Interview With Brainstorm of Dyme Def

Brainstorm is no stranger to our blog. He’s produced countless records and made national attention as a member of legendary group Dyme Def.

Brain also won the Death By Stereo beat battle last year. With Death by Stereo 2 around the corner, I had the pleasure of speaking with Brainstorm about Seattle, production, and his career. Check it out below.

Brainstorm Interview With Respect My Region

RMR. Brainstorm! What’s good my brother? How’s life and the music grind?
Brainstorm. Life is good bro…taking care of my kids and feeding the streets with these beats.

RMR. How did you come up with the name Brainstorm? I know you draw a heavy influence from Pinky and the Brain on merch and logos but where did the name originally come from?

Brain. It’s funny my first rap name was actually “Lyrical” lmao…one of my producer friends from WAYYYYYYYYY back (Shoutout to Nova in Samammish) actually gave me the name. He said because my sound was so diverse…it made rappers have to Brainstorm how to approach em. and here we are.

RMR. You are considered an OG when it comes to music production in Seattle. I mean hip-hop in general! How does it feel looking back at your career? What are you most proud of and what are some things you wish you knew back in the early days?

Brain.Man…I’ve came a LONG way bro…when I look back at my career I really feel like I could have lived life for 2-3 ppl…I have SO many milestones, crazy stories, memories and accomplishments outside of not being rich and famous. I guess some things I wish I knew or would have done different was getting more familiar with the business side and not putting my livelihood in another man’s hands. No regrets theaux….I’ve learned a lot coming up in this game and it made me a better artist as well as a better person.

RMR. When I think of Brainstorm’s beats I think bounce. Whether it’s soulful or trap, you have a signature bounce. In fact watching you at beat battles, your body slightly grooves to your music with that same bounce. Who influenced your beats and where did this bounce come from?

Brain. Timbo the King. My biggest producer influence even to this day…I got my bounce and everything from that man and am just now really turning it into my OWN sound…my earlier beats were blatant Tim and Kanye knockoffs…13 years producing and I’m just now developing a sound ppl know ME for and I’m proud of that…you know a Brain beat when you hear it….major bounce…major swing.

RMR. You’ve been crowned champ at a laundry list of beat battles. How did you get into battles and do enjoy making beats for a battle more than beats for an actual record?

Brain. RIP J.Moore but him Vitamin D and Jake One are the reasons I started doing these beat battles…I was lucky enuff to be around these legends(as well as BeanOne shout to my brother) and they all kinda was like “you nice bruh try out these battles and see wassup”…the rest is history.

RMR. What equipment do you use to make beats?

Brain. Reason 5 and Protools

RMR. What does your process look like when you sit down to create?

Brain. If I ain’t chopping a sample I’m punching keys till something suffices…it’s vigorous…if you were to watch me work you’d see it’s very tedious and I be mad focused lol.

RMR. Between rapping and producing, which do you enjoy more?

Brain. At the current moment I def enjoy producing better now…rapping will always be a apart of me but I just get more out of producing as of now.

RMR. Anything else you want to the people to know and/or look out for?

Brain. Dyme Def is back…new material is coming sooner than you think….you can also catch us opening up with our homies Grynch and Anthony Danza for Warren G at Nectar July 7th…if you know us…you know what’s gonna happen. Get ya tix.

Me personally I have a beat battle coming up against Qreepz June 28th at the High Dive…5 rounds of blap…i ain’t lost(fair and square) in years…that’s all imma say.

Brainstorm will be competing in the Death By Stereo 2 Beat Battle Weds June 28th. Get tickets here.

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