Christo on JID's Next Album, DJing at Coachella, J. Cole Session and More

The artist needs to feel comfortable expressing his or herself with you. And so you have to provide that safe space. I want you to be able to completely let loose, accept the vulnerability, and just give it the best you got. The One More Time Music Podcast. Genuine conversations with genuine people about music. Hosted by Henry with a three and playback Ben. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back for another episode of the One More Time Podcast. We're in year two. Season two. It's not season two. God dang it. Sorry, year two. Anyways, I'm your host, Playback Ben, here with my co-host. Henry with a three, because Henry with an E was already taken. And Henry with a three. Who do we have on the podcast today, my guy? Welcoming in on the first episode of the second season of the One More Time Podcast. Professional basketball player, newest member of the New Orleans Pelicans.

It's CJ McCollum. CJ. Oh man, I like that. Are y'all y'all gonna take out the Suns now that they don't have Devin Bookers? This is a heated series. Yeah, man. You know, it's looking like an easier series, you know. It is, it is. I'm very confident what we could do. All right, well, I'll put some money down. In all seriousness, as part of year two, the first episode in year two, episode 53 overall, we have legendary producer DJ Christo. Christo. Yo, thank y'all for having me. Yo, appreciate you coming on. man. Thanks for coming. Fresh off of two weekends in Coachella. Yeah, yeah, man. You look tan. Oh, yeah. Oh, I got nothing but sun. Exactly. The Palm Springs Sun. Sun and Dust. Dust. Coachella dust. Is it all it's like hyped up to be? Is it really the just the peak festival? Oh, yeah. It is. Yeah, yeah, definitely. Yeah. That was one of the craziest experiences ever, for real. I mean, stick looked fucking bananas.

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Stick went crazy. Yeah. The crowd. Did you expect it to do that at a festival? Like, you know, just having worked on this, you know, song, Did you know that that was how it was gonna be received? Um, not like specifically like how it was. Like, we know it's gonna go crazy because you know it's towards the end of the set, but like how it actually goes crazy, like you couldn't couldn't predict that right at all. It was it is a performance track though, that's one that you always hit when you do a show. Oh, yeah, you're never skipping that one. It looks so fun. I mean, to be there as a fan, like out in the crowd, but then obviously to be there rocking the DJ set with your boy JID. I mean, that had to be magical, man. I mean, oh yeah, and I like um the the DJ setup, this the the platform for it was like a lot higher than what I'm normally used to standing on. So not only did I got like a complete bird's eye view of like the whole thing and seeing everybody just go stick, stick, stick, which is wild. That's probably the best view in the house, honestly. Oh, he was sitting up on his throne center of the

DJ throne. That's it. No, it it looked nuts, other than obviously, you know, the Jid sets. Did you catch some other you know, performances? Oh yeah. Who you know, who stood out? Man, Jesse Reyes had a fire set, fire from top to bottom. Snow Allegra had a crazy set, and baby Keem's set was yeah, we've all seen that footage. Yeah, I was gonna say Kendrick came out for for family ties, I think. Yeah, oh yeah, yeah, yep. Family ties. That's crazy. That's that's hard. What do you do during the week, between the weekends? So what we did was um me and JID went to LA actually, and just worked on music for the time being. We um still a producer. Yeah. Just gotta keep it moving. Yeah, we didn't have a setup. No days off, no days off. We didn't have a setup at the spot we were at. So uh we just went into into LA and yeah, just recorded from there and then came back on Thursday to get ready for uh Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

Fire. That's awesome. I mean, is there a bunch of like industry events though going on in LA like during that week? Did y'all keep it low-key and just work on music or was there a bunch of shit you had to do? Yeah, we just kept it low-key. We just stayed in the studio and that was it, literally. The only other place we went to was sushi. Okay, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Um, so off to Zoinkies was probably the first time I heard the JID and Christo. And like, I don't know if I was late. I hope I'm you know, I you know, hope I'm not disrespecting you by that being my first experience to to your tag and like your production. But man, like that record definitely set it off for me and like brought me into Jid's world, and then obviously your world, you know, as a producer that that works really closely with him. So that one will always be in my mind, man. It's like that first time I heard your tag for sure. But we'll get to kind of the Jid, you know, relationship and and you know how that's kind of evolved. But going back to kind of your upbringing, right?

Like you are big bro to Benji. Former guest episode 37. 30 and change. Yeah, 30 and change, you know, who he had, you know, who we had on the podcast. Also, you know, tied to since the 80s, super dope bassist, super dope producer, but obviously amazing artist as well. He he told me he's getting close to his project being his next project being done. So yeah, hopefully we'll get that soon. But you know, how was your relationship with Benji evolved? Like since you guys were young, to kind of how you, you know, because you guys are still working together, you're still in the same circles. Like tell us kind of how that that relationship's evolved. Uh yeah, we've done everything together since childhood. So ever since, you know, I started making music, he was wanting to make music as well. And um, you know, we listened to a lot of the same stuff together. And right around like high school when I really started like trying to give music a chance. Um, you know, I I was I started out rapping and and singing, and so he uh was just like, you know, kind of just like watching and and studying and um anything he worked on, like he showed me like I was one of the first people he always showed, like yo, I just started working on this song.

Yo, I did this, what you think of this, what you think of that. And I'd always give him you know advice and pointers and stuff. How much older are you? Two years. Two years, yeah. So he's trying to impress big bro for sure. And in a way, but he also trying to show that, like, you know, he he's trying to show his own style, like this is how unique I want to make my own stuff. So, you know, we always was just going back and forth with um just sending each other ideas and what we were working on and just getting opinions and stuff because he even like since early on, like his opinion I always valued just because we came from the same house. So we always liked the same stuff, and then what things differently liked, we both appreciated and respect it. So um we always stayed back and forth, and even through college, like we just kept showing each other stuff, and we didn't really collab on any music until like Yeah, when he was like in college and I never wanted to like intervene too much uh with his music because you know he was really trying to figure it out for himself and as talented as he is, you know, you gotta give somebody with that kind of talent that space and that room to really let them grow and figure figure some things out. Yeah.

So um I would like lightly intervene on stuff, but then as he really started growing into his sound and stuff, then I was starting to see where I could fit myself into his sound and stuff. And that was around when he started when he dropped out of college before he made um Smile You're Alive. Um that's when I really was like really being more hands-on with his music and and not only making beats but kind of going in post, kind of like what I do with Jid and EARTHGANG and everybody else, but um really jumping in and being hands-on with with his music. And it's it's just it's literally grown more and more uh ever since. But how hard is it to give someone space versus like give them all the game that that you think they need to hear, right? Because I assume there was somewhat of a a blend of putting him on to stuff, like you know, giving him advice, giving him pointers as as big bro should, but then also giving him that space to fail almost or to to evolve on his own. Like was that hard for you to kind of take a step back sometimes?

Uh sometimes it was because um you want first of you you want someone to figure it out. Um failure is generally a good thing in like the creative world. If something doesn't work out, you just learned a way that it's not gonna work. Exactly. It's it's trial and error. So um like it wasn't too hard. It would be hard sometimes, just because like sometimes you have like a vision and you hear things a certain way and you wish that an artist would go that way, but then you're also reminded that this is a human thing and that it isn't gonna go that way. So it's better for you to just let let it be, and hopefully, you know, they come around to figuring it out. And when you have someone who's extremely talented, like they're going to figure it out. So that's the that's the part that eases me personally about working with anybody is when you know they have the talent to figure it out, then it's just a matter of time. It's crazy.

