ZAYTOVEN

Interview By: C-4

Today we’ve got a good one for you; we have an exclusive with one of the hottest producers in the music industry. Zaytoven has a ridiculous track record that continues to grow by the day, causing him to be one of the most in demand hit-makers currently touching the keys. Now some of you may be saying to yourself, yes he is a dope producer, but why is Zaytoven on We The West, he’s not from Cali? Wrong! He may reside in Atlanta now, but he got his start musically in San Francisco in the Bay Area during the tail end of the Mobb music era under the tutelage of none other than JT The Bigga Figga.

The man behind the worldwide smash hit “So Icy” for Gucci Mane and Young Jeezy, he helped to launch the careers of Gucci, OJ Da Juiceman and others. He has also crafted for Gucci among many of their other collaborations, the single “Pillz (I Might Be),” plus “What It Is” for Gorilla Zoe featuring Rick Ross & Kollosus, “Walkin On Ice” for Twista and OJ Da Juiceman’s “Make The Trap Say Ay.” But Zaytoven has nowhere near reached his pinnacle yet as he has landed the new single from Young Jeezy called “Trap Or Die 2,” as well as what undoubtedly will be his biggest hit yet, the lead single off of the new album from Grammy winning international superstar Usher, entitled “Papers.”

Read on and get to know Zaytoven with us, from the start to where he’s at now. We discuss in detail his entrance into music, working locally in the Bay Area with JT’s Get Low Records to his current tireless work ethic on his way to the top of the charts laying beats for some of the best in the talent in the world.

Anybody who hears or reads your name can obviously see it’s a play on words with not only your name Xavier but the name of the classical composer Ludwig van Beethoven, but it’s deeper than that as you were both born in Germany and you have said there are similarities between the two of you besides the name, how do you compare?

I think the biggest similarities are that he’s a music composer and I’m a music composer, he plays the piano and I play the piano. Somebody from California actually gave me that name, he said “man you play so good on them keys, you play like Beethoven, I’m a start calling you Zaytoven.” So it kinda clicked and I was like “OK I like that,” so I ran with it.

Back in the day when you were producing out here in the Bay Area, you were going by a different name right?

I was Zav-On when I first started out there.

I know you are very versatile musically and play a lot of different instruments; did you have any actual formal music training?

Na man the only training I had with music has been coming up in the church. That’s where I learned. Anybody who their folks go to church a lot, their parents go to church all the time, being a youngster; you try to find stuff to get into. With me it was messing around with the instruments and everything, so my training came from the older guys that were playing and me watching and being around the instruments. And me getting up under them and learning and staying up under them, so that was all the training I really had.

What can you actually do musically? Do you play a lot of instruments a little bit, or a few that you know really well?

My main instruments have been the drums, the organ and the guitar. And I play all those pretty well. Now when it comes to horns and stuff like that, saxophone, I play a little bit, I’m really not that good at that. For the most part I play the drums, guitar and the organ, keyboard you know.

How old were you when you started getting into playing instruments?

I had to be about 2-3 years old man when I started trying to mess around with the drums. And it shows ‘cause my little boy is doing the same thing.

I was asking you about playing live instruments because there’s so many so called musicians these days who can’t play, but only work on a computer program. You are part of a dying breed.

That’s the whole game right now. A lot of people ain’t gotta rap as good, you ain’t gotta sing as good, you ain’t got to be musically incline no more, so the game has definitely took a different kind of turn. When I came up DJ Quik was like my favorite dude, that’s somebody that was really getting down on instruments.

I thought you were originally from California, but I see you were not born in the U.S. and you have lived all over the world, tell me about that.

Well basically man, my Pops was in the Army, so I’m more like a Army brat. I was born in Germany, the same place Beethoven was born, I’ve been all over. North Carolina, different parts of California, Southern and Northern, a couple different places in Georgia. The reason why I say I’m from California really is that’s where I spent my high school years and where I really got my game from and where I really started doing my thing at.

