Welcome to Behind the Boards, where we talk to hip-hop producers about the tricks of the trade, their equipment, and perhaps even peek into their souls. In our debut edition, we talk to 183rd, who's produced for A$AP Rocky, Kendrick Lamar, Danny Brown, and Action Bronson.What beat are you the most proud of from your entire career?
"Four Loko" with A$AP Rocky because I had mad records out before that, but that's the first record I actually got money from. And that was Rocky's first feature outside of "Purple Swag," so it was the first time anyone had heard Rocky outside of his own shit. Plus, the remix had Freeway on it, who I'm a huge fan of, and I had a chance to give him a beat for "Hotline" that he used for his Freedom of Speech mixtape.Do you have a favorite musical instrument?
I love saxophones. I'm a sample-head; everything you've heard of mine has come from a sample, and I love that real soulful shit. It's because I'm from that early 2000s era and I love Jay's Blueprint, Freeway's Philadelphia Freeway, Cam'ron's Come Home With Me. So I just love the sound you get from good saxes and horns mixed with some nice drums.What do you use to make your beats and why do you use that thing?
I use FruityLoops because that's what I learned to use, because it's on the computer. I had the money to buy an MPC, but my childhood friend was a computer wizard and the kind of dude to never run in the streets, so I would go by his house all the time to see his family and older brother. So one day he was like "Yo, my older brother is messing with this program called FL, why don't you try learning it?" Then it went from there, and I got in a groove with it and I would play people my beats and they would just assume that they were made on MPC, so I just stuck with that.How long does it take you to make a beat?
It really varies. If I do it too fast, I'll keep refining it, and if it takes too long I'll scrap it. On average, I would say about 45 minutes. It takes about 15-20 minutes to get the rhythm and for me to know what to do with it, but after adding the layers and the filters and all that, it takes about 45 minutes, plus all the time it takes to play it back.RZA feat. A$AP Rocky - "Four Loko"At what age did you decide you didn't want to work a "real" job?
Well, I was raised never to get a regular job, as weird as that sounds. As a child growing up like 18-19, yeah you get a regular job, but after that, you always try to be a boss. I grew up around a bunch of rebellious people and to them, having a "regular" job basically means you can't take care of yourself the right way as far as having an apartment and paying for your utilities and all that. So 2007 is when I got into producing through Smoke DZA, because he knew me since I was 13, and he was going on the road in 2007 and he basically said, "You can come with me but you gotta do more than just sit around and listen to music"—because that's all I did at the time—and I helped him pick beats that way because I had a good ear for samples, so that's how I got my start.What's your favorite Bronx era?
There's so many of them, I'm 26 so I've seen a lot of them. but if I had to choose one, it would be 2001, when Fat Joe dropped "My Lifestyle." Not particularly because of that record, but I just remember a lot of stuff was going on that year and it was right after Big Pun died, so that was just a big year.What's your least favorite trend to come out of the Bronx in recent memory?
Aw man, honestly, I don't think I have a "least" favorite thing to come out of the Bronx.What's one common thread that connects the sound coming out of The Bronx?
There's a lot of violence—more violence than anything. Everything negative is popular in the Bronx, it's like the ghetto of ghettos. In Harlem they've got flashiness and all that, money is definitely respected there. But in the Bronx, violence is more respected. I don't personally agree with that, but that's how we were brought up.What misconception do people have about the Bronx citizens?
That all Bronx people are dirty and grimy and that's not true at all. I'm really a Bronx person, so it upsets me when I see someone getting ridiculed for something and their response is, "Oh it's 'cause I'm a Bonx nigga." That's not true; it's actually 'cause they're a clown-ass nigga and they're just using being from the Bronx as an excuse for that.Do you download music illegally?
I download all my music legally. Sometimes, I'll download something illegally, but even then I make sure to buy afterwards just to support the artist. When French drops his album, I'm buying like 20 copies. That's French, he's from the Bronx, I fuck with him heavy. The main thing with French is that he started on those Smack DVDs, and he's grinded so hard to the point where he's just on regular TV now, so you have to applaud that.Who is one artist from a genre other than rap/hip-hop that you want to work with?
Ideally, I need to work with The-Dream, Miguel, and—not to be funny or anything—Ginuwine. Because I listened to R&B growing up and I think Ginuwine is underrated. When the heavyweights like Usher and them were hitting in the 90s, Ginuwine was always my favorite. The production Ginuwine had was crazy too, but I was really into his soulful shit. There's also R.Kelly, but that would be too cliché if I said him.What are you working on right now?
I'm working with my brothers Smoke DZA, Chase N Cashe, Nymlo and Kid Daytona on some new projects. I'll be on Smoke DZA's album, Nymlo, and I are going to do a full album together, and I was just on Chase's Heir Waves, and he's been giving me a ton pointers and compliments and shit. I also just dropped a beat tape called Game Room, inspired by classic video games, and that has a single out on it with R.F.C (Smoke DZA, NymLo, Chase N. Cashe, and Al Doe).
