Today we’d like to introduce you to Lawrence Greenidge.
Lawrence, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Music is the only language that is not only used, but understood universally. Growing up around banging steel pans and nonstop calypso music in my Trinidadian household, I was exposed to the power of sound at an early age; and it fascinated the hell out of me. My dad had some old equipment in our basement that I would always tinker around with. I would constantly find myself going down there to mess around on the keyboard or scratch up one of his vinyls whenever the coast was clear. So yeah, I’m a music lover, always have been.
I got my hands on a demo version of the program Fruity Loops (FL Studio) when I was 11. This program became my first canvas. The possibilities amazed me, got me excited even. I had so much fun making those beats that probably sounded like frying pans banging on trash cans (they were pretty bad now that I think about it). Basically I just kept on practicing and watching YouTube tutorials until my trash can beats started to sound like some of my favorite songs. If I had a dollar for every tutorial I had studied, I would be living in the Hollywood Hills right now.
The other day, another producer DM’d me on Instagram and asked if I had any advice on getting placements with artists. The following is my answer to him: “Work with who you can, and do your best work every time. If it’s really good people will start to listen…Just work with what you have and make dope s***.” That is basically what I have been doing for the last 2 years which is when I decided to take producing seriously as a career. I knew a few artists at first but none that many people knew (or that had a lot of money or a label behind them). So I decided I was going to compile a mixtape of all the dope artists I knew, and make all of the beats for the project. Ever since I made that decision to take the power into my own hands, more and more people started inquiring. I’m ecstatic to say that that mixtape has grown into something so special and meaningful to me. And finally being completed after being revised for 2 years. It is my personal gift to my closest fans and supporters that I am so grateful to have.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Being a producer sounds like the easiest job in the world until you actually start living and breathing your craft. I love what I do and wouldn’t trade it for nearly anything in the world, but it is definitely not always easy. Gaining leverage as a young or inexperienced producer can be especially difficult when beats are more available now than ever before. Artists are rapping and singing on “type beats” with no charge and some of them are blowing up. As a producer you have to find a way to gain leverage, whether it be with your talent, availability (working with people in your city), other skills such as engineering. This + erratic sleeping schedules and the chance of going deaf are a few of the struggles that come with the life, yet I love it. I honestly couldn’t imagine myself working any other kind of job.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the LDG Beats story. Tell us more about the business.
I am known for my trap beats with some of my favorite Boston artists. Trap music is looked down upon, and it really shouldn’t be. It has become commercialized and universal over the last few years, influencing other genres like EDM and pop music. I love a bunch of different genres, and I experiment and dabble in a bunch of different sounds, but the reason trap music is so special to me is because it represents 2 ideas: faith and energy. When I got to witness a sold out House of Blues jump to Cousin Stizz’s “The Store”, I was starstruck. Those are the most beautiful moments, where it’s just everyone jamming out in a huge room to something you made on your laptop in your basement. This is what makes me proud, to be able to deliver as much as I can to the most amount of people possible.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
I am a pretty spiritual person, so I tend to replace luck with faith. Faith in yourself, faith in a higher power, whatever you believe in you’ve got to have faith in something. So I wouldn’t necessarily say faith had to do with any of my successes, but I really believed and knew that I would always be successful, and the more I am certain about it the more I continue to get reasons to continue believing it. When I feel myself not so certain, the successes start to slow down. This is why it has been faith > luck to me personally.
Contact Info:
- Email: prodbyldgbeats@gmail.com
- Instagram: @LDG_Beats
- Twitter: @LDG_Beats
Image Credit:
Miles Carey-Snow
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