Al ‘Tarba

Interview mit dem französischen Nachwuchsproduzenten Al ‘Tarba, der dank seiner Beats für Ill Bill, Q-Unique und Psych Ward längst kein Unbekannter mehr ist. Aktuell bietet er auf seiner offiziellen Webseite ein Album zum Gratisdownload an.

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You are from Toulouse, France. How did you become a part of the hiphop world?

I was making music in my bedroom like most beatmakers. Started with a computer and an old software. The more I enjoyed making beats the more money I put into beatmaking. Bought an ASR10, then a keyboard, a bass, a guitar… After a year or two of experiment I started sending beats to rappers from all around the world though myspace, trying to do collaborations, get contacts, export my shit. That’s how I built my first album “Rap Ultra violins & Beatmaking”. France has always been into rap music, we have a big hiphop scene here! A lot of talented beatmakers and rappers. We used to be influenced a lot by Mobb Deep back in the nineties and recently the boom bap sound is having a revival.

Apart from straight up hip hop, your music even has some psychedelic vibes (and more) to it. How would you describe your style?

I’ve always been trying to mix all my influences in my music. It’s like a killer collage, taking pictures from everything exciting you and making a scary patchwork out of it. I love strange sounds, that’s why I sample a lot of psychedelic music, back in the days, 60’s 70’s shit. Those artists used to use a lot of different instruments, from classic ones like guitars, drums or bass to crazy analog synth sounds or world music instruments like indian sitars, tribal voices… something I’m trying to do in my music, too.

You work frequently with ILL BiLL of Non Phixion/La Coka Nostra. How did you become friends and what have you learned in the process?

Ill Bill is one of my favorite MCs, I’ve been listening to his stuff for years and I’m glad I had the oportunity to work with him. I wouldn’t say we’re friends tho, I don’t know him personally. About three years ago he organized a remix contest of the song he did with Raekwon, “Enemy”. I sent two remixes and even if I didn’t win, Ill Bill showed me love and told me that we could collab on a track. That’s how the “I’m From Brooklyn” track featuring Brooklyn Academy was born. Than we did the song featuring Arch NME, “Body Harvest”. Hopefully I’ll do a beat on the next Ill Bill solo, but nothing’s sure yet.

Your style also seems to be influenced by Necro. How much has he inspired your approach of making beats?

Back in the days I used to listen to a lot of Hardcore, Punk and Grindcore Music. At this point of my life I wasn’t even listening to hiphop no morem, even if my parents made me listen to rap when I was a child. The Roots, Iam, Grandmaster Flash … they had all these records and we used to listen to that stuff in my father’s car when I was about 9 or 10. A few years later I met Sad Vicious, a member of my band Droogz Brigade. He made me listen to “I Need Drugs” and “The Future Is Now”. I loved the brutal beats and lyrics alot and since then Necro became one of my main influences.

You did a beat for the latest Snowgoons/Lord Lhus/Savage Brothers LP. How come?

Lord Lhus hooked me up with Snowgoons. They’re dope beatmakers and thanks to that my friends NRS Prod had the oportunity to book them in my hometown, Toulouse!

What do you think about French rappers like Sinik, Kool Shen or Medine?

Kool Shen : classic french rapper, NTM is dope! Medine is dope, too, especially his storytelling tracks. Sinik: I’m not too much into his recent music…

What are your next future plans?

I just released a free project for download “Lullabies For Insomniacs” on www.altarba.com Download it! My next album is coming in 2011. Alot of collaborations coming soon with artists like Psych Ward, Lord Lhus, Droogz Brigade my bros, and many more. So check my stuff and stay tuned – thanks for reading!