I I was just listen listening to an interview with Wayno, who's now at QC, I think, you know, you know, doing A&R work, and he took, you know, talked with Adam on on a no jumper about like almost having it be like the artist had the idea on their own. Like you have to be so delicate with like you know, giving your opinion on things because you don't want to like tear the artist down. Inception. Yeah, like you don't want to tear them down, right? You know, you don't want to make them feel like they can't take risks and be themselves because you think that they should do XYZ, but you obviously have a good ear. Wayno, of course, has been doing this a long time working under you know, Rockefeller and other labels and managing Dave East, whatever. He's been in a lot of sessions, he knows what sounds good, but still it's like it's not as simple as just like, hey, do this. Right. You know, it's like having them kind of like come into it on their own. And it might be that they come into it on their own and it doesn't end up being what you thought it was gonna be. But sometimes that's cool too, you know?

Yeah, yeah, right. You just um, yeah, you just let things be, and understand it. Your opinion is only an opinion, like who's to say you're even right exactly. Yeah, even the best ear still, yeah. They're one person. And if he had a question for you, you'd answer it, and you'd just be like, figure it out. But no, so so he was obviously drawn to the bass early on. You guys were a super musical household from what you know he he shared with us. What were some of the instruments or like the ways you were kind of starting starting out early on to like you know, find your love for music? And didn't he play the Seinfeld theme first? Wasn't that one of the first things he said he learned? Bro, notoriously. I mean, like 500 times a night. Every night, there'd be times my mom would be like, Yo, can you stop? Like, please, he's such a hard trainer and practicer that he won't stop until he has it perfectly done. His fingers are bleeding raw.

Swear to God. I mean, literally the lines on his fingers were going into his bones, just cartilage almost like oh man. That's hilarious. So, you know, so what instruments did you play? You know, kind of growing up. Uh growing up, I played the keyboard uh piano, um violin through school since like uh fourth grade, all the way up to high school, and then um I learned the drums like towards the end of high school. Um, but yeah, it was mainly those instruments. Do you think playing an instrument has helped your you know work as a producer? 100%, yeah, 100%. Um, yeah, I got an idea of theory early on, and just that knowledge of basic theory at that, too. Just even that knowledge of it. Just what key am I in? You know, you know, simple stuff like that, like knowing the time signatures and knowing that, oh well, I can switch from this to this, or and that it definitely just made things easier at first. You make any beats that aren't in 4-4?

A lot. Really? Yeah. Like what 3 4, 6 8? What do you think? 2 4 6 8 5 4 6 4. This guy. Oh, I want to hear that stuff. I want to hear that. Yeah, it's definitely uh in the hidden folders. These ones normally artists don't take. No. But they're fun for you to make. 100%. 100%. For sure. For sure. So you know, you also played a variety of sports, but I feel like you kind of landed on soccer. Like soccer, you know, was a big part of your life, and it's still a big part of your life. You just came off watching some Premier League, I think, right? Liverpool. Let's go. Yep, yep. Liverpool got the W today, you said, right? Yes, sir. Okay. Is this by the way? Is this actual an actual soccer jersey? Is just this American Deli like soccer style shirt? So it's actually the uniform at American Deli. It should be, man. Landon should should have them as a sponsor. Yes. Um, shout out my boy Peanut. Um, he makes these soccer jerseys and he uh comes up.

they're fire concepts. You pick a um a company that would never sponsor a soccer team. And then the the state flag included, and yeah, he he did the pairings of the two are always fire. So yeah, shout out Peanut. Shout out Peanut. and his name's peanut, which is awesome. Big shout out to him. That's that's hilarious. Have you ever been to England like for a match? Yeah, yeah. I went to uh Manchester United Tottenham match. Oh, wow. Did you get to see some hooligans, some soccer hooligans. Man, yeah, that was the wildest. sporting event ever. Did you feel like nervous? Like attending? like um I didn't know at the time. I wore a Liverpool jersey. Oh, God. we've talked about people wearing jerseys of teams that are not playing. Aren't playing in the game, they don't like that. They don't like that at all, especially not an op like Liverpool, you know what I mean? So I didn't know that. And um, you know, thank thank God, you know, one of my mates uh just telling me yo, you know, you just gonna have to zip your jacket up, man. Cause if they see that, like it's not gonna end well.

You said one of my mates, like a real Englishman. Yeah, I was like that was so like that was so smooth the way he said it. I was like, sounding normal. I'm not gonna call him out, but thanks, Henry. But so yeah, he told you to zip that shit up because zip it up, don't let nobody see that, man, because there's gonna be a scene for real. Oh, man. So I said, all right, you know, I'll do it, I'm gonna follow the rules, you know. And I sat on the Manchester United side too. I reacted to all the other goals, and I'm realizing like, oh man, like oh they're you know, they're giving me dirty looks and stuff. I'm Like, oh okay, I need to chill. It's that serious, yeah. It's it's serious over there for real. Damn, they don't play that. No, uh I you know I've seen Green Street hooligans, and like obviously I know people who are like super into soccer, you know, especially like you know, English soccer and Premier League soccer, and like I always heard it was that intense, but like I'm I'm glad to have like Bro, there's French, there's French teams and Irish teams that still throw bananas at black soccer players. That's still a thing in 2022, bro.

Yeah. Like we're still there. That's yeah, it's insane, right? No, it's it's crazy. Right? That's wild. It's real life. That's wild. So, okay, so so starting to make beats around high school, you said, right? Oh, I started making beats around college when I dropped out of college. Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, you kind of led the charge in going to Duquesne and then dropping out. Yeah, yeah. Because Benji did the exact same thing. For sure. He made it way farther than you, though, I think, right? Oh man, like his last semester of school. Like he had like that's where I'm at, Georgia State. He had like nine hours left. He could go back and Basically finished, yeah. Yeah. So you did the same thing. You just jumped out? not that close. I need like seven classes, but yeah, I never finished at Georgia State. Music, baby. We're locked in. Your parents is cool with that. Yeah, ish. Yeah, I mean, you know, tell us your perspective on how your parents reacted. You know, both pastors. Mm-hmm.

Uh you know, actually, they didn't trip, actually, because I I presented it to them the right way. You know, I was just like a PowerPoint mid. Yeah, right. You know, it was a slideshow. Yeah, yeah. I got my oratory up, you know, said it loud and clear and direct. Yeah. I just told them, like, go, I and I did it early. You know, I did it my third semester in. And I was just that making it better or worse. I don't know, actually. Like, damn. I felt like it made it better because I told him, Look, I can save y'all hella money. Boom. Duquesne was cheap. I mean, Duquesne was not cheap at all. Yeah. Like, it was like upwards of 45 grand a year. So I'm like, look, I'm saving all this bread, and I'm gonna get a job. Like, I'll take care of myself, but it's better for me to do this early than to do it later. And you be even more in debt, you know. And I'm convinced. They were sold. Yeah, they were like, all right, cool, just you know, get a job and let's figure it out.

Damn. I said, All right, bet. Shout out to mom and pop. So, did you have a confident? Like, did you have the confidence that you were actually gonna succeed in music as a career at that point? 100%. Really? So it was a but was it a calculated like leave? Like, had did you already have motion at all or like none? I had no motion at all. No motion. It was strictly dreams, just gut feeling, dreams, aspirations of making a career out of you know, out of music. It's a kid with a dream and FL Studio or Ableton. It was Studio One at the time. Studio One. Yeah. What are you in now? Ableton, now. Ableton, yeah. For sure. Ableton gang. For Sure. I'll give you that. It's fine. Do you remember your first beat ever made? Like first complete beat. I do. Was it trash? It's actually pretty dope. Because Benji said it was super fire. Who his or mine? He said your first beat.

