The Niceguys - How To Make a Rap Video

by Daniella Kohavy

When the term hip-hop comes to mind, you might think of the countless commercial sounds you hear all over the droning radio airwaves, but when good hip-hop comes to mind, you would most likely stumble across The Niceguys, who are the Tunecore artists featured in this week's COREnered spotlight. The hip-hop group includes 4 dudes straight outta Houston: MC (Yves 'Easy Yves Saint' Ozoude), DJ (Lucien 'DJ Candlestick' Barton) and producers (Todd 'Christolph' Louis and Winfrey 'Free' Oribhabor). They have an eclectic musical background and therefore know how to blend alternative jazz/rock sounds with their delectable beats and fluid rhyme schemes. Feast your eyes on the band's Q&A below to see what they had to say about inspiration, recording and good music.

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thenicelook.com

1. Without using the words "alternative" or "hip-hop," describe your music's sound.
   Our sound is progressive, our debut album “The Show” is a mixture of soul, rock, jazz, blues, and rap music all in one album. Of course at the end of the day its all hip hop (even though I can't use that word) but it's hip hop with a mixture of a lot of different elements. Progressive hip hop is what I classify it as, but I don't really care for genres/subgenres or any of that stuff, at the end of the day it's just really good music.


2. What or whom do you go to for musical inspiration?
   We really don't go anywhere for inspiration, we kind of just let it come to us. Some of the best things we've done came from completely out of nowhere, and I think it works out the best that way. Of course, me and Christolph as producers, listen to certain sounds and certain records when we put our beats together; I play a lot of jazz, progressive rock and soul when I'm getting in the zone for my beats. Besides that, we just let the inspiration come naturally and don't necessarily seek it.


3. You've had some recent shows, in Houston with Talib Kweli, Smoke DZA, Curren$y and at New York's CMJ. How do you deal with time management, missing friends and family, work schedule (aside from music), etc?
   We made the decision about 2 years ago to fully dedicate our lives to music. All of our families are aware, friends are aware, and we don't really work regular jobs anyway so work schedule doesn't mean much. The best thing about our situation is that no one is tripping, our loved ones all understand that this is our dream and it's going to require a lot of time away from them, but they support us and our careers so it's never an issue when we go on the road or when we're in the studio all day. Everyone is cool.


4. Describe your ideal studio environment (in home? professional studio?)
   Our ideal studio environment is our current studio environment. Our good friend, super-engineer/musician, James Kelley, owns a studio called Wire Road, and that's where we do all of our music. It's a house with a studio in it basically, so its always an at home feeling when we're at the studio, which is perfect for us. Lots of beer, lots of Jack Daniels, and lots of pizza. That's how we get down! ha


5. How often do you guys try to put in studio time?
   Whenever we feel like it really, which is usually every day. Our engineer is available whenever we need to record, so we do it whenever we get inspired to start working on a record. If I could give a rough estimate, I'd say probably about 4-5 days a week.


6. What kind of studio equipment do you use to record?
   Haha, good question, you'd have to ask our engineer about that. It's a whole lot of equipment, all I know is Pro Tools.


7. How do you approach recording a song?
   Well, Christolph and I come up with a beat, we play it for Yves, come up with some ideas, Yves starts freestyling random lyrics, we get down a concrete idea and chorus, and Yves writes his verses, then the magic happens.


8. What do you do if you're trying to record and it's just not working for you?
   We find something else to do, one of our rules is to never force music, ever.


9. How do you know when it's right?
   It's just a feeling; you record, and after you record, you mix, and after you mix, you master. Mastering is a tedious process, but you listen, listen, and listen all over again, then we collectively discuss the record, see how we feel. If we all love it, the song is done, and it's on to the next.

Comments

[Ominous Red]

Dope song... I hope this cats blow up. Hip Hop needs more of this.

[Gee Dark]

Good Music Video but it does't show you how to make a RAP VIDEO AT ALL - checkout some of my work http://darksatrzproductionz.com

Beats:
http://worldwidebeats.net/gee_dark/

http://myhiphopbox.net/gee_dark/

[Dez]

I liked this video alot more when The Roots did it for "What They Do".

