Minnesota's Dankest Beats, Vol. 1

DJ Slurk speaks about the inspiration behind his first beat tape.

Hey, I'm DJ Slurk and I'm writing this post as a means of introducing myself to Steemit. I'm 30, I live in northern Minnesota in the USA and I make noise. I no longer DJ as actively as I did in my 20's, but the name stuck.
Today (although you can occasionally find me behind turntables) I'm primarily a studio producer. I do my own (often very strange) artwork for most of the projects I work on. Sometimes I rap, sometimes my friends rap, and I'm frequently open to collaborations. Those will be presented in another post, but today I want to direct your attention to my first beat tape. I'll give a little bit of background on each track individually, and link them where appropriate.
The entire collection can be downloaded for personal use ($7 for all 13 tracks, or $1.50 individually) via my BandCamp - https://djslurk.bandcamp.com/album/minnesotas-dankest-beats-vol-1)

I chose to call the collection 'Minnesota's Dankest Beats' as a bit of an in-joke with a friend. He joked that a listener would be able to smell marijuana through their speakers while these tracks play... I'll let you judge that.
I chose to begin releasing beat tapes because I've been making them for my friends and as a hobby since I got my very first (pirated) copy of Fruity Loops at 13 years old. Since then I've dabbled in different DAWs, instruments, analog and MIDI equipment and amassed literally thousands of archived, unfinished projects.
The following 13 tracks are the first that I chose to release from that archive.
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Track 1 - "After Hours"

Listen free on Choon: https://choon.co/tracks/0lcocc1v4na/
Lease for commercial use: https://djslurk.beatstars.com/beat/after-hours-1681674

This was one of the oldest tracks I had in my collection, and I chose to place it first on the tape for that reason. When I first re-opened this track I realized that my teenage self had done an absolutely god-awful job of mixing the instruments, so I took the liberty of cleaning them up until I was satisfied enough to let other people hear them. Here we are.
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Track 2 - "Business As Usual"

Listen free on Choon: https://choon.co/tracks/0qba5hko9mk/business-as-usual/
Lease for commercial use: https://djslurk.beatstars.com/beat/business-as-usual-1907412

With this beat, I wanted to aim for a feeling of self-confidence, but self-confidence acquired through grit and determination. I want you to picture in your mind, leaving your doorstep in the morning to a maze of dilapidated brick buildings and thinking to yourself "How am I gonna get paid today?" and knowing everybody else around you is looking for the same thing. The grind continues.
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Track 3 - "GMA"

Listen free on Choon: https://choon.co/tracks/9p3p686j6d/gma/
Lease for commercial use: https://djslurk.beatstars.com/beat/gma-1934296

An early version of this beat was originally created for a long-time friend, Minnesota-based rapper Good Knight. It served as the backing instrumental to his song "G-Ma", a laidback and tasteful "thank you" track he wrote to show respect to an important person in his life. When I began releasing beats online, I contacted Good Knight and asked permission to continue working with the track. He obliged, and I proceeded to remaster the beat, add a new progression and release it.
Check out Good Knight on SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/goodknightmusic
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Track 4 - "Miigwech"

Listen free on Choon: https://choon.co/tracks/0jeg4s7ar08/miigwech/
Lease for commercial use: https://djslurk.beatstars.com/beat/miigwech-1921092

Miigwech is the word for "thank you" in Anishinaabemowin, the traditional language of my Ojibwe (native American) ancestors. In this song I wanted to juxtapose a traditional "natural" flute sound with some very "artificial" electronic sounds. This is symbolic of my own fascination with high technology, which seems to be at odds with my desire to seek knowledge of my ancestors' more traditional and natural ways. I thank the universe for putting me in a time where I can balance these things, and this track is intended to have a meditative feel, while I say "miigwech" for the opportunity.
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Track 5 - "Shakedown"

Listen free on Choon: https://choon.co/tracks/0kdeb78ze22/shakedown/
License for commercial use: https://djslurk.beatstars.com/music/tracks

This one is grimy. This track is all about scheming. Following a little bit in the vein of 'Business As Usual' previously, this track is also meant to invoke a feeling of motivation stemming from need. This track comes from a place of keeping yourself motivated to do what you need to do to survive and get by, and sometimes taking what you need when the odds are stacked against you.
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Track 6 - "Observation"

Listen free on Choon: https://choon.co/tracks/0jmd2h9azmw/observation/
Lease for commercial use: https://djslurk.beatstars.com/beat/observation-1704751

This track is meant to invoke a feeling of power and security. "I've got eyes everywhere, nobody can fuck with me." The Illuminati symbolism on the artwork is not an accident. The track was created while thinking about how the people on top of the pyramid live their daily lives. Whatever you say goes, and the only real concern is keeping the have-nots from getting too rowdy.
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Track 7 - "Tree Fiddy"

Listen free on Choon: https://choon.co/tracks/0obdc56bval/tree-fiddy/
Lease for commercial use: https://djslurk.beatstars.com/beat/tree-fiddy-1957980

