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#253January 5, 202665 minInterview

He Quit His Job and Built a Lo-fi Music Empire ft. L.Dre

L.Dre breaks down how he went from a warehouse job, $30K in debt, and posting “into the void” to living off chill beats, streaming royalties, and brand deals with Honda, Samsung, Visa, and even a cat company. If you’re an artist or producer thinking about quitting, this episode will show you how to pivot, keep going, and build a real full-time music business from home.

Full transcript

Timestamps jump to that moment on YouTube.

0:00

I started by posting videos of me making beats every day on Instagram for like two years straight before things really started to go crazy. From that moment on, I started like really hacking it. That ended up being my most viral video ever. It got like 18 million views on Instagram. Honda hit me up to do like a brand deal. And then right after that, Samsung flew me out. I've seen more money from one brand deal than a major label advance. Oh no! What's the biggest brand deal you've ever gotten? The biggest brand deal I've ever gotten. Like and I didn't even have to make music, bro. It was like... how? On this episode of the One More Time podcast, we are joined by Eldre, a producer who turned chill beat time. On this episode of the One More Time Podcast, we are joined by Eldre, a producer who turned chill beats, TikTok remixes, and a warehouse job escape plan into a full-time creative career. This guy went from $4,000 a year in beat sales and $30,000 of student loans to quitting his warehouse job, stacking millions of streams on his lo-fi music, and landing brand deals with the likes of Samsung and Visa and a cat brand that like the story of how he got the cat brand deal is insane. Just make sure you stick around for that.

1:11

In a time where AI can s*** out music and content at the speed of light, selling beats feels impossible, and algorithms feel like they just hate your guts. Like personally. Eldre shows us that you can still win if you're building a real brand, embracing your actual interests. What do you like? And treating content like a game, not like a chore. In this episode, we address the stigma around internet producers, how to identify the moment when it's time to quit your job and go all in on music, how he cracked the virality code that put him in this position to win, and why he continues to post his music even when it seems like no one gives a f***. So if you care about cracking these content algorithms, building a powerful brand, and actually making it in this wild music business of 2026, this episode sits in the sweet spot of creative sauce and practical strategy. And now for our full conversation with Eldre. Henry, we have Eldre on the podcast. Eldre, let's f***ing go. This is back to back full circle moments.

2:08

We just got off another episode. Ari Herstand, who, you know, was someone we were watching as we were trying to start figuring out how to make it in the new music business. And then Eldre. Who I yeah, found on TikTok maybe four or five years ago when TikTok was booming and Eldre was booming with TikTok and became a fan of the brand and the music and all that. And now here we are. Yeah, so appreciate you coming on the podcast, man. Um I want to just kick things off because I feel like the term internet producer, right, has a stigma, right? Of sorts. And I just want to get your take. Like when you hear that term thrown around, like, do you take that as like a compliment, an insult, indifferent? Do you even identify as an internet producer? Like, how do you feel about that nomenclature? Honestly, couldn't care less, bro. Couldn't care less. It doesn't bother me in the slightest. I mean, the way I see it too, like when I first got into it, um, I just I was anti-social, bro. So it was either I tried the whole like studio session stuff.

3:09

I was like a camera guy. I knew about camera and editing and stuff. So I finessed my way into a lot of studio sessions I shouldn't have been in. But I was always like too well, too pussy. I don't know if I can say that on you, but whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Hey, this is a family show, Eldre. I don't know, you know what I'm saying? But I was always kind of too pussy to like hand someone my USB or whatever and say, oh, here are my beats or whatever. So I pretty much made the decision that it's either it's either the placement route or I'm just gonna be doing my thing on the internet. And I just went with that and it worked out. Love that, man. Self-awareness. It literally it's going to make its way into every single episode that we do. You guys are not gonna do anything until you understand who you are, what you want to do, what you're good at, and you've set goals like around that. Yeah, because I mean you you could have kept, you know, trying to go that route because the industry's telling you that's what you should do and you should become this, you know, multi-platinum producer by working with the biggest artists in the studio. And you could have gone that route and you would have fucking hated it, and you probably wouldn't have been successful and you would have quit if you weren't able to do exactly what you did and just acknowledge hey, I don't like this grind over here.

4:19

Like so maybe let's figure out my other options, right? So I think it's beautiful, man. Because especially when there are a million options in the industry now. There's so many ways to get it, guys. Like let's explore them. And and I feel like we talk a lot more about the options that like artists have, but I think producers have even more, maybe equally, maybe even more options, like at their fingertips, right? How do you think, like if you were a producer starting out today, like what would be your playbook? I mean, for me, it's it's really as simple as just branding. Like for the only reason why I can do like the certain things I do now and like make a living and stuff like that is because of because I'm Eldre, basically. So whether it's the streams or like brand deals and all that kind of stuff, the content creation, for me, it's always just been about branding, getting people to like me for me outside of because I have like, you know, fans that probably just listen to my music or fans that just are interested in, I don't know, my production tutorials and stuff like that. So it can be kind of split, but at the end of the day, I feel like most people are just coming together under this overall fan of Eldre umbrella.

5:34

So for me, it would just be like similar to what I did. Like I started by posting videos of me making beats like almost every day on Instagram for like two years straight before things really started to go crazy. And now with TikTok, Instagram, YouTube shorts, whatever, it's kind of the same playbook, except it's even more important. Cause back then I was just doing it because that's all I know. And I feel like now it's like no way, there's no way around it. You gotta do it almost. Yeah, I mean, post, you know, what you want to be known for. Like if that's what you do and that's what you want to do, then you gotta you gotta show people what it is you do. And and yeah, to the branding thing, it's like especially with AI coming, almost everything else is just being commoditized, right? There's just gonna be an algorithm to do anything in a second, and all we have left at that point is who we are and our reputations and our brand. So I think it's more important now than ever to lean into that stuff. Yeah, it's just so interesting, right?

6:31

Because I mean, you even talk about yourself being like, you know, social anxiety, you don't want to hand the USB drive full of beats. Like it's interesting though that you were able to like overcome that online. Because I feel like most people would also have a lot of social anxiety when it comes to like making content and putting out content. And there's a lot of, you know, hate that just comes with that naturally. I mean, you know, or just criticism, if you will. And I mean, shit, we, you know, have had to get thick skin to like, you know, post and and publish content. Um, why do you think you were able to kind of like do that online when you weren't necessarily as like ballsy, if you will, in person? Yeah, I mean, honestly, it I think the type of introvert I actually am is um I don't know, it's kind of like I just have like a I guess a social anxiety kind of like beforehand type of thing, building up and leading up to stuff. But once I'm in it, I'm in it.

