Notes on process
How making music has changed for me over the last twenty years
Kyle in my Substack chat made this suggestion to me for a topic to write about:
My process has changed dramatically since I first started. When I made Breaking Kayfabe, I would start with the subjects for the songs, make a list of song titles, write lyrics based on those titles and then make beats that would match the lyrics and titles after that. Then I’d record. My initial background for composing verses was by writing on paper without music at school. I’d go on hip-hop message boards after my classes and type up my rhymes without using a beat to be judged by message board members purely on how they read.
In retrospect, this is the opposite of what most people do when they make music. I think this might be why there’s a curiously disconnected vibe to that album and some of my earlier work that resonated with folks. Another odd thing about how I used to work is that I would be quite rigid about how many songs I’d make for a given project. I would make my list of titles and would not divert from that list while recording. If I had 14 titles, I would just write those 14 songs and not make anything else.
Hope In Dirt City was my first time sharing production with other beatmakers in a substantial way. I started those songs off using samples and software synths at home and then I put together a band to replay the samples with real instruments with the help of a producer who knew how to properly track musicians, Michael Musmanno. Then I took those sessions and sampled what we recorded afterwards, trying to make it ambiguous as to whether it was a sample or real. I also got beats from friends in the Montreal loft scene for five songs on that album.
It was around the time of my 2018 self-titled album where I made a major shift. During those sessions in 2016 and 2017, I recorded almost fifty songs, eventually paring it down to 12 tracks. There’s probably a whole other album in there (maybe I should share it on here?).
It was also my first album where I didn’t do any of the production. I was interested in focusing more on my lyrics and delivery, so working with outside producers helped to free me up a bit. It also made making music a lot more fun and social. I noticed that I could feel the energy of the room in the recordings I made with this process.
It sounds crazy but I also started writing my verses over beats for the first time on that album. I would listen to the instrumentals over and over, mumbling flows and ideas until something real had come together. My first three albums came off like I was reciting poetry over unrelated music. Everything from Cadence Weapon on is more melodic and fluid-sounding, often adhering to traditional song structure. To me, the vocals and music sound more closely bonded together on my later records.
Making Parallel World over the early months of the pandemic led to a new way of coming up with lyrics. I got really into jogging during this time (who didn’t?) and I noticed that I would spontaneously come up with raps as I ran. I’d stop and write them down in my Notes app or record voice memos so I could remember how I rapped them (a frequent pitfall of rapping is having lyrics written, coming up with the perfect flow for them and then forgetting the cadence, never to be remembered again).
I worked with all outside producers again for that album but most of the sessions had to be remote out of necessity. I would send detailed descriptions of what I wanted a track to sound like, alongside playlists of references and other materials about the sonic world that I wanted to build, and my collaborators would eventually send me the instrumentals based on those ideas. I would then have a hand in arranging the songs to my specifications as I recorded them. Only “Ghost” and “SENNA” were made in person from scratch.
Rollercoaster was probably the purest example of a collaborative process in the studio for me. The majority of that album was made in the studio in the moment. I went to Los Angeles and lined up a bunch of sessions with Grandtheft, Cecile Believe, Machinedrum, Casey MQ, Taydex and Wes Singerman. I was determined to translate the vibe in studio as directly as possible to the finished record. I felt like the music that I produced completely at home alone sounded a bit isolated and lonely, so I wanted to avoid that feeling.
As I recorded more frequently in LA, I got better at writing with other people under duress in the studio under a time limit. Flying across the continent to work with producers, I didn’t want to waste anybody’s time. I also noticed that if I didn’t write to a beat in the moment, I was unlikely to complete it at a later date. I would lose momentum and not be able to regain it.
I taught myself to come up with lyrics quickly in the studio, vibing with the music as it was being created by the producers. I’ve come to believe that this is the method that works best for me. There are parallels to freestyling and automatic writing with this style of recording. I’ve gotten enough experience where I’m able to come up with something of substance in a relatively short amount of time.
Making “My Computer” with Machinedrum was like an episode of Fact’s Against The Clock series. We wrote that song from start to finish in less than an hour at the Warp Records studio space. I like to tap into experiences I had on the day of a session: things I saw, conversations I had, even things I bought. I really wanted to translate the energy of the moment into the recordings.
Check for part two about the making of Forager in the coming days!
Pre-save my upcoming album Forager, out on April 24th with Six Shooter Records
I’ll be live selling some vintage band shirts on Whatnot this Thursday March 5th at 8 PM EST as part of the Faded Show. Been wanting to do something with them for a minute, check out the stream here.
You can find me updating my playlists or hanging on TikTok, Instagram and Bluesky. You can listen to my music on Apple Music, Bandcamp and Spotify. You can get Cadence Weapon merchandise here. Pick up your copy of Bedroom Rapper here and please rate it on Goodreads.
Really interesting essay, thanks for the reflections! I think from the outside it’s easy to assume that artists are just throwing themselves at projects in the same way and it’s the gained experience that changes their sound rather than new approaches to creativity.
I'm so happy I got to read about your process. Sometimes process can be as inspiring as the music itself. Thanks for sharing!