A Little Bit About Matcy P

For anyone reading my blog, I want you to know that anything posted or written is straight from me so you will get a one on one with Matcy P.

Name:Mats Fortenberry Jr.
Born: July 10, 1988
Location:Chicago,IL



Today is November 18, 2008, and I just got done reading a few chapters in Russell Simmons' book "Do You." It's a very helpful book, and a little weird at the same time. Especially his theory on meditation (laughing). I might try it one day, maybe it might actually clear all of the noise that's going on in my head. I mean I'm 20 years old, a junior in college, and a lot is going on at this time in my life that requires some serious decision making. I'm in school for IST, (Information Systems & Technology) and I'm all for computers, but some of this shit is boring (laughing). I mean, I came to college because my mother wanted me to go so badly. I have put her through a lot, and feel like I owe her the world, so why not try it out. I didn't know anything about preparing myself for college, nor did I know exactly what I wanted to do as well. I was good with computers so I figured I would major in IST. There is more to computers than I thought I'll tell you that much. I can't see myself doing this for the rest of my life.

Ever since I was a kid I was in to hip-hop, and old school music. I always wanted to do something that involved hip-hop and started writing raps at the age of 13. A friend of mine at the time used a program called Hip Hop Ejay, and I started making beats with that program. I was geeked when I saw how easy it was to make beats on that program, not knowing that every sound in that program was a loop and not a one shot so nothing was original, but I didn't know.That was my first experience with beat making. Eventually I was put on to another program by somebody I went to the Boys & Girls club with called Fruity Loops.This program seemed weak when I was messing around with it, and the name was whack.Fruity Loops?I thought it was worst than Ejay, plus it had a damn fruit for the symbol! I played with this program for a long time after I saw a friend of mine make a beat on it. I saw how complex it actually was. You could do a lot with it once you got more in depth with the program.Ever since that day I stuck with the program and still continue to learn new things about the program till this day. I was 15 when I first started using this program, and a couple of years later I knew what my calling was.

My senior year in high school is when I really was going hard.I was in 2 different rap groups, and producing beats.I was in Vocational school doing Mass Media Arts which had 4 different departments. Radio & Television, Photography, Graphic Design, and Web Design. I utilized the RT department the most because we could record our music better than we could at our houses. I remember it like it was yesterday. It was me and Chub in one group, and me, Smurk, and Twiz in the other group called IZZO Click. Eventually I quit rapping because it took me too long to write, and I couldn't freestyle, but I was good at making beats. I got tired of rapping, but I never got tired of making beats. I was motivated and determined to do whatever it took to become an established, well respected producer. I can care less about what's hot, or having cameras all in my face. I just want to demonstrate my craft the best way I can, and make a career out of this behind the scenes.

Well, that's how I got into making beats, now I will let you know what inspired me to pursue beat making. Once I realized what talent I had, I knew I had to learn more than just beat making. If I want to make this a career, I have to read the job description, and about the music industry. This is where it all began.

In August of 2006, I entered SIUC (Southern Illinois University Carbondale) as a freshman in college. I felt refreshed, because it was a new environment, and I knew I could change for the better. I was a knucklehead in my younger days (laughing). If you know me now and didn't know me then, you would find that funny because you couldn't imagine it. I made sure I studied all of my classwork early, and did my production all night lasting on red bulls. When the weekends came around, I felt like I was in heaven because I could wake up early and bang out tracks all day long without having school on my mind. It also gave me time to network and politic with artists and producers from all over the world through myspace. This was back when myspace didn't have all that bullshit spam and you could market yourself in any way you wanted. I was reading Music Industry books, but some of them didn't make since to me. Maybe because they were old, and focused more on the pop culture. Eventually I decided to look up some hip hop, or urban music industry books because that's what I want to focus my career on. I came across a book entitled "The Music Powers," an urban music industry book written by Cirocco Jones. This book broke down everything from management, a&rs, entertainment attorneys, publishing, copyright, sample clearance, record sales, starting a label, record labels, producing, being an artist, etc..I understood everything with no problem.Anyone should be able to comprehend what was written in that book.To all my brothers out there trying to play a major part in the music industry, GO BUY THAT BOOK!!!!!!I'll even give you the website, www.musicpowers.com.You can even buy it from Barnes & Noble.

After doing my research for doing what I have to do as a beat maker, I became published with ASCAP, got my beats copyrighted, contract written up,manager, and my clientel up!!It all took time, but researching made it simple to do.If I didn't do my homework on this business, I wouldn't have known anything and would have got screwed over or even played myself.These past 2 years I have accomplished a lot.
I have met artists from all over the nation, and have worked with artists from Philly,New York,New Jersey,Boston,Atalanta,and Alabama. I have also worked with artists from my area such as Chicago and Springfield, IL. I am from Chicago and spent my teenage years in Springfield. These are the two cities I am familiar with the most.

In January 2008, I dropped my first mixtape. "Let's Do Business."It showed my development over the years, and was an introduction to my music. Chapter 1 is what I like to call it, or "the beginning." It was hosted by Tru-L who is a artist from Boston,MA. He discovered me and mentored me on the business. He always kept it 100, so I still work with him till this day. He put me on with some cats in Boston that was grindin such as Prano, and Young Rich.I still work with them till ths day, and we definitely all have something in common......GETTIN IT IN!!!! My boy Mack AAO hit me up on the net one day tellin me he was feelin my joints, so we did business and it went from there. His word was bond on the business side and he was raw at rapping so we been doing songs ever since. Mack introduced me to Chuck Da Middleman and he had that crack.He is a dope lyrisist who has experience in the rap game.He is definitely one of the hottest MC's out of Newark, NJ. He is a true MC so we still make hits till this day. On the local side my man Yung J out of Chicago did business with me back in 2007. His word was bond and his style was dope. I had to continue to work with him. It was only right. I remember the day I rode down on him and chopped it up with him face to face. he definitely got some classics in store for the world to witness. Last, but not least my man Agony out of Kankakee did a joint for my mixtape entitled "My Life." This track was nutz!!!We chopped it up on some business a lot and eventually I had to ride down on him.It was only right.He's from Kankakee which is close to Chicago, and he reps his city to the fullest!!!Most cats would have been reppin Chicago, and wouldn't even know what Stony Island, Ashland, or Harolds was!!So you know we still do tracks together.

The group of people I named are what I call the promised.What I mean by that is that they were working with me when I wasn't that good on beats, and still to this day work with me.When I get on and one of them aint on already, i will make sure they get some recognition.This is what I call my hip hop circle.I know it's a crazy name, but I don't need to have new artists on my mixtape to make it better.They are all beasts, and will continue to be on every Matcy P Project.

I am currently working on Let's Do Business Part 2: Official Business, which will feature every artist I named above plus some of my homies from Springfield. 2009 is going to be a great year, and I hope that everyone who loves my music will continue to support me!I will keep everyone updated on what's new with me.-P-

YOU CAN CHECK OUT SOME OF MY MUSIC AT www.myspace.com/matcypproductionz

BOOKS THAT INSPIRED ME