7:33

You know what I'm saying? So like whether that even till this day, if there's an event I go to, I'm gonna be anxious as hell. I'm not gonna want to talk to anybody, I'm not even gonna want to go. I'm gonna be coming up with all types of excuses as to why I shouldn't go. But then once I get there, things are happening. I'm talking to people, I'm having a good time, making connections and all that kind of stuff. So I feel like that can similarly translate to online because it breaks away that barrier of one going somewhere unknown. I feel like that was a big part of it. Is like who's gonna be there? Who am I gonna be around? Who am I gonna talk to? All that kind of stuff. That's gone. It's just me sitting in front of a camera. So once I got the comfortability of just talking to a camera or to a microphone, it it just doesn't, it's it doesn't even compare to like being in the real world and having to mingle with actual humans, you know what I'm saying? So, how long did you grind and post before anything worked? I would say yeah, like on Instagram at least, it was like I want to say two years straight before things started to actually go off.

8:36

Um, because I would have, you know, I started my YouTube channel every now and then I had like some random video that might do really well, but it was kind of like a one or two off or something like that. Same thing with Instagram. Every now and then a big beat page would repost me or something like that. But nothing really significant happened, I would say, until like TikTok came around. Once TikTok came around in like 2019, and I started uploading like my remixes and all that kind of stuff. I had a few uh like dance remixes go viral with like whole dance challenges and all types of stuff. That's when everything just went, you know, through the roof. And so were you staying like tapped into because I mean you were still kind of early on TikTok then, right? I mean, yeah, for sure. If if it was 2019, like I know 2020 was when like it became super mainstream. I know that seems like you were early on then, and then also like were did you think that you were also early on the trends that were happening also on the platform? And is that something that you're still doing to this day?

9:35

Because I feel like people have in their minds that like I gotta I gotta do what's trending, I gotta hop on this, I gotta hop on that. And there's some validity to it, to be honest. I mean, being early on certain features on a platform or being early on a platform altogether, um, and doing the things that are working on the platform, like there is something to be said for that. Is that something you're like you were consciously doing at the time? And then how do you like how do you approach that today? Yeah, I wouldn't even necessarily say consciously. Um, what I will say, I definitely was, I would say timing has is huge in in this case because um I don't know if you guys are familiar with Lucian, but he was literally the first producer doing remixes on TikTok, and he was just kind of like I've known about him, he was kind of like part of the community, really. Like, I'd see him in the comments and stuff like that. One day I just see he had a YouTube video with like hundreds of thousands of views, and he suddenly had 100,000 subscribers, and this is like early 2019. I I hit him off, I'm like, bro, what the the fuck happened, bro?

10:38

Like, what's going on? First off, congrats. But what's going on? Yeah, so literally, he just showed me TikTok and what he was doing on there. And I just kind of replicated what he was doing in my own way. And I wouldn't say, I'm not gonna lie, I got a little bit lucky on my first couple of viral ones because, for example, my first viral track was um a remix to Chanel by Frank Ocean. Yes. And I hadn't made that months before I even knew what TikTok was. But I'm like, okay, I'm on this platform. They like remixes. So I'm like, let me start doing videos of remixes that I've been made. And that one took off. But apparently, what I didn't know, Lucian actually told me this. Apparently, that song by Frank Ocean was kind of already viral a little earlier on TikTok or something like that. So it did kind of like line up without me knowing, and it went crazy. And then there was a whole dance trend to it. And then from that moment on, I kind of got an idea, and I started like really hacking it. Like there, my other biggest one is called um uh Cash Page Love Songs.

11:43

It was a viral song, and it already had a viral dance to it. So I literally took that song and made like a more dancey version. And they took it and started doing the exact same dance to their original song, and it took off as well. So there was ways in the early days to really just kind of duplicate these things and just rinse and repeat, and it was working for a while, honestly. Yeah, I love the like gamifying it approach. Like fucking Nic D also, who we had on the podcast, he like treats this content thing like the game that it honestly should be treated as, right? It's like we are trying to hack the attention game, right? It's like, how can we see what's working, but also stay true to you know ourselves and like what we want to make. It's not like you didn't want to make that. You said you had made the first one months before you even knew that this whole TikTok thing was even something to try, right? So I don't know. I just love that idea of like playing by the rules that are like being kind of outlined on the platforms while still not sacking like it's like a very fine line, right?

12:49

It's like because you don't want to sacrifice who you are and like what you stand for and the art you want to make, but then there's something to be said for like, hey, if the eyeballs are over here, like I do need to see if there's see if there's a Venn diagram, like overlap between like what the platform wants, what I want to make, and then see if there's some something that can kind of coexist between the two. Yeah, facts. But there's a lot of luck to you to your point, man. I also want everyone to just acknowledge, like, sure, luck and timing, I should say. I don't I don't know if I love the word luck, but it's just you know, being okay with that, like timing is gonna play into this too, right? Um, and then just being able to capitalize on that too. and being open to even just receiving your blessings. Yeah, some people get them and then they're gone for sure. Yeah, 100%. Yeah, so where were you at when you decided to go full-time in music? Because I feel like you know, I was doing some research, and I know you were obviously like working a warehouse day job, right? Before you decided to like take the leap of faith.

13:48

So, like, can you just paint the picture of like where you were at financially, you know, like mentally? Like just I want people to understand because there's a lot of people out there that are maybe considering taking the full-time, you know, leap of faith into music. And I'd like to just understand your perspective of like where you were at when you did it. Yeah, I mean, 100%, dude. It was kind of like, I guess, medium long story short. Um, I went to LA Recording School for college. You know, whatever. You know what I'm saying? A raving review for LA Recording. They're not gonna sponsor this podcast. I don't know. You know what I'm saying? Like, you know, you go there the damn near two years, 35,000 in debt. They taught you how to press record on Pro Tools. Bro, I'm telling you, I was in class not paying attention, and then I'd go home and figure the shit out on YouTube to get the homework done. Like, it really was just like my mom wanted me to do something, so I went there.

14:47

But um exactly, exactly. So I graduated in 2018 with like $30,000 in debt. And the whole from 2018 to 2019, that's when I was like posting on Instagram every day. And then in 2019, that's when TikTok started to come around. And that whole time I was releasing music, I was doing all this stuff, selling beats online. And you know, I was able to make like one year, like I made 4,000 from selling beats in a whole year, and that was like, oh, that shit was crazy, you know what I'm saying? But it wasn't really doing anything. So it really wasn't until when TikTok popped off. Um I I started putting like the instrumentals of these remixes on the streaming platforms, and then I slowly started to see revenue from that. And then the content was blowing up, so I slowly started to get like brand deals and stuff like that. So the end of 2019, all that stuff was consecutively happening. I did this remix to uh the theme song from Up, which is called Married Life, and it went crazy. And then Honda hit me up to do like a brand deal where I like sampled sounds in their cars, and then right after that, I flew out to Vegas for CES, Samsung flew me out, and they paid me like $9,000 for that.

