Directed, filmed, and edited by Stroobz
Filmed by Stroobz
Directed, filmed, and edited by Stroobz
Directed, filmed, and edited by Stroobz
Filmed by Stroobz
Wow wow wow. Can't believe it's almost here. After two years of selling market research in NYC, I'm about to launch off to Valencia, Spain to go study for my Masters in Music Production at the Berklee College of Music.
The program I'll be entering is the Masters of Music Production, Technology, and Innovation.
If you're interested in following along my journey feel free to follow my personal Instagram: @stroobzbeats
CAN'T WAIT TO BE HERE!
-Stroobz
5. A Kid Named Cudi - Kid Cudi (2008)
Listen - This tape mannn. I don't even know where to start. 8th grade Yung Stroobz was jamming this tape non-stop. It's one of those pieces of work that you can start and finish without feeling the need of skipping songs (maybe "Is There Any Love" & "Pillow Talk"). This is when the world learned of Cuder's ability to make story driven tracks, and his ability to slay any style of beat. Top Songs: "Down & Out" , "CuDi Get" , "Man on the Moon (The Anthem)" , "The Prayer" , "Save My Soul" , and of course "Cleveland Is The Reason".
4. No Ceilings - Lil' Wayne (2009)
Listen - NO CEILINGS! This, in my opinion is the best mixtape Wayne ever released. Every beat on this tape, Lil Wayne just fucking crushes! I honestly believe that this tape, by itself, made me feel more swaggy than anything I've ever heard. It had me doing trap arm dances way before they were a thing. Me and my buddies listened to this shit almost everyday in early high school, and it definitely added fuel to our fuckery antics. Top Songs: "Swag Surfin" , "Wasted" , "DOA" , "Watch My Shoes" , "Banned From TV" , and "Throw It In The Bag".
3. How Fly - Wiz Khalifa & Curren$y (2009)
Listen - BRO. If you're reading this and haven't heard this tape, stop everything you're doing and prepare yourself for some dope AF stoner jams. Both these artists are true weed-loving rappers and good buddies as well. How Fly works so well because each artist gets a verse on each of the tracks and they split up the choruses. Sometimes these collab projects end up sounding like shit (i.e. IMO Drake & Future). Not this tape tho. These guys have so many musical similarities (at least before Wiz became who he is now) and they slay all 15 of the tracks on this project. Top Songs: "Car Service" , "The Check Point" , "Drunk Dialing" , "How Fly" , "Surface To Air" , and my personal favorite: "Over The Building".
2. Live Love A$AP - A$AP Rocky (2011)
Listen - ASAPPPP. Start to finish this mixtape is just fucking dope. Fun Fact: my roommate recently just bought me the hard copy, been jamming it recently and just hot damn its flames. Bringing on the guns of Schoolboy Q and A$AP Ferg in a couple tracks, this project pushes the limits of the codeine-cup holding rappers. I think one of the greatest things about this tape is how it changes from track to track, style to style, but stays so so swag. Put this shit on if you're looking to get real spacey and gangster at the time. Top Songs: "Palace" , "Peso" , "Brand New Guy" , "Trilla" , "Out Of This World" and the swag of swag: "Kissin Pink".
1. Kush and Orange Juice - Wiz Khalifa (2010)
Listen - This is it. My #1 . Fucking Kush and OJ. Now... I know you probably are seeing a common theme in my taste... "Oh Stroobz just like tapes that have to do with smoking pot" - this is not true (kinda). This mixtape, in my opinion, was the best thing Wiz has ever done and ever can do. It's an absolute masterpiece from start to finish. It takes you down a road, twisting between bangers and chill stoner jams, party hits and ambient sleep songs. This tape is and will always be, my number 1 most played album in my library. I must've listened to this thing a thousand times thru when I was growing up. This tape is how Wiz changed the game for musicians and their audiences. Wiz had no intention of hiding who he was in K&OJ, and that's what made this tape, with all of it's weed references and stoner jams, an amazing piece of work to follow. All the music videos, behind scenes clips, and live performances, all followed the same person Wiz was telling us he is in the tape. Top Songs: LITERALLY ALL OF THEM
Thanks for reading! I know that you probably have a different Top 5, so I welcome you to comment your list below or let me know your thoughts on my list!
- Stroobz
What's up people far and wide!
My name is Stroobz! I've been mixing and producing music since 2010. In the past 10 months I have focused on full blown production. Full tracks, all aspects, not just some samples that I'm throwing into my Traktor software and mixing.
Background about myself... well let's see. Momma was in the military, moved around a lot. Spent the majority of my childhood in San Antonio, Texas where my mom was stationed for 10 years. While in Texas I found my love for music and began my journey into the scene. In these earlier stages of my fascination, I really bounced around genres and artists. I mean really.. everything... from fucking Armin Van Buuren to UGK. Linkin Park to the Beatles. At the time, it helped that my older brother had a music library of over 27,000 songs from various time periods. I can't stress enough how wide my interests went.
In 2010 I watched a YouTube video of some DJ in a massive tent in Amsterdam banging some trance music with lazers and fog everywhere. I sat there watching and said to myself.. "damn that looks fucking awesome.. how do I do that?" A few months passed and with some savings (from working at Quiznos...) and birthday money, I purchased my first midi controller: the Traktor Kontrol S4. Sweet unit. From that point on I spent my free time out of school mixing music. I soon realized that DJing can be pretty easy if you are just doing some basic cuts and being a "human iPod", I wanted more than that. So soon after I downloaded FL Studio and began making samples to integrate into my mixes (figured it may help me stand out). Super super basic stuff: nothing more than 4 or 8 bars. I got better and started making just more and more content.
Little fast forward- went to college in upstate New York and started DJing more gigs. House Parties, Bars, Birthdays, the list goes on. Of course with school going on, a lot of responsibilities started holding up my progress. Despite this, I tried to make a solid weekly attempt to work on my music.
Where we are today! -- Well I graduated college a little more than a year ago and having been working in Market Research Sales. I know I know..."Why would do that??" -- well you know what it pays the bills, I get to leave my work at work, and really sales is applicable to anything. My roommate, a rapper, somewhat inspired me to take a little more charge of my future and explore things that I truly loved. In October of 2016 I purchased my production weapon of choice: the Ableton Push 2. For the past 10 months I have been spending as much time as I can, locked in my room/studio just cranking out new ideas and tunes.
My plan for this blog is to give people an understanding of who I am. Stay tuned for my next post.
-Stroobz