Being that you’ve lived in so many different places and experienced a lot of different things and diverse cultures, do you feel like it opened you up more musically and broadened your spectrum and sound?

I most definitely know it did ‘cause me moving different places, like from the Bay to Atlanta, you can’t make the same type of music that you make for Bay artists for Atlanta artists, but you still got that Bay music in you so you gotta combine that and plus make for what’s going on out here, so that kinda helps create your own sound.

How old were you when you first touched down in Cali?

California, I was living in San Diego first, I went to middle school out there. I spent my middle school years there, then I moved to San Francisco for my high school years.

When you hit the Bay Area, were you still just playing instruments at that point, or were you getting into the production side?

I was just playing instruments still; it wasn’t ‘til maybe my last year of high school that I started getting into producing.

Did you get into production on your own, or were you working with other people?

Na, actually I was playing at the school, I went to Galileo High School and I was playing like the ghetto band type thing. We didn’t really have no band forreal, but like Jazz band. I was playing the keyboard, I would bring the keyboard out to the football games and play the keyboard and my buddy would play the drums and we’d just be jammin’ for the football game. JT The Bigga Figga happened to be out there, so he came up to me, gave me his number, we exchanged numbers, he told me he liked how I played the keys, so we linked up. We got in touch, he brought me to his spot, to the studio and he just started showing me how to work everything. I didn’t have one studio experience before I met JT.

So JT The Bigga Figga was the first person to really introduce you to the Bay Area music scene, what did he teach you in the studio and what were you able to bring to the table on your own with your instrument experience?

Well you know, that’s all I brought to the table really was knowing how to play the keys a little bit. I didn’t know how to drum program or none of that; I didn’t even know how to work the equipment so he brought a lot of the know-how, to show me how to work the equipment and everything. Then the more I had done it, the more I learned how to work that stuff. At first I was just playing keys on some beats he had made, maybe he did the drums and I would do the keys or something like that. Collabin’ really.

Who are some of the artists you worked with and some of the projects you worked on out here before you moved to Atlanta? I think a lot of that early work kind of gets lost in the shuffle or people might not know it was you.

I was in with JT heavy so a lot of his projects, a lot of Get Low projects, a lot of San Quinn, a lot of, he had a group called Tha Gamblaz, you know, I was doin’ Tha Gamblaz, I was working with Big Rich, young Bailey, I’ve messed with B-Legit, Messy Marv. That’s more so kinda when I started getting on the bigger side when I started messing with bigger artists. But it was just mostly the local Bay Area artists.

Thinking about being out here in the Bay Area, the whole independent scene, the Mobb style of music, and then being out there down South and that style of music, and the mixtapes and other hustles, what would you say are the biggest differences between the music scenes in the South and the West?

That’s hard to say man; in both places everybody’s like going hard and got the same goal. Out here it’s more of a ‘shining’ type of thing I guess. You know what I mean, everybody out here is pretty much more so on some shining and the Bay more is grimy and gutter. Everybody’s on their grind and hustlin,’ really trying to get it going. Out here it looks like or seems like everybody already made it.

Would you say the mentality and the hustles and grind strategies are different? Like the South is going hard on the mixtapes, there’s a lot of artists who aren’t even putting albums out right now.

Yeah, I think that just started, that whole mixtape thing kinda just started now ‘cause like as far as how me and Gucci did it as far as putting out a whole lot of mixtapes, that’s how we built our name and kinda how we became real relevant, where people just have to pay attention to you because you put out so much music people got to pay attention to you. On the West I don’t know if they’re doing that, I don’t think they are doing that right now. And it’s not meant for all artists, I think certain artists can do that and other artists they’re not gonna be able to do that.

How would you actually describe your sound, would you say it’s just all you, or is it now Southern influenced or is it a combination of your West and South influences?

I always say it’s a combination of my Bay Area side and my Southern side, I think that’s just what the combination is.

How much did your sound change when you moved to the South?