15:59

So these are pretty good indicators that I'm doing something right. And this is literally, I want to say, from like November 2019, and then the Samsung thing was uh January 2020. So it was literally that short period of time where a bunch of things kept oh, sorry, but a bunch of things kept happening. I got invited to do podcasts and stuff like that. So when I was at work, I had this plan in my head, like I need to either have like three to six months of like whatever I need money wise before I quit, or I need to make like double what I'm making at my job for at least three months in a row. Um, but ultimately what happened was I kept having to take off work for all these opportunities. So that's really what happened. So right after that Samsung thing, um, Steven Universe, which is like my biggest song, that also is popping off. I'm starting to see bigger and bigger checks from like uh like royalties and stuff like that, from distro kid, and I was just like, all right, I'm out. And luckily for me, I quit like right before the pandemic, by the way, which is crazy.

17:04

Like, I want to say like two weeks before it happened, might have lost a job anyway. I know that's what I'm saying. So I would have been forced into it either way, but yeah, so it was like a short period of time where things just rapidly started going crazy for me, yeah, where I was able to make that decision like, okay, like this this is happening. The time I'm spending here would be utilized way better if I just had that time to just go even harder. So prior to those two months where things started to really go crazy. Like, like where was your headspace at? Right? Because I feel like a lot of our, you know, community might be on the verge of something great, but they might quit, right? Because it's fucking hard. And you're just you're posting, you're posting, you're uploading, you're uploading, you're trying to just do anything that will work. And nothing seems to be working, but like you might be right around the corner. Like, there's all these, you know, there's all those memes about like, you know, the diamonds are right past the like, you know, guy digging or whatever. You know what I mean?

18:03

99% of gamblers quit before hitting the big win. Okay, gambling addict. Anyways, so so where were you at mentally about it? Were you pretty optimistic? Were you feeling you know negative, like things aren't gonna work out? Like, how are you feeling prior to that big break, if you will? Hey, Henry here. Sorry to interrupt this podcast, but there is something I have to address. As many of you know here at one more time, we love doing live music reviews. We love hearing the music from our community and providing helpful feedback that is hopefully helping you further your career. But if there's one piece of advice that we are tired of giving, it's that your master is too quiet. We shouldn't have to turn up the volume for your song just to have to turn it back down for the next song. That's not good. But Henry, good mastering engineers are so hard to find and so expensive. Enter DistroKid's newest tool called Mixia. I master music myself, and while I don't think AI mastering will ever replace the quality you get from an experienced human mastering engineer, it's pretty damn good. And if you already distribute through DistroKid, you can now master unlimited tracks using Mixia.

19:06

And if you don't, we have a link right here. You can sign up for DistroKid with 30% off, upload unlimited music yearly for an insanely cheap price. Humans perceive louder as better. It's dumb, but it's true. Use Mixia for a clean master, and you won't sound weak on that playlist. Let's get back to the episode. I mean, I might want to quit tomorrow. I don't know. Like, literally, it's always up and down, no matter how successful I get. So, but I will say, in those early days, I just, you know, I'm looking at that debt. I'm I'm living in my mom's garage. I'm like, you know, I something's gotta happen. So I guess in those early days, there was no other option in my head. So it's kind of just like something's gotta happen. And I did get proof here and there. Like, even though it wasn't just like a steady incline for those first like two years, there were little things, like there were little signs that would kind of affirm that what I'm doing is working. So that could be a little different because I give this type of advice all the time.

20:06

But I know there's probably some people, there's probably tons of people out there that are like doing it and nothing is happening. So it's like a totally different thing. Because I will say, like, as long as like a couple things were happening, big or small, whatever, it gave me that motivation to just keep going. Well, well, so what if nothing is happening, right? What advice would you give to someone where just not shit has been happening good? The easy answer is you just gotta be switching it up. Because I will say that, yeah. Yeah, I will say that no matter what, like, even on TikTok in the early days when I was doing those dance remixes, it started to slow down. It just started whatever. It started to slow down, it wasn't popping off as much. And then that's when I pivoted into doing like the theme song flips, and those popped off big time, bigger than the last ones. So no matter any time I went viral or anything good happened, I always had like a I guess just like a built-in scarcity mindset, just from like how I grew up or whatever. So anytime anything happened, I'm like, this could be it.

21:07

I gotta milk it for everything. This could be the last time. This could be it. One hit wonder every single time. So I was always going with the flow and just trying to switch it up. And I think that is why I am where I am now. So I guess for the people that are just let's say it's been a whole year in crickets, then yeah, that's quite a that's a clear sign that what you're doing might not be working. And even if it's something you love, just find a way to switch it up or present it different or whatever you can do to kind of see if it will have a better effect. Yeah. So do you think that that like scarcity mindset or like this is only gonna last for so long? Do you think that that's like because I don't know, I think I could go both ways on whether that's a healthy way, you're right? Like it's a whether that's a healthy way to look at something or not. Sounds stressful. It sounds intense. Yeah, like but it's also kind of like the Native American using every part of the deer or whatever, like you know what I mean? Which is efficient.

22:03

No, I mean, I I can understand what where you're going with it, but I can also see how that could be like a bit toxic. I don't know. How do you bro? It's like what is your therapist? I was like, what does your therapist say about that mindset? Bro, it's fucked. Like, there's no way around it. like I mean, come on, this is music, bro. Like, like it is what it is. Like now I'm over here, bro. I make lo-fi. All right, that's like the number one prime genre to be taken over by AI. Like, it's yeah, it's never yeah, it's like literally never uh not a thought or not a problem, like mental health-wise, you know, for me personally, mental health sometimes has to take a backseat, you know what I'm saying? And that's not good advice at all. Terrible advice, Eldre. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Man. So at some point, you do have to find balance, and I feel like I've I have found some kind of balance for sure. But there, you know, I'm in my head every day. It is what it is, you know. You know what I'm saying?

22:59

You just kind of learn to grow with that part of you and just you know, don't let it overwhelm you. It's not like, you know, I want to jump off a building if someone leaves me a hate comment. I'm strong there, you know what I'm saying? So so when, when lo-fi did start getting like more and more popular, because obviously it's just like probably it's been oversaturated. Probably since probably since the COVID times, I feel like it's kind of had this trajectory, and now it's like, you know, extremely oversaturated to your point. Like how do and then you mentioned the threat of AI. I mean, how do you compete? Like, if I want to make if I want to make lo-fi music, like how can I compete right now? Or can I? Or would you say don't do it? Like, what would be your if I was considering it? I've already had that all the existential thoughts around this, and ultimately I've come down to the simple fact that you can still make lo-fi, or in my humble opinion, just chill beats. Like chill beats aren't going anywhere.