"Four Loko" with A$AP Rocky because I had mad records out before that, but that's the first record I actually got money from. And that was Rocky's first feature outside of "Purple Swag," so it was the first time anyone had heard Rocky outside of his own shit. Plus, the remix had Freeway on it, who I'm a huge fan of, and I had a chance to give him a beat for "Hotline" that he used for his Freedom of Speech mixtape.
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I love saxophones. I'm a sample-head; everything you've heard of mine has come from a sample, and I love that real soulful shit. It's because I'm from that early 2000s era and I love Jay's Blueprint, Freeway's Philadelphia Freeway, Cam'ron's Come Home With Me. So I just love the sound you get from good saxes and horns mixed with some nice drums.What do you use to make your beats and why do you use that thing?
I use FruityLoops because that's what I learned to use, because it's on the computer. I had the money to buy an MPC, but my childhood friend was a computer wizard and the kind of dude to never run in the streets, so I would go by his house all the time to see his family and older brother. So one day he was like "Yo, my older brother is messing with this program called FL, why don't you try learning it?" Then it went from there, and I got in a groove with it and I would play people my beats and they would just assume that they were made on MPC, so I just stuck with that.How long does it take you to make a beat?
It really varies. If I do it too fast, I'll keep refining it, and if it takes too long I'll scrap it. On average, I would say about 45 minutes. It takes about 15-20 minutes to get the rhythm and for me to know what to do with it, but after adding the layers and the filters and all that, it takes about 45 minutes, plus all the time it takes to play it back.
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Well, I was raised never to get a regular job, as weird as that sounds. As a child growing up like 18-19, yeah you get a regular job, but after that, you always try to be a boss. I grew up around a bunch of rebellious people and to them, having a "regular" job basically means you can't take care of yourself the right way as far as having an apartment and paying for your utilities and all that. So 2007 is when I got into producing through Smoke DZA, because he knew me since I was 13, and he was going on the road in 2007 and he basically said, "You can come with me but you gotta do more than just sit around and listen to music"—because that's all I did at the time—and I helped him pick beats that way because I had a good ear for samples, so that's how I got my start.What's your favorite Bronx era?
There's so many of them, I'm 26 so I've seen a lot of them. but if I had to choose one, it would be 2001, when Fat Joe dropped "My Lifestyle." Not particularly because of that record, but I just remember a lot of stuff was going on that year and it was right after Big Pun died, so that was just a big year.What's your least favorite trend to come out of the Bronx in recent memory?
Aw man, honestly, I don't think I have a "least" favorite thing to come out of the Bronx.What's one common thread that connects the sound coming out of The Bronx?
There's a lot of violence—more violence than anything. Everything negative is popular in the Bronx, it's like the ghetto of ghettos. In Harlem they've got flashiness and all that, money is definitely respected there. But in the Bronx, violence is more respected. I don't personally agree with that, but that's how we were brought up.What misconception do people have about the Bronx citizens?
That all Bronx people are dirty and grimy and that's not true at all. I'm really a Bronx person, so it upsets me when I see someone getting ridiculed for something and their response is, "Oh it's 'cause I'm a Bonx nigga." That's not true; it's actually 'cause they're a clown-ass nigga and they're just using being from the Bronx as an excuse for that.Do you download music illegally?
I download all my music legally. Sometimes, I'll download something illegally, but even then I make sure to buy afterwards just to support the artist. When French drops his album, I'm buying like 20 copies. That's French, he's from the Bronx, I fuck with him heavy. The main thing with French is that he started on those Smack DVDs, and he's grinded so hard to the point where he's just on regular TV now, so you have to applaud that.Who is one artist from a genre other than rap/hip-hop that you want to work with?
Ideally, I need to work with The-Dream, Miguel, and—not to be funny or anything—Ginuwine. Because I listened to R&B growing up and I think Ginuwine is underrated. When the heavyweights like Usher and them were hitting in the 90s, Ginuwine was always my favorite. The production Ginuwine had was crazy too, but I was really into his soulful shit. There's also R.Kelly, but that would be too cliché if I said him.What are you working on right now?
I'm working with my brothers Smoke DZA, Chase N Cashe, Nymlo and Kid Daytona on some new projects. I'll be on Smoke DZA's album, Nymlo, and I are going to do a full album together, and I was just on Chase's Heir Waves, and he's been giving me a ton pointers and compliments and shit. I also just dropped a beat tape called Game Room, inspired by classic video games, and that has a single out on it with R.F.C (Smoke DZA, NymLo, Chase N. Cashe, and Al Doe).