Written by: Blackgyver 

 

1. Where did you get the name “DaBenchWarma.” Most people would associate that with not being a star. Explain to us what it means to you.

Yea that’s what I hear all the time! To make a long story short, I got it from Robert Horry former player of the Houston Rockets. No matter who the superstar was on his team at the time (i.e., Lakers, Rockets, Spurs), the coach and team always knew in crunch time, putting the ball in his hands gave them the best chance of winning. He ended up with more rings than most superstars! I’d rather be known for winning, and my rings (hits), than just being somebody popular. I’m cool with not being the “star”. I’m good with being the “wow, I didn’t know he did all them records“ guy. You know it’s always that one moment when you Google that writer or producer you just found out about and their Bio is insane! You see hit after hit, and you’re like “dang, I didn’t know he/she did all that!” To me, in this business, that’s the guy who sticks around the longest.

2.  How did things come together for you to be a part of this latest Tyrese project?  
Twitter!! He tweeted that he was looking for producers. We sent over some records and he chose mine out of thousands. The next day he called. Next thing I knew, me and my production partner at the time were on the first flight to LA!

 

3. How was it working with so many other writers on “Nothing On You”? That split sheet has to be crazy! 
Actually the whole project was like that. Reese was like Barry Gordy. He wanted a Motown type of situation. So it was like 4 producers and about 4 writers in his house for about 2 weeks straight. We ate there, slept there, lived there, and worked there. We all became family in that house. We were just going from room to room vibing, tracking, writing, and engineering. We were doing it all. It was very refreshing! 90% of the album was done at his house in 2 weeks. Just about every song had a crazy split sheet! Lol! Percentages for everybody!! I even think the housekeeper got in on some! (joking). But we had a great time, and made what I feel was a great “Real R&B” album.

4.On the whole, what would you say about the environment for writers, in today’s music industry? Do you like the changes in the industry or has it been difficult? 
Man this subject right here!! This one is tough for me. I could be all day talking about this! I do not like the “changes”! I feel that if writers wrote, producers produced, and artist were just artist like it used to be, we wouldn’t have record labels in financial trouble and music would still be amazing. In particular, “urban music”. Don’t get me wrong, there are some people who can do it all, but a lot of people are just doing it for money. They feel like “man he made that much money doing that? I can do that”. In my opinion, and this is my opinion. If people would have just stayed in their lanes, the music now wouldn’t be so average. Artist complaining about writers making too much money, so now they tryna write. Writer’s complaining about producer’s making too much money so now they tryna produce. People basically doing stuff they have no business doing all because of money. The results to that is, music isn’t good, records don’t sell, and artist continue to get dropped. Well in all honesty, some writer’s are now having to produce in a lot of situations because “beat makers” can’t. Just making a beat is not “producing”. Like I said I could preach a sermon on this so I’ll stop there. LOL…For example, Pop music, Tejano Music, Jazz and Country Music are still doing great right now. They’ve used the same “recipe for success” for all of these years and they are sticking to it. If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it.

5. What advice would you give other aspiring writers in light of what you’ve seen in this New Music World Order? 
In this industry, if you continue to make music because you love it, it won’t disappoint you and eventually the money will come. But, if you’re doing it to be popular and rich, it’s gonna be a long disappointing and stressful ride.

6. 2012 is here. What is on the horizon for you? Do you have any new music dropping and where can we expect to see you?
Yea it’s definitely a lot going on this year for me. Off the top my head, I got some things dropping with Jacob Latimore (Crown World/ RCA), 1st single on French artist named Djany who’s signed to (Def Jam France), she’s amazing! Also I’ve been working with the Master and my big bro Teddy Riley on this K Pop group called Rania who are incredible as well.

Thanks for taking the time to chop it up with us. We look forward to hearing more from you in the very near future.

 

Thanks for the interview!! Quick shoutout to iStandard, my managers and team Danny Jones aka 3Sixty Music and Askia Fountain. And my Timeless family Charles and Cola!!

 

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