23:59

Like lo-fi, the term, yeah, that's saturated, but that's been saturated. For me, you know, you got there's all types of people that make chill music, whether it's like a Flying Lotus type, or you know, legends like J Dilla, or even like Kaytranada, for example. I mean, it's more up tempo, but it's still like he drops and she just dropped an instrumental project this year. Yep. So ultimately, the thing that I've always done to separate myself from lo-fi, which is like the reason why I got into it, is because I like making chill music. And then I discovered that there were all these people with millions of monthly listeners, and then you go to their Instagram and they got 300 followers. You know what I'm saying? So it's always been a genre where like people were faceless, didn't really have much of a social presence, and they were just putting out beats and hoping to get in the playlist, and they would get in these playlists, and these playlists will give them hella streams. and now they got money, you know. Because you don't have to split the royalty checks with these pesky vocalists, these artists, am I right? Hell yeah.

24:59

I mean, that is true. They're taking half. Like, goddamn. Yeah, I mean, how much how much easier does it make your life because you assumedly own everything? I was there's two sides to that coin where it's like it's definitely way easier as far as like royalties and all that kind of stuff. Yeah, oh, let me sign this split sheet. Oh, wait, 100% L Dre. 100%. So, yeah, for the most part, like that, that's a huge benefit of it. But what I will say on the flip side of that, I think being an instrumental artist is the hardest thing, like social media-wise. Like Steven Universe, for example, literally one of the biggest songs on TikTok ever, and I can almost guarantee like a lot of my peers on TikTok that were blowing up at the time. If that song had lyrics, it would have done billboards. Yeah, it would probably have like 200 plus million streams.

26:00

It has like 60 million, which is you know, thank you. That's crazy. But I guarantee if it had lyrics and it was a song like that, 100 million, 200, 300 million, who knows where where it would have been at. Um, yeah, because it's got billions of views and stuff like that. So it feels like it'd be harder to promote too, because it's easy to like rap a song or sing your song when that you know that's what you're doing. But if you're you can as a producer, you kind of gotta just play it and then like I don't know, sit there. No, 100% on social media, you either have to be an incredible producer where like you're playing all these instruments and stuff to keep it interesting, or you have to make remixes like me, which again is taking from whether whatever songs are nostalgic, whatever's going on. But if you're an artist, yeah, you might have to split with producers, but like literally lyrics is a whole nother level of thing that people have connection to. Like, and again, I'm a big I believe that beats make the song a lot of the time, but also I mean, there's a lot of songs out there with beats that I find mid, but maybe the lyrics like really touch someone or something like that, you know, especially in the TikTok era, it might just be one funny lyric that makes a song end up on the charts or something, and the rest of the song is ass, you know, like crazy. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

27:15

So it's it's definitely like a two-sided coin that's tough. Yeah. What about? I mean, you know, you mentioned yourself being a socially uh anxious person, so it might, it might be a benefit, but like, how do you find the creative process, you know, working alone? Because a lot of people, a lot of people in music love the team sport aspect of it. So how do you, you know, where do you sit with that? He's shaking his head, he's just like fuck people. No, I honestly I'm not gonna lie. In recent years, I have been shifting away from the the anti-social wanting to do it all myself. Um, because you know, there's things I can't do. So, like whether having like real instrumentalists or whatever is always fun and always cool. Recently, I've been doing a lot more collabs on YouTube with other people, like I did one with Sarah too ill recently or Dcap, whatever. Um, so but ultimately, I just I like cooking up on my own, honestly. I'm not even gonna lie.

28:14

Like, like if I'm cooking up with other people, half the time I'm just letting them take the lead anyway. I'm like, oh, you okay, and then I might throw a little thing here or there. But when I'm at home, like I'm trying things out, I'm doing whatever, and I'm just I'm just in my space, bro. It's like, you know, we got we got splice or whatever, we got loops, we got whatever we need these days to just make stuff that maybe I wasn't capable of making on my own. So it's it's it's fine with me, bro. It's fine. So interesting. I've collabed with a lot of people, you know, on beats, and it is rare that you find like somebody that has a work. It's like, first of all, do you even use the same program? Second of all, like, do you specialize in the same thing or like have even the same tastes around things? So it's hard to find like a collaboration process where you are kind of even 50-50, like you said, like someone's typically driving, right? Yeah, and then maybe you can have input, you know, or suggest like add a hi-hat roll right there. But at the end of the day, you know, someone's kind of in control and and you get in a zone, you know, where you're cooking. Yeah, well, and I mean now it makes more sense to me just having y'all talk out loud as far as like why people have like usual suspects of collaborators, right?

29:21

They fit. Cause if you find that yeah, that person or persons that you really fucking gel with and vibe with, and the workflow is optimized, and maybe you are working in the same program, or even if you're not, but at least like you're kind of like creatively synced up, that's gotta be like fuck trying to find anybody else. Like once you find those people, you start speaking the same language, you know, like just everything gets easier and sounds better as a result. That's interesting. So obviously, I know you know you're still making music, but you also obviously are you know a YouTuber and content creator. Um like if we were to follow you around for a week, right? It sounds creepy, but I promise I'm I'm getting somewhere good. If we were to follow you around for a week, like how much time would be spent making the music, making the content, doing all the the businessy things, right? Like, what is your typical week look like? See, now this is where my um professional successful look just falls into shambles. I'm not gonna lie.

30:22

Like my my you know, they talk about work life balance, but like I want to say my my content and business music life balance, it it's fucked, bro. So like I love this honesty, first of all. Like thank you. Please, like keep going, but like this is key for everyone because even us at times, I feel like we're so fucking chaotic, and like it's like the duck analogy where we look we look like we got everything going on, but like below the surface, our legs are like battling like crazy, you know. No facts, yeah. It's something I've struggled with like big time, just in general, like scheduling myself. Uh I don't know, like content blocking or whatever, dude. Like batch creating, you can't even find the word for it. That's how little he does. I hate batch creating. No, honestly, like if you ever see a post or a video for me, nine out of 10, I made that shit the night before, bro. I'm I'm up all night editing that video that you're seeing, or sometimes in the morning up, you know. I'm saying he's meeting.

31:21

Maybe you should work with Eldre. We sound a lot of like just talks about the collaborators need to be on the same workflow. I'm telling you, it's it's it's tough. So, like, I guess for me, it's kind of like seasons of things. Like, for example, last month was Beatober, which is if you don't know what that is, it's just like a you know, you challenge yourself to make a beat and post it online every day. So last month, I made 31 beats, bro. And then so far in November, I've made one. You know what I'm saying? So and for the record, we are three weeks into November almost at the time of filming filming. So exactly. And that one was only because I was doing like a little hardware review YouTube video. So he didn't really want to make the beat, he just had to make the video. That's what I'm saying. So, like, you know, it's Black Friday time, it's all these companies, brand deals, content, content, content. So, like, I definitely get into realms where it's like contents first, and that's all I'm doing, content, or like you know, my sample packs and making sample packs and stuff like that, drum loops, whatever it may be, where all these things kind of take over the music. But what I will say is due to the way like Spotify works, you can only really maximize a release if you do like two songs a month, honestly.

