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2010 is quickly winding down but the energy here are That Grape Juice is higher than ever! In our continued effort to bring you the latest exclusive information about your favourite artists, we caught up with none other than one of the industry’s hottest producers Kenneth ‘Soundz’ Coby.
Having worked a wide range of artists including Rihanna, Usher, Brandy and others, Soundz is quickly establishing himself as one of the game’s key power players. During our discussion the ‘Gimme Dat’ producer spoke openly about how he got started in the industry, his experiences working with Ciara as well as her followup to ‘Basic Instinct’ and his thoughts on Rihanna’s vocal ability.
Soundz even surprised us by giving us the title of Kelly’ Rowlands highly anticipated new single and answered the burning question of whether Beyonce actually writes her own songs. If there was ever an interview that you had to read then this is it!
Check out all the action below:
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Interviewer: Trent // Questions by: Trent // Edited by: Trent
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Soundz Shouts Out That Grape Juice
Hi Soundz how are you?
I’m doing great man!
You’re still a relatively new face in the industry. Tell us a bit about how you got started.
Usher Raymond gave me my start. He signed me in 2006 with a record I did. I did a beat for Once Chance called ‘Look at Her (Ft. Fabo)’ and that was my first placement; my first shot. He gave me my first publishing deal.
You’ve worked with several high profile artists in recent years including Usher, Rihanna and Ciara. Which record was your first big break?
Usher of course! I did the Usher/Beyonce/Lil Wayne ‘Love In This Club (Part 2)’ and it shot to #7 on Billboard so that’s my biggest record thus far.
Speaking of Ciara, you contributed several songs to her recently released ‘Basic Instinct’ album such as the single ‘Gimme Dat’. What was it like working with Ciara?
Ciara is a sweetheart. She’s a hard worker – she doesn’t come into the studio glammed up; she comes into the studio ready to work; she’s one of those true artists. She’s professional and one of the last traditional recording artists that we have that is still young.
Everybody else is on a new school way of recording but Ciara says “no I want to get it right. I should do as many takes as it takes to get it right”. She’s cool and she’s a good person as well. From day one, ever since we first started working, we’ve been staying in contact pretty much almost every other day. She’s a really cool person.
That’s great to hear! Well, as you may know, Ciara faced a lot of criticism when she experimented with a more Pop sound on last year’s ‘Fantasy Ride’ album. Do you agree with the critics who accused her of abandoning her Urban audience?
I wouldn’t say that. Everybody wants to try new stuff – that’s change and evolution is inevitable. Sometimes you just need the right direction. If you do anything that isn’t in the same spectrum of how you should be then the fans will sometimes look at it as an offensive thing like “this is not the person I’m used to hearing” and they won’t support.
At the end of the day, ‘Fantasy Ride’ was an album that people didn’t get but there were definitely some songs on it, at least when I listen to it. On this new album [‘Basic Instinct’] I wanted to make sure that when I worked with her that I gave her nothing but Urban, bass and heavy. I didn’t want to do anything that wasn’t club-knocking because that’s where I think she should be.
Another artist whose album you worked on this year was Rihanna with the song ‘Skin’. On a scale of one to ten how would you rate Rihanna as a vocalist?
{Laughs} Man…Rihanna? As a vocalist? I think the way she killed that record – ‘Skin’ – honestly I’d give her an 8 or 9. She brought the demo to another level so I’ll give her an 8 or 9.
I don don’t know how she is in the studio because I actually haven’t gotten the chance to work with her. She has her own vocal producers so I don’t know how she is in the studio. I haven’t even met her yet. I heard she’s cool.
That actually leads me into the next question because many people assume that since Rihanna doesn’t write or produce most of her songs that she is merely a puppet. Is there any truth to that or does she get knee deep like Ciara in the work of the creative process?
You’re killing me man {laughs}! No I wouldn’t say she’s a puppet. She definitely has an opinion of what she likes. My record was actually one of the records that weren’t slated to make the album and Rihanna really loved the record. At the end of the day, she had to love it for it to make the album.
So she’s not a puppet; she has a mind of her own. She is busy, though, I’ll tell you that. Sometimes you need a team to help you make decisions and you just have to trust your team at that point.
Moving on from Rihanna…You’ve been speaking a lot on Twitter about your recent recording sessions with Kelly Rowland. What type of sound are you creating for her (R&B/Urban or Dance/Pop)?
Wooo I got her first single! We’re definitely Urban/crossover to the Pop. At the end of the day, I think Urban is Pop. By that I mean when people try to emulate Pop then it just doesn’t work but when you stick Urban and do something that’s original then people flock to that so that’s what I want to do with her.
