Respecta.is - The Ultimate Hip Hop Portal

Like Bruce Banner being bombarded by gamma rays, something happens to hip hop producer NeMo when he becomes fully engulfed in the beats made in his laboratory. As he pieces together the latest addition to the thousands of creations he's made over the past decade, he feels a transformation akin to an out-of-body experience, and he comes out of with a whole different persona – an alter ego entitled IMAKEMADBEATS

The enigmatic, faceless man behind the boards has built his reputation on an obsessive dedication to his craft, a mad scientist-like approach to tweaking samples, drums, and live instruments, and a signature sound that's put listeners in the emergency room with severely broken necks. With cracking drums, sinewy synths and basslines, and an imaginative ear for samples, IMAKEMADBEATS is both a rapper's producer and a producer's producer, following in the footsteps of influences such as DJ Premier, J. Dilla, and illMIND.

While most people first became aware of IMAKEMADBEATS from his 2009 collaborative project The Transcontinental with Oxnard rhyme-slinger Roc C (a project that featured the likes of Oh No, Rapper Big Pooh, Rakaa Iriscience, and Chino XL), the story of the demented hip hop recluse runs much deeper.

"I've been a 'take it apart and put it back together' person all my life," NeMo says. "I spent four years reading manuals to machines that I didn't even have, just to figure out the science behind them."

Coming from a musical family as he came of age in both Memphis, Tennessee and Orlando, Florida (commonly referred to by its residents as the Ozone), NeMo found himself consumed by music very early on. "I used to draw track channels on the back of church programs and plot out drum patterns. I used to keep an old crossfader on my keychain so I could practice flares while I was away from home," he continues. "I became obsessed with music. A lot of times, beats have taken the place of food for me."

NeMo's move to New York City would prove instrumental in the development of both his career and the IMAKEMADBEATS persona. After getting his foot in the door with an engineer position at the legendary Quad Studios, hip hop's best began to take notice of the untapped talent coming from the quiet kid with the crazy big hair.

Many of those connections – as well as the success and attention brought on from The Transcontinental and its subsequent nationwide Smash Mouf Tour – helped build NeMo's debut IMAKEMADBEATS become what it is today. The record's all-star line up features vocals from underground heavyweights such as Black Milk, Hezekiah, Icon the Mic King, Butta Verses, Von Pea (Tanya Morgan), Sabac Red (Non Phixion), and Steele (Smif N Wessun).

But IMAKEMADBEATS is also a family affair, featuring many of the artists from both the Ozone and NeMo's label/artist collective, Doxside Music Group. It was no accident that NeMo chose to use his album as the platform to introduce listeners to the likes of his partners-in-crime MidaZ the Beast, J Freedome, Synopse, TzarizM, RUGGED, and cRITICAL¬ – all artists who have been making noise in select circles of underground hip hop over the past few years.

IMAKEMADBEATS may have been a long time in the making, but with the floodgates now ripped open, fans can expect to feel the effects of hip hop's workhorse with an outpouring of upcoming material. In addition to the self-titled Doxisde Music Group debut, IMAKEMADBEATS is also unleashing his dual-EP concept album Daylight/Nightlight, featuring Butta Verses and MidaZ the Beast respectively. Also in the works are projects with Beretta 9 (Wu-Tang's Killarmy), his BlakOut album with MidaZ, an instrumental project, and more placements on projects by artists seeking the 'IMAKEMADBEATS' treatment to their music.

"At some point, I realized that whenever I heard a ridiculously dope beat, my face would scrunch up like a raisin, as if I was mad," NeMo says. "I knew then that that is the type of feeling that I'm trying to make people feel whenever I hear my music."