32:37

Because if you want to at least have two weeks to pitch it at the very least, so I always have a release out. So, like all the fans on like you know, Spotify or Apple Music or whatever, they're fed, you know what I'm saying? They they get their music that that never disappears or vanishes. So I guess that's kind of the crutch I can rely on a bit, like my catalog or just like this or that. Cause now since Beatober, I made so many beats, I'm not gonna, just so you know. But if I wanted to, I could I could schedule beats out for for for a long time right now. Um, but I'm probably not because that's just not how I operate. But that's just kind of so what thought process goes into like is it the same as an artist deciding like what songs to release and when? And is there like a lot of thought process that goes into it, or is it pretty simple as far as like, let me just close my eyes and pick a beat out of the folder and release it? Do you do any like testing too? Will you maybe like tease some beats on social media and maybe drop one that people respond to?

33:37

Sometimes. What I will say is my music releasing uh strategy is again just total chaos. It's kind of just it's it's it's what I'm feeling. Sometimes I'm like, oh shit, I didn't release a song last week. Okay, let me let me figure something out. Sometimes literally that. Or, you know, I am kind of project oriented. So like if I'm working on a specific album or something, then at least I have that guidance of like a specific sound that I know I can work on and release a single here, a single there, waterfall release it or something. So I have that to like help me out. But yeah, honestly, I want to say for the most part, it's just like it's what I'm feeling. Did I really how many weeks has it been? You know, shit like that. And every now and then I do have a few beats in the vault where I can do something like you're saying, test it out and see if people want it. But I don't really care, bro. He's an artist for real. Well, and it's interesting, man. Like, you know, people, of course, from the outside looking in, would just assume or think that like you have everything together and that everything is this perfect plan and that everything's so strategic.

34:45

And like, bruh, this is the same thing that like I was talking with someone at uh at uh LVRN who has like Summer Walker and shit, right? And it's like, bro, some of these ideas that they look like they've been working on for like a year come out uh because someone had this great idea and it had to be done right then. And it was just like rushed, and it was something they just had to get out there, and there was no planning, no thought process around it. It wasn't strategic at the time. It was just fucking creative, a bunch of people that just had opinions and someone had a good one, and let's just try it, right? Um, so it's just nice. I think I don't know, it's reassuring for me I love it. To hear that, like, it's not that deep, bro, sometimes, right? It's like, I mean, of course, like try and figure out what works for you, but you've clearly figured out what works for you, you know? And it's not that like everything needs to be forecasted out for months and months, and this is exactly what I'm gonna do this day and block off this calendar for this and that. So I don't know.

35:42

It just I think it would help. I think it'll help a lot of people out there that like struggle with this type of thing. I think a lot of creatives too are should should be really considered like the seasonal model, because I think I work best like that too. Instead of trying to do a little bit of every piece of my career every day, like, no, let's fucking let's take you know, two weeks, let's take a month to lock in on this aspect, and then and then you know, maybe maybe now I'm feeling this for a few weeks. Um, it when you are able to do that, and you're not trying maybe facing pressures to have constant releases on Spotify. Certain things you do have to like maintain consistency, but I think that's a good, a good mindset for a lot of people that they haven't even considered. How similar is like or how similarly do you uh like approach music making and content creation? Like, are there any parallels as far as like the creative processes, or are they kind of like totally separate like sides of your brain and like different personalities almost, if you will? Like, what where's the overlap and like what kind of sits on either side?

36:44

Would you say it depends on like the time, the strategy, kind of like you said with the season, because sometimes, yeah, I'm like, Oh, this is a interesting idea for a video slash a song. You know, if it's like a I want to sample this specific thing that's like either nostalgic or popping right now, then it kind of can go hand in hand with a video idea, but ultimately that is kind of like music first. It's kind of like, oh, I have this idea, and it also could be a cool video. It's it's never the reverse. Um, but I'm not gonna lie, like content-wise, I don't like making content. Let's just I'm gonna just keep it a bean. It's not like oh man, you know, obviously, it's not like you know, oh yeah, I'm gonna make a video, but what I will say, I like Damn it, Eldre. I like the effects of it, you know. what I'm saying I like the community aspect of it. I like, for example, when I go to NAMM, there's always people coming up to me, like, oh, your videos help me with this, change my life, blah, blah, blah. Like, all these kind of things is what I actually do enjoy.

37:49

But sitting down in front of the camera and like filming the things, don't like it. Not a fan, not a fan, but I do enjoy this the I guess the spoils of it, or like, you know, the brand deals. It's brand deals, it's good money, bro. Yeah. I've seen more money from one brand deal than uh a major label advance for an album, you know. what I'm saying, like, it's it's it's it's big, it's something, and it's super important for like anybody like who's trying to divvy up where their revenue comes in from. So let's talk about it. Let's talk about it. You don't have to name the brand if you're not allowed to, but I would love for you to actually. Can you name it and we'll bleep it out? Let's see. I mean, I could totally name it to you guys, but I don't so the the the label situation is where it's it's where I don't know if I'd want to call them out. Like I'd like to work with them again. I'm not so it's like you know, I don't want to. So so yeah, what's the biggest brand deal you've ever gotten? Like number wise? The biggest brand deal I've ever gotten, it was like $65,000.

38:51

And for what? What what did you have? Yeah, okay, go ahead. It's it's it was Visa. It was visa the credit card, you know, credit processing, card processing company. And I didn't even have to make music, bro. It was like a yeah, I will say it was multiple videos. They had this series about content creators getting paid. It was literally called the Get Paid series, and it was weird. I'm I'm not gonna lie, it was interesting. Like I had like a I was a mentor to someone, so I'd like to give them a prompt or challenge, and they would do their video, and then I'd essentially just react to their video and give them advice in the video. So it went on for like a couple weeks. It was meta. It was easy though. Like I didn't have to make any music, I just had to sit there. The hardest part was them saying, like, oh, your panels are too like distinctive, you gotta re-record in a different room. That's like the hardest part, is just like they're I love those panels. I I don't know. They I guess they're very branded.

39:47

So I had to go in an empty room. You know what I'm saying? I don't I don't I don't know stuff like that. Oh, there's a logo on your head, whatever. That's literally the hardest part of it. Um, and yeah, that that was huge. Like that was definitely like the biggest one. And you know, you get something like that, it's like, come on, bro. Like, what am I, you know, what am I what are we doing? You know what I'm saying? So I'm gonna keep doing this. I'm gonna do my best to make sure I'm posting content and trying to grow that as much as I can to attract more stuff like this into my life for sure. So if someone set a goal to get their first brand deal, right? Like if you had no brand deals, right? Let's start from scratch. What would be your playbook there? Like, how would you work towards the goal of securing your first uh brand deal? So here's the thing. I'll give you a prime example, right? I like I said, I just post shit. Like I don't really have too much strategy. Like if I haven't posted in a while, I'm gonna post. So for example, I dropped a song, I dropped a little EP called for all the cats.