He he said he remembers your first beat. The natural. Yeah, yeah. I remember it was pretty dope. He said it was like a soulful groove with like a dope bass line. Like, does that the baseline? Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah. It was it turned into a whole song, actually. Okay. Um, because at the time when I first started making beats, I was still like writing and rapping. So you were producing for yourself, pretty much. Yeah. Yeah. You're like, I'm tired of waiting on these producers. I'll do this shit myself. And That shit's trash, anyways. At the time, I was still like in this Christian rap kind of mold. So oh wow. Yeah. What was your rap name? Joe Christo. Joe Christo? Yeah. Okay. I just took my first and middle name and spliced them It's Joe and then Christo. Could be worse. Could be worse. We've heard worse first, like, you know, music monikers like that. We've heard bad ones. Yeah. that one's at least close enough to what you landed on. You know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah, for sure.

Yeah. So, you know, so you're making beats for yourself. Mm-hmm. And so that one was like, you know, one that did you end up getting on it? Yeah, I made a whole song too. It was called Holy Ghost Party. Amazing. that's great. I was uh I was super into lupe at the time, so it was like a blend of it was like this DJ Jazzy Jeff, Will Smith type beat with like lupe flows and okay, yeah. It was it was uh is it out on the internet anywhere? No, I don't think so. Damn, I don't think so. I would hope not. We're gonna need to hear that. There will be a link down below, everybody. We're gonna upload it on SoundCloud. Damn. So, you know, obviously you're starting to make your own music, but then you know, when do you start working with Devin Miles? Like, you know, how long did you because was that kind of like the first thing that started picking up steam, you think? Yeah, we've been boys since freshman year high school. Okay, As a high school homie. Yeah, man. Like

we used to just write each other raps in class. Like I'd sit on one end and he'd be like on the other end of the class, and we would just write bars like four, eight bars, just and just pass each other. Yo, what'd you think? Oh, I thought yeah, yeah, yeah. All right, bet yeah, yeah. Here you go. Yeah, yo, if you're the teacher collecting those notes as opposed to love notes, you're like, Read that out loud. These are fire. Damn. This is poetry. Oh man, luckily nobody caught us, man. But they're slick. You were smooth? Man. Yeah. We we literally listened to everything together. We really we grew up together, you know what I mean? And when he started taking rap serious, was around like senior year, high school, freshman year college. Um, and his first tape, I was around like not really as a producer, but like I was like writing hooks for him and Ghost writer. Yeah, Ghost writing and and like fake like executive producing. Like I didn't make none of the beats, but I was like picking him and like yo, you should fuck with going in.

That's still an executive producer. People have that fucked up. Like you can be an executive producer and not make a single beat. No, straight up. Absolutely. That's possible. Straight up. Yeah. So you were doing that at a young age. Yeah. You know, early on in your career. It's kind of funny that that's I feel like something that you're doing and or have like aspirations to continue to like build up that, you know, that EP credit list, right? Oh, yeah. I'm always interested in helping somebody figure their album out, figure their project out. Yeah. I love piecing things together. I love Me too. finding moments that really make a project cohesive. And you know, I just have the ear for that. And that's one thing Devin appreciated off rip. Like, that's why we'd always just sit in studio sessions and just even if we weren't making stuff, we would listen to a lot to music to get inspo to then go make music about later. But yeah, we always bounced back and forth off of each other. Yeah, so so he starts to get a little bit of you know motion around the city, or kind of like what was his come up like, and obviously you end up, you know, working alongside him as that happens, but kind of, you know, what was his trajectory like?

Oh man, he especially in the city, he was buzzing crazy. Like Pittsburgh is um it's kind of tough locally to to really get noticed and Benji said the same thing. It's tough, bro, because um, you know, everybody's trying to make it and like because of how small it is, people kind of want to separate themselves from each other and and the ideas of collabing so early on in your career just isn't like you don't want to imagine it because you want to come up on your own first and then you know dictate who you how things go in the city. And so like, you know, he fought through it early on, and you know, he got the respect of everyone. Like, you know, he was working with Mac early, um, he's working with ID Labs early. Um, and so, you know, he it it didn't take long for him to get a buzz. And um, you know, we we did shows around the city. I was his hype man.

Um, you know, he got pressed really quick. Um, and you know, it the trajectory for him was was was huge at the time, you know. He was it at the time was gonna be like it's gonna be after Mac and Wiz, you know. Um he had the production, he had the style, he had the the um, you know, the charisma, the personality. Um he's light skin. Yeah. Yeah, he had the right melanin levels. You know, and um, you know, he um he was a go-getter for sure. And so um that took us around the country. Um I wouldn't say pretty fast, but um it definitely Devin's come up helped me see like, yeah, um, this is definitely what I need to be doing. And I'm gonna enjoy this grind, whether it's tough or whether it's not so tough. Like, like I'm gonna stick with this for sure. Yeah.

Was was that the first, you know, was that kind of getting your feet wet with the tour DJing side of things? Um DJing for him or no, I was just hype man. So it got me it. Okay, you didn't DJ for him? No, never DJ'd for him. Okay. Um, but it definitely gave me stage experience and um show experience and seeing the ins and outs of the business and stuff, like um, yeah, we didn't um we wouldn't have like too many shows, but you know, if artists were coming into the city, we were opening up for them at the time. And you know, at when when you haven't really made it like that, like that's huge. Yeah, yeah, for sure. So I think you also start working with Hardo a little bit, right? Was it around that same time period or like was that kind of right after or yeah, Hardo uh Devin, and then along with Barry and Zeke introduced me to Hardo. Um Barry and Zeke for sure. Shout out since the 80s.

Shout out my brothers for real. Um yeah, I remember Hardo was just getting out of jail, and one of the first places he came to was our crib, you know, and he was just trying to to record and make music. Devin's a fire engineer. I don't know if you know that. Okay. He's a fire engineer. As much as an artist, he was also recording and mixing for himself and for like Hardo and me and and other artists for sure. And so that's rare. So we have Devin to thank for Joe Christo's uh perfect mixes. Yeah, oh yeah, yeah, for sure. Awesome. Yeah, so Hardo will come and um you know, he just as soon as he got out, he just took off running, you know, with with music, and he will come to our spot like a lot, like every other day. And when he found out I was making beats, you know, it was like, all right, bet. Like um, all right. It's funny because, you know, the music we were making was like nowhere near like what he was making with everybody else, you know, like super trap sound, and I come in with like the super motivational. I knew my lane early, like, all right, like my trap, my heartbeats ain't gonna work with him.

So had to find a different sound and work it out. Yeah, for sure. So so how did since the 80s enter the picture? Because I I feel like you knew at least like Zeke also from kind of high school and whatnot, right? Yeah, Zeke was one of the first dudes I met in high school. Uh it was funny because Zeke uh when he I didn't even know him at the time, he didn't even know me, but um when he spotted me up and everybody else seen that, everybody else started respecting me cause Zeke greeted me first, you know what I'm saying? And uh we stayed tight um all through high school because him and Devin were him and Devin were a lot closer than I was with Zeke, but um, you know, we go to the games a lot and we just had that relationship early on to then where it came time to uh take music professionally. Um we already had a a pairing that you know, like we already had a level of trust to to really like start getting things going. And you know, Zeke then put me on to Barry, who then introduced me to everybody else, EARTHGANG and Jid.

