We caught up with the brilliant and insightful NAMEFOREIGN a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

NAMEFOREIGN, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Was there an experience or lesson you learned at a previous job that’s benefited your career afterwards?

Biggest lesson I’ve learned during my career is to always be as prepared as possible and never let nerves get the best of you. First time I was asked to produce and engineer for rapper The Game, I was full of nerves and wasn’t really prepared for the session I had ahead of me. I was in Tucson, AZ at the time we got the call to come into Burbank, CA for a studio session with Game and was told we needed to be out there asap. The last minute call just never allowed me to really grasp mentally what was happening. Once we got there everything was running smoothly until it was time to record. Out the blue during the session Game pops up and says “alright time to lay shit down f*** it”. Soon as he jumps in the booth and I hit record the session on Pro Tools decides to crash on me, so Game jumps out the booth very upset cursing and saying that I wasn’t ready and what not. I didn’t take even a minute to fix the issue but it seemed like forever but the vibe was at stake which is very important in a session. Luckily from there everything went smooth and we joke about the situation to this day cause I honestly thought Game was ready to smack the back of my head for the mistake. Game goes back int he booth and lays down a dope verse and hops out the booth and says “I needed to be angry to lay that s*** down”. In a sense if I could go back I wouldn’t change a thing though. We joke about it when ever we see each other, so I’m grateful from what I gained from my mistake.

The thing I learned is to run through the session as much as possible to catch these mistakes before the actual recording takes place but more importantly don’t let your nerves keep you from your full potential. If I wasn’t so nervous this mistake is something I would have ran through before recording but being in a much larger and way more professional setting I changed up my start up routine.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I’m a producer / latin artist from Tucson, AZ that goes by NAMEFOREIGN. My path into the industry has been a roller coaster ride as expected to be. I first got into the industry by becoming an intern at a recording studio in Hollywood, CA called West 1 Productions. As an intern I has networking a lot and learning as much as I could as to becoming a music producer but being that I was an intern I was not getting paid at all, so my living arrangements were always though so it mostly consisted of me living in my car and taking advantage of having 24/7 access to the studio. Meals were at times tough to come by as well, most I went without eating was 3 days and it was definitely an experience to say the least. Besides all this I made the best of my situation and did what I had to. The day came though were I finally caved in to my circumstances and decided to head back home to Tucson. I thought I was done and defeated but I had no idea I would get my biggest blessing in Tucson and not out in LA. I had gotten a job at Guitar Center in Tucson where I would play my hip hop beats on the loud speakers. One day The Game’s manager walks in and listens to my beats and from there my life changed. 2 months after that I’m at The Game’s house showing him my beats and how I produce. I’ve been working with him and his label since. I’ve also been blessed with many other big projects since. Today I still produce for artists but I also make music of my own as a latin artist and I also be producing music for many different tv show and commercials. My team and I run a production label called FREQZ Music. Having a great team and such a strong support foundation is what I am most proud of. I can’t put into words how much that means.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

Love is the answer. Supporting your neighbor can take your community to great heights.

Alright – so here’s a fun one. What do you think about NFTs?

NFTs is the future especially for creatives. My view in NFTs regarding the industry I’m in is beautiful. NFTs gives the artist the capabilities of retaining funding without a record label and it also gives the consumer of your art the capabilities to own part of such work they love.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.freqzfamily.com/
• Instagram: @nameforeign
• Facebook: @nameforeign
• Twitter: @the_freqz
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPMvnWH6Bukn60wTgkpz-DQ
• Other: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1yvvCnlgpU

Image Credits
Zack Damiano Ray Montana