This is one of the tracks where the title has absolutely nothing to do with anything relevant to to the music. The title is (as you're probably aware) a reference to South Park's jokes about the Loch Ness Monster, which has been conveniently photoshopped into the artwork for the track. Regarding the sound of the music itself, I think the influence came from some of the calmer tracks on Bone Thugs-N-Harmony's classic album 'E. 1999 Eternal', which I had recently been giving a replay in my car. I wanted to use some smooth synth pads to lay the foundation of the track and provide a calm, "just got stoned" sort of vibe. This is also the first track where I was playing with a new technique for 808-style bass on my VST of choice -- I like the way the bass turned out here.
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Track 8 - "A Million Years"

Listen free on Choon : https://choon.co/tracks/0lcocc1v4na/a-million-years/
Lease for commercial use: https://djslurk.beatstars.com/beat/a-million-years-1668678

I was watching a few YouTube videos that went into some speculations about what the Earth would look like, had evolution taken a few different alternative paths. While thinking about the evolution of species, I began thinking about the evolution of music as well. I wanted the drum pattern in this beat to stay simple, but punchy -- to invoke the old-school days of break beats and block parties, but then to layer very mechanical sounds over it. The implication is that the old-school foundations of hip hop and electronic music are respected and built upon, but technology is forcing its way to the forefront for better or worse.
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Track 9 - "Overseas"

Listen free on Choon: https://choon.co/tracks/4l7bnw5zng/overseas/
Lease for commercial use: https://djslurk.beatstars.com/beat/overseas-1898380

On this track, I chose to forego the hip-hop feel I was aiming for in some of the other songs and allow a more purely synthetic sound to come through. I wanted the song to come in waves,, like a psychedelic trip. The rises and falls are not as dramatic as those found in some of my later tracks, but this serves as a sort of foundation for some of the more intricate tracks that would come later. The artwork, this time, is a random collage with no real significant meaning behind it. The title stems from the music I was listening to at the time the beat was recorded. In search of something new, I had started looking to other countries for talented artists to discover.
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Track 10 - "Coffee After Midnight"

Listen free on Choon: https://choon.co/tracks/0h93ld8avjg/coffee-after-midnight/
Lease for commercial use: https://djslurk.beatstars.com/beat/coffee-after-midnight-1703694

This particular beat was created -- you guessed it -- while sipping on some coffee in the wee hours of the morning. I wanted this beat to reflect my attitude and thoughts at the time it was created. It's the middle of the night and I can't sleep. I need to occupy myself, but I need to not wake the people around me. To me, this beat says "Don't stop doing your thing, but do it on the downlow when you have to." The bass is meant to create a droning, hypnotic effect.
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Track 11 - "Curveball"

Listen free on Choon: https://choon.co/tracks/0wpwgouvcb2/curveball/
Lease for commercial use: https://djslurk.beatstars.com/beat/curveball-1935175

This beat was created during the same session as one of the previous tracks, 'Shakedown', and I think there are certain noticeable similarities in the two tracks, particularly in the instrumentation chosen for them. This track strips the drums down to a more simple pattern than many of my other beats, and is backed by piano stabs -- a sound that I feel I relied on too much in many of my early beats and prefer to use sparingly now. This beat is meant to invoke a sort of back-alley, glance-over-your-shoulder uneasiness.
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Track 12 - "Undercurrent"

Listen free on Choon: https://choon.co/albums/0jyqkstcu85/minnesotas-dankest-beats-vol-1
License for commercial use: https://djslurk.beatstars.com/beat/undercurrent-1924244

Candidly, this is one of my favorite tracks from this album. If I may toot my own horn, the groove when the hi-hat kicks in still gets my head bopping every time. The bass absolutely bangs on my car system, and as silly as it may sound -- that makes this beat one of my personal favorites in this collection. Something about this beat calls to mind, for me, the predatory instinct of a powerful wild animal. That's the reason I chose to depict shark on the artwork.
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Track 13 - "Arturo"

Listen free on Choon: https://choon.co/tracks/0f9mg9fanjw/arturo/
Lease for commercial use: https://djslurk.beatstars.com/beat/arturo-1930324

This is the oldest track on this beat tape, as well as one of the strangest. An earlier iteration of this beat existed many years ago as a drum and bass cut, and had been sitting in the vast wasteland of noises that are my unfinished project files. I wanted to help my older, unused sounds see the light of day eventually and 'Arturo' was one that I chose to completely re-think. I extracted the original project stems from the track I created as a teenager and modified them into a different type of groove. I think this version is an improvement upon the original, and I included it at the end of this set because I think a little bit of weirdness closes out the collection in a way I myself would close a live set.
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If you made it this far and you're still reading -- thank you very much for your interest and your support. When I am able to make time, I'll be doing a follow-up article on the subsequent collections I have been (and will continue to be) releasing. In the meantime, I invite you to check out my official website at the link below -- there you will find links to my social media profiles and the most up-to-date information about future releases.

My official website: https://www.djslurk.com