Remy Martin invaded Chicago on Thursday, August 22 for the latest edition of Season Six of Remy producers. Hosted at TAO Chicago, Grammy-award winning producer Zaytoven was the lead judge for the competition, joined by Chicago’s own Young Chop and Season Five winner Milo, who recently produced Big Sean’s “Overtime.”
The evening included a cocktail reception and a competition of producers from the Midwest, which crowned Scylla the victor and moving him on to the national finale in Atlanta to compete for the opportunity to win a producers deal with Jermaine Dupri and So-So Def Records.
The series also features super producers Boi-1da and TrakGirl, all to celebrate excellence and craftsmanship of music production.
The competition in Chicago was hosted by WGCI Morning Host and POWER30 member Kyle Santillian, and also brought out Radio Host Trey White, Stylist Bebe Jones, Celebrity Jeweler Clint da Jeweler, Actors from The Chi Barton Fitzpatrick and Jacob Latimore, and Jonn Richardson of 3 Deep Chicago.
After crowning the Chicago winner, Zaytoven spoke with The SOURCE to discuss his Remy Producers experience and to name his starting five of producers.
The Source: What led you to agree to be apart of the Remy Producer Series?
Zaytoven: I did this series maybe two years ago and I loved it. I get to fly to new talent and encourage them, that’s something I always want to be a part of.
For this producer series event, what do you look for in the selections presented by the contestants?
Always looking for new creativity. Nowadays we have people just mimicking sounds and other producers, so I definitely am looking for new creative ideas.
Does a specific sound work best when you are competing and aiming to win over a crowd and someone like yourself?
Taking like say a trap sound mixed with something Carribean, getting original with it. When I hear something that is mixed with different sounds, a mixture, something that isn’t just one way. That’s what shocks me.
Outside of this series, what can a producer do to attract your attention and see that its someone you want to work with in the future?
Have swag. I hear the music and I look at that but I also check out who they are, how they carry themselves, how they look. That means something these days.
Are there any advantages that you think this generation of rising producers have that you didn’t and was there someone you had over this generation?
The advantages that I had they didn’t are you were forced to learn things the hard way. You were forced to learn music and different equipment. The advantages that they have is social media, different outlets to place their music, the accessibility to artists and you don’t have to get out and do the footwork you would usually have to.
For those that are not named the winner, what would you want them to take away from this experience and some advice for their futures?
I want them to take that losing or winning this battle isn’t everything. You have to go home, find you an artist, work on your craft and build a sound. Your sound is the only way you survive in this game.
You get a call today from an A-list Hip-Hop artist to create an album and you need a Starting Five of producers for it, who are you picking?
Starting Five, I’m going to go with Zaytoven, DJ Quik, Mannie Fresh, oh you making it hard.
You can have a sixth man too.
We going to go with them, then I have to say, Dr. Dre, Kanye West. And for the wildcard, we going to throw Timbo [Timbaland] in there.
For more information about Rémy Producers, please visit producers.remymartin.com and follow along on social media: @RemyMartinUS and #RemyProducers on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
The post Exclusive: Zaytoven Talks Finding New Talent, Participating in Remy Producers and Names Starting 5 Producers appeared first on The Source.
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