Hi y’all—this one’s a little different because I’m not at home. I’m literally on the floor with my Maschine while I’m out helping my mom, but I still wanted to cook up something dope. In this video I start by building an R&B/hip-hop beat in Maschine, testing ideas fast and trusting my ear. I layer a first melody, then I add another melody with a different instrument to give it more emotion and movement. From there I switch up the drums and create variety with two different drum patterns, then I A/B them so you can hear what changes when you swap the groove under the same melodic idea. After the beat is feeling right, I take it into songwriting mode and start laying vocals and lyrics in Logic Pro 11. The whole song is centered around how hard life can hit—falling down, bruising your head, thinking back to childhood, and realizing “ignorance is bliss.” But I don’t leave it in a dark place; I push the message that life hits hard, but we don’t quit, and that potential is unlimited if you stay curious and keep going. If you’re into real-time R&B beatmaking plus live writing, this is exactly the kind of “build with me” session I love doing.