And and I I definitely gotta credit Zeke with with the pairing of me and Jid for sure. Um because you know, he was always just passing me opportunities, you know. Like um, even when I was working with Devin, like he was super, super hands-on in the creative side of things and um always trying to be involved in some type of way, always trying to find a way to help me out. And you know, if there was an artist who needed something, you know, he he was putting me on, and then uh the rest was really history from there. Yeah. Yeah, no, shout out Barry from Simpson for sure. Um, so I guess like when did so was Jid the only person that you DJ'd for then? Well, I DJ'd for Hardo before Jid, actually. Okay, okay. So like what were some of the things you learned from some of those you know early shows, you know, with Hardo, for example. Cause I mean, shit, going to DJ at co at Coachella, you better have like had at least like a few other like entrances into DJing. Like, I know maybe you, you know, weren't like scratching and shit, but like you said, yeah, no.

You're still up there and needing to like, you know, no stage presence and shit. So like what were some of the early things, or I guess you know, some of the things you learned early on with some of those shows. Um, I learned early on to have a presence and started as a hype man. You know, exactly. Basically just a hype man that plays the songs, exactly. Man, those literally just came together like that. Like, and early on I started DJing, like I was throwing my own events and just trying to get, you know, the hang of it. And then when I started really getting a buzz as, you know, a DJ, um Barry and Zeke were always, you know, like whenever they needed something, I was kind of like the utility guy at the time, like just like that role player. Yeah, for real. And so Hardo needed a DJ for certain shows. And you know, they they called me to do it, and you know, I did it early on. Um that's how so many DJs have gotten started, dude. For real.

They literally just needed someone to do it, just out of necessity And then they're a DJ. You know, I don't really want to do this, but like that's why I did it. I ain't got other shit going on, so like I might as well take a stab at it just to be like useful. Yeah, yeah, straight up. And I'm big on um, I'm really big on you know cooperating in and like chemistry. I'm huge on chemistry. Like whoever the artist you're on stage with, I really try to find a way to play off of him and play with, like, you know, really get a uh get a good show going. And so with Hardo at the time, like um he really needed a DJ that was you know had a big voice and was able to hype the crowd and everything because you know he's not a super jumpy kind of kind of guy, like you know, he lets the music speak. I mean, I did some shows with Hardo where like he wouldn't say a word, and the crowd is just saying every damn word, you know. And it's amazing.

That's kind of hard. Yeah, no, that used to be fire. And um, yeah, being like learning how to have the right chemistry, no matter who you're DJing with, um, definitely helped me to then work with Jid. I remember um I remember how it happened too. Like, we did a South by Southwest, Hardo and Jid were on the same bill, and I DJ'd with Hardo and we did our set. It was straight. And then Jid came on, smashed it, and then me, Barry and Zeke had a talk one time, and they were like, Yeah, I think you should be um you should be Jid's DJ. And I was like, Oh, for sure. Yeah. And uh our first show was uh Let me think on it. Yeah, I'm good. I know. we can make that happen. Sounds good. Check my schedule, but I Yeah, I might have a session, but let's see if it'll work out. I can squeeze you in, Jid, and your Coachella performances.

Our first show was um, it was uh out in Utah. Hmm. Yeah, it was uh The Mormons, yeah, man. It was uh Jid and a bunch of white people, Jid, I love McConan, and Earl Sweatshirt. Okay, it's a cool kind of mix. Yeah, I like that. Yeah, and um why why I knew it was gonna work with Jid so early was because he already like had his shows planned out, his performances planned out from the jump. He'd just be like, yo, like trust me, I got just press play and I got it. But did you help me out, like, you know, because I knew his words to to his songs and stuff, because you know, I by this time, like I produced a couple of them, and so you know, he'd be like, yo, just help me out with the words when I do this, you do that, you do that. Like, he was really choreographing things early on, so to where it helped me really get the chemistry down quicker than ever. Like, I'm like, all right, bet, man.

And even times where I just gotta stand there and let you do your thing, perfect, perfect. Just rock out, and you know, his energy then allowed me to get my energy up and just we kept raising the bar after every show. That's hard. Yeah, I mean, I feel like so many artists don't take the time to prepare how the set's gonna go. And that shit just like reeks when you see them on stage and you're like struggling. Did you even think about how this is gonna go before you stepped on the fucking stage? Oh, clearly no, yeah. But like someone like a Jid, there's it's no shit why he's you know, obviously, there's other factors, but I'm saying from a live performance perspective, it's no shit that he's gotten to be on the biggest stage borderline in music right now, you know? 100%. It it takes that level of preparation and knowing like how you're interacting with the people that you have on on your side of things and then the fucking crowd, you know what I mean? And like you guys rehearse for the Coachella set, have rehearsals? Um yeah, uh, did we rehearse?

We had like light rehearsal because because we rehearsed for the Dreamville Fest. You have a basic, like already your set now, yeah. Yeah, so we just kind of like um well, because that was only like a week or two before, right? Right, yeah. So we just sat together and went through the playlist, um, the track list and swapped some songs out and yeah, ran it from top to bottom, you know, just playing things, making sure things were straight, making sure things sounded right. But like as far as like actual rehearsal, nah, we didn't. Are you doing show mixes? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Do you do them? Or okay, yeah. Do you just take out the leads and leave the stacks and ad libs kind of thing? Sometimes, sometimes there's straight beats. Um, like it's a mix, and then other times because he can rap It's a special song. Yeah, He's really a rapper. He doesn't need to hide behind the leads being there, I would assume. Yeah, no, not one bit. Yeah, Not one bit. Like this dude can he's a rapper's rapper for sure. So your rapper, your favorite rapper's favorite rapper, yeah.

Yeah. So how do you approach though, like building a relationship with an artist? You've talked about chemistry a lot already. Is it the same, you know? Because you were talking about it from like a DJ perspective, but like, is that how you treat how you're locking in? Oh, yeah. On the producer side? Yeah, I think it's so important to establish a relationship with your artist. Even outside the studio? Especially outside the studio. Because, you know, at the end of the day, like you're both living lives and your lives will coincide. And so if the artist needs to feel comfortable expressing his or herself with you, and so you have to provide that safe space. And that comes through conversations, that comes through finding out what your similar interests are, finding out things that are finding out your differences as well. Um and that relationship is so important to going into the studio to where like the the artist can rely on you for whatever it is, whether it's a beat or an opinion, they know who to go to. And I try to be that go-to guy with whoever I'm working with.

Like I want you to be able to completely let loose, you know, accept the vulnerability and just give it the best you got, because I'm not gonna judge. I'm I'm not the one recording it. That's you up there that's gotta do it. I'm the one that's gonna tell you, yeah, that was fire. Yeah, that wasn't so fire. How can we make this work? Do you have, you know, I'm assuming you might get coordinated sessions from ARs and shit with artists that you've never hung out with, right? Like, can you feel the like the vast difference between someone like when you're locked in with an artist and when you show up because it's on your schedule type shit? Yeah, initially you can. Um, but that can be meddled quick because I mean you're both there to make some fire music, you know, and keeping that in mind, like, at least I know for me and who I work with, that completely just makes things smoother, I would say. Um and sometimes like I like, I used to not like those sessions because you're gonna be like, man, but like we're we don't even have the same style.