Oh it changed a whole lot ‘cause for the simple fact that people didn’t wanna, they didn’t really get with the beats and stuff I was making, as far as the West Coast beats. Down here they weren’t rappin’ on that type of stuff.

When you first moved, were you still making West Coast style music, did you have to adjust your sound once you got out there?

Yup, I did, I had to man ‘cause the beats I was making, they wasn’t jumpin’ on them, they was like “man we can’t rap to that.” They wasn’t really on it, so I kinda had to switch it up, especially if you’re trying to make money doing this.

Was it a struggle when you first got out there, did you have to work your way in to the scene, or did you start working with some of the known artists right away?

Na I worked my way in, none of the artists I started working with was known artists. I feel like that’s been one of the great accomplishments that I’ve done because artists like Gucci Mane and OJ and whoever, they wasn’t artists that you had already known or nothing like that, they was artists that was like built from the ground up.

You were one of the main driving forces that pushed Gucci Mane to become a rapper and take it serious, back when he was trying to push his nephew as a rapper and not himself, what did you see in him that told you he had star potential?

I can’t say exactly what it was I saw in him, it was just hearing him and the way he was just putting his words together, something just clicked in me like I like what this dude doing. I can’t really put my finger on what it is I like about him so much, but he got something that I really like.

Do you feel like you have an ear for talent, that you can spot someone with potential?

Oh yeah most definitely I really do feel like I do ‘cause a lot of the guys that I feel that same way about, they make it, they go from ground zero to being on the big screen so I kinda feel like I got an ear for the talent.

Tell me about when the Gucci Mane and Young Jeezy single “So Icy” first blew up and took off nationwide and worldwide, what was that like for you to blow up on that huge scale?

Man that was like the greatest feeling in the world. Before hittin’ all the way across the world, just going to the club and hearing the folks singing every word of the song and really dancing and gettin’ down to it like how it was, that was the best feeling for me.

You’re most well-known for your work within your own circle, Gucci Mane, OJ Da Juiceman, etc, what makes you work so well together, does your music complement each other or is it the friendship that you’ve developed over the years?

It’s the working relationship but at the same time our sound kind of grew together. When someone starts either liking my tracks, or starts liking Gucci Mane period, it’s a combination, they done heard a lot of me and him so the sound kind of just grew together.

OK a technical question for all the up and coming producers or fellow colleagues of yours that want to know, what equipment are you making your hits with?

I’m working with, I usually use the MPC2000XL, I just bought the MPC5000, of course I’ve got the Korg M3, that’s like my main keyboard, the Fantom G6 and a Motif rack. That’s what I’ve been using. And just keep expanding.

Let’s talk about some of the current things you have going on, you just did the new Young Jeezy record “Trap Or Die 2.” How’d that come about? Have you worked with him other than on “So Icy” since all the drama popped off between his and Gucci’s camps?

I worked with him back when we did “So Icy.” I haven’t worked with him since then. A buddy, a mutual friend reached out and got us on the phone together. He said he wanted to go through some tracks, met up with him, gave him some tracks to go through. He found the one that was right and the rest of it is history, you know. That’s how it goes down. I know what he’s been doing, I’ve been listening to his music and he’s probably been hearing the stuff I’ve been doing, so you already know what happens when you put it together.

With your affiliations, do you ever feel like you get caught in the middle of the drama?

Oh yeah, I try my best not to get caught up in the drama man, but sometimes, well I don’t never really get caught in the drama it’s just how people perceive stuff and how people talk about it. It’s the music industry so they always want something to talk about, you know. They really make it more than what it is. I try to avoid all of that and just do my own thing.

Before all of this, had you wanted to work with Jeezy and some of these other artists?

Yeah, yeah, we was working for a little while, until the drama popped off, and I understand how that goes. I was working with Gucci Mane since day one, so you know how that goes. Jeezy probably felt the same way then, and that’s just how that is. But you know, time had kinda passed, and I’ve done different things, he’s done different things and it’s all about expanding your career and getting better and doing bigger and better things, mixing the music up and give the fans something different to listen to.

