If you're a fan of hip-hop, chances are good that beats by Zaytoven — or some of the many producers he's influenced — have spent a good deal of time in your headphones. The pioneering Atlanta producer revealed during a recent interview on Sway In The Morning that the average time it takes to listen to a few Zaytoven tracks is about how long he spent working on them.
"There's no record that you done heard me produce that I spent more than ten minutes on," Zaytoven said, revealing that working with Gucci Mane led him to pick up his pace. "He's impatient. I'm impatient. We wanna listen to this music in our car. I don't wanna just do one song and ride around listening to that. I wanna listen to five songs. We can't do five songs if I spend an hour on the beat and you spend an hour writing it."
Zaytoven is aware that this speed constitutes "blasphemy" for some, but his process contains a lesson on the value of a musician's gut instinct. "Music is about feeling," he said. "If I'm spending more than 15 minutes on a beat, I'm not feeling it."
On May 4, The FADER will host Zaytoven's first ever headlining show in London. It goes down at Shoreditch’s Ace Hotel, and you can enter for a chance to win free tickets.
Watch the entire interview below via BeatStars.