40:48

It was like a play on words of drinks for all the dogs, and I'm a cat guy, I'm not a dog guy. You know what I'm saying? So funny, dude. That is hilarious. So one time I was just like singing to my cat, like when I feed her, sometimes I'll go, like, no matter what I do, and she'll go, Meow, like, we're kind of singing. So my wife recorded it one time, and I've been had that video just in the camera roll. No matter what I do, all I think about is you and I was like, Oh, I have this EP coming, so let me just post that and then in the caption, say, for all the cats out now, and just hope something happens with that. That ended up being my most viral video ever. It got like 18 million views on Instagram, hundreds of thousands of likes and all that kind of stuff. And from that video, a cat brand reached out to me. Oh no. I've been working with this cat brand for like two years now, just like you know, making these creative videos and me making beats with my cat. Can I use that in this beat?

41:49

Awesome. Doing shit like that. And again, they pay, they pay very well. So how could I how could I give someone a strategy or a playbook? You know, I literally that was just a random video of me singing to my cat that I just happened to post because a lot of a lot of people probably wouldn't post that because it doesn't fit their whatever they have going on. So I could tell people, hey, you wanna make the type of content that could attract brands to you. You want to do certain types of things like that, but ultimately it's it's really just like showing up as yourself on the internet and kind of hoping for the best. Like it's kind of really more so that I'm sure there's other strategies like, oh, post, make sure you don't make sure don't stop posting. I don't know. Like make sure you know, post at least once a week, I'd say, you know, but yeah, but but so with the cat video, um, were you making music or was your instrumental behind it, or was it just literally you singing that a cappella cat meows? That's it.

42:54

That's it. I was feeding it. And I want to say out of the 20 million views or whatever, you know, maybe 10 people probably went and go. It's not like that album that EP did well. Like, it's not like people actually read the caption and went to listen to it. Maybe there was a couple, but but I I got you know, hella followers that just like my cat. I got I got hella DMs of people who cat looks like my cat, like oh, my God, you became a cat influencer, bro. Yeah, so it was just you know that's crazy. So, okay, but subsequent videos, brand hits you up, says, Eldre, let's try and recreate some of this magic from this other cat video and you know, position our brand within it. I'm sure. Like, are you making music? Like, are you weaving in elements of like typical L.Dre stuff, or are those also just like funny cat video that has nothing to do with anything, L.Dre? No, for those, it's definitely weaving in like what I usually do.

43:52

Okay. Because what I what I will say, I guess, on a line of like advice or trajectory or whatever, I've done brand deals before this, so I don't know if maybe they saw that and saw my other brand deals. So regardless of any strategies or facts or whatever, or like types of styles of content, whatever, I have a track record of consistently posting, you know, and it's usually at the end of the day, ultimately about me chill beats in some way or another. That's what it is. Like, even my very first brand deal is from a video that went viral. Like I said, it was the Married Life thing. In that video, I went to Disneyland, sampled a bunch of sounds at Disneyland, and kind of turned that into a beat. So literally, that is what happened in that video. Weeks later, after it went viral, Honda hit me up to pretty much do that exact same thing. I went to their dealership, they had cars. It was Christmas time.

44:50

So I pretty much I just made some lo-fi holiday jingles sampling sounds from their cars. Wow. So you know, it's really just doing you. And see, that that's what I think is the takeaway, though. Like you're like masking it as like you know, not good advice, but it's actually really fucking great advice, and something that we talk about a lot is that incorporate your actual self and your interests, like you like cats. You posted something, hold on. Love, love cats, pardon me. Wrong L word. Spoken like a true cat lover. Not a cat legger. Yeah, no. But but so yeah, I mean, I think that's the biggest thing, bro. But but also like you can also choose to not show anything you want, to. There's people that maybe just don't want their to show their family or their kids aren't comfortable with that, you know. Like, I mean, I guess show as much as you can, but it don't feel pressured to because I I don't know, I hear that like show everything about your life in front of the camera on the internet. I'm like, ah, and I don't and you don't have you know, there's you can keep certain things private as well.

45:56

There's public private people, but I do feel like especially again, this all goes back to this all the fucking goals, man. I mean, you know, yeah, that's what this is all about. But what did you want to do? But if, if you were ever open to different types of brand deals, wouldn't it be great if it could be about stuff you like already rock with? Like if you're a basketball player, right? You like to play basketball, then yeah, maybe you like sample like squeaky, you know, like basketball gym sounds or something. I don't know, whatever, right? Um, or like make flips from sneaker names, or I don't know what I'm just throwing out ideas, but like if you can incorporate things that you really love along with like the music side of you, that's like gotta be the best. You can you give people more to connect with and brands more chances to hit you up and pay you $65,000, Henry. Damn. So I'll add to that real quickly too, because it's definitely not about sharing your whole life or whatever, because you know, it's more so just what you're saying is like your interest.

47:03

Because what I will say, even with Steven Universe or like the married life thing, I love Disneyland. We went to Disneyland, it was my mom's birthday or whatever, that's why I did that. Same thing with Steven Universe, like I didn't even, I think before Steven Universe, I had a different one go viral, but just not as big. It was for Gravity Falls. And pretty much I would just people would comment what to do next, but like I would go and watch the show. So they commented, do Steven Universe next. I went and watched the entire show and I love the show. So I did it. So similar to what you're saying, no matter what, it's always been around my interest. And it just so happened that the interest was technically outside of music. So whether it's cartoons, anime, cats, like anything tech. Like I've worked with Apple, I've worked with you know Ray-Ban metas. I've worked with all these different companies because I love tech, I love anime, I love cats, and I just find ways to incorporate that in my music and my content and my branding and stuff like that. It's a beautiful thing, man.

48:07

Really? Yeah. It's just I have so many ideas for people, right? It's like I just this cat thing is blowing my mind about like how a cat brand could get into like the music influencer space. You know what I mean? It's just wild. Like you don't know, like these brands are trying to capture like people in various segments. You know what I mean? So, like, yes, they might also have like, you know, a customer segment that's into like beauty products. So maybe there's like some makeup influencer that's doing funny videos with her cat and doing makeup on her cat or some shit. I don't know. I'm just throwing out ideas. There's so many brands with marketing budgets just waiting to find the right people to give them to. Yeah, and and to reach certain types of people. Yes. Like they knew you could reach a very like certain type of person, also, right? Um, of course, you also had you know viral ass videos too, but like they were clearly also paying you for like not only your content creation like expertise, but also your probably like specific market too. You know what I mean?

