Kosyne – The Louis Den Blueprint

When I posted the blog about DJ Ready Cee  and spoke about him being the hardest working dude in NYC ….what better way to follow that shit up than a piece on the hardest working dude in the UK……Let me introduce you to Kosyne….The man who makes the whole Louis Den movement tick …..I asked him for some brief info on what lifes like as Mr Louis Den….. but Kos being Kos just has that much going on around the music in his life he’s got…….well…… he’s got alot to say.

Kosyne - Diggin For Homework

Start with a little brief history about yourself Kosyne

Hey hey hey (said like Peter Griffin), my names Darren aka Kosyne aka Kos; emcee, producer, engineer and your favourite tech savvy beat nerd…engineer for the LOUIS DEN lab and co-founder / operator of LOUIS DEN BEAT BATTLES. I started out freestyling and making beats  around ’99 mainly inspired by stretch/bobbito freestyle sessions (likes of punch/words/rise etc), mc battles and jay dee/hi-tek beats oh and the lyricist lounge 1 interludes..built skills for a bit before going out to venues and seeing what the deal was; out there I met Sonnyjim through cyphering and DJ Cro through record buying/mutual friends;

 

We set up an open mic night (a few others were thinking of doing a night so it introduced me to Percy Filth, Roeg Du Casq and Jodo which became a collective effort known as  (SOULTHUMP) that ran for almost 3 years and in that time Sonny put out his first EP..when our engineer lotek decided to move to Austrialia he sold us his gear and we used some of the gems he passed down to record our own sessions and operate our own lab.  We moved the lab to a different part of brum (long story) hmm lets see through Cro I met Darren Paul and through another brum  DJ Mikee Lazy I met Eyebs who ARE in a crew called TLG, they are still very much active…One time at the lab Skrien (who was in town from a radio appearence) and us decided to knock up a spot written joint (see ‘Trying To Live’ off Sonnyjim Trading Standards plug plug) and he brought his producer Kelakovski to the lab…we started chattin bout beats/drums and fruityloops lol and decided to invite Darren / Eyebs down to the lab a few days later for a beat session which kinda birthed LOUIS DEN BEAT BATTLES.

 

Okay so now your at the helm of the Louis Den Beat Battles…..What’s involved in that

Well coming back off the last question; after myself, DP, Kela and Eyebs did a few beat sessions (just swapping beats and flipping some samples on the spot), we also had the idea of having “HOMEWORK” where at the end of a beat session we’d agree on a sample and have something to show for the next time we linked.  I decided to blog about one session and posted crappy footage from my camera phone.,

 

Got a pretty big response so we decided to bring Kelas folks camera next time round haha, Kela brought his boy Figaro along (no Darren that time) who had the next sample and again blogged the session which got mad love and more hits.  Sivey (a friend of Kelas) asked to get down next time so we played his beat in the video..which Percy turned up for as well as he got wind of it.

So 3 sessions in we’ve had a few different producers and sick beats!!; a few heads asked if they could get in on it so by session 4 we were in full swing..setup a myspace for it and had heads worldwide all sending in beats made by the same sample.

What was dope was not every producer always entered and a lot of the time new guys would show up so it meant we always had fresh beats each week to listen to and although it was competetive no one was out for blood..it was just friendly competition with everyone building.So yeah Louis Den Beat Battles is a weekly video blog and sample flip/themed beat battle where heads download a sample and send in a beat..we link up on Sundays to play the beats back and comment on them and once in a blue moon if theres time we try to make some on the spot stuff too!.

Different heads pass thru from week to week but the staple of frequent heads in the video’s is currenty myself, Kela, Eyebs, Dockmini and Raul Supreme.

So Who should we keepin an eye on from the Den

Theres too many heads to name!! thats soo unfair so i’ll put it out there like this, Kelakovski, Darren Paul, Eyebs, Sivey, Jon Phonics, S-Type, Jaisu, Mr Dick, Wizard, Shears, Ed Strong, Raul Supreme, Dockmini, Percy Filth, Myke Forte, Roeg Du Casq pfff too many man its not even funny…

So if something major happens for one of the members you’ll feel your goal has been achieved

Depends if they send for everyone else haha!….I honestly feel like a lot of heads are competing on a commercial level the talent pool is amazing so yeah if one of the louis den heads gets somewhere it’ll be dope but it’d be off the back of their own efforts more than our weekly geek out getting them noticed.

One thing I am pretty pleased about is the outlet allowing everyone to step their game up and not on a beef thing either just on some mastering your craft type ish..