I want to put her in her own lane because people try to put her in shadows but Kelly Rowland is a force of her own so I wanted to give her the kind of record that defines her. She had a lot of success with Destiny’s Child and she shouldn’t have a problem coming out with a big album.
How many songs did you do for her album other than the first single?
We’re still in the process of closing the album so I don’t know which tracks that are going to make the record. I know for sure that I did 3 with her this week and she’s in love with the records but things still have to go through the process – she has to like it, A&Rs have to like it, Sylvia Rhone [President of Universal Mowtown] has to like it, then after that it has to get mixed then they cut the cheques and all that. ‘Make Believe’ is the first look for Kelly Rowland in 2011.
Are you willing or able to share any song titles with us?
Just look out for ‘Make Believe’. I just left a meeting yesterday and that record is on the top; it’s getting mixed this week because it’s that important; the record is that big.
I think it’s going to be one of the biggest records of the year [2011]. I can’t even tell you the featured artist on it but it’s going to be one of the biggest records of the year.
Kelly released ‘Commander’, which was done by Rico Love, as the projects first single so does this mean that the entire project has been revamped with a new first single?
Definitely. Shoutout to Rico Love because we were both signed to Usher back in the day so that’s my dude. The ‘Commander’ single didn’t really stick so I think that’s the reason why we went back to the drawing board to figure out the kind of records that would stick to the audience.
She has a great voice, she has a star quality and she’s beautiful but she just doesn’t have records that stick to your bones – that’s the only problem.
Now, one issue that Kelly has had over the years is that she has a hard time making an impact on the US charts and one main reason for that is because she faces constant comparisons to Beyonce. How are you planning to help her to finally find success on her own terms?
Actually, Beyonce is so great that it’s to a point that Kelly could be overlooked but Kelly is awesome. When I work with artists in the studio that can really sing, record and be professional, Kelly is one of the greatest. She’s been in the game for a long time – 15 years since Destiny’s Child has been doing it. She even has that poise; she’s prepped for superstardom!
When I was recording with her that she’s damn near flawless so if any chick in the game that should be #2 to Beyonce it’s Kelly – if you want to put it that way. They both came from the same place and Beyonce is the best right now, and the best after her should be Kelly Rowland. That’s the kind of records that I wanted to give her.
She shouldn’t get the Beyonce reject records or records that somebody else didn’t take. Some producers and songwriters give records to artists that and don’t give them A+ work. I wanted to give her my AA+ work because she deserves it.
Wow! Well you’ve also worked on Brandy’s ‘Human’ album on the song ‘A Capella (Something’s Missing)’. Are there any plans to work with her on her next album?
I Love Brandy I think she’s a great talent. If the people that are in place would set it up then I’d definitely want to work with her again. I don’t have her personal contact but when I see her in public we always say “hi” and stuff like that.
I heard she’s working on an album so I would love to get on it if she calls me up.
Judging by the R&B/Dance records that you crafted for Ciara, I think you could do great work with Chris Brown. Are you contributing any songs to his upcoming album due early next year?
I’m honestly trying to contribute to it. We see each other in the club and we talked about how he wanted some songs from me. I submitted two beats but I’m waiting for some time to actually get in [the studio] with him. I like getting in with the artist and picking the artist’s brain before I write a song so when I get that opportunity I think it will go really well.
Right now I’m just taking it as it comes for me; I don’t chase too many projects anymore. If the timing is right and we see each other then we’ll link up. Our management is pretty strong so they can help the relationship see all the way through but until then CB, Mark Pitts and everybody at Jive I heard definitely want me on the project. I heard he’s not done so I might be on it. You never know.
Of all the artists that you’ve worked with, so far, with whom did you have the best experience?
That’s hard…actually I’ve had the best recording experience with my artist, Scotty, on Universal Mowtown. She’s my absolute favourite. She’s easy to work with, she emulates the swag and she works fast. I’d say Scotty, Ciara and Kelly – those are my favourite people to work with.
Not to take anything away from anybody else, though, because I have fun I have fun in every session I do. If I’m not having fun then I don’t even do it; I don’t go to work. I love everybody I work with but Kelly, Scotty and Ciara are the 3 that all at the most to me.
Now let‘s play a quick game! I’m going to name 2 artists and I want you to tell me which of them you are more eager to work with and why (even if you’ve worked with them before). Here we go:
Keri Hilson or Ciara?
I have work with both of them but I definitely wanted to get on [Keri’s] ‘No Boy’s Allowed’ album, I really did. I submitted some good songs and Polow [Da Don] had them for a while because he’s executive producing the album. I went to him, tried to submit some songs and he took them for a while but they got lost in the shuffle. That happens in the game but you have to take it as it happens.