49:05

So I don't know, it's just interesting to think about. Yeah. Um I mean, there's also a layer of them just wanting to look cool, you know. Like I feel like I feel like you want to tap into culture too, bro. Like they, you know, it's definitely like a broader whatever that can be like, oh, look at this, look at this, look at this. Yeah. Absolutely. I mean, because you know, we're starting to try and work with um alcohol brands, and like theirs is more obvious that they have like a lifestyle play and like a culture play. It seems a little bit more, you know, just on the nose. But bro, every brand, like literally. Even for the smallest of interests, man. If there's a company that is doing that, yes, for anything. It's crazy. No matter what your interests are. Yeah, there is brand money out there. And it might be easier than like more niche your interest is. It actually might be better. Like, yeah. Um, but bro, so you had a uh YouTube video somewhat recently, I don't know, at least this past year. Um, why I still post my music even though no one or even when no one cares. And I just like it's beautiful.

50:05

I I have my assumptions, but like, why do you think that one has crushed, like has done so well? I mean, it's just like, and I know like obviously people care, you know. I'm saying, like, you know, I'm not sure. We exaggerate for YouTube. Exactly, you know what I'm saying? But um it's just it's just it is what it is. Like, people genuinely feel and are posting into the void, you know. what I'm saying where I'm not trying to downplay the 10 people in the comments, but like ultimately what inspired that was like I'm in a dry season, bro. My TikTok is dead. Like, we're talking about all this really stuff, bro. My TikTok is dead. Like why why do you think? Why do you think it is? Well, it's been dead for uh quite a while, but what I want to say is I'm not shadow banned, I'm not, it's nothing like that because every now and then a completely un-music-related video can go viral. So it's genuinely, you know, I had my heyday where I was posting consistently, and at some point I stopped posting for like I don't know, maybe a month or or two or something like that.

51:11

And ever since then, it was like that. But also, like I guess I haven't really adapted, you know, this is all kind of just me in my head of trying to figure out what it is. Yeah, because I post the same videos on Instagram and TikTok, and they'll be doing well on Instagram. But like literally TikTok these days, like if I crack 2,000 views, I'm so happy. You know, I'm like, oh yeah, 2,000 views when I used to get hundreds of thousands of stuff like that. So that's kind of one of those things. Like, although I know I have fans here, there, whatever. Um, my business is good on this end, business is good here, maybe it's lacking here, maybe it's lacking here. Ultimately, you have 700,000 followers on TikTok, you post a video and get one comment, you're gonna feel like what's going on. Yeah, and so that kind of stuff happens all the time, even on Instagram, like the algorithms are always changing, whatever. So if I post something and I'm used to getting a couple hundred or a thousand likes or whatever, and something happens, and only like four people comment or whatever, and I have a hundred and ninety thousand followers, you feel like you're okay, what's going on? Like, am I posting into the void?

52:16

Like no one's seeing it. Yeah, so that was just my lived experience. And you know, I just I'm just fucking transparent guy over here. I just I just put all that shit out into the world because I know that there's people feeling the same. And if I'm feeling it on this like bigger level or whatever, then I know like even way more people are feeling it who haven't even reached certain heights that I may have. So yeah, 100%, man. I just loved that that title just hit for me. I was like, oh my god, the amount of people in our community that just feel the exact same way, bro. It's a great title. Yeah, it's incredible. Well, L.Dre, we've entered a final segment of the podcast. Oh shit. Oh shit. Is it time? Yes, Henry. It's time. Is my note gonna load? Yes. Okay. No. Okay. L.Dre, welcome to the Rapid Fire Rampage. It's gonna be a three-part rampage. I'll explain them as we go. Let's start off with some short answer questions, shall we? All right.

53:13

Ben kind of asked a question similar to this, but specifically, if you started your career over today, what would the first 24 hours look like, step by step? First day. Bulk of it would be drowning myself in what's working, just watching content, content, music, music, music, and just figuring out how some kind of system that I can kind of take what someone else is doing or a group of other people are doing and implement implement my own style or whatever into that. That would be the first thing I would do. Just deep research. Yeah, we're not rushing and starting our socials already. Like, let's let's do some research here. Let's make a plan. I'd figure out a plan that can I can replicate based on what's already working. What is your go-to studio meal? So you got a long session ahead of you. What are we eating? You know what?

54:08

Long session? I'm I'm thinking like a wrap or a sandwich. You know what I'm saying? A good sandwich or good, a good wrap. Something light, something not too crazy. Sandwich for me all day. That's it. Yep. Record a 30-second voice note for warehouse, L.Dre. For warehouse? Oh, oh, oh. For the for the warehouse version of Eldre. Are we sneaking at a brand deal? What who's wearing? Bro, that would have been the sneakiest brand integration ever. How is that sneaky? Just blatantly asking him to do that. No, for past self. Okay. Voice note. Just tell him, give him some tell him something. Okay. Warehouse Eldre. I know you're tired, bro. You probably been up all night editing a video. You probably got two hours of sleep. But I'm telling you, bro, just keep going because what you're doing is working. So just keep going. Don't even worry about sleep right now. You're young. You don't need it right now.

55:05

You will later. You'll need it later. You'll overdose on it later. Trust me. Yeah. Overdose on it. It's fire. You've just been appointed supreme leader of the music industry with the power to do absolutely anything. What is your first order of business? Oh, brother. Do I have to worry about consequences or I can just say it? Anything. This is anything. I mean, yeah. You know the regime we're in right now. Stand on it, bro. I'm caught in between banishing AI or at least one cent per stream. At least interesting. Where's that money come from, though? It doesn't matter. That's what I'm saying. No, it doesn't matter. The consequences. No. It Doesn't matter. Taxes, whatever we want to do to get it. Spotify is going out of business. I mean, they're not gonna be profitable, but it's not his problem. True. I mean, raise the prices, bro. I don't care. You know what I'm saying? I would pay way more for Spotify.

56:02

Bro, it's a steal, bro. Music is way too cheap. Makes no sense. Yeah. Um, okay. How about this one? The biopic of Eldre is coming soon to a theater near you. Oh, who is playing you and what is it called? Fuck. That's tough. Okay, for some reason, the first thing I thought was Will Smith. Okay. Oh so good. That was the first thing I thought. If someone who's who can do it well, you know. Guy wants to win picture of the year. Yeah, like this guy wants an Oscar. Like the title of it, like the movie. Let me think. Hold on. No. Okay. You're good. You know what? Dre. Ooh. That's it. Damn. Dre. D-R-E. Boom. There it is. That's powerful. Wow. Yeah. I'm gonna let that narrative for a second, I think. I'm just thinking of who I would pick, and I don't have any idea. Yeah, Dre is hard.

57:00

Okay, yeah, okay. Moving on. I'm only I was gonna say Leonardo DiCaprio in Blackface, but I think that'd be a little. Oh! shit. It'd be a little too hard. I'm just saying Leo. Robert Downey was the last person to do blackface, and it was acceptable. Fair enough. Well, it's acceptable depending on who you ask. Generally It's a gem, it's a classic. It's So good, It's so good. I thought it was a good film. Don't worry, I'm black. Don't worry. Okay, he said it. We didn't say it. Good, good, good. He's not LaRussell trying to get us canceled. No, quite different. God, LaRussell, man. Did you see what he did to that poor Asian woman? Absolutely, I did. Oh my god, Shirley, you be saying it. He literally tried to get her to admit that she says the N-word. It was the funniest shit. And he also tried to uh uh allege that we say the N-word, and it was just a whole he's terrible thing. He's a prankster. Yeah. Anyway, he's a goofball. Shout out, LaRussell. Yes, Shout out. Record a new producer tag for yourself right now. Shit, that's tough.