Or I I don't I don't, more so I don't know how this is gonna work, you know. But that challenge ends up, and it has ended up exciting me more than anything because I would rather be put in a place where I don't know what to expect. And it's almost better for the creativity. If like the everything is lined up perfectly and you have exactly the gear you need and everything you need, it's almost like, okay, now what if you have restraints and shit that holds you back? and you're forced to be creative, it's so fun when you have to figure it. out. I'm like imagining it though, as like this first date type of shit. Right? Where it's like, well, do you just jump straight in? Like, do we just fucking do this? Do we just, You know, do we talk about it first? Like, you know what I mean? Like, yeah, you know, how do you approach it? Like, do you try and get to know them like quick? Because you know, you're kind of under the clock as far as like if you're in a session that's booked for however many hours, you kind of need to like get to the deed, you know what I mean? But like, do do you try and like exchange some like, hey, you know, here's who I am, a little bit about you know what I mean?

Like, do you do kind of that? Oh, yeah, yeah. Definitely, I definitely have conversations before I work. I want to get to know you. I want you to get to know me. I want to feel like we could even hang after the session, you know what I'm saying? Get some pizza or watch the game or something and carry on. I think it's important because it it just, you know, like I said, like we both have to feel comfortable in this. Just have some level of comfort well within making the music. Like, ain't nothing worse than it just being silent, you know. Has that happened? Um has there been some like crickets and awkward fucking sessions? Can't all be perfect, right? Man, definitely not all perfect, but as far as awkward, I'm trying to think of when I was awkward. Nah, I wouldn't say too awkward because I really try and like kill that awkwardness early, you know, even if I just say a joke or like something, you know what I mean? Yeah.

Just anything. That's hilarious. Um, so you know, when it comes to executive producing, first of all, are you executive producing Jid's next project that's coming out? Yes. Ooh. Fuck yeah. you heard it here maybe first. I don't know, but we're gonna say that. One more time exclusive. We got Christo executive producing Jid's upcoming project. Sheesh. Any, I'm sure you're on like NDAs and shit, but like any anything you can share about like what it's sounding like in comparison to maybe some of the the past projects that you've obviously been a part of over the years, you know, how's this one gonna be different? It's gonna be fully executive produced by Christo. Bing bong. Fuck your life. Um all I can say is bro, it's gonna be the best album we've ever done. Hands down, the best album ever. I I can't really go too much in detail. So, like sonically, songwriting, I mean, just the whole package, it's just sounding.

It's evolved. Like it's it's both of us at an evolved state from DiCaprio 2 and more importantly from the Never Story, which, you know, this is the sequel to that evolution is just present throughout every song and and every moment of the album for sure. Take us through like your approach, right? When you're working with Jid, I guess on this project specifically, right? And and maybe it's a you know it applies overall to other artists you might work with. What's it like executive producing an album? Kind of like, you know, where do you start? How does it evolve? You know what I mean? It you know, high level, you don't need to get into the you know nitty-gritty, but just like what's your approach? You know what I mean? How do you how do you even tackle that? Um it's a lot of listening. Um to music. A lot a lot of listening to music and to what the artist wants. Like I I want the artist, whether it's Jid or anybody, I want you to get your ideas out. I'm here to help you get your ideas out.

So let's just start throwing paint at the wall. Let me hear what you want. How do you want this executed? And then I'll come in and execute it with you. Like um, there's rarely like many times where like I come in like, yo, we should do it this way, we should do it that way. Like I'm more one of those, you tell me what you want to do, and then let's do it. And I'll, you know, I'll still do it the Christo way, but like I want the the artist to feel almost feel like they're producing the record too in a way, like you're executing their visions. Exactly. Exactly. And that's with anybody, like and with Jid though, um, I mean, this album definitely was like that. Like, you know, because um he wanted to tell a story, we have to figure out the best way to tell the story. And, you know, um, it's personal, so you know, there are moments where, like, you know, just through conversation that created some of these some some bars and some songs, like um, you know, it like I said, it came from conversation where you know, we're just talking about family some days. We're talking about, you know, love, talking about you know, things that's just going on in our lives, and then being able to transfer that into the studio was like one of the main parts of the process.

Yeah. Are you are you like white, you know, whiteboarding a lot and shit, or is it more so just you know, remembering some of these conversations you had and that sort of thing? Yeah, this album was the most we ever whiteboarded. Just hella whiteboarding. Hella whiteboarding. He never wants to see a whiteboard again after this project. Do you talk about the project a lot before you even started any of the songs? Did you go into it with an idea? Like it was premeditated. Yeah, like this every day on tour, you know, we were just talking about the album all the time on tour. We were just like working on the album on tour, you know, like he like he knew that um JID is such a he plans ahead. Yeah. Like, I'd say 100%. And so as we're touring, performing DiCaprio 2, like he knew that this was gonna be the next album. And so we were just talking about how to piece it together so that when we go home, uh we could start really working on it. And you know, I had a book, he has like 500 books that he keeps with it, like notepads and shit, uh full of bars and ideas and stuff, and so we just kept taking notes and gathering things, and um, you know, we'd work on some songs on tour and stuff, um, but was more so you know, me making a lot of beats that would suggest a direction for the album, and like said, all this work was to then come home and have mad ideas to work on.

Yeah, see, this is a recurring theme. JID's arguably at the top of the total, he's like one of the he's one of the top, one of the hottest. in the game. He's in conversations, he's in every conversation at this point, right? He has such a vision and knows what he wants to do. No one's no one's shaking him saying, like, what the fuck do you want? Like, you know, what's your idea for this? I mean, he's coming pretty fully loaded. That's not taking anything away from you or his team, Barry and Zeke, and and the whole, you know, ecosystem that supports him to get him to that fucking, you know, next level shit. But I mean, at the end of the day, this dude, and that's like speaks to superstars in general. I mean, he knows what he wants. 100%. He knows everything he wants. And if he can't do it, then he comes to me. You know, I'm just saying, man. Yeah, for the most part, he already knows what he wants to do. Yeah.

And that's that just I think speaks volumes. This stuff, you know, you know, you and I talk about all the time. It's like, well, you know, what are you looking for in an artist and what really makes a superstar? And I mean, that sort of innate ability to like just caring. J caring so much, probably, right? Like almost maniacal about it. Oh no, not almost. Like sorry, not almost. Yeah, like obsessed with this shit. Yes, you need to. Every little detail. I mean, we're both super obsessive about these things. Like, you know, we lost sleep over this stuff. Like, we will stay up until we feel like, you know, we got somewhere with something. And you know, all the conversations we've had, you know, and if we ain't in the same room we're texting about the stuff, like it's just like any time of the day, like there'd be so many times he would hit me at like 5 30 or 6 in the morning. Just like what if the intro was just a conga instrument? So straight up, like, yo, did you yo what'd you think about the song last night?

Uh yo, uh, what you think it is. If I, if I wasn't there for him to record it, he would send it to me at the same time, like six, seven in the morning. Voice memo kind of thing? Oh, like the whole song, like or you're just like, Yeah, if he came from another session or whatever, yeah, yeah. You just send it like he wouldn't even say anything, he would just send the file, and then I'd be like, Oh, well, this was hard or this was tight, but any time of the day or night for sure. We just stay in constant conversation about this because that's how serious we take it. Yeah, yeah. No, that's that's dope. So outside of the Dreamville crew, actually, wait, let me touch on this. So, you know, the Revenge of the Dreamer three sessions. We've had Jace on here and and uh Bijan Amir, who both were at the sessions. They both had hilarious stories and perspectives on what went down at these, you know, legendary sessions, right? From your perspective, kind of if someone wasn't there, like paint us a picture of kind of what those those sessions were like. Those magical 10 days, madness, Chaos. chaos, madness at its finest.