Is the rest of the UK sleepin on Louis Den

God only knows, they can jump on the bandwagon whenever they like we’ll still be here whether heads take notice or not.  I dunno if some heads think they’re “above” doing the beat battles or maybe they are shook and want to up their game first and prefer to appreciate it from a distance… even YOU Are guilty of this Jay hahaha you watched ldbb for ages and got mad big ups when you finally did send in a beat!…I guess it causes heads to really over analyze their music but hell if it means their beats are flame grillers as a result even better!.

I have heard/read comments that we only like a certain type of beat in the Den, so theres probably a false perception we’re only into a certain sound which is BS..dope is dope and wack is wack end of.

Does everyone give constructive critisism / advise or is it just damn slaughter

I like to think its constructive, heads have different things that make them tick; Raul will get real picky on something like the choice of snare and call the producer out on it , Eyebs on the other hand can appreiacate something thats a bit rough around the edges as he can see the potential or what the beatmaker was trying to get at.

We decided to add a buzzer/explosion to denote feeling/not feeling of beats because to be honest it was getting quite frustating week in week out listening to poor beats froms some contributors!! and thats not some holier than thou atttidute (with regards to a damn slaughter) its just some heads really cant listen to their own beats objectively..heads like Sivey are industry ready (sound wise) and are always bringing the heat..its almost an insult to play someones shitty badly chopped loop with stiff drums off the back off one of his heaters and expect us to not call them out on it.

Its tricky because we’re just fans at the end of the day..we’re not a room full of dr dre’s its just a next mans opinion and some people have caught feelings about it but we are all trying to up our game and grow collectively.For those who wanna join in what should they do

Check our blog at www.louisden.com, the homework blog normally goes up on a monday or  tuesday from our myspace giving you till the sunday to get a blap to us but all the instructions will be on our main page…and the rules! haha its funny because a lot of heads ask how to get in like its some secret guild of beatmakers but all the details are there in black and white!.

So you took things to a live show, how’s that been

Very positive!, obviously I wanted an extension of us vibing the in the lab; I think making beats on stage is a bit experimental and only the real heads would appreicate it so we got the mix right of a beat showcase format with PA’s performing over the beats.

I didnt want it to look like we were biting other beats nights but there really isnt much scope for taking production to the stage…ummm your on stage…playing beats out of equipment….I like to think we’re just not jumping on the beats night thing with it as the weekly beat battles had been going like a year and half and we already have a solid base of a concept and producer network to pull the night off.

Whats instore for the rest of the year, what can we expect

Louis Den wax is coming; it’ll be my way of trying to pay back the heads who have spent time doing the battles with us…see it as a beat tape from everyone, they’ll be vinyl first with some dope beats and then a CD with more treats some of the same heads and ones couldnt squeeze on the wax.

Also me and my man Prolifik have spent the last year putting together Volume 1 of “Behind Closed Doors” which is an Ab0181/louisden collab; its basically a hiphop production magazine in DVD format, interviews, beat tapes, diggin features galore; thats gonna be ready to drop around March time so get ready for that it’ll feature Last Skeptik, S-Type, Darren Paul, Kelakovski, Eyebs and more!

More Louis Den Beat Cypher action; shouts to man Snuff, we’re getting it tied in with the EOW finals on Feb 27th @ Jamm Brixton; have a beat jam/clash with all the ldbb regulars..hopefully do more connects with him overtime, gonna hopefully take the Beat Cypher on the road in some way too but I dont wanna speak on something before its properly underway thats just gearing it up to flop hahaha; In talks to get it more exposure appearing over a banner of events over the summer in Brum which should raise its profile.

Got the Eat Good Records compilation dropping within the next month or so  (Eat Good Records is the label im part of which is run out of Louis Den), lots of Kela production, some treats from Eyebs, Darren Paul, Percy Filth, Shears and Sivey on there as well!…check for the first Eat Good release, Sonnyjim’s Trading Standards baaaaare louis den production on there too Archimedes, Ed Strong, Kelakovski, Jon Phonics, Myself, R2ThaBeatz, Roeg Du Casq….and some cuts by Mr Dick too!.

Pff and if im lucky my solo EP might drop which ive been working on (on and off) for the past year or so.

Louis Den Beat Cypher Feb 12th!!, make sure you hit Brum if you can, we’ve got Jon Phonics, Percy Filth, Raul Supreme, Winchester and PA’s from Kyza, Pentalk and Jyager!…more details at www.louisden.com