58:00

Low key? Shit. That's tough. Yeah. I was like, I heard it too. That was tough. I'm like, I'm like, wait a minute, let's not overthink it. No. Come on. Damn. I heard it too. As soon as you said it, I was like, shit, that's tough. Yeah, that was good. Nice. That's pretty tough. I'll send you the audio. I was gonna say, we'll send you the high quality audio, bro. And finally, what is your favorite curse word? Okay. If he says my favorite, I'm this is my best friend. Yeah. Fuck. I already feel that way. I guess I'm gonna have to go with fuck. It's not Henry's. It's a good one. That's right. What's yours? What's yours? I'm a shit man. Okay, I was not gonna say that. That was a weird way to put it. I'm a shit man. I've heard of that, bro. What? Shit is the supreme word. We're not gonna get into it right now. We're just gonna move on to section two. It is the this or that. I'll give you two choices. You just have to pick one of them.

58:56

Well, hey, before we move on, so if we do send in the audio, like what kind of royalty do you think we should expect? We'll figure that out in court later. Okay. Just wanted to get that on wax. We own the mastery, technically. Yeah, I mean, for sure. This guy's on our fucking riverside podcast studio. Point zero zero zero three. Whatever the the one stream is worth, I got you guys. Perfect. That's the percentage. Damn. We'll take it. L.Dre seems all nice and you know, friendly. He's got a business. side. He's Cutthroat. Moving on to this or that. So starting with music with vocals or music without vocals? I gotta say with, honestly. I had a feeling there was a chance. I don't really listen to instrumentals unless it's like jazz or J Dilla. Do you listen to your own music? Not on purpose. I mean like I stream and I have like my DMCA free playlist. That's all my music. So inevitably I'm number one on my Wrapped on Spotify every year. That's embarrassing.

59:54

It's gotta be embarrassing. It's you know, Well, hey, I've switched to Apple Music, so that you know what I mean? Hey, they have some sort of like end of year statistics now, don't they? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So that's not gonna be Eldre. I use I still use Spotify for the L.Dre uh DMCA free playlist or whatever. Okay, okay. Is that why you switched to Apple so you weren't embarrassed at your Spotify Wrapped? That's a horrible reason. Apple Apple's where it's at, bro. I'm not going. Jeez. I don't know. We'll we'll not open that can right now. No. Moving on for another day. Keys or strings? Keys for sure. Keys for the next 12 months, make only lo-fi or invent a new lane that could still live under the chill umbrella. How many months you say? One year, 12. 12. That's tough. I'm gonna have to say we're gonna have to go with business brain on this, and we're gonna stick with lo-fi. It's still my bread. It's my bread and butter. You know, I can't take a whole year off, you know what I'm saying? The L stands for Lo Fi, it's lo-fi Dre, man.

1:00:53

Yeah, Really? Yeah. I did not do my research good enough. Clearly. Sorry, man. Anyway, damn. Let's edit that out. Let's pretend I knew everything. You know, what? He gets higher percentage of the tag royalties. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I owe my life to Henry, so it's fine. Hire an incredible editor or an incredible manager. Uh I kind of have both right now. Um well, you have to lose one. Oh man, they're gonna be so sad watching this one of them. Shoot. Shoot, shoot, shoot. I I'll have to I'll have to lose. I guess I'll have to lose the editor. Oh it's tough. Wow. It's tough. It's tough, but I can I can edit myself. He's done some pretty good things. He's done some I I've seen I've seen, hey. Can you do can you do 1000? I've seen that 1,000 offer turn into 10,000. You know what I'm saying? So wow. Yeah, no, that's valuable. Yeah. Find another editor. Yeah. With that $9,000 profit, we can pay the new editor.

1:01:51

Yeah, fire. Um sorry, old editor, you're gone. Like lose all your I love you, bro. This is gonna be my favorite one, honestly. I'm excited for this one. Proud of myself. Lose all your plugins or lose all your samples. Hmm. And you can never I'm gonna go. Fuck. The stress on his face right now. I know. Damn. That's actually tough. Is it audio only right now? I'm gonna say lose lose the plugins. Oof. I'm gonna say lose the plug. I've been getting a lot more into hardware. I got the I got the this might be cheating, but I got the AstroLab by Arturia, and it it's a hardware device with all their plug, the plugins built in. So that's a loophole. So well yeah, it's a fucking loophole. No, that's hardware though. I don't even know what that means, but it sounds like a loophole. It's hardware. It's it kind of is, but it's valid. So it's technically not plugins. I'm not looking at a screen, you know. I'm just turning a knob.

1:02:48

I don't even need a computer. Well, there's a screen on it. Sort of last one of the this or that become a full time rapper or leave the music industry forever. Um I'll definitely be a full-time rapper. Hell yeah. Yes, sir. Do you have any in the cut? You have any secret? Like I mean, I started off as a rapper like most producers, honestly. So I definitely do have some old stragglers out for sure. I should have gone like country singer or yeah, you fucked up, but go ahead. That was too easy to do. Move along. Yeah, for sure. The last section is the word association. I'm gonna say a word. I just need you to give me the first word that you think of off the top of your head. There are no correct answers. You are only judged on speed. Speed. I'm really bad at this. I'm really bad at this. Don't overthink it, and you'll be you'll do great. There's no correct answers. Okay, let's do it. Starting with music. Balls. See. Yo, we used to edit these uh down to make the uh guests look like they answered faster. That was I don't think we do that anymore though, do we?

1:03:49

No, no, no. Yeah, we used to do that. That was cheat cheating. I told you, I told you I was bad at it. That was great. Music balls off rip. That was insanely fast. You're actually on your trajectory to be in our hall of fame. Let's move on. Shoot. Chill. Beats. Content. King. Burnout. Life. Lawyer. Money. Sorry. Quesadilla. life. Quantize. No. I knew that one. It was gonna be something like that. Warehouse. Leave. Anime. One piece. YouTube. MKBHD. Is that one? Yeah. It's one guy. We'll take it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Penguin. Cute. AI. Garbage. Podcast. Microphone.

1:04:45

Cake. Booty. Giant. Booty. He's going for an Eldre, maybe there at the end. This has been L.Dre. The Giant, man. I see where you were going. I shouldn't have done cake right before Giant. That's on you, bruh. That's on you. That's fair. New L.Dre tag coming soon? Yeah, yeah, locked it in, man. Hell yeah. Appreciate you coming on the podcast, man. Until next week, we are out of here. Peace, L.Dre. Later.