Yeah for sure. Beautiful chaos. Like you didn't know who was gonna pull up any time of the day, any day of the 10 days. Like it would be like 4 p.m. and you know, DJ Khaled would just walk through. Rick Ross would just come in, and then the whole Milwaukee Bucks would just walk through. Like Yeah, Jace said, like, don't y'all have a game tomorrow? Don't you need me practicing or some shit? Why the fuck y'all in here? Yeah, man, it was crazy. And, like every room had something different and special going on. And like I knew that to get the most out of it, you had to hop from room to room. You couldn't just stay in one. You had to had to be as mobile as possible, you know. So um man, the what's crazy is the music that didn't make the album is just as crazy as the music on it. Like, there were just hundreds of songs that are gonna be sitting on hard drives and laptops for they'll they gotta drop like the lost tapes at some point, you know what I mean?

No, I'm sure that they have to. They'll do that. So Under the Sun, obviously that was one of the singles off the project, right? That was that was your record. Mm-hmm. Tell us about like the making of that. Is there any, you know, kind of story behind how that one came about? Yeah, my man, shout out Nice Nice Rec, one of my Pittsburgh boys. He, he he came down like day three or something, and also shout out uh Matt McNeil, who um he was just putting everybody together. Like he he put me in the room with a lot of producers and artists during them sessions. He'd be like, yo, meet this guy, meet this guy, meet this guy. And so he put me in the room with plus. And I remember when Nice Rec sent me that sample. I started a beat to it. And as I was making it, I was like, yeah, this is tight, but let me see what plus can do with it. And so can't hurt.

You know? So I'm like, man, you know, for the sake of just not trying to overthink anything, like I sent them the sample. I left my drum break on it. That kind of served as like a turnaround in between like intro and verse and stuff and the hooks. And he he loved it immediately. He put drums to it immediately. Cole walked in immediately, said he wanted it immediately, recorded to it immediately. Like it was so seamless how that one worked out. And it's when I used to feel like... Well, that's when I really, like, understood, like, the total nature of producing. You know? Like, I've seen it a lot where, like, other producers have, like, you know, maybe not have been so hands-on on the record, but their influence or whatever was still on it. They were able to either put people together or mix and match the second and the third. And that was the first time I really ever did that.

And it's ironic that still it's like my biggest song ever. And that's like the one I've done the least on. You know what I mean? Um, but it's still a credit to my ability to be able to mix and match and put things together. Just knowing what a song needs. Yeah, I knew that plus was gonna kill those drums, and I knew that um I knew that Nice Rec's sample was gonna work with Plus. Like it was a it was a perfect gospel chop. Yeah. June the Genius just got interviewed on producer grind, I think, and he talked about how so many producers like see these sessions of these like big songs, and they're like, Man, I could have made that beat. And it's like, yeah, that's not the fucking point. You didn't make that beat. No, the point is is that it's oftentimes built on relationship and foresight to put this person with that person. It's not about the fucking beat. These beats aren't like no one's got these magical beats necessarily. There's fuck tons of producers out there that make dope beats.

That doesn't fucking matter. Exactly. Or that's like the bar is like here for that. You have to make good beats. Like that's clearly. But he talked about he's like, the only things that I've, you know, the reason why I've gotten to be where I am is because I either had a relationship that I built with the artist, built with the other producers, built with the fucking managers, ARs, whoever. It's really it's relationships. And I mean, you clearly had the relationship with each of the the pieces to the puzzle. You you had the foresight to put them together sonically, right? So that there is some creative stuff that you clearly added to it as well. And then you know, you you know, added your Christo touch as well, but also like there is some of that just like making sure you're in the right place at the right time sometimes. Oh, yeah, man. That's talent can only get you so far, man. Yes, literally everything outside of the talent, it's your behaviors that take you those steps further, and you know, like I said, being able to be hands-on in some ways, and then being able to step back is is a skill in itself for sure. Yeah, most definitely.

Now that's yeah, a great producer won't try and do something if they know they can call up someone that could do it better. It's like exactly producing the record involves, you know, okay, this person should do this. It's seeing it as a whole, it's having the ear and knowing the people. So was seeing Cole lay that, you know, verse down and shit. Was that just well? Well, I didn't see him record it, I heard it. Yeah, no, I wish. Have you been? That was have you seen him work before? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Is it as amazing as me as a fanboy? Imagine him imagining it. Man, that guy is crazy. Oh, man, I remember, when when I was working with him, he would pick the smallest room out of the whole studio. It was literally like a G room or some shit. Yeah, yeah, you know what I'm talking about? Like it's so small. Like only three people could really fit in that in that space. Um and he works so meticulous.

Like he will keep going at it. And is if you think it's the perfect take, then it ain't. You know, like he will go take after take after take after take, make sure every word, every the way he said it and the way it sounded was just on point. Like he doesn't strike me as a big puncher inner either. No, no, he's doing the bulk of the verse in one take. Yeah but he'll do he does it multiple times. Oh yeah, yeah. And I I've just I remember like sitting there, like, I mean, at one point, like we work on just one song for hours, and it's it was just at the time it was um just a little like different from how I was working with other artists, because you know, like you know, artists would punch in or they don't want to take too much time on it. Um if they feel like they're kind of like almost stuck, then they'll just let it go. And or if they feel like they've been working on it for too long in their respective uh frame of time, like they'll just move on.

But no, Cole will stick with it until until he feels like it's done. And I mean, until the verses are done. And yes. That was we did like we worked on a few songs. We worked on several songs at the sessions that you know I was thankfully, you know, able to sit in and watch him work. Um, but he yeah, like it he works so hard at perfecting his craft. So I've been in a bunch of sessions out at this point, right? But I don't, you know, claim to to be the like smartest guy in the room by any means, right? But I do see so many artists giving up or settling for a take or whatever. Which approach do you favor? Do you think he I mean it's tough to say you don't favor Cole's approach because he is literally the rap god at this point, right? So, like, do you agree with sticking to it until you know? Um, I believe that everyone has their own process, so I wouldn't say that I have a preferable way because then that I I wouldn't be learning at that point, you know what I mean?

Like, um sure. Let me put it this way. Do you think that a majority of artists or you know, a handful of artists that you've worked with maybe don't push through a little bit? Sometimes, yeah. Sometimes it's that level of comfort where like, all right, I can't seem to put these bars together at this point in time. I'm gonna come back to it later. And they never do. Uh yeah, either never do, or like, you know, you kind of like lose that sauce. The feeling, yeah. The feeling, and to come back to it like either like later that day or or tomorrow or whatever, like can like, you know, it can take things down a little bit, but that's only sometimes like so, like said, like everyone has their own process, and I feel like you know they should just master the process that they feel like they can best attack, you know. Nah, for sure.

It's a good answer. No, that's, and you know, me, I'm like I'm so competitive. He wanted you to say just do just every artist should do it until you're gonna be able to do being a pussy, stop being a pussy and giving up when you can't get the you know melody right, like fuck off. That was the answer, right? No, that's a good it's a great answer. I I learned something I learned early on from um that sometimes it's not meant to be, you know, like if you wanted to finish it, you would finish it. Yeah, you know, yeah. damn it, Christo. that's how it is. man. So move on, you know, you don't wanna force it either. Yeah, because then, you know, it's just it becomes something that you're not fully. Yeah, then you expect that artist to like give 100% when the record comes out and like market it and talk about it and perform it, but like if they weren't 100% into it, it's hard to ask them to do that. Yeah, exactly. No, for sure. For sure. They gotta be hype. So outside of Dreamville, um, who are some of the artists you've been locking in with recently? Um, I work with Nyamza.