So I would love to work with Keri Hilson. With Ciara I already know what it is. I’m already working on her next album so I would love to work with Keri again, though, because we haven’t gotten the chance to really work together.
Keri wrote the verses for Beyonce on ‘Love In The Club (Part 2)’ so when I worked with her the track was there and I came in and out of the session. It wasn’t really a Keri/Soundz session; it was a Keri/Usher session and she never got the chance to work with me or see how I work so I would definitely love to work with her.
I just picked out 2 things from what you just said. First of all, you said that you’re working with Ciara on her next album so is she already recording a followup to ‘Basic Instinct’?
No. She’s travelling and promoting in different countries. This is a world game so you can’t just impact the US; you have to impact the world. So she’s travelling but in June 2011 we will be recording again and you could believe that!
She’s an artist, she’s hungry and she loves the direction. I came in at the very last second [on ‘Basic Instrinct’] so imagine if I could come in from beginning to end and we could just work and get a whole album. The next album will be crazy. I can’t even talk about it because it’s really not even supposed to be talked about.
You also said that Keri wrote the verses for ‘Love In This Club (Part 2)’. Did Beyonce contribute any songwriting to the record or was it all Keri?
Nope!
Wow! You said that with some vigour {laughs}! Are you trying to tell us something?
No no no {laughs}! Beyonce didn’t do it. She’s an artist who believes that she’s a superstar and she needs superstar writers to write for her.
Some artists feel like they have to write all their own stuff and that’s a myth. Honestly, people have been using songwriters since the beginning of time {laughs}. Lionel Richie and Smokey Robinson wrote a lot of the hits that people once heard on the radio.
People that want to write their own songs do it for publishing or they want money or they want to find different ways to be involved in the record. I say that if a superstar wants to write it or they just want to sing it then I’m totally for it. If it’s a hit song and they can sing my hit song way better than I could then I accept that as well.
I rather a person be a superstar than be a superhuman. I think that singers are supposed to be like superheroes; they’re supposed to do things that we can’t do. When I do a song, Beyonce knows she does things that no one can do so she realises that she doesn’t have to write it; she’ll just cut the hell out of it.
Still, Beyonce gets criticised by some people because she doesn’t write anything yet her name appears in the songwriters’ credits. How does that work?
Well, she promotes the record to the highest level. She’s the best in the game at promoting a record and when she does one of your records you’ll get a single, radio, commercials and movies. There are so many different types of money that comes with Beyonce when you do a record for her so it’s kind of like the price of admission – the price to get all the other aspects is that you have to pay a little bit.
She’ll want a little publishing and that’s guaranteed; she’s going to ask for it and you’re going to give it to her; no ifs, ands or buts. She’s going to make that record the biggest hit in the world so give her that publishing. She’ll take about 20%.
Okay…time for our next two artists. Who would you choose to work with: Beyonce or Mariah Carey?
Beyonce. I’m supposed to be meeting her soon to play her some records so Beyonce for sure. I set my mind on every artist that I want to work with. I wanted to work with Mariah about 2 years ago and I made 10 records for her.
I’m in the Red Zone camp and Tricky [Stewart] and The-Dream did the whole album last time so I tried to slip into it like I did with Ciara but Mariah is a private artist. She’s a diva so she’s not really social and I can’t really weasel my way in; I need to get a really big hit before an artist like that can really pay attention.
If you had to choose between Usher and Chris Brown, who would it be?
Oooh that’s a hard one…I say Usher. I don’t even deal with him anymore but I’d still do a record with him. He’s always been a superstar in my eyes so I’m just happy for his success and that he’s back on top. I’d choose Usher.
Next up are the 2 feuding artists out there right now: Lil Kim or Nicki Minaj?
I love Nicki. I think Kim could be something if she f*cked with me. All Kim needs is some hard beats, good songs and a good album then she could come back but right now Nicki Minaj has it.
I don’t know why they’re beefing. I think Nicki is definitely inspired by [Kim] but she’s in her own lane by herself. If it’s a lane that’s already been carved then follow the carve. She’s the only one doing it and I give her props. So I’d choose Nicki because she can flow like no other.
How about Lady GaGa or Ke$ha?
GaGa. She’s bigger.
Final question of the day: if you had to describe yourself in 3 words what would they be?
I’d say ‘cool’, ‘crazy’ and ‘innovative’.
I think those works work quite well. Having listened to your work, and doing this interview with you, I think those could work {laughs}.
{Laughs} I appreciate you calling me up man!
This has been a great interview. I really hope to hear more from you in the future, especially after hearing the work you did on Ciara’s album.
Thank you man! I appreciate that.
Thank you so much for your time Soundz. It was truly a pleasure!
Thanks man! Stay in touch!