A couple months ago we released the Closed Sessions B-Side, “Good Pussy In Chicago”, which featured Mr. Muthafuckin’ eXquire and Goldie Glo. If you are into song credits, you may have noticed that the record was produced by The Innovatorz, a production duo from the small suburb of Bollingbrook that are starting to make large waves in the music industry. If this is your first time hearing about them, don’t be too hard on yourself. I was completely oblivious to DJ and Pyro before meeting them at SoundScape Studios not too long before the Closed Session with eXquire. This is despite the duo’s production credits on tracks by Curren$y, Jim Jones, Gucci Mane, and French Montana.
I have a feeling their name will start to ring bells soon. The Innovatorz placed two record on Curren$y’s forthcoming, The Stoned Immaculate, on which they produced “Capitol” featuring 2 Chainz and the album’s bonus track, “One More Time”. In the latest Record Producer feature, we chop it up with The Innovatorz about getting shine from the burbs, patience, and much more. Check it out below.
RubyHornet: Who are The Innovatorz?
DJ: Myself and Pyro…..that’s it.
RubyHornet: Do you have a ‘calling-card’ so to speak or anything kind of sound you do best?
DJ: As far as our “sound” I would have to say clear, wide, and professional. We want our beats sounding like they were put through a Brita filter, lol. Everything has to sound crispy and knock, no matter what genre of music we produce.
Pyro: I mean we are the new sound of music if you wanna say that, we’ve been making industry ready music. We’ve always been here, it’s just people are now starting to discover us.
RubyHornet: Production seems to be a very isolated type of work, shutting everything else out and working on the music. What is the benefit of having a partner and being part of a production team?
Pyro: It’s crazy because we both have totally different styles, but they come together dope as hell. I’m real chord driven with it, and DJ’s shit just knocks disgustingly, so it’s not hard to add shit too… But at any given time the roles can switch and that’s what’s dope about having him as a partner.
DJ: I may have a crazy melody in my head and hum out the melody to Pyro, and he can play out exactly what I hummed, or vice versa. We both have different styles and musical influences so when we’re in the studio, we bring the best of both worlds together. But the most important thing about having a partner is learning from each other. Every time we’re in the studio I always pick up on something new from Pyro.
RubyHornet: How long have you been making music? At what point did you think, ‘OK, we’re good enough to call ourselves producers?’
DJ: Been making music since about 2004, started really catching attention around 2010. The “So High” record with French Montana and Curren$y really caught a lot of ears. The crazy part is that beat was from like 05’, and people still love it to this day. So just imagine when they start catching on to the new stuff we’ve been doing. At that point it was like “okay, we can really make this happen.”
Pyro: Exactly…my real moment was when me and DJ were in the studio and made a track titled “Grammy Shit”. It’s not out yet, but it’s still one of my favorite tracks to this day! We knew what we wanted to do and how far we could actually take it if we keep grinding.
RubyHornet: Has the attention that Chicago has gotten in the past couple months trickled down to you guys? Do you see more people coming to you based on your windy city status?
DJ: The attention Chicago has been getting is CRAZY! Definitely been a long time coming and way overdue. But as far as the effect on us, it’s really hard to say. We have done records for French Montana, Jim Jones, Bow Wow, Gucci Mane, I-20, Ludacris so much of the attention we have gotten stems from that. We’re from the suburbs of Bolingbrook, so we’re really not on the scene or in the mix of the city all the time. People don’t know that we’re actually the in-house producers for SoundScape Studios in Chicago, so when we’re in the city doing music that’s where we’re at working. It’s a gift and a curse because we are still getting attention and major placements being from the burbs, but not getting as much attention and publication as we should get. Hopefully we get more artists from the city wanting to work with us.
RubyHornet: What is the hardest part concerning building a career as a producer, especially in 2012 when so many people are making beats?
DJ: The hardest part is learning the art of patience. Patience in itself is a talent that you gotta have as a producer…. This doesn’t happen overnight! Help me out with this one Pyro.
Pyro: Yeah, patience is a virtue. We’re in it for the long run and that’s something we both know off top, so we don’t rush anything… We just work hard and let the rest happen on its own… As far as building a career, as a producer it’s just like any other job, it takes a lot of work. A LOT OF WORK!