I've been working with her a lot. We love Nyamza. for sure. She's cold. Yeah. Yeah, Jace actually writes a lot with her, I think. Yeah, yep. Yeah. Um trying to think who else do I work with outside? Because I work with well, I mean, I saw one that I feel like you've been locked in with it on a couple records, maybe. With that, yeah, that white girl from uh from Oregon or something. Where is she? Yeah, she is fucking cold. She's fire. How did you connect with her? Like, what how did that happen? Barry and Zeke. Okay. Yeah. Um they just heard it through the grapevine that there was a dope white girl spitting bars in Oregon. Yeah, she um, if I remember correctly, she was tapping in with EARTHGANG and Jit early on. Mm-hmm. And um, you know, she was she was interested in in you know the shit I do. And so then, you know, I definitely remember Barry hit me one day, like, yo, you should link with this artist win. like y'all would sound good together. I said, All right, bet.

Like, if Barry and Zeke pass them to me, I'm no question. Like, bet we're making it happen. Yeah, so it's kind of blind faith in them because they've been right for you so many times. Exactly. It's like, of course, you're gonna like consider it like it might not work out, but why not? Yeah, yeah. 100%. Yeah, and yeah, we've we've locked in a lot. Um dropping songs together, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's cool. Uh I love the project that we did. That was um did you do a whole project with her? Yeah, okay. Yeah, yeah. Do uh it's called Do My Own Stunts. We dropped it last year. All right, yeah. I thought I for some reason only saw like I guess the single off of it, maybe or something. I well, yeah, I just didn't realize there was a whole project. Yeah, I'm gonna have to tap in for sure. Yeah, six songs, you know, six song EP. Yeah, yeah. It is that's dope. Yeah, she snapped on the entire project. Yeah, yeah. And the videos were so simple, but creative as fuck, and like you know, and it had that like edge to it and shit. I I was really fucking with it.

That was all her idea. She's another visionary where you know she knows exactly what she wants to do. She knows how she wants things to sound, how it wants how she wants it to look. And so important, bro. Yeah, yeah. I mean, how many times are we going to have to hear it from people before like it fucking resonates. When next time you're in Atlanta, we're getting you on the podcast. Love to have you on the podcast. For sure. Yes. Gotta hear that story. Um, so outside of music, you know, what are you into? Obviously, soccer, but you know, what are some of the other things that you kind of keep your mind, you know, off of music when you need a break? You know what I mean? What are you getting into? Tennis. I heard and I'm gonna I'm gonna smoke your ass, bro. You probably will, bro. I'm not good. See, I wanted him to be like confident back. Nah. Damn it. I'm confident that I'm gonna smack that ball over the fence. Over the fence for sure. Nah, that was definitely like my uh unfortunately. I grew up in a basketball family. My mom played it at uh Carolina growing up, and she was like a coach at Georgia Tech and Georgia State. Like she had a long career, you know, in basketball.

But I just was so fucking short until my senior year that like tennis, I picked that up, and like even though basketball is my favorite sport, tennis I was like much better at, which was like so annoying, you know. I hated that when it was like fuck, like why am I better at this sport that I you know could give a fuck about in comparison to basketball, but it is what it is. So yeah, tennis, you know, anything else that kind of keeps your uh you know, you know, mind off music when you need a break. Yeah, man. Um I love to cook, I love to read, I love watching films. You're Talking about cooking food, right? Not beats. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Cooking food. I I got a rule, man. If I don't cook, I don't eat. Really? Every every single meal? Mm-hmm. Wow. Every meal you don't eat out. I stopped doing that. So like I couldn't offer to like treat you to dinner or something. Like you'd be like, sorry, bro. Oh, okay. When it comes to feeding myself, like I won't go get fast food. I won't go to a restaurant myself.

Okay, so just on on the regular, you're staying consistent with cooking. Oh, yeah. You know, what are some of the go to like Christo meals? What's the patent? Yeah, yeah. What do you make? I make a mean chickpea masala. Okay. Okay. All right. All right. I make hella fish. I try on uh some snapper. Oh yeah, snapper. Some salmon. Salmon Branzino. Yeah. We always do these at dinner time when I'm just like drooling. Why did I ask this question when I knew one of the answers would probably be cooking? I heard you were chefing it up for sure. You messed up. Yeah, man. I just try to just be creative. I'm starting to get into puzzles. Ooh. Nice. But like the puzzles, like the 3D puzzles that you put together. Oh shit. Oh. Yeah. I've Never even heard of that. Oh yeah. I got, I literally just finished. Is it like a Lego? Almost. I just built uh the Liverpool Stadium. I got the puzzle. Oh shit. Yeah, you gotta send me that. Oh yeah. Yeah, I want to see a picture of that.

That's dope. So how do you set aside time though? Is it like do you have to like schedule time to yourself, like away from music, or are you pretty good about like the balance? Yeah, um, I balance a lot because I know I try not to like work in the mornings. I try not to like just wake up and immediately go to work, you know. Like I really try to ease myself into working. And so with that free time, I know like I could spend an hour here, I could spend an hour there, um, 30 minutes here, 15 minutes there. Um, because I know that I want to at least end the day with you know, some work to be proud of, or even just knowing that I worked. Um but um yeah, trying not to work too hard um and finding things that I enjoy like makes the process a lot better, like for better mentally and like even spiritually sometimes. Like I just um I just joined a Buddhist community Okay. Wow. Yeah, man, and that you know it's just making more use of my free time and stuff, and and meditating, yeah, yeah, meditating and reading and just you know trying to be a better person.

Damn, no, that's that's dope. Love it. Well, Henry, where are we at? This is the Rapid Fire Rampage. Oh shit. You said you watched Benji's episode. I don't know if you watched it till the end. Because there's this final segment that you may or may not know about. It's called the Rapid Fire Rampage. It's broken into three parts. We'll go over them as we go. But first, we're gonna start with the short answer questions. I'm Just gonna fire some quick ones at you, quick answer right back. Without any further ado, one more time podcast, episode 53, CJ McCollum. I mean, Christoph. This dude here, bro. This is real. Do you think I really look like CJ McCollum. I was struggling actually to come up with one. I have no idea who that is. you could have said Skinny Schoolboy Q. You could have said. There's a little Kendrick in you too, actually. You know, I could have said uh skinny Schoolboy. Man Cutty, not kid Cutty, but man Cutty. Oh, yeah, Grown up, yeah with the facial hair. Oh man. We might hire you to do the roast in the future. Should we ask our guests who should we roast?

Yeah, who Can we compare you to? Amazing. Okay, starting with the short answer questions. Season two, episode one. What is the Christo motto or catchphrase? Alright. Alright. I like that. All right. I like that. Simple. What is your go-to VST for melodies? Spitfire Labs. Good one. If you could have a musician who was number one in the world at their instrument with you at every cookup session, what would that instrument be? What would the instrument be? The harp. Just have the fuck tons of harps. Flyest harps ever. Yo, that's a Christo beat. It's got a harp in it. I like that. I like that. Have you used harps like programmed harps a lot in your beats? I used a couple and I sampled some harps. Okay.

I was like- These digital harps aren't cutting it. They don't sound right now. I guess you can't get the sound of the finger hitting the strings, man. Okay. You're visited by the money fairy who drops you a cool hundred K to spend on your DJ and production career. How do you spend it? On my DJ and production career. Or just yeah, just your music career in general. Yeah, you can't take a vacation. Right. Oh no, okay. Uh I'm using some of that, putting a down payment on a house and turning it into a studio house. Uh-huh. And I'm decking it out. I'm probably gonna spend the money on that to be honest. That works It's going to be a baller studio. That works. Okay. How important are collaborations slash sending receiving loops, etc.? They make the world go round. Period. That's a cool answer, Christo. He's got a couple cool answers so far. Yeah. Real polished. Christo, you wake up as an ant. What is the first thing that you do?