You have a song out now that’s probably gonna end up being the biggest song that you’ve produced so far in your career, tell me about the new Usher single “Papers,” how’d that come about and what was it like working with him?

The Usher single came about; Sean Garrett actually reached out to me. So he was in the studio, he called me up, wanted to meet, told me to bring some tracks and stuff. So went down to the studio and met with him, started playing a couple of tracks, he picked out a few, “Papers” was one of them. And instantly when we pulled the track up he started coming up with ideas and going into the mic booth and laying down ideas. And that was months ago, so now it comes out to be the perfect time for Usher’s situation and that’s how you get that single that goes on his record. I really can’t explain it; I know it’s a blessing to have it.

So it was a track you had already made, it wasn’t a track you made specific for him?

Na, it was a track I already had.

And you said he just went in the booth and started brainstorming and coming up with ideas for the track?

Yeah man, I guess when you’re a songwriter and you done made a lot of hit records and stuff, it’s something where maybe a track can hit you, and it’s already talking to you and telling you what needs to be said on it.

You’re also working on the new Jagged Edge project, are you branching off now more into other genres other than just rap?

Yeah most definitely man, I most definitely want to get into that stuff. I would have been in it before, but the people knew me for doing the music I been doing so that’s what pays the bills and that’s what I’ve been doing. And now that I have the Usher opportunity, that opens up the doors for me to get in those other areas of music. I was just waiting on that to happen, and now that that happened, it’s gone put me in those places.

OK I wanna bring this back home a little bit, since you’ve taken off in the industry and your sound has taken off, have you stayed connected with the Bay Area and worked with Bay Area artists?

Well the same guys I named that I was working with before, them the same guys I stay in touch with. I stay working with them. Matter of fact I will be back out there soon to do some more stuff, working with the guys out there man. I most definitely stay tuned in and locked in with the Bay. I’ve been working with Mistah F.A.B. now too lately, Yukmouth, you know, the Bay Area people. I stay locked in with that.

Have you touched down with E-40 yet, you done anything with him?

Na, I just talked to Chuck, Chuck is gonna put me and 40 together, probably in the next couple of weeks. I’ve done something with him before already, but now we gonna get back on it.

Being that you’ve worked with a lot of the artists out here in the Bay, and you work with such a close family in Atlanta, is there anybody out here that you think with your ear for talent has the potential to be a star?

I think there’s a few of them that could be big man, I just haven’t really worked with them enough to know, to say who is the guy, but there is some stars in the Bay. We just need to get on and pick ‘em out and get it working right.

I want to get your opinion on a question that was posted recently on the internet; it had a lot of differing fan response, so I think it would be good to get your opinion direct from you. They asked if Zaytoven had stayed in the Bay and continued working with an artist like a Messy Marv, would Mess be on the level that Gucci is today?

Umm… That’s hard to say, I think it was meant for me to move to Atlanta, to meet Gucci Mane, you know I think everything worked out how it was supposed to work. I really can’t say that if I stayed in the Bay that I would be the Zaytoven that I am right now.

Yeah, I think what they were trying to ask is did the Zaytoven sound launch Gucci’s career to stardom, or was it your location in rap’s new mecca Atlanta, or was it perfect timing, etc?

I think it was our combined sound, it’s not just on me, my sound couldn’t just make nobody a superstar, it’s a combination of both. It fits well together. That’s like asking if Dr. Dre didn’t meet Snoop Dogg, would Snoop Dogg be Snoop Dogg?

This is important on the production side; I’ve heard you talk about consistency as a producer. Some producers may have tracks that only appear on projects once or twice a year or even less, but you’ve said you want to keep hitting the people back to back to back, how important is that so you don’t get labeled a one hit wonder or a flavor of the month?

