My Top 5: Pheem

Washington, DC beatmaker/producer Pheem’s brand of hip-hop has received high-praise from names in the industry like Buda and Grandz, Shawn J. Period, and the James Dewitt Yancey Foundation. Ready to introduce his unique sound to the world, he is poised to become one of your new favorite beat makers. Enough talking... Check out Pheem's top 5 and more.

Your Favorite 5 Producers:

J Dilla 
Madlib 
Preemo 
Pete Rock 
The Alchemist

Favorite Beat They Produced: 

This changes daily but today I would say "The $" off of "Rough Draft".

Why or What do you like about their skills behind the boards? 

Dilla's musicianship was A1. If you were lucky enough to witness his career, you got to see him constantly evolving and pushing the boundaries of what hip hop could be. He would master a sound, take it to another level and then move on to the next wave and do it all over again. If you look at his overall career you can peep how his sound morphed from the Slum Village and Tribe sound to the "Soulquarians" to "Jaylib" and "Donuts". It's scary to think about what he would be doing today if he was still here.

How have they influenced or inspired you? 

The samples Dilla would select and the way he would flip them still inspire me to this day. My chop game was definitely influenced from studying him and Madlib. And on a deeper level, he low-key inspired me to not give a f*ck, take more risks, and just be yourself. There are certain beats that i'll hear and think to myself "if you gave 100 producers that same sample and drum kit, probably 80 of them would come up with that same beat". But there are so many beats that Dilla made that are on another level of creativity that only he could have possibly come up with. That right there is what I'm chasing. When another beat maker hears my joints I want them to say "I would have never thought to do that"

Which producer would you like to collabo with? 

There's a long list but A collab with Madlib is at the top. I feel like being able to see his process and soak up game from him about why he makes certain decisions would open my mind up.

What inspires you to create a music?

Music in general has been a passion of mine since I was like 10 years old. Whether I was pursuing music professionally or not I'd still be cooking up beats cause I love doing it.

How would you describe your music?

Hard to put it in a box but I'd say for the most part the foundation is soulful samples and creative sample choping. I usually put a lot of effort into transforming the vibe of the original into something new and keeping the drum programming unique and interesting. I'd say some of the biggest influence's to my sound are Havoc, Heatmakers, Just Blaze, Kanye, and Dilla.

What are your thoughts regarding the use of samples in music? 

First and foremost I'd say the artist who is being sampled is totally validated in feeling whatever type of way about people using their own creation. If they say "F you pay me" they literally have the right to do that. But what gets lost sometimes is sampling can revitalize older catalogs and give new life to music that might have been overlooked or forgotten about.

What are your thoughts on the DMV contribution to Hip Hop's global influence? 

Man I could go on and on about a Diamond District, Rich Harris, Kev Brown, Wale, Gold Link, etc but go even further back to Marvin Gaye, Chuck Brown and The Soul Searchers. What would "Paid In Full" sound like without "Ashley's Roachclip"? Would Rakim have ever have wrote that rhyme if that drum break didn't exist? The DMV's contribution to hip-hop is definitely major but slept on.

How do you come up with the concept for creating your beats / beat tapes? 

Inspiration can come from anywhere. Other music, movies, tv shows, art, news. For me personally, the music isn't good if it doesn't envoke emotion, so i try to incorporate or draw inspiration from things that I'm passionate about.

Any final words or thoughts? 

Go check out the catalog at pheemmusic.com and stay on the look out for a slew of dope instrumental projects from me and my man Vers and a big shoutout to iStandard, Beat Konductaz, and Beat Society for creating platforms for producers to grow, network, and collaborate.

Latest Project:

Below is the Nipsey Hussle x Rick Ross track "Mark My Words" remixed by Washington, DC instrumentalist and producer Pheem. #themarathoncontinues