I'm looking for food. Who's leftovers? Yeah. Who am I going for? Mm-hmm. That chickpea masala. Right. Yep. Yep. Christo's trash cans is mighty, mighty nice. Pulling up at Christo's trash can. Yep. You wake up as president of the United States of America. What is the first thing that you do? Legalizing weed in every state. If you were an item at Walmart, what would you be? I would be a healthy snack. Wow. With a snack. Yeah. I love it. Christo is a hot dog, a sandwich. No. How many tennis balls? Would fit in a broom closet? 9,733.

Boom. And last but not least, what is your favorite curse word? Fuck. Part one of the rampage. Part one. It's probably a unanimous one. Actually, no, we've had we've had a few other answers having used that question for favorite curse word. Someone said uh someone said damn. Someone said bitch. Little bitty bitch or something like that. Something weird like that. We've seen extra words on one of them. Part one. Part one of the rampage. Some real cool and calculated answers. Very solid. Yep. He's uh he's off to a hot start. We're moving on to the this or that. I'm gonna give you two options, and you simply pick the one that gravitates the most towards you. Just like that. Are you prepared? Are you buckled up? Buckled up. Rampage! Upfront advance or back end royalty? Ooh, back end royalty. DJ money or producer money. Producer money. Reverb or delay?

Delay. Because actually, if you make the delay fast enough, it's a reverb. Exactly. It's kind of kind of crazy. Oh, cool. Music nerds. Fucking techies. Bass guitar or 808? 808. Oh, that's actually not what I was expecting. Sorry, Benji. Fuck off. That's why he fuck off low, bro. Benji on Christo. Okay. There you go. There you go. Home studio or commercial studio? Home studio. Producing at night or producing during the day? Producing at night. My man. tennis. My man. But tennis during the day. You know, exactly. Or building, you know, models of the fucking Liverpool Stadium. Starting with drums or starting with melodies. Although I do it less starting with drums. Yeah. Most people do it less. But it is fun to get that rhythm going first.

Six-track EP or 18-track album? Six track EP. Sampling or all original? That's tough. All original. For those back end royalties. Exactly. Spotify or Apple Music? Spotify. Cinderella or Snow White? Cinderella. But Brandy, the black Cinderella. Oh, facts. Soccer or tennis? Soccer. Jamaican food or Italian food? Jamaican. Easy. Dancing or singing? Singing. M&M's or Skittles. You fucked me up. Fuck me up. Ah, man, because the Sour Skittles go crazy, but the peanut M&M's go crazy. Yeah, I gotta go M&M's. No company or bad company.

No company. Leave me alone. Silly hats or silly socks. Silly socks. Live the rest of your life with one enormous thumb or one enormous butt cheek. Yeah. Oh, you're comparing? Sorry, that wasn't a choice. I know. You were imagining it. He was imagining how big his thumb would be. Going with thumb. So you don't have to sit like this. Yeah, exactly. Gotcha. This last one is a uh assessment of your risk tolerance. A 75% chance of producing, let's say executive producing, a platinum album, or a 25% chance of executive producing a diamond album. 25% chance he's going for it. Risk it for the biscuit, part two of the rampage. I love that answer. He's like, fuck it, I'm getting platinum, no problem. So way the fuck harder to get diamond, bro. This is so hard.

Like people don't go diamond. So last part of the Rapid Fire Rampage Part two. Part two was great. It was also very solid. Really good. I only had to hit the speed Jeopardy button one time. And it didn't last that long. He really fucked him up with the candy uh choice, though. Yeah, that fucked me up. That was the one that was like that was the hardest one for him, apparently. I'm a Snacker, bro. Okay. It's crazy. All right. So yeah, that well, yeah. That's how he justifies his snacking by cooking at home and eating healthy outside of like the M&M's and Skittles. Still snacks. Oh yeah. Yeah. Final part is the word association. I'm gonna fire one word at you, and you just fire the first word off the top of your head right back at me. It's that simple. Except, you know, for PR agents that want you to be very careful about what you say. You would make a fire game show host, bro. That's basically what it is, right? That's basically what this is. Thank you for saying that. Part three of the rampage, word association with Christo, episode 53. Yeah, the way he does his fucking his game show host voice. It always creeps people out because you've got a whole episode of him talking normal, and then he gets to this part.

It's Like, who the fuck is this guy? Been waiting on this part. Yeah. Starting with sample. I just fire a word back at you. First thing off to if it's two words, maybe, but your first thought. Lawsuit. It's amazing. Yes, it's perfect. Caught one of those. Oh, and thankfully, no. Oh, yeah. Stage. Presence. Boot. Cut. Splurge. On strippers. That's two words. That works. See, that's what I mean. You can add like a preposition here and there. FaceTime. Don't. Water. Filter. Nintendo.

64. Piano. Roll. History. Schmistory. Okay, don't get into having history. We'll accept it for that one. Uncle. Schmunkle. Buck. Buck. Uncle Buck. Shout out. Depression. Healing. Microphone. Check. Chorus. No. No chorus. Just bars. Straight bars. Love. Cake. Walk. And similar to cake, only fans. Should be free.

Everyone wants a free lunch, Krista. Corpse. Bride. Podcast. One more time. Oh shit, Christos. That's my guy. I would have been, I would have felt some type of way if he was like, no jumper. I was kind of trying to set us up Joe Rogan. Yeah, no, that that would have been okay, maybe. I was setting us up for either failure or or awesome. So it worked out. Thank you. Lil. Wayne. Thank you. Government. Cheese. Horn. Horn? Horn. Lena. Lena Horn. Shout out to her. NFT. Why? Not a fan. Pot. Roast.

Crown. Royal. Yellow. Bone. Oil. Jojoba. Okay. We need a quick explanation. No idea what that is. Jojoba oil. Okay. It's a type of oil. Yeah, it's a type of oil. Okay. Is that how your skin stays so smooth? Okay. Okay. Jojoba oil. All right. Last one. Tis. Ha ha, Christos. What a rampage. What a rampage. What an episode. It's been an honor, man. Really appreciate you coming on. Really appreciate it. Huge fan. Love, love the perspective on, you know, how you treat working with artists. And, you know, it's kind of like taking that step back and kind of getting in where you fit in and making sure that they feel comfortable so that you can help them bring to life like what it is that they're trying to do. And I mean, that's something that producers out there need to really listen, you know, listen intently to because uh you know, don't be like me and try and like you know, force you know, force yourself into the situation and say do it this way, do it yeah, exactly.

Um, but no, awesome stories, man. Can't wait to, you know, keep seeing you crush it. I can't wait for Jid's project and all the other shit you've been working on, man. It sounds like this Jid project is gonna be, you know, phenomenal. Is there a name? Yeah, Forever Story Forever Story. Okay, forever. Yeah, yeah. Sure. Yep. So really looking forward to that. Can't wait to see what that does. And can't wait to see you rocking more festivals like Coachella, man. You looked really hella comfortable up there. So Yes, sir. Thank y'all for having me. Well, yeah, I'm not sure everyone's gonna have that throne, you know, with that bird's eye view, but you can hope. Man, All right. I might need that every time now. That's on Christos' rider from uh here on out. Please. Yep, 10 foot platform. Yep, yep. Appreciate you, man. Thank you, thank you. Henry, until next week, what are we doing? Peace now. We're getting out of here. Peace. Bye bye. Yeah.