This music game right now, it’s crazy ‘cause it changes up so much. You’ve gotta switch up the tactics on everything on how you move and stay relevant in it. Right now it seems like the music industry wants you to give a lot more than you usually give. Like when an artist used to come out with an album, and then come out with another one three years later, it’s not like that now. So as a producer I feel like I gotta continue to stay in they face, give ‘em something different to listen to, keep your fans and your audience in tune with you. Let them know that this is what you do, that you’re working at this every day. You really can’t take off time like you used to, and people still remember you. You take off too much time now a days, people will think you fell off, and it’s hard to come back.

You’ve also talked about the importance of being able to reinvent yourself, I guess that would be part 2 of the question above, how important is it to be able to change with the times and stay relevant with your sound?

That’s very important man, if you really can’t do that, then you probably won’t be able to keep up in the music game right now. Reinventing yourself is like the #1 thing.

How do you feel about the music industry overall as a whole right now, do you feel like it’s going in a good direction or is it getting worse?

It’s really hard to say man; I’ve been loving music since day one. I know it’s not in the same place it was in, but it’s got its goods and its bads to it. Now a days the music game is a lot more open, there’s more creativity. You don’t have to be this great of a rapper; you can be great in another area and still be just as big as the best rapper or even bigger. It’s not just solely on your talent, you can have other things that can make you a superstar and I think that’s what the music is really all about is having different ways to come at it and be a star. It’s not just one way right now, it ain’t no telling what’s the next thing or how the next thing could be, you can come out dancing, you can come out singing in Auto Tune or whatever, the game is wide open for new ideas and new things.

Do you do anything else besides the music side; does Zaytoven get in the booth?

Yeah I mess around, it’s more so of a hobby or fun for me. Right now it’s a song that’s in rotation that I did that’s Young Ralph’s new single featuring my artist on there. It’s called “Bought That,” and I did the hook on there. So you know I’m kinda venturing into all that too. Spread it out, why not?

Let’s talk about the entrepreneurial side, you have a label, do you have artists you’re working with?

Mm hmm, now I’m actually signing my own artists, back with OJ and Gucci and all those guys, I didn’t sign those guys ‘cause I wasn’t in the position to do that and wasn’t on my game of trying to do that. But now each artist that I find now that has my ear and catches my attention, I’m signing now so I can do my own thing. I’m doing my own label situation.

Who are the artists that you have signed?

It’s five different artists, I’ve got an R&B artist by the name of Sig H.B, got a rap artist named Mook, another rap artist by the name of Humble G, got a Rock & Roll artist by the name of M.O.E. and I’ve got a Gospel artist that sings named Kiesha.

So you’re in the process of putting the label together, do you already have a situation for it, or are you looking for distribution?

Yeah I’m looking for a situation; I done took meetings and everything I’m just waiting, trying to make the right situation.

Do you have any other ventures besides your production and your label?

Well you know I own my own barbershop.

What are some of the other projects you’ve worked on recently that you’ll have tracks coming out on soon?

It’s hard to say, I’m working on something of everything, I worked with Plies, of course the Gucci Mane project, of course the OJ project, Young Dro, Yung LA, I don’t even like to start naming ‘cause I be leaving out folks, so I’m just working on a whole lot of projects right now man. Bun B, Juvenile, a lot of folks.

As a producer or as a musician, who would you like to work with that you haven’t got to yet?

DJ Quik.

Do you want to work with DJ Quik on the music side, or do you want to produce for him?

Either way. He’s one of the guys I’d love to work with.

There looks to be only bigger and better things in the future for Zaytoven, already one of the most respected, sought after and well known producers in the music industry. As he continues to work his way to the top, the West Coast continues to be proud of and support him to the fullest and wherever his wings should spread and take him, he’s always got a home in the Bay Area.

Stay up to date with anything and everything Zaytoven by visiting www.zaytovenbeats.com, www.myspace.com/zaytovenbeats and be sure to follow him on Twitter @ZaytovenBeats.