disney), Cait, and I, met up with Frankie J, Marty James, Stooie Bros, and Bash backstage and had blast.  We hosted the after party and had a hit parade sharing our new music with each other.  There was a lot of MAJOR TALANT sitting in one room...it was dope.   

  We managed to slip in a late session with Wayne Rodrigues (Natasha Bedingfield), to touch up a record we wrote for Shane Ward (Sony/Syco), 'Cruise Control'.  Wayne's a hip-hopper like me.....that's the Big Bro right there:)  We made the changes requested by David Gray (Syco), and bounced quick, because the Santa Ana winds were blowing!!!  A huge tree fell right on top of the house across the street from Wayne's....maney!

  On Thursday, it was back to Paramount to cut 'Space Invader', a T-Wiz (Drake, Ciarra, Jennifer Hudson) produced track that Cait and I wrote for Jessica Jarrell.  OMG!!!!  This young lady is going to be the BIGGEST STAR!  Remember you heard it from me first!  Jessica is AMAZING!  She's 14 years old, has the voice of angel, and everything it takes to be #1.  Her Mom and Grandma were there for the entire session, and I feel like my family just got bigger:)
GREAT PEOPLE!  Especially Wiz, who is a real great dude.  The man behind the plan was Daniel Werner, A and R for Mercury Records....Right on my brother!!  He has had faith in 'Space Invader' from the jump, and has been pushing it all along.....until we FINALLY got in the studio!  He brought an incredibly talented young cat with him, Mann (Universal), who is one of my favorite new artists right now.  Really solid dude and I look forward to cutting something with him in the near future.  Cait did the vocal production IN THE BOOTH!  Jessica and her were like 2 teenagers at a pajama party!  This created a really relaxed family environment that allowed to us to make MAGIC.......THE RECORD CAME OUT CRAZY!!!!!!

  I am so grateful to Benjamin Groff for all the doors that are opening up.  I feel like anything is possible.  I'm enjoying every second of this dream we're living, and these songs we're writing have sealed our fate ALREADY!  I always tell my close homies to never focus on the goal too much, because usually, you reach your goal and then just end up setting another one....It's a never ending process......It's all about enjoying the ride......living every second...loving every second. 
We are PLATINUM ALREADY. 

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

LA Trip

    Finally got to sit down and have a great meeting with Zach Katz @ Beluga Heights in Chalice.
I love Zach!!!  He is such a REAL person,  and his feedback is priceless.  I'm going in on some co-writes with J.R. Rotem, whose production and grind I admire.  From there, I went to Universal in Santa Monica to meet with Archie Davis in regards to doing some writing with T-Wiz (Ciara, Jennifer Hudson, Chris Brown, Tyrese, Marie Digby)  (I cut two records that my publisher says are going to be Top 5 hits with the amazing beats of T-Wiz)
  In the attached building are the Interscope offices, where I had the wonderful pleasure of meeting one of Jimmy Iovine's top dudes, Neil Jacobson.  It was great meeting Neil, he is a true boss in this business, and had nothing but love for me!  He really dug one of my records, and has me working on a hit for Natalia Cappuccini.  
 Off to Columbia Records in Beverly Hills to meet with Maria Egan for Three Six Mafia, and Tiffany projects.   Then to Atlantic with Raj for Plies, Flo, and Tre Songz....in the studio with Fernando Garibay (U2, Lady Gaga, Britney Spears) and Wayne Rodrigues (Natasha Bedingfield)........plus a wonderful meeting with Erika Nuri from The Writing Camp, all I can say was it was weekend when all our dreams were coming true.  All the things we talked about...all the things we hoped for, rapped about, strived for......it was like the climax of our whole journey.  But you know what's amazing y'all???  It was only just THE BEGINNING!!!!!!!  The Dream Team is here............

 

Allison Iraheta of American Idol

  I had a great Meet and Greet with her in the Sony/BMG building on Santa Monica.  She is the coolest teenager ever!  Her deep, soulful voice reminds me of Janis Joplin, and I am really looking forward to cutting a few records for her debut album.   Teresa LaBarbera Whites, who discovered Beyonce and signed Destiny's Child, has to be the sweetest sincere PERSON I've encountered in a long while.  She is top A and R on the project, and was very welcoming.