[Jake Rich]

Hi there!

My company does marketing & publicity for The Niceguys. Thanks for posting about them on your site. I'd like to know what email address I can send press releases, videos and mp3s to for artists that would be a good fit for your site.

We sent these out recently, which includes a free download of their new album, The Show.

http://www.audibletreats.com/pr/niceguys_pr8.html
http://www.audibletreats.com/pr/niceguys_pr7.html
http://www.audibletreats.com/pr/niceguys_pr6.html
http://www.audibletreats.com/pr/niceguys_pr5.html
http://www.audibletreats.com/pr/niceguys_pr4.html
http://www.audibletreats.com/pr/niceguys_pr3.html
http://www.audibletreats.com/pr/niceguys_pr2.html
http://www.audibletreats.com/pr/niceguys_pr1.html

Feel free to post any of these to your site!

Also, check out our current roster here. If anything piques your interest, let me know and we can send a CD out to you.
http://audibletreats.com/download/

All the best,
Jake

[Jonathan]

Very fresh, unique sound. And when it comes to going against the grain and doing something innovative with hip hop, you might be interested in checking out our 'book tune' concept, book summaries in 'hip hop', memory-friendly format, by Abdominal, national award winning artist. The corresponding 'book tune' helps you remember the content of a book you would otherwise quickly forget. Is this worth a feature perhaps? We already rolled this out with the bestselling book, The How of Happiness, & with Spark Notes (leading provider of study guides for students), for The Scarlet Letter, the most widely read book in high schools across the country.

Our concept was already showcased on PopTech!, a website that showcases world changing people, ideas and projects (similar to TED): http://live.poptech.org/blog/a_%E2%80%98book_tune%E2%80%99_for_every_book

Check the songs out...

The How of Happiness Song:
http://soundcloud.com/book-tune-records/the-how-of-happiness-song

& The Scarlet Letter SparkTune
http://soundcloud.com/booktunesparknotes/the-scarlet-letter-sparktune

Both released via Tunecore, of course.

[Horace Moning]

Hi i want to know how much does it cost to make.

[Nhate Backwards]

nice... but kill some of the horns during the verses.... you spit too rapid to compete with all that other stuff, after the song I cant recall one single line, it's work to listen. make a remix where the verses are just vocals, bassline and drums... it's too much right for how fast you rhyme. I've been mixing a long time and I know it's hard to turn off great sounds, but more is always ALWAYS less when it comes to focusing on the emcee, but emcee-producers often can't split the two... and only one items hz in the mid range can shine bright at a time, or at least be appreciated... try it and see what people say- it's not a mix problem it's an arrangement problem.

[BEAT MASTER TROY]

Hey guys this is BEAT MASTER TROY, a tunecore artist,y'all are super badd, don't believe the hype. This using the horns, it really bring's y'all sound out. Am a producer,arranger,writer,editor,composer,and master my own beats.

[BEAT MASTER TROY]

Hey guys this is BEAT MASTER TROY, a tunecore artist,y'all are super badd, don't believe the hype. Keep using the horns, it really bring's y'all sound out. Am a producer,arranger,writer,editor,composer,and master my own beats.

[BC]

why are all you idiots telling these guys how to make a song, let em do what they do and shut up. If you were any better you'd have a feature on this site wouldn't you? lol

[cokey g]

http://www.itunes.com/cokeyg

[Nhate Backwards]

No, good things come to those who work hard. I give advice to people who are going to work hard... I myself... I chill hard. It's not that I didn't liek the horns, the horns just hid the emcees... why write so many words if the horns are gonna drown 'em out? I have years of experience in this type of thing, and I have done that exact same mistake. Subconscious factors interfere with the ability to enjoy music... How many times have you come back to hear this track again? It's because you have neurons firing to try to split the signals so that you could "hear" the words while hearing the horns simultaneously. My first degree was in psycho acoustics. My advice is to help them get past this stage and continue to grow because I like what they are trying to do.

[DUBTurbo]

What's the most affordable rate in making a rap video? By the way, I found DUBTurbo - it's the best beat maker software investment for your future plans.