A Conversation with Terrace Martin

Terrace Martin is a man dedicated to his craft. While he’s done much work with hip-hop heavyweights like Kendrick Lamar, Snoop Dogg, Talib Kweli and Murs, just to name a few, the Los Angeles-based producers own projects see a heavy jazz influence. With a jazz musician for a father and singer for a mother, Martin was almost destined to follow in their footsteps. Once he became first chair of his All-State jazz band, that destiny seemed to be set in stone.

With musical influences ranging from Miles Davis to Herbie Hancock to Dr. Dre and DJ Quik, Martin’s own projects, such as his latest 3ChordFold, are a blend of street lyrics and soulful sounds. In his own words, “heartfelt music.

As he begins to make the transition from behind the boards to in front of the mic, Martin is sure to make an impact on the people that may not have been aware they’ve been listening to his music already.

Read our conversation with the man below to find out his thoughts on the resurgence of the ‘90s sound, the “Control” verse and the three sides to kinds of people can be in a relationship.

Just wanted to start saying thank you for doing this on behalf of HYPETRAK. I’d like to start off talking about your latest project, 3ChordFold. I understand that it’s a concept album, where you talk about the three sides of love. What are those three sides to you?

It’s a concept album where I talk about three different characteristics of a relationship, not necessarily of love. There’s the freeloader, somebody that comes into your life, somebody that you can’t change. Then there’s the renter, somebody that you have for temporary charm. kind of like if you’ve ever had a small apartment. You have hopes of being more successful and getting a house. You don’t want to fix your apartment when you have hopes of buying a house. Then there’s the buyer, somebody that loves you for you. Unconditional, love you forever. So there’s the freeloader, the renter and the buyer. That’s what I talk about.

Do you feel like you can find all three of those in one person, or do you have to find that in separate people.

No, you can definitely find all three of those in one person. Whether we like it or not, we’ve all been that to somebody. I don’t know to what level, but I’m sure everybody has been that person. These three things are in us. Sometimes you just have a person who’s just a freeloader, sometimes you have someone who’s just a renter, sometimes you have someone who’s just a buyer Everyone ends up touching these things within themselves, which ends up making them one of those to someone.

Musically and lyrically, 3ChordFold is really similar to the Hear, My Dear project you did with Devi Dev. It’s soulful, jazz-influenced, but juxtaposed with hard, harsh lyrics. Does that come from your history going to Locke High, an artistically-inclined school, but right next to Watts. Do you feel that’s where this music comes from, those two influences?

I definitely spent a lot of time in Watts. Academics was definitely an influence, as much as growing up in L.A. I believe everything that true art, not just rap, is strongly influenced by day-to-day lifestyle. Be it riding down the street and hearing a horn go bah-bah-bah or being on a basketball team and hearing shoes on a court. So for me, everything happened up to putting out that record was a strong influence; sonically, emotionally, passionately. Pretty much I pull from everything.

You can hear the jazz-influence in your music, and it’s not something that you hear everyday. It seems like a whole 90’s style is coming back, with the New New York style and Kenrick Lamar coming up. With J. Cole using TLC. Do you feel like that ‘90s sound is going to make a big wave?

Let’s throw away the term 90s sound and let’s adopt heartfelt music. The thing about the 90s is take elements from the 80s. Let’s just call it heartfelt music. The 80s and 90s music are some of the most influential eras of music only because it feels a lot of music was heartfelt. Duran Duran, Teddy Riley, they were very heartfelt music. I gotta say that the first person that brought that whole energy back would be Drake. He was the first one to me of this era to hop on the radio and was singing very Teddy Riley-influenced melodies and was rapping his ass off. Drake opened the doors for everybody to even be able to listen, for the young cats to rap over those type of melodic beats. Now everybody is doing it, whether it be J.Cole’s, the Wale’s. So I think heartfelt music is making a huge comeback. And it’s perfect for me, because that’s all I’ve ever done. I remember some of my earlier days with Snoop making gangbanging music, about murders and bitches and everything. I just transferred everything to heartfelt music.

What’s kept you from experimenting with this big, electronic sound that people are putting on the radio nowadays?

That’s just not me. Some people believe that you have to be pop, go for whatever’s popular at the time. But I’ve never followed trends. I’m not a trendy print. If I go to Louis Vuitton store I’m probably going to get a print that’s been around for 35 years. I’m not going to get the new seasonal print because next year that print is going to go out of style. You’ve got to keep up with that shit and that shit is a fucking headache. There’s a lot of cats that are younger than me that do it, and that’s okay because that’s their time. If I were to do it right now, it would be called selling out. Selling out is just doing it for the dollar. That’s not what I’m into. But if I was a cat that was doing it during their time, like DJ Mustard, the music is their time. I respect them, I salute them. All these other motherfuckers jumping on the bandwagon, shit is strange, they probably have terrible home lives, they’re little people inside and just doing it for a dollar. It’s a waste of time.

But let me say this, I do get turnt! I do listen to that shit in the club. Unfortunately, the hour is only a good hour and 45 minutes. By the time you get to the club it’s 12 o’clock. Clubs in L.A. let out at 2. You have a good hour and forty-five minutes to turn up in the club. You still have 22 hours in the day to live regular life. I do music for regular life.

Just out of curiosity, considering you work closely with Kendrick Lamar and TDE, what were your thoughts on his “Control” verse?

I hate Kendrick Lamar. I think he’s wack. I think the verse. I hate TDE. They’re wack. They’re horrible, they’re never going anywhere. That’s how I feel about that verse. (jokingly laughs)

Any upcoming projects for fans to look out for?

Yeah, me and Quincy Jones are working closely on a couple projects. One is his album and one is an album with a guy named Clark Terry. He was Quincy Jones teacher and Dizzy Gillespie’s teacher. He’s one of the forefathers of this artform we call jazz music. So we’re doing that. Everything with TDE. I’m already starting on my next project. I’m just trying to stay busy and keep working.

Any last words?

Just wanted to say thank you for HYPETRAK to give me the opportunity to talk to everybody. Love don’t hurt, 3ChordFold on Amazon and iTunes. Catch me on the streets of Los Angeles or New York City, walk up to me. If not I understand.